Helical Gear Design

With very brief intro to Bevel

Gears and Worm Gearing
Reference: Chapter 10: Helical Gears, Bevel Gears and Worm
Gearing , Machine Elements in Mechanical Design, Mott

Created by Dr Ahmed Al-Zubaydi

 Introduction

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 Gear Classification

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 Helical Gears
• Gears that have teeth aligned at an angle with respect to the axis of the shaft.
• Operate more smoothly than spur gears of equal number of teeth. However, an
additional axial force, or the thrust force, is generated during transmission.
• Parallel shafts or Crossed helical gears shown below:

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 • Advantage
• Smooth and quiet due to gradual tooth engagements (spur gears whine at high
speed due to impact). Helical gears: good up to speeds in excess of 5,000 ft/min
• Can withstand the largest capacity at 30,000 hp
• More tooth engagement allows for greater power transmission for given gear size.
• Parallel to perpendicular shaft arrangement
• Disadvantages
• More expensive
• Resulting axial thrust component

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 Source: Shigley's Mechanical Engineering Design
Book by J. Keith Nisbeth and Richard G. Budynas

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 Bevel Gears
❑ Gear teeth arranged in a cone shape manner.
❑ Types:
• Straight bevel gears
• Spiral bevel gears
• Zero spiral bevel gears
• Hypoid gears

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 ❑Advantages
• Right-angle drives
• Low noise & vibration
❑Disadvantages
• Get axial loading which complicates bearings and housings

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 Worm Gears
• Used to transmit motion and power between two nonintersecting shafts,
usually 90° to each other.
• Have threads rather than teeth as like most gears.
• Can achieve higher speed reduction, but lower mechanical efficiency.

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 Worm Gear Features

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 Gear Design Considerations

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 Gear Mounting

• Two basic forms of gear mounting:

• (a) Straddle mounting, where the gear is
located between bearings;
• (b) overhang mounting.
• Note that deep groove rolling element bearings
are shown, but often a bearing better suited for
thrust load support is required in at least one
location.

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 Example – Concentric Helical In-line Series 7000 Speed Reducer

Source: Emerson Industrial Automation

http://www.emersonindustrial.com/

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 Design of Helical Gears

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 Forces in Helical Gears
𝑊𝑁 is the true normal force that acts perpendicular to
the face of the tooth in the plane normal to the surface
of the tooth.

Normal pressure angle: 𝜙𝑛

Transverse pressure angle: 𝜙𝑡
Helix angle: 𝜓

For helical gears, the helix angle and one of the other two
are specified. The third angle can be computed from:

𝑡𝑎𝑛𝜙𝑛 = 𝑡𝑎𝑛𝜙𝑡 𝑐𝑜𝑠𝜓 (10-1)

FIGURE 10–4 Helical gear geometry

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 Forces in Helical Gears
• 𝑊𝑡 is the tangential force that acts in the transverse
plane and tangent to the pitch circle of the helical gear
and that causes the torque to be transmitted from the
driver to the driven gear.
• Therefore, this force is often called the transmitted force.

• If the torque being transmitted (T) and the size of the

gear (D) are known,

𝑇
𝑊𝑡 = (10-2)
𝐷/2
• If the power being transmitted (P) and the rotational
speed (n) are known,

𝑃 (10-3)
𝑇=
𝑛
FIGURE 10–4 Helical gear geometry
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 Power, torque, and forces

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 Forces in Helical Gears
• 𝑊𝑟 is the radial force that acts toward the center of the
gear perpendicular to the pitch circle and to the
tangential force. It tends to push the two gears apart.

𝑊𝑟 = 𝑊𝑡 tan 𝜙𝑡 (10-8)

• 𝑊𝑥 is the axial force that acts parallel to the axis of the

gear and causes a thrust load that must be resisted by
the bearings carrying the shaft.

• With the tangential force known, the axial force is

computed from,

𝑊𝑥 = 𝑊𝑡 tan ψ (10-9)

𝑇𝑟𝑦 𝐸𝑥𝑎𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑠 10 − 1 𝑎𝑛𝑑 10 − 2 𝑖𝑛 𝑀𝑜𝑡𝑡 𝐵𝑜𝑜𝑘

FIGURE 10–4 Helical gear geometry
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 Forces in Helical Gears

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 Helical Gear Design
• Everything for helical gear design is essentially the same as it was for spur gears.
• The fundamental difference is the J and I factors.
• Bending stress in helical gear teeth:
𝑊𝑡 𝑃𝑑
𝑆𝑡 = 𝐾𝑜 𝐾𝑆 𝐾𝑚 𝐾𝐵 𝐾𝑣
𝐹𝐽
where • Ko = Overload factor for bending strength (Table 9-1)
• Ks = Size factor for bending strength (Table 9-2)
• Km = Load distribution factor for bending strength [Figures 9-12 and 9-13 and Equation (9-17)]
• KB = Rim thickness factor (Figure 9-14)
• Kv = Dynamic factor for bending strength (Figure 9-16)
• J = Geometry factor [Figures 10-5 to 10-7]

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 Geometry factor (J) for 15° normal pressure angle: Figure 10-5(a)

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 Geometry factor (J) for 20° normal pressure angle: Figure 10-6(a)

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 • Pitting Resistance, I : Contact Stress Number 𝑆𝑐
0.5
𝑊𝑡 . 𝐾𝑜 . 𝐾𝑠 . 𝐾𝑚 . 𝐾𝑣
𝑆𝑐 = 𝐶𝑝
𝐹. 𝐷𝑝 . 𝐼

✓ I = geometry factor for pitting resistance

✓ other terms are in the usual notations defined

Geometry factors for pitting resistance, I :

• for helical gears with 20° normal pressure angle and standard addendum are listed in Table 10-1

• for helical gears with 25° normal pressure angle and standard addendum are listed in Table 10-2

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 Steps of Helical Gear Design:
1. Specify a nominal diametral pitch, pinion teeth number, helix angle and the normal
pressure angle.
2. Compute the values of transverse diametral pitch, axial pitch, transverse pressure angle and
the pitch diameter.
3. Choose a face width that will give a least two axial pitches to ensure true helical action.
4. Compute pitch line speed and transmitted load.
5. Compute the number of teeth in the gear.
6. Determine the K values.
7. Determine the bending stress, contact stress and pitting resistance and determine, which is
the governing stress, and select the appropriate materials to avoid failure.

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 Helical Gear Design Example

A pair of helical gears for a milling machine drive is to transmit 48.47 kW/65 hp with a
pinion speed of 3450 rpm and a gear speed of 1100 rpm. The power is from an electric
motor. Design the gears.

Given:
Driver = Electric Motor
Driven = Milling Machine
Power = 48.47 kW/65 hp
Pinion Speed = 3450 rpm
Gear Speed = 1100 rpm

Find:
Helical Gear Design

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 Step 1: Calculate design power

– Uniform Driver and Moderate Shock Driven

– Ko = 1.50 (Table 9-1)

Design Power = input power x overload factor Ko

= 65 hp x 1.5 Steel gears are chosen.

= 97.5 hp

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 Step 2: Trial Size of the pinion

– a normal diametral pitch of 12

– 24 teeth
– a helix angle of 15°
– a normal pressure angle of 20°, and
– a quality number of 8.

Let's try a normal diametral pitch of 12, 24 teeth in the pinion, a helix angle of 15°, a
normal pressure angle of 20°, and a quality number of 8.

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 Step 3: Basic calculation on helical gears
• Compute transverse diametral pitch, the axial pitch, the transverse pressure angle,
and the pitch diameter.
• Then choose a face width that will give at least two axial pitches to ensure true helical
action
𝑃𝑑 = 𝑃𝑑𝑛 𝑐𝑜𝑠𝜓 = 12 cos15° = 11.59

𝜋 𝜋
𝑃𝑥 = = 𝑜
= 1.012 𝑖𝑛 = 25.7 𝑚𝑚
𝑃𝑑 𝑡𝑎𝑛𝜓 11.59 . tan(15 )

𝑜
tan 𝜙𝑛 tan 20
𝜙 = tan−1 = tan−1 𝑜 = 20.65𝑜
𝑐𝑜𝑠 𝜓 cos 15

𝐷𝑝 24
𝑑= = = 52.60 𝑚𝑚 = 2.071 𝑖𝑛
𝑃𝑑 11.59

𝐹 = 2𝑃𝑥 = 2 ∗ 1.012 = 2.071 𝑖𝑛 (Nominal face width) 32

Created by Dr Ahmed Al-Zubaydi

 Step 4: Determine the tooth number in the gear

– Calculate the pitch line speed and the transmitted load:

𝜋. 𝑑. 𝑛 𝜋. (2.071). (3450) 𝑓𝑡
𝑣𝑡 = = = 1871 = 9.5 𝑚/𝑠
12 12 min

33,000 ℎ𝑝 33,000 ∗ 65
𝑊𝑡 = = = 1146 𝑙𝑏 = 5.1 𝑘𝑁
𝑣𝑡 1871
– Compute the number of the teeth in the gear

𝑁𝐺 𝑛𝑝 3450
𝑆𝑅 = = = = 3.14
𝑁𝑃 𝑛𝐺 1100

Then 𝑁𝐺 = 𝑆𝑅. 𝑁𝑃 = 3.14 ∗ 24 ≅ 75 𝑇𝑒𝑒𝑡ℎ (𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑔𝑒𝑟 𝑉𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒)

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 Step 5: Determine the factors for stress calculation
– Determine geometry factor Jp of the pinion from Figure 10-5 (a):

JP = 0.48 ➔ then we can choose a higher

value for JG to obtain a lower stress in
the gear.

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 • Determine size factor Ks = 1.00
• Determine load-distribution factor Km = 1.26 for F/Dp = 1.09 and commercial quality, enclosed gearing
• Determine rim thickness factor KB = 1.0 for solid gears
• Determine dynamic factor Kv = 1.35 for Av = 9 and vt = 9.5 m/s = 1871 ft/min (Figure 9-16)
• Quality Number, Av = A9 (Table 9-5)

𝐾𝑣 = 1.35

𝑣𝑡 = 1871 𝑓𝑡/𝑚𝑖𝑛

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 Step 6: Calculate the stresses in the pinion

– Bending stress:

𝑊𝑡 𝑃𝑑
𝑆𝑡𝑃 = 𝐾𝑜 𝐾𝑆 𝐾𝑚 𝐾𝐵 𝐾𝑣
𝐹𝐽𝑃

1146 ∗ 11.59
= ∗ 1.5 ∗ 1.0 ∗ 1.26 ∗ 1.0 ∗ 1.35
2.25 ∗ 0.48

𝑆𝑡𝑃 = 31,400 𝑝𝑠𝑖 = 216.5 𝑀𝑃𝑎

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 • Hardness Numbers BENDING (Grade 1):

• Choose gear material from Figure 9.18:

𝑆𝑡𝑃 = 31,400 𝑝𝑠𝑖 = 216.5 𝑀𝑃𝑎

Grade 1 steel with Brinell hardness

of 250 can be chosen according to
bending stress.

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 • Contact stress for pitting resistance :
0.5
𝑊𝑡 . 𝐾𝑜 . 𝐾𝑠 . 𝐾𝑚 . 𝐾𝑣
𝑆𝑐 = 𝐶𝑝
𝐹. 𝐷𝑝 . 𝐼

𝐶𝑝 = 2300 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡𝑤𝑜 𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑒𝑙 𝑔𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠

𝑁𝑝 = 24 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑁𝐺 = 75 ⇒ 𝐼 = 0.202 𝑇𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒 10 − 1 , 𝑅𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑝𝑜𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛

0.5
1146 ∗ 1.5 ∗ 1.0 ∗ 1.26 ∗ 1.0 ∗ 1.35
𝑆𝑐 = 2300 ∗ = 128,200 𝑝𝑠𝑖
2.25 ∗ 2.071 ∗ 0.202

= 883.9 𝑀𝑃𝑎
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 • Choose gear material from Figure 9.18:

𝑆𝑐 = 128,200 𝑝𝑠𝑖 = 883.9 𝑀𝑃𝑎

Grade 1 steel with Brinell hardness

of 310 can be chosen according to
contact stress.

AISI 5150 OQT 1000 (321 HB)

chosen for both pinion and gear

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 It is obvious that the contact stress governs this design. Let’s adjust the solution for a higher reliability
and to account for the expected number of cycles of operation. Certain design decisions must be made.
For example, consider the following:

• Design for a reliability of 0.999 (less than one failure in 1000): 𝐾𝑅 = 1.25 (Table 9–11).

• Design life: Let’s design for 10 000 h of life as suggested in Table 9–12 for multipurpose gearing.

• Then, using Equation (9–27), we can compute the number of cycles of loading.

• For the pinion rotating at 3450 rpm with one cycle of loading per revolution,

𝑁𝐶 = (60)(𝐿)(𝑛)(𝑞) = (60)(10 000)(3450)(1.0) = 2.1 ∗ 109 𝑐𝑦𝑐𝑙𝑒𝑠

From Figure 9–22, we find that 𝑍𝑁 = 0.89.

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 • No unusual conditions seem to exist in this application beyond those already considered in the
various K factors. Therefore, we use a service factor, SF, of 1.00.
• We can use Equation (9–27) to apply these factors.

𝑆𝐹 𝐾𝑅
𝑆𝑎𝑐 = 𝑆𝑐
𝑍𝑁𝑝

1.25 1.0
𝑆𝑎𝑐 = 128,200 = 180,000 𝑝𝑠𝑖
0.89

• Table 9–9 indicates that Grade 1 steel, case hardened by carburizing, would be suitable.
• From Appendix 5, let’s specify AISI 4320 SOQT 450, having a case hardness of HRC 59 and a core
hardness of 415 HB.
• This should be satisfactory for both bending and pitting resistance. Both the pinion and the gear
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Ahmedbe of this material.
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