Gear Measurement

Gears is a mechanical drive which transmits power through toothed wheel. In this gear drive, the
driving wheel is in direct contact with driven wheel. The accuracy of gearing is the very
important factor when gears are manufactured. The transmission efficiency is almost 99 in gears.
So it is very important to test and measure the gears precisely.

Forms of Teeth

Commonly used teeth forms:

 Cycloidal teeth: Derived from the curve which is the locus of a point on a circle rolling
on the pitch circle of the gear.
 Involute teeth: Derived from the trace of the point on a straight line, which rolls without
slipping around the circle

GEAR TERMINOLOGY

Each gear has a unique form or geometry. The gear form is defined by various elements. An
illustration of the gear highlighting the important elements is referred to as ‘gear terminology’.
This section explains the types of gears and their terminology.

Types of Gears

Spur gears: These gears are the simplest of all gears. The gear teeth are cut on the periphery and
are parallel to the axis of the gear. They are used to transmit power and motion between parallel
shafts (Fig. 1,a).

Helical gears: The gear teeth are cut along the periphery, but at an angle to the axis of the gear.
Each tooth has a helical or spiral form. These gears can deliver higher torque since there are
more number of teeth in a mesh at any given point of time. They can transmit motion between
parallel or non-parallel shafts.

Herringbone gears: These gears have two sets of helical teeth, one right-hand and the other left-
hand, machined side by side (Fig. 1,b).
Worm and worm gears: A worm is similar to a screw having single or multiple start threads,
which form the teeth of the worm. The worm drives the worm gear or worm wheel to enable
transmission of motion. The axes of worm and worm gear are at right angles to each other (Fig.
1,c).

Bevel gears: These gears are used to connect shafts at any desired angle to each other. The shafts
may lie in the same plane or in different planes (Fig. 1, d).

a b

c
d

Figure 1. Types of gear (a) spur gear, (b) herringbone gears, (c) worm gears, and (d) bevel gear
A gear tooth is formed by portions of a pair of opposed involutes. By far, the involute tooth
profile is most preferred in gears. A clear understanding of the various terminologies associated
with gears is extremely important before an attempt is made to learn about inspection and
measurement of gears. The following are some of the key terminologies associated with gears,
which have been illustrated in Fig. 2:

Figure. 2 Spur gear terminology

Base circle: It is the circle from which the involute form is generated. Only the base circle of a
gear is fixed and unalterable.

Outside circle: It marks the maximum diameter of the gear up to which the involute form is
extended. It is also called the addendum circle. In addition, it is the diameter of the blank from
which the gear is cut out.

Pitch circle: It is the imaginary circle on which lies the centres of the pitch cylinders of two
mating gears.

Addendum: It is the radial distance between the addendum circle and the pitch circle.

Dedendum: It is the radial distance between the pitch circle and the root circle.

Circular pitch: It is the distance between corresponding points of adjacent teeth measured along
the pitch circle.
Diametrical pitch: It is expressed as the number of teeth per unit diameter of the pitch circle.

Module: It is simply the metric standard for pitch. It is the linear distance (in millimetres) that
each tooth of the gear would occupy if the gear teeth were spaced along the pitch diameter.
Accordingly, if the pitch circle diameter of the gear is D and the number of teeth is N, then the
module m is given by D/N and is expressed in millimetres.

Tooth thickness: It is the arc distance measured along the pitch circle from its intercept with one
flank to that with the other flank of the same tooth.

MEASUREMENT OF GEAR ELEMENTS

The following elements of gears are important for analytical inspection: 1. Runout 2. Pitch 3.
Profile 4. Lead 5. Backlash 6. Tooth thickness

Runout is caused when there is some deviation in the trajectories of the points on a section of a
circular surface in relation to the axis of rotation. In case of a gear, runout is the resultant of the
radial throw of the axis of a gear due to the out of roundness of the gear profile. In case of gear
teeth, runout is measured by a specified probe such as a cylinder, ball, cone, rack, or gear teeth.
The measurement is made perpendicular to the surface of revolution. A common method of
runout inspection, called a single-probe check and shown in Fig. 3, uses an indicator with a
single probe whose diameter makes contact with the flanks of adjacent teeth in the area of the
pitch circle.

Figure. 3 Measurement of radial runout through Single-probe check.

Measurement of Pitch

Pitch is the distance between corresponding points on equally spaced and adjacent teeth. Pitch
error is the difference in distance between equally spaced adjacent teeth and the measured
distance between any two adjacent teeth.

These instruments enable the measurement of chordal pitch between successive pairs of teeth.
The instrument comprises a fixed finger and a movable finger, which can be set to two identical
points on adjacent teeth along the pitch circle. The pitch variation is displayed on a dial indicator
attached to the instrument, as shown in Fig. 4.

Figure 4. Pitch-measuring instrument

Measurement of Tooth Thickness

Various methods are recommended for the measurement of gear tooth thickness. There is a
choice of instruments such as the gear tooth calliper, and span gauging or tooth span micrometer.
Constant chord measurement and measurement over rolls or balls are additional options. Two
such methods, namely measurement with gear tooth calliper and tooth span micrometer are
discussed in detail here.

Measurement with Gear Tooth Callipers

This is one of the most commonly used methods and perhaps the most accurate one. Figure 5
illustrates the construction details of a gear calliper. It has two vernier scales, one horizontal and
the other vertical. The vertical vernier gives the position of a blade, which can slide up and
down. When the surface of the blade is flush with the tips of the measuring anvils, the vertical
scale will read zero. The blade position can be set to any required value by referring to the
vernier scale.

Figure 5. Gear tooth caliper Figure 6. Chordal thickness and chordal height

 Used for measurement of w and d

 The depth d adjusted on the instrument & w measured
From the figure 6
w=AB=2AD & θ=360/4N
Where,
  Chordal thickness (w):chord ADB
 Tootht hickness:arc AEB.
 Chordal addendum (d): depth CE
 N= number of teeth.
In triangle ADO, w = 2*AD = 2* AO Sinθ = 2R Sin (360/4N)
Where R = Pitch circle radius
Module m=Pitch circle diameter (2R)/ No. of teeth (N)

Thus, w = Nm Sin (360/4N)

From the figure, d = OC –OD

Addendum = Module
But, OC = OE + Addendum = R + m = (Nm/2) + m
And OD = R Cos θ = (Nm/2) Cos (90/N)
Thus,
d = (Nm/2) + m –[(Nm/2) Cos (90/N)]

d = (Nm/2)[1 + (2/N) –Cos (90/N)]

Measurement of gear thickness through constant cord and base tangent

approach
The values calculated from above table and measured value form gear micrometer
will be the amount of error due to manufacturing. (No numerical practice is
required for the above discussed method, base tangent method)