NC State Engineering in Havelock

4 Year Mechanical Engineering Systems BSE

www.engr.ncsu.edu/mes

The Gear Ratio is defined as the input speed relative to the output speed. It is
typically written as:
Gear Ratio = win : wout
The fundamental equations for a gear pair are:
tin win = tout wout
wout / win = rin / rout
wout / win = nin / nout
tout / tin = rout / rin
tout / tin = nout / nin

(power equality)
(velocity relationship in terms of radiuses)
(velocity relationship in terms of number of teeth)
(torque relationship in terms of radiuses)
(torque relationship in terms of number of teeth)

WHERE
t = Torque
w = Angular Speed (rad/sec or RPM)
r = Radius
n = Number Teeth

Small to Large
Output Speed
Output Torque
Input Torque Needed

31
Rev
In

For Torque: (Torque In) Times Ratio

Torque On Shaft A = .25 FtLbs

(
.25
.

3/1

Rev
Out

For Speed: (Speed In) Divided By Ratio

Gear A going 90 RPM

90
3/1

Large to Small
Output Speed
Output Torque
Input Torque Needed

1: 2
Rev
In

For Torque: (Torque In) Times Ratio

Torque On Shaft A = .25 FtLbs

(
.25
.

1/2

.5: 1
Rev
Out

For Speed: (Speed In) Divided By Ratio

Gear A going 90 RPM

90
1/2

ComplexGearMachines
Out
20Teeth

80Teeth

40Teeth

In
120Teeth
IN
30RPM
.25FtLbs

40 20
80

120 80
9600
1
1: 12 .0833: 1
12
Rev
In

Rev
Out

Speed: RPM Out = RPM In / Ratio

Speed: 30 RPM In / (1/12) = 360 RPM Out
Torque: .Torque Out = Torque In * Ratio
Torque: .25 FtLbs In * (1/12) = .020833 FtLbs Out

Try this at home for fun

12T

12T

Robot

20T

58T

58T

Motor

58T

The gear on the motor and on the robot are fixed as shown above. You will have 258T gears, 1-12T gear and 1-20T gear. How could you arrange the gears to give a
gear ration like below? We want out robot to turn one time every time the motor turns
about 61.5 times. If our motor turns about 2,000 revolutions per minute, how fast will
our robot turn??

61.588
1

61.588 1