HOMEWORK 4:

REPORT ON THE UNIVERSAL JOINT

MEC 3623
SECTION 1

MUHAMAD SOLEHI BIN SHARIFFUDDIN

1321895
MOHAMAD HUSNUN NAZRI BIN MOHAMED HUSSAIN
1325073
MUHAMMAD HAKIMI BIN AB RAFAR
1327351
 UNIVERSAL JOINT

INTRODUCTION
Universal joint is a positive mechanical joint used for connecting shafts,
whose axes are inclined at an angle to each other. It is also known as
universal coupling, U-joint, Cardan Joint and Hookes Joint. It compensates
angular misalignment between the shafts in any direction. In the other
words, which are usually not parallel, but intersecting. They are used to
transmit motion, power, or both.

The simplest and most common type is called the Cardan joint or Hooke
joint. It consists of two yokes, one on each shaft, connected by a cross-
shaped intermediate member called the spider. The angle between the
two shafts is called the operating angle. It is generally, but not
necessarily, constant during operation. Good design practice calls for low
operating angles, often less than 25, depending on the application.
Independent of this guideline, mechanical interference in the construction
of Cardan joints limits the operating angle to a maximum (often about
37), depending on its proportions.

FUNCTION
Hooke joint
It is used to connect two non-parallel and intersecting axes shafts, having
small angle between two axes. It consists of; first, two U-shaped yokes or
forks which are integral with driving and driven shafts and second, the
cross, which is the connecting link. The arms of the cross are at the right
angles. The torque is transmitted from the driving shaft to the driven shaft
through the cross.

Types of Hookes Joint

1. Single Hookes Joint
2. Double Hookes Joint
Cardan joint
A double cardan joint consists of two universal joints mounted back to
back with a center yoke; the center yoke replaces the intermediate shaft.
Provided that the angle between the input shaft and center yoke is equal
to the angle between the center yoke and the output shaft, the second
cardan joint will cancel the velocity errors introduced by the first cardan
joint and the aligned double cardan joint will act as a CV joint.

Cardan joint options

Single Cardan Snap ring retention for easier service

Double Cardan Ideal for off-road applications

Centered and Staked Maximum efficiency, 3 percent lighter than

competing products
 Examples of Cardan Joint

Hardy-Spicer Joint
A cross-shaped metal pivot sits between two forked carriers (These are
not strictly Constant Velocity joints as they result in a variation of the
transmitted speed except for certain specific configurations). These are
simple to make and can be tremendously strong, and are still used to
provide a flexible coupling in the propeller shafts, where there is not very
much movement. However, they become notchy and difficult to turn
when operated at extreme angles, and need regular maintenance. They
also need more complicated support bearings when used in drive axles,
and could only be used in rigid axle designs.

Example of Hardy-Spicer Joint

APPLICATION

Applications of Universal Joint:

Universal joint has a wide range of applications. It is used in:

1. Driveshaft
2. Automobile propeller shafts
3. Stone crushers
4. Tapping machinery
5. Centrifugal blowers
6. Centrifugal fans and centrifugal pumps
7. Belt conveyors
8. Control mechanisms
9. Marine equipment
10. Metal forming machinery
11. Sockets

Hookes Joint Application:

Sundial-clock for declining vertical wall

The two shafts meeting at the centre of a single Hooke's joint must, by
geometry, fall in one plane. When the input shaft is aligned with the pole,
the output shaft will necessarily be in the same plane and must be
arranged horizontally and pointing south to give an articulation equal to
the latitude. This will be appropriate to drive a sundial-clock on a vertical
wall facing south, as shown above. What the simple mechanism is unable
to do is subsequently move sideways out of that plane to pierce a wall
declining east or west, and follow the associated asymmetrical dial.
Hooke proposed that the remedy was to use his double universal. An
assembly for a vertical wall at latitude 52 N declining 20 E is shown
isolated in figure 15. It uses two separate couplings, but a unit with an
integral intermediate shaft would be more compact and could not be
misaligned in error. The input shaft must be held at the latitude angle to
an intermediate shaft maintained in a horizontal position. This assembly
was checked experimentally to match the graduations on a predrawn dial
computed for these conditions. Again, the fork of the final shaft must
parallel the vertical 1212 line on the dial.
Figure 15: Arrangement of two Hooke's joints and three shafts required for
a sundial-clock on a declining vertical wall.

Cardan Joint Application:

Hardy-Spicer Application:
Universal Joints
Extensive range of universal joints to suit all applications
For the automotive, industrial, mining, agricultural, earthmoving and marine
industries

Driveshaft
GWB Industrial driveshaft
Mechanics type automotive driveshaft to suit Caterpillar, Komatsu,
Elphinstone, Wagner etc
Ready-made shafts to suit heavy earthmoving applications
Spicer type PTO and automotive driveshaft
OEM type shafts to suit Scania, Volvo, Mercedes Benz, Hino, Isuzu and
Toyota

Hydraulic Hose and Fittings

Single and double wire braid rubber hose to SAE and EN standards
Multi-spiral reinforced rubber to SAE and EN standards
Purpose designed range of mining hoses
Full range of fittings and adaptors to suit hose range
Quick release couplings to various international standards
Hose fittings to suit BSP, NPT, JIC, metric, ORFS, SAE, UNO threads and
flange face adaptors

Agricultural Driveshaft and Components

Safety clutches and torque limiters
Various styles of drive bar and tube
Splined fitting yokes (quick release and pinch bolt)

Centre Bearings
Vast range of automotive centre bearings to suit most makes and models
Centre bearings to suit small, medium and large trucking applications
Industrial centre bearings
TYPES OF UNIVERSAL JOINT

Constant-velocity joints (AKA homo-kinetic or CV joints) allow a drive

shaft to transmit power through a variable angle, at constant rotational
speed, without an appreciable increase in friction or play. They are mainly
used in front wheel drive vehicles, and many modern rear wheel
drive cars with independent rear suspension typically use CV joints at the
ends of the rear axle half-shafts and increasingly use them on the prop-
shafts (drive shafts).
Constant-velocity joints are protected by a rubber boot, a CV gaiter,
usually filled with molybdenum disulphide grease. Cracks and splits in the
boot will allow contaminants in, which would cause the joint to wear
quickly.

synchronous

kinematic
classification Asynchronou
s

Triax or
"Tripod"
Types of CV
joint
Outboard
Tripod joint

Tripod Plunging Joints:

Tripod plunging joints consists of a central drive part or tripod (also known
as spider). This has three trunnion fitted with spherical rollers on needle
bearings and an outer housing (sometimes called a tulip because if it is
three-lobed, flower-like appearance). On some tripod joints, the outer
housing is closed, meaning the roller tracks are totally enclosed within it.
On others, the tulip is open and the roller tracks are machined out of the
housing. Tripod joints are most commonly used as FWD inboard plunge
joints.

Fixed Tripod Joints

The fixed tripod joint is sometimes used as the outboard joint in FWD
applications. In this design, the trunnion is mounted in the outer housing,
and the three roller bearings turn against an open tulip on the input shaft.
A steel locking spider holds the joint together.

The fixed tripod joint has a much greater angular capability. The only
major difference from a service standpoint is that the fixed tripod joint
cannot be removed from the half-shaft or disassembled because of the
way it is manufactured. The complete joint and shaft assembly must be
replaced if the joint goes bad.

Outboard

Outboard joint

In front-wheel-drive drivetrains, two CV joints are used on each half shaft.

The joint nearer the transaxle is the inner of inboard joint, and the one
nearer the wheel is the outer or outboard joint. In a rear-wheel-drive
vehicle with independent rear suspension (IRS), the joint nearer the
differential can also be referred to as the inboard joint. The one closer to
the wheel is the outboard joint.
 D e s i g n C l a s s i fi c a t i o n

DESIGN

Hooke's

Spherical

Rzeppa's

Spherical joint

A spherical joint is used for allowing free movement in two planes at the
same time, including rotating in those planes. Combining two such joints
with control arms enables motion in all three planes, allowing the front
end of an automobile to be steered and a spring and shock (damper)
suspension to make the ride comfortable.

A simple kingpin suspension requires that the upper and lower control
arms (wishbones) have pivot axes that are parallel, and in strict geometric
relationship to the kingpin, or the top and bottom trunnions, which
connect the kingpin to the control arms, would be severely stressed and
the bearings would suffer severe wear. In practice, many vehicles had
elastomeric bearings in the horizontal pivots of the trunnions, which
allowed some small amount of flexibility, however this was insufficient to
allow much adjustment of caster to be made, and also introduced
compliance where the suspension designer may not have desired it in his
quest for optimum handling. Camber angle could generally be adjusted by
moving both inner pivots of either the upper or lower control arm inwards
or outwards by an exactly equal amount. But compliance of the control
arm inner pivots, typically due to the use of elastomeric bearings, would
again cause the trunnions to be stressed. The suspension designer's
freedom was severely limited, it was necessary to have some compliance
where it might not be wanted, and very little where more would have
been useful in absorbing the fore and aft impact loading from bumps.

The introduction of spherical joints top and bottom allowed 3-axis

articulation and so removed all the constraints on the control arm axes
being exactly parallel, so caster could be freely adjusted, typically by
asymmetric adjustment of the position of the control arm inner pivots,
while camber was adjusted by the symmetric adjustment of these same
pivots.

The arrangements for adjusting the toe angle are not changed by
introducing spherical joints in the suspension, although it should be noted
that the steering linkage itself must use 4 or more pivots, also usually
spherical joints, and in almost every vehicle ever made, some of these
have been adjustable by having a threaded end and locknut, to enable the
toe to be set precisely.

This ability to fine-tune spherical -jointed suspension allows manufacturers

to make the automobile more stable and easier to steer, compared to the
older kingpin style suspension. It may also be quieter and more
comfortable, because lateral and fore and aft compliance in the
suspension can be introduced in controlled amounts at the control arm
inner pivots without compromising the integrity of the steering axis pivots,
which are now spherical joints instead of a king pin and trunnions. The
smoother ride may also increase tire tread life, since the spherical -joint
suspension allows better control of suspension geometry and so can
provide better tire-to-road contact.
 Spherical joints allow a limited range of smooth movement in all directions

Rzeppas Joint
A Rzeppa joint (invented by Alfred H. Rzeppa in 1926) consists of a
spherical inner shell with 6 grooves in it and a similar enveloping outer
shell. Each groove guides one ball. The input shaft fits in the centre of a
large, steel, star-shaped "gear" that nests inside a circular cage. The cage
is spherical but with ends open, and it typically has six openings around
the perimeter. This cage and gear fit into a grooved cup that has a splined
and threaded shaft attached to it. Six large steel balls sit inside the cup
grooves and fit into the cage openings, nestled in the grooves of the star
gear. The output shaft on the cup then runs through the wheel bearing
and is secured by the axle nut. This joint can accommodate the large
changes of angle when the front wheels are turned by the steering
system; typical Rzeppa joints allow 4548 of articulation, while some
can give 54.[6] At the "outboard" end of the driveshaft a slightly different
unit is used. The end of the driveshaft is splined and fits into the outer
"joint". It is typically held in place by a circlip.

Spare Rzeppa joint. Rzeppa joint compared Representation of a

to an 1 euro coin. Rzeppa joint.

EQUATION OF MOTION
Universal Joint
Gears require axles geometrically fixed to each other to work at all. If
driving and driven axle however exhibit an angular movement relative to
each other, special elements are needed to compensate this - called
joints.
The most popular type, called Universal Joint, consists of a little cross. The
ends of one cross member are held by the forked end of the driving shaft,
the other cross member is connected to the driven shaft likewise. The
center of the cross stays at all times at the exact point where driving and
driven shaft would intersect were they long enough.
Now let's turn the driven
shaft by a certain angle ().
The picture below
left illustrates this
configuration. For
convenience let adjust a
three-dimensional
orthogonal coordinate
system in such a way that
the origin is in the center of
the cross (blue), the X axis runs in the core of the driving shaft (red). The
driven shaft (green) finally is kept in the plane defined by axis X and Z.

Turning the driving shaft, the ends of the cross define two planes:

Plane E comprises the circle described by the ends (A,B) held by the
driving shaft.

Plane F contains the circle drawn by the remaining ends (C,D).

The coordinates of point A can easily be given as function of angle w (Let

the drawn point A define w = 90 and the distance AB be 2):

(1) A(w) = {xa; ya; za} = {0; sin(w); cos(w)}

With a little more effort the coordinates of point D can be expressed

depending from angles and (Hint: Look top down on the drawn
configuration; planes E and F then look like lines with included angle ):

(2) D(,) = {xd; yd; zd} = {sin()*sin(); cos(); -cos()*sin()}

For the next step consider that the distance AD is fixed by the cross itself
and therefore constant sqrt(2) when distance AB is 2. On the other hand
the distance AD can be calculated from the coordinates. So trigonometric
wizardry results in

(3) tan(w) = tan() * cos()

Double Joints

But let's go back to equation (3). The misalignment could be

represented as well by two equal-sized but smaller angles 1 and 2. With
an intermediate shaft turning an angle we get:

(4) tan(w) = tan() * cos(1)

(5) tan() = tan() * cos(2)

Simply eliminating we get:

(6) tan(w) = tan() * cos2(/2)

Not much help - oh wait, we missed one important thing: The initial
orientation! In the graph above driving shaft angle (w) zero means fork
ends A and B on the Z-axis. C and D are therefore sitting on the Y axis in
the beginning. If the second joint now would start with its A' and B' on a
parallel to C and D, its equation would be different. As we all know (don't
we?):
(7) tan(+90) = -1 / tan()

Rotating equation (5) gives

(8) tan() = tan() * cos(2)

Now (8) matches (4), which happens to prove - as long as cos(1) =

cos(2)

(9) = w

In words: The rotation of the driving and driven shafts is

identical at all times when the misalignment angle is
a) compensated by two joints,
b) each misaligned by the same angle /2 and
c) the intermediate shaft has parallel forks.

Each configuration obeying these

rules is called a Constant
Velocity Joint (CV).

Stress experiencing in the universal joint

T
F l
Shear stress ( cross )= =
A d2
4

T
F l
Bearing stress= = =
A hd

T
l
Shear stress ( yoke )=
( Dd )
h
2
CONCLUSION
As the conclusion, we found that the universal joint are; universal coupling
is more flexible than knuckle joint. It facilitates torque transmission
between shafts which have angular misalignment. It is cheap and cost
effective. It is simple to be assembled and dismantled. Torque
transmission efficiency is high. The joint permits angular displacements.
The disadvantages of the universal joint are; wear may occur if the joint is
not properly lubricated. Maintenance is often necessary to avoid wear.
Universal joint produces fluctuating motion. It does not support axial
misalignment.