Area of Exisfence

of Involufe Gears
Alexander Kapelevich and Vuriy Shekhtman

Management Summary
This paper presents a unique approach and methodology to define the limits of selection for gear parameters. The
area within those limits is called the "area of existence of involute gears" (Ref. 1). This paper presents tbe definition
and construction of aTeas of existence of both external and internal gears. The isograms of the constant operating pres-
SUTe angles. contact ratios and the maximum mesh efficiency (minimum sliding) isograms. as well as tbe interference
isograms and otber parameters are defined. An afea of existence allows tbe location of gear pairs with certam charac-
teristics. lts practical purpose is to define the gear paie parameters that satisfy specific performance requirements befare
detailed design and calcuJations. An area of existence of gears with asyrnmetric teeth is also considered.

Introduction
In traditional gear design, the pre-selected basic or gen-
erating rack's parameters and its X-shift define the nominal,
f involute gear geometry. The X-shift selection for the given
l xm pair of gears is limited by tbe block-contour (Refs. 2-3).

--i Borders of the block-contour (Fig.l ) inelude the undercut

isograms. the tooth-tip interference isograms. the minimum
cantact ratio (equal to 1.0 for spur gears) isogram and the
isograms of the minimum tooth tip thickness to exclude the
gears witb tbe pointed tooth tips. Each point of the block-
contour presents the gear pair with a certain set of parame-
11 x m - ---.! ters and performance. If the basic or generating rack parame-
ters (pressure angle, addendum or whole depth) are changed,
a !he block-contour borders will be changed accordingly and
will ¡nelude the gear pair parameters' combinations, which
previously could not be achieved yet could present the opti-
mal solution for a particular gear application.
Area of Existence for Syrnmetric Gearing
The Direct Gear Design method (Refs. 4-5) does not
use a pre-selected basic or generating rack to define the gear
geometry. Two involutes of the base circle-the are distance
between them and the tooth tip circle- describe the gear
tooth (Fig. 2). The equally spaced teeth fonn the gear. The
fulet between the teeth is not in contact with the mating gear
teeth, but this portian of !he tooth profile is critical because
it is the area of!he maximum bending stress eoneentration.
In Direet Gear Design. the selection of parameters for
the given gear pair is limited by the area of existence, which
was introduced by Prof. E. B. Vulgakov in his "Theory
of Generalized Parameters" (Ref. 1). Tbe angles VI and v2
are used as a coordinate system for the area of existence of
b the involute gear pair with number of teeth ", and ",. The
Figure 1a-Standard 20° pressure angle generating rack; b: involute profile angles at the tooth tip diameters aal,2 of the
its block-contour for the pair of gears with number of teeth mating gears also can be used as a coordinate system fOI the
n,= 22 and n 2 = 35. area of existence. Tbey are:
64 GEARTECHNOLOGY I January/February 2010 I www.geottechnology.com
 d bl2 (1) (8)
aal' = arccos - -'
> d a 1,2
An afea of existence is built for the gear pairs with num- for the gear root undercut beginning (up2 = O):
ber of teeth ni and n z, and for pre-selected relative tootb
l +u 1 (9)
thicknesses at the gear tooth tip diameters m al,z' This guar- tan(-- x tana.,- - x tarra'l ) = tan a " = 0
u u
antees avoiding lhe pointed gear toolh tips and makes lhe
afea of existence independent of the gear size. In the metric
For internal gearing, interference when the pinion root
system. ma1 ;2 = Sal ,2/ m, where ID is operating module in mm.
In the English system, m al ,2 = Sa l.2- X DP, where DP is the undercut beginning (up ¡= O) is:
operating diametral pitch in l/in. Typically, thicknesses m a1 ,2
are in the range of 0.1- 0.5. tan(ux tan a o ' - (u-l)x tan a . ) =tan a" =O (la)
The relation between the involute profile angles v and aa
continued
is described by equations:
for gears with the external teeth:

. . Sal 2 mal 2 xcosaal 2 (2)

mv(v1,, )-mv(aal,2 ) = - '- = ' ,
d aJ ,2 ~>2 xcosa",
for the gear with lhe internal teeth:

S2 ma 2 xcosaa 2 (3)
7[ / n, - inv(v2) + inv(aa2) = -"-
da2 nz x cas a w
where: inv(x) = tan (x) - x - involute function.

An area of existence presents a number of isograms that

describe gear pairs with certain characteristics, such as the
constant operating pressure angle, contact ratio, interference
condition or maximum mesh efficiency, etc.
The pressure angle U w ::::: const isogram equations are
(Ref. 1):
a
for the external gearing:

_1_(inv(v¡)+uxinv(v2 )-~) = inv(aw ) (4)

l +u
for lhe internal gearing:
~
v
2 n/n
~1 (u x inv(v2 ) - inv(v¡)) = inv(aw ) (5)
u-
where: u = n/nI - gear ratio.
i
The contact ratio E a ::::: const isogram equation is: --r---
for external gearing:
Ld
'" (tana'l +uxtana" - (1 +U)x tan a.) = Ca (6)
2 X1f

for internal gearing:

~(tanaal - u x tan a "2 +(u - I)xtana. ) = Ca
2X1f
The external gearing interference isogram equations are:
for the pinion root undercut beginning (up l = O):
b
(7)
Figure 2-Tooth profile. a: external tooth¡ b: internal tooth¡
n: number of teeth; da: tooth tip circle diameter; dI> : base
circle diameter¡ d: reference circle diameter; s: ci rcular
tooth thickness af the reference diameter¡ v: involute inter-
seetion p rofile angle¡ S,,: circular tooth thickness at the tooth
tip diameter.

www.geOrfeChnology.comI January/FebruarY 2010 I GEARTECHNOLOGY 65

 For the gear with internal teeth, the TOot undercut does
not exist. However, there is another "tip-tip" interference YI = tr-arccos( (13)
possibility in internal gearing. Its equation is:

A, - uxJ~ ~O (11)

where angles: (14)

(12)

The pitch point position isograms separate an aTea of

existence into three zones:
with the pitch point position before the active part of
the tooth contact line;
with the pitcb point position on the active part oí the
tooth contact line (typical for most gears);
with the pitch point position after the active part of
the tooth contact lineo

The pitch point position isograms' equations for external

gearing are from (Ref. 2 and 4):

The pitch point position isogram's equations for internal

gearing are frOID (Refs, 2, 3 and 5):

. ( ) -lnv
( mva eosa., +7r= O (17)
. (aal )) x~-rna l- rna 2x---
a2
cosaa l
isograrn a " ~ a w is also defined by equation 16.

The maximum mesh efficiency isogram is defined by

eondition of the equal specifie sliding velocities at the tips of
the mating gear teeth H! ~ H , (Ref. 6). These equations are:
for externa] gearing:
tana.! - utanaa2 +(u - l)xtana.. ~O (18)

b for internal gearing:

Figure 3-Area of existence for the pinion and gear with "1 tanaa ! + utanaa , - (I +u)x tan a .. ~ O (19)
= 18 and "2 = 25; mal = 0.25 and m al = 0.35; Accordingly--a:
external gearing; b: internal gearing; 1: family of the pres- ATea of existenee for external gearing (Fig. 3a) is Iimited
sure angle isograms o'w = const.; 2: family of the contad
ratio isograms E" = const.; interierence isograms ctp1 = O, o'p2 by the interference isograms and isogram of the minimum
= O, and "tip_tip" (for internal gearing); maximum mesh contaet ratio (for SpUf gears it is 1.0). ATea of existence of
efficiency isograms H 1 = =
H 2 ; n al o'wand 0'a2 = u w : isograms the internal gear pair ean also be limited by the "tip-tip"
separating the gear meshes with the pitch point laying on
the active portion of the contad line.
interference isogram.

66 GEARTECHNOlOGY I January/February 2010 www.geadechn%gy.com

 Every point of the area of existence presents a gear pair
with a certain set of the geometric pararneters. A few of
v,
these gear pairs are shown in Figure 3. Some of them do not ~----~------~------,
look conventional, but they may be practical for sorne appli-
catioos.
Area of existence is much greater than the block-contour
(Fig. 4) of any particular generating rack. It actually ineludes 4 0' f----'-"'I,__ St~lId:Jrd 20° r~ ck
Blod: eOlltOIU"
any gear pair combinations, generated by aH possible block-
contours and also the gear pairs, where two different racks
generate the mating gears.
Area of Existence for Asymmetric Gearing 300 ~----+---~~--l-~
The design intent of asymmetric gearing is to improve
performance of primary drive profiles at the expense of per-
formance for the opposite coast profiles. The coast profiles
are unloaded or Iightly loaded during a relatively short work
periodo Asymrnetric tooth profiles also make it possible to
simultaneously increase the contact ratio and operating pres-
Figure 4-Area of existence for the gear pairs with n 1 = 22
sure angle beyond conventional gears' limits. Q
and n 2 = 35 and their standard 20 pressure angle generat-
Direct Gear Design represents the asymmetric tooth form ing rack block-contour.
by two involutes of two different base ciIcles (Refs. 7 and
8), with the arc distance between them and tooth tip circle
describing the gear tooth (Fig. 5). The equally spaced teeth
form the geaL The fillet between the teeth is not in contact
with the mating gear teeth, but tltis portian of the tooth pro-
file is critical because it is the area of the maximum bending
stress concentration. The fillet profile is designed indepen-
dently, providing minimurn bending stress concentration and
sufficient clearance witb the mating gear tootb tip in mesh.
The relation between involute profile angles of opposite
flanks of an asymrnetric tooth is:

cosaxc d dc
(20)
cosa
xd
= -d = k::: 1.0
bd

where CI xd and CI xc are involute profile angles at the d x ;;::: db a

diameter. Then:

COSaacl,2 cosavcl,2 cosawc = d dc = k 2::: 1.0 (21)

cosaad1,2 cosavdl.2 cosawd d bd

where k is the asyrnmetry coefficient.

If d"" = doc ' k = 1.0 and tooth is symmetric.
The area of existence of asyrnrnetric gears (Fig. 6) is
built very sirnilarly to the afea of existence of symmetric
gears. It basically presents an overlay of two areas of exis-
tence: one for the drive flanks and another for tbe coast
flanks of the asymmetric tooth.
Tbe isogram equations for asymmetric gears are very
similar to the equations for the symmetric gears.
Application of Area of Existence
A computer program generates the area of existence of
involute gears for the given numbers of teeth nI and n2,
relative tooth tip thicknesses mal and maZ' and asymmetry
coefficient k. Then, any selected point in the area presents a
continued
i
-+
di!
b
Figure 5-Asymmetric tooth profile (fillet portion red); a:
external tooth¡ b: internal tooth; da: tooth tip circle diameter¡
d b : base circle diameter; d: reference circle diameter¡ s: cir-
cular tooth thickness at the reference diameter¡ v: involute
intersection profile angle¡ S,,: circular tooth thickness af the
tooth tip d iameter; subscripts "d" and I'C" are for the drive
and coast flanks of the asymmetric tooth.

www.geadeChnology.comI JanuarY/Februar y 201 O I GEARTECHNOLOGY 67

 set of gear pair mesh parameters. considering its module (or
its diametral pitch) and the faee widths of the mating gears
equal to ane. Selection of the relative tooth tip radii and con-
struction of the fillets between the teeth complete the gear
geometry definition.
The relative tooth tip radii are: r al,2 = R aljm in the met-
ric system and [ ,,1,2::;:: R a1 ,2 x DP in the English system, where
R".2 are the tooth tip radii of the mating gears. Typieally,
thicknesses ID... l,2 are in the range 0.00-0.05.
In traditional gear design, the fillet profile is typieally
a trajeetory of the pre-seleeted (usually standard) generat-
ing gear rack. Any point of the bloek-eontour presents the
gear pair with eompleted (including the fillet) tooth profiles.
In Direct Gear Design, the tooth fillet profile is a subjeet
of optimization to IDiniIDize bending stress concentration
(Refs. 9- 10). However, the tooth fillet profile optimization
is a time-consuming process that is used for the final stage
of gear designo It is not practical for browsing the area of
existence, analyzing many sets of gear pairs in Iimited time
periodo The tooth fillet profile should be quickly construeted,
without tooth tip-fillet interference, and provide relatively
low bending stress concentration. In order to achieve this,
a
the virtual ellipsis are is built into the tooth tip that is tangent
to the involute profiles at the tip of the tooth. As a result, the
tooth fillet profile is a trajectory of the mating gear tooth tip
virtual ellipsis are (Fig. 7). This fillet profile can be ealled
"pre-optimized" beca use it provides lower bending stress
eoneentration tban the standard raek-generated fillet profile.
The fillet profile eonstruetion completes the mating gears
teeth geometry definition. This allows the program to dem-
onstrate an animation of the gear mesh right after selection
(clieking on) any point of the area of existenee.
The next step of area of existence analysis is the calcu-
lation of the maximum contact and bending stresses. This
stress analysis program procedure requires an input of the
operating module (or operating diametral piteh for English
system), the faee widths for both mating gears and the pin-
ion torque. The modulus of elasticity and Poisson ratio are
also required to calculate the Hertzian contact stress. The
proprietary 2D FEA sub-routine is used for definition of
maximurn bending stress for both mating gears.
b This program assists in finding a suitable gear solution
for a particular application, for example:
1. Heavily loaded low-speed gears: Appropriate gears are
Figure 6-Area ot existence tor the asymmetric pinion and at intersection of the maximum pressure angle isogram and
gear with: nI = 18 and n 2 = 25; mal = 0.25 and ma.2 = 0.35;
and k = 1.2. a: tor external gearing; b: internal gearing.
the maximum mesh efficiency isogram.
The isograms related to the drive flank meshes are thickl 2. Lightly loaded high-speed gears: They can be found al
the isograms related to the coast flank meshes are thin. interseetion of the high eontaet ratio (Ea >2.0) isogram and
the maximum mesh efficiency isogram.
3. DissimiJar material geaTs, like a metal pin¡on and a
plastic gear: In this case, the metal pin¡on should have the
minimum and the plastic gear the maximum relative tooth
thickness at the tooth tip diameter. Tbe pressure angle
should be relatively low. This allows makiDg the plastie gear
tootb thicker and the metal pinion tootb thinner to balance
68 GEARTECHNOLOGY I Jonuory/Februory 2010 I www.gearlechno/ogy.com
the bending strenglh of Ihe mating teeth.
4. Self-locking gears: These parallel axis gears work
essentially like WQnn gears. The solution can be found at a
very high pressure angle (a w » 60°, gears are helical) and
wilh pitch point position after the active par! of Ihe tooth
contact lineo

Conclusions
The area of existence and its program allow for quickly
defining limits of parameter selection of involute gears,
locating feasible gear pairs, animating them and reviewing
tbeir geometry and stress levels. Benefits of using the area of
existence are:
consideration of all possible gear combinations; a
instant definition of the gear performance limits;
awareness about non-traditional, "exotic" gear design
options;
quick localization of area suitable for particular appli-
cation;
optimization of the gear design salution.

References:
1. Vulgakov E. B. "Gears with Improved Characteristics,"
Mashinostroenie, Moscow, 1974 (in Russian).
2. Groman M. B. "Selection of Gear Correction," Vestnik
Mashinostroeniya, No. 2,1955,4--15. (in Russian).
3. Goldfarb V.l. and A.A. Tkachev. "New Approach to b
Computerized Design of Spur and Helical Gears," Gear
Technology, JanuarylFebruary 2005, 26-32.
4. Kapelevich A. L. and R.E. Kleiss. "Direct Gear Design Figure 7-The fillet profile construction. a: external gears¡ b:
internal gearing¡ 1: involute profiles; 2 : tooth tip lands; 3:
for Spur and Helical Involute Gears," Gear Technology, fillet profiles; 4: ellipsis ares fhat are used to generate the
September/October 2002,29-35. fillet profiles.
5. Kapelevich A. L. "Direct Design Approach for High-
Performance Gear Transmissions." Gear Solutions. January
2008,22-31. (Presented at Ihe Global Powertrain Congress
2007, June 17-19,2007, Berlin, Germany and published in
Ihe Global Powertrain Congress Proceedings, Vol. 39-42,
66-71.
6. Townsend D. P. Dudley's Gear Handbook, McGraw-Hill,
1991.
7. Kapelevich A. L., "Synthesis of Asymmetric Involute
Gearing," Mashinovedenie, 1987, 62-67 (in Russian).
8. Kapelevich A. L. "Geometry and Design of Involute Spur
Gears with Asymmetric Teeth," Mechanism and Machine
Tbeory, 2000, Issue 35, pp. 117- 130.
9. Kapelevich A. L. and Y.V. Shekhtman. "Direct Gear
Design: Bending Stress Minimization," Gear Technology,
September/October 2003,44--49.
10. Kapelevich A. L. and Y.V. Shekhtman. "Tooth Fillet
Profile Optimization for Gears with Syrnmetric and
Asyrnmetric Teeth," Gear Technology, September/October
2009,73-79.

www.geaJtechn%gy.comI JanuorY/FebrUary 2010 I GEARTECHNOLOGY 69