Pressure Angle If a tangent is drawn to the involute profile of a tooth at any point on the curve and if a radial line

is drawn through this point of tangency, connecting this point with the centre of the gear, then the acute angle included between this tangent and the radial is defined as the pressure angle at that point. Referring to Fig. 2.5(a), A is the point at which the tangent has been drawn and aA is the pressure angle for point A. Referring to Fig. 2.5 (b), Pis the pitch point where the two standard pitch circles meet on the line of centres, O,O,. If a common tangent to the two tooth-profiles is drawn through P, then the pressure angle for point P is obviously the angle subtended by this tangent to the line of centres at P. The segments 0, P and 0, P of the line of centres also happen to be the radials for the point P. This pressure angle (at the pitch point P) is one of the most important specification factors ofa gear. This pressure angle is denoted commonly by the Greek letter a. Apressure angle at any other point is designated by a subscript, e.g. aA for the point A and so on. The symbol a for the pressure angle at the pitch point carries no subscript. The value ofthe pressure angle afor the standard tooth as per the basic rack, IS: 2535, is Z O O , but the pressure angle can have other values also, viz. 14./,, 15, 25, 30, etc. depending on the tooth standard, We will see in sections dealingwith correctedgears that the working pressure angle aw can be quite different from the standard pressure angle, depending upon the correction factors involved and the mounting dimensions. The cutters which generates the gears, however, are called 20-pressure angle cutters, irrespective of whether they produce standard or corrected gears. Pressure angle ofthe cutter is also referred to as the "built-in" pressure angle. Since the involute is generated from the base circle, the pressure angle at the starting point is zero. Referring to Fig. 2.4, a tangent drawn on the base circle and passing through the pitch point P also subtends an angle equal to a at the centre. That is

The effects of increasing the pressure angle are summarized as below: The limiting number of teeth to avoid undercuttingis lowered. That is to say ifthe pressure angle is increased, pinions with comparatively lesser number of teeth can be generated without undercutting (see section on interference and undercutting). The shape of the tooth becomes more pointed or peaked. Tooth flank becomes more curved. The relative sliding velocity is reduced. The contact ratio and overlap are reduced. The tooth pressure and axial pressure increase. Tooth load-carrying capacity increases.