Is there a relationship between gear RPM and number of teeth?

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Homework Help Overview

The discussion revolves around the relationship between gear RPM and the number of teeth in a gear system. Participants are exploring how to calculate the angular velocity of interconnected gears based on their teeth counts and angular velocities, particularly focusing on a scenario involving multiple gears.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory, Conceptual clarification, Mathematical reasoning, Problem interpretation

Approaches and Questions Raised

  • The original poster attempts to find a faster method for calculating the angular velocity of the 8th gear without sequentially solving for each gear. They raise questions about the relationship between gear RPM and the number of teeth, suggesting a potential constant derived from their observations.
  • Some participants discuss the proportionality of the number of teeth to the circumference and tangential velocity, questioning the implications of this relationship in gear systems.
  • Others suggest examining the problem from different reference frames and using relative velocities to solve for angular velocities in planetary gear systems.

Discussion Status

Participants are actively engaging with each other's ideas, providing insights into the relationships between gear speeds and teeth counts. Some guidance has been offered regarding the use of constants derived from gear properties, and there is an ongoing exploration of different methods to analyze the problems presented. Multiple interpretations and approaches are being discussed without a clear consensus yet.

Contextual Notes

There are constraints related to the specific gear configurations being analyzed, including assumptions about interconnected gears and the reference frames used for calculations. Participants are also navigating through a lack of definitive answers in their tutorials, which adds complexity to their discussions.

Icetray
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Hi guys,

I was doing my tutorial and given the angular velocity of the first gear, we were required to calculate the angular velocity of the 8th gear given just the no. of teeth for all the gears.

Now I know that there must be a faster way of calculating the angular velocity of the 8th gear then solving for the angular velocity each gear from 1 - 8. (i.e. using the speed ratio formula \frac{N1}{N2} = \frac{rpm2}{rpm1})

Question 1: Is there a faster away? (I think there's something like all the gears must move at the same tangential velocity or something right?)

I also noticed that when you multiplied the rpm of each gear by the number of teeth, you get a fixed number (lets call it x) for all the gears. This means that to find the rpm of the 8th gear all I have to do is (\frac{x}{N8}.

Question 2: What is this relationship? Is it an actual relationship or does it just happen to be a unique thing for the question that I am doing?

Thanks in advance for all your help guys!
 
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The number of teeth is proportional to the circumference. Circumference L = dN, where d is the arc length due to one tooth. So when you multiply angular velocity by N, you get a value proportional to tangential velocity, because tangential velocity is the product of angular velocity and circumference L. As you observed, the tangential velocity of two connected gears must be equal (otherwise they would be slipping at the point of contact, thus breaking their teeth). That is why you get the constant. So if you have a number of interconnected gears, you just need to compute this constant given the RPM and teeth of one gear, and the RPM of any other gear can be obtained by dividing the constant by its number of teeth.

One caveat, though. They must all be interconnected through their teeth, not through anything else, like a common axle.
 
voko said:
The number of teeth is proportional to the circumference. Circumference L = dN, where d is the arc length due to one tooth. So when you multiply angular velocity by N, you get a value proportional to tangential velocity, because tangential velocity is the product of angular velocity and circumference L. As you observed, the tangential velocity of two connected gears must be equal (otherwise they would be slipping at the point of contact, thus breaking their teeth). That is why you get the constant. So if you have a number of interconnected gears, you just need to compute this constant given the RPM and teeth of one gear, and the RPM of any other gear can be obtained by dividing the constant by its number of teeth.

One caveat, though. They must all be interconnected through their teeth, not through anything else, like a common axle.

Thanks for the reply voko! Anyways is there a special name for this proportionate value?

I was attempting another problem and this time it's on planetary train gears but I'm a little lost. This is the question:
6r5pG.jpg


I'm managed to solve for the ring gear using:
\frac{nr - nc}{ns-nc} = \frac{Ns Np2}{Np1 Nr}

and I got nr = 266 2/3 RPM (can anyone help me confirm this? My tutorial comes with no answer ): )

Assuming my first part is correct, what do I do next to find the angular velocity of the other gears?
 
Icetray said:
Hi guys,

I was doing my tutorial and given the angular velocity of the first gear, we were required to calculate the angular velocity of the 8th gear given just the no. of teeth for all the gears.

Now I know that there must be a faster way of calculating the angular velocity of the 8th gear then solving for the angular velocity each gear from 1 - 8. (i.e. using the speed ratio formula \frac{N1}{N2} = \frac{rpm2}{rpm1})

Question 1: Is there a faster away?

Skip the ones in the middle...

N1/N2 * N2/N3 * N3/N4 * N4/N5 * N5/N6 * N6/N7 * N7/N8 = N1/N8
 
The product of gear speed and number of teeth is sometimes called gear mesh frequency.

Regarding your problem, I think it could be analysed easier if we look at in the reference frame whose origin is at the axis and that is rotating together with the carrier. In this frame n_S' = -n_C, n_R' = n_R - n_C where the primed speeds are in the rotating frame. Then n_R' = \frac {n_S' N_S} {N_R}, and n_R = n_R' + n_C = \frac {n_S' N_S} {N_R} + n_C = \frac {-n_C N_S} {N_R} + n_C = n_C (1 - \frac {N_S} {N_R}).
 
voko said:
The product of gear speed and number of teeth is sometimes called gear mesh frequency.

Regarding your problem, I think it could be analysed easier if we look at in the reference frame whose origin is at the axis and that is rotating together with the carrier. In this frame n_S' = -n_C, n_R' = n_R - n_C where the primed speeds are in the rotating frame. Then n_R' = \frac {n_S' N_S} {N_R}, and n_R = n_R' + n_C = \frac {n_S' N_S} {N_R} + n_C = \frac {-n_C N_S} {N_R} + n_C = n_C (1 - \frac {N_S} {N_R}).

First off, thank you for the replies guys! And I apologize for thelate reply.

Hmmm... so Veko, what you're saying is that for the internal gears (everything minus the ring gears), we can take their relative velocities and use them to solve using the spur gear formulas?

i.e. \frac{ns'}{np1'}=\frac{Np1}{Ns}

Then np1 = np1' + ns'?
 
For the first planet, I would consider that for one round of the carrier, it has to go over N_s teeth of the sun. So its speed should be n_c \frac {N_s} {N_p1}.

If you look at the problem in the co-rotating frame, then N_{p1}' = - N_s' \frac {N_s} {N_p1}, which yields the same result.
 
voko said:
For the first planet, I would consider that for one round of the carrier, it has to go over N_s teeth of the sun. So its speed should be n_c \frac {N_s} {N_p1}.

If you look at the problem in the co-rotating frame, then N_{p1}' = - N_s' \frac {N_s} {N_p1}, which yields the same result.

Thank you for your reply veko! Really appreciate it!

I managed to solve for the speeds of nr and np2 but I'm having issues with finding the speed of np2 now.

This is what I did (ccw +ve):

\frac{np2 - nc}{ns - nc} = (- \frac{Ns}{Np1})(-\frac{Np1}{Np2}


\frac{np2 +200}{0 + 200} = (- \frac{50}{25})(-\frac{25}{20}

I get np2 = 300 rpm (ccw) but the answer given is 700rpm (ccw).
 
The speed of the second planet is very simply related to that of the first planet, as they are fixed with respect to each other. So n_{p2} = -n_{p1} \frac {N_{p1}}{N_{p2}} = -n_c \frac {N_s} {N_{p2}}
 
  • #10
voko said:
The speed of the second planet is very simply related to that of the first planet, as they are fixed with respect to each other. So n_{p2} = -n_{p1} \frac {N_{p1}}{N_{p2}} = -n_c \frac {N_s} {N_{p2}}

Thanks for the quick reply but I still don't get the answer with your method. ): Anyways, can I ask if the method I used is wrong? Can I set the sun as my input and the planet 2 as my output or this that wrong? ):
 
  • #11
I am not sure what method is "mine" and what method you used.
 
  • #12
voko said:
n_{p2} = -n_{p1} \frac {N_{p1}}{N_{p2}} = -n_c \frac {N_s} {N_{p2}}

Oh I was referring to this when I said your method and this:
\frac{np2 - nc}{ns - nc} = (- \frac{Ns}{Np1})(-\frac{Np1}{Np2}

When I was referring to my method.

Was my approach wrong? Sorry for asking so many questions!
 
  • #13
Perhaps you need to explain how you get your result. It is not obvious for me.
 

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