Different Types of Gears

Gears are used in tons of mechanical devices. They do several important jobs, but most important, they provide a gear reduction in motorized equipment. This is key because, often, a small motor spinning very fast can provide enough power for a device, but not enough torque. For instance, an electric screwdriver has a very large gear reduction because it needs lots of torque to turn screws, but the motor only produces a small amount of torque at a high speed. With a gear reduction, the output speed can be reduced while the torque is increased.

There are a lot of intricacies in the different types of gears. On any gear, the ratio is determined by the distances from the center of the gear to the point of contact. For instance, in a device with two gears, if one gear is twice the diameter of the other, the ratio would be 2:1.

Many modern gears use a special tooth profile called an involute. This profile has the very important property of maintaining a constant speed ratio between the two gears. Like the peg wheel above, the contact point moves; but the shape of the involute gear tooth compensates for this movement.

Spur gears are the most common type of gears. They have straight teeth, and are mounted on parallel shafts. Sometimes, many spur gears are used at once to create very large gear reductions. Spur gears are used in electric screwdrivers, dancing monsters, oscillating sprinklers, windup alarm clocks, washing machines and clothes dryers. But you won't find many in your car. This is because the spur gear can be really loud. Each time a gear tooth engages a tooth on the other gear, the teeth collide, and this impact makes a noise. It also increases the stress on the gear teeth.

To reduce the noise and stress in the gears, most of the gears in your car are helical. The teeth on helical gears are cut at an angle to the face of the gear. When two teeth on a helical gear system engage, the contact starts at one end of the tooth and gradually spreads as the gears rotate, until the two teeth are in full engagement. This gradual engagement makes helical gears operate much more smoothly and quietly than spur gears. For this reason, helical gears are used in almost all car transmissions.

Bevel gears are useful when the direction of a shaft's rotation needs to be changed. They are usually mounted on shafts that are 90 degrees apart, but can be designed to work at other angles as well. The teeth on bevel gears can be straight, spiral or hypoid. Straight bevel gear teeth actually have the same problem as straight spur gear teeth as each tooth engages; it impacts the corresponding tooth all at once.

Worm gears are used when large gear reductions are needed. It is common for worm gears to have reductions of 20:1, and even up to 300:1 or greater. Many worm gears have an interesting property that no other gear set has: the worm can easily turn the gear, but the gear cannot turn the worm. This is because the angle on the worm is so shallow that when the gear tries to spin it, the friction between the gear and the worm holds the worm in place.

Rack and pinion gears are used to convert rotation into linear motion. A perfect example of this is the steering system on many cars. The steering wheel rotates a gear which engages the rack. As the gear turns, it slides the rack either to the right or left, depending on which way you turn the wheel.

Planetary Gear sets & Gear Ratios. Any planetary gear set has three main components. Each of these three components can be the input, the output or can be held stationary. Choosing which piece plays which role determines the gear ratio for the gear set. Let's take a look at a single planetary gear set. One of the planetary gear sets from our transmission has a ring gear with 72 teeth and a sun gear with 30 teeth. We can get lots of different gear ratios out of this gear set.

1. Spur gears have helical teeth, and are mounted on parallel shafts.

2. With a gear reduction, the input speed can be reduced while the torque is increased.

3. To reduce the noise and stress in the gears, most of the gears in your car are spur.

4. Sometimes, many spur gears are used at once to create very large gear reductions.

5. Bevel gears are useful when the motion of a shaft's rotation needs to be changed.

6. Worm gears are used when large gear reductions are needed.

7. Rack and pinion gears are used to convert rotation into reciprocating motion.