Experiment # 01

Acceleration of geared system

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Table of contents
Measurement of acceleration of geared system......................................................................................2
1.1. Objective.......................................................................................................................................2
1.2. Introduction..................................................................................................................................2
1.3. Theory...........................................................................................................................................2
Types of gears.......................................................................................................................................2
Spur gears..........................................................................................................................................2
Helical gear........................................................................................................................................2
Worm gears........................................................................................................................................3
Bevel gears..........................................................................................................................................3
Gear ratio..............................................................................................................................................4
Acceleration of geared system.............................................................................................................4
1.4. Apparatus.....................................................................................................................................5
1.5. Procedure......................................................................................................................................5
1.6. Calculations & Results.................................................................................................................6
1.7. Discussion......................................................................................................................................7
1.8. Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................8
References.................................................................................................................................................9

List of Figures
Figure 1 Spur gear...........................................................................................................................2
Figure 2 Helical gear.......................................................................................................................3
Figure 3 Worm gear.........................................................................................................................3
Figure 4 bevel gear..........................................................................................................................4
Figure 5 Acceleration Vs mass........................................................................................................7

List of Tables
Table 1 Acceleration against different masses................................................................................7

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 Measurement of acceleration of geared system
1.1. Objective
The objective of performing this experiment is to determine the acceleration of geared system
and compare it with the theoretical values to confirm the accuracy level.

1.2. Introduction
Different types of rotating members i.e. gears and belt drives are used in different application for
transfer of rotary motion from one place or member to another. Some of its applications are
conveyer belts, vehicles, flywheels and majority of the industrial machineries. Due to their vast
use, analysis of performance of gear systems is also of great importance. As major purpose of
gears is to increase or decrease the rotational acceleration of the system, in this experiment we
are going to measure the acceleration of geared system. For this we will consider the gear system
of four shafts with each one having its own gear of specific teeth amount, and measure the
acceleration of this system.

1.3. Theory
Gears are one of the machine elements having teeth cut on a cylindrical surface. They are used to
transfer the rotational motion from driving shaft to the driven shaft, using the meshing of gear
elements on both shafts. Through shafts increase, decrease in motion, even change in direction of
motion can also achieved. Based on the application, there are different types of gears. Major gear
types are explained below:

Types of gears
Spur gears
They are also called as spur gears. In this gears, teeth are parallel to direction of shaft, as shown
in the figure below. In meshing of spur gears, large one is called gear and smaller one is called
pinion. Such gears are easy to produce and have good efficiency for energy
transmission[ CITATION Typ212 \l 1033 ].

Figure 1 Spur gear

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Helical gear
These gears are similar to spur gear, one difference is that its teeth are not parallel to shaft.
Instead they are twisted in left or right direction. Due to this twist they are able to resist axial
loads and able to withstand high amount of loads. Moreover, their meshing is also smoother and
their operation is also quite. Below figure shows the helical gears[ CITATION Rob21 \l 1033 ].

Figure 2 Helical gear

Worm gears
These are the type of gear that contains shaft with spiral threads, along with the toothed wheel.
There is no point of intersection of both of the meshed shafts. Teeth of shaft are twisted while the
other one is spur gear as shown in figure below. This gear also results in change in transmission
direction by 90o.

Figure 3 Worm gear

Bevel gears
These are the gears with conical pitch as can be seen in figure. Number of teeth of both of its
gears are not similar. It means there is some gear ratio. In order for perfect meshing of gears,
pressure angle, pitch and face width of both gears must need to be same. Speed reduction or
increase in these gears us is also right angled i.e. 90 degree. In this type of gears, large one is
called gear and smaller one is called pinion.

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 Figure 4 bevel gear

Density is one the most important parameter of fluid especially when discussing their flows. It
tells us about the mass unit volume of the substance. In SI its unit is kg/m 3.Another term used in
flows is specific gravity.
Gear ratio
It is basically the ratio of number of turns that driven shaft will take when one turn of driver shaft
will be completed. In other words it is the ration of number of teeth of driver and driven shaft.
When two gears of different diameters and meshed together, are rotated [ CITATION Sai21 \l 1033 ] .
Pinion will rotate more quickly than the driver shaft. Gear ratio is calculated using the below
equation:
Number of teeth of gear 1
Gear ratio (from 1 to 2) =
Number of teeth of gear 2
Suppose gear has 120 teeth and meshed pinion has 30 teeth. When rotated together, gear ratio
comes out to be:
Number of teeth of gear 120
Gear ratio =
Number of teeth of pinion
= 30
=4

For this case, gear ratio comes out to be 4

Acceleration of geared system
As purpose of the gears in increase or decrease in rotation during its transmission, so its
acceleration is also one of the most important concerning factor. Acceleration of gear system can
be calculated after determining the torque and moment of inertia of all shafts of the
system[ CITATION Acc21 \l 1033 ]. Applying the Newton’s law, it comes out to be:
T1 – TR = I EQ α1
Another equation for the determination of acceleration of this system is:
1/2 mgd+ T R
α1 =
1/4 m d 2+ I EQ

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Where,
T1 is the torque applied at first or driving shaft
TR is the resisting torque
IEQ = Total moment of inertia
α1 is the angular acceleration of first or driving shaft
Total moment of inertial means the total amount of inertia generated by all shafts in the system.
Mathematically it is calculated using the equation below:

I 2 n212 I 3 n21 2 n 322 I 4 n 212 n322 n 432

IEQ (1) = I1 + + +
ƞ21 ƞ21 ƞ32 ƞ 21 ƞ32 ƞ43

Moreover, resistance torque is calculated using the equation below:

T F 2 n21 T F 3 n21 n 32 T n n n
TR (1) = TF1 + + + F 4 21 32 43
ƞ21 ƞ21 ƞ32 ƞ21 ƞ32 ƞ43

Where, n ij is gear ration between i and j gears. It is calculated using the equation:
ti
n ij =
tj

Where t i and t j are number of teeth of i and j gears. Moreover, ƞ ij is the efficiency of torque
transmission between i and j gears.

1.4. Apparatus
Apparatus used in performing this experiment are:
 Equipment of geared system
 Inductive probe
 Stopwatch
 Selected masses (6,8,10,12 kg)
 Wire for connection with the drum

1.5. Procedure
1. First accelerating mass is applied using the wire on the torque drum of shaft 1, due to
which torque T1 is produced.
2. Using the ratchet, rotation can be stopped at any moment by raising the mass.
3. Releasing it, will the resume the acceleration as the mass will fall under the action of
gravity.
4. Take the stop watch and measure the readings of time when mass will touch the ground
and also after 20 seconds, as there are 60 holes present.

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 5. Each frequency will represent the angular velocity (average) of shaft 4. Video recorder
can also be used for post processing and better data collection.
6. After that, this procedure is repeated for other masses present.

1.6. Calculations & Results

To start the calculation of theoretical acceleration of the geared system. We need the inertia and
torque (due to friction) values of all shafts. Such values are given below:
I1 = 22.6 (10-3) kgm2 & T F1 = 2.19 (10-3) Nm
I2 = 23.8 (10-3) kgm2 & T F2 = 3.63 (10-3) Nm
I3 = 26.1 (10-3) kgm2 & T F3 = 3.12 (10-3) Nm
I4 = 14.0 (10-3) kgm2 & T F4 = 3.11 (10-3) Nm
Moreover, efficiency of all meshed gears is as:
Ƞ12 = 90.4 %
Ƞ23 = 94.1 %
Ƞ34 = 97.9 %
Teeth of all these gears are:
t1 = 90 teeth
t1 = 30 & 96 teeth
t3 = 24 & 100 teeth
t4 = 20 teeth
From the given data, equivalent moment of inertia comes out to be:
2 2
23.8(10−3 )(3)2 26.1(10 )(3) ( 4) 14 (10−3 )(3)2 (4)2 (5)2
−3
IEQ (1) = 22.6 (10-3) + + +
0.904 (0.909)(0.941) (0.909)(0.941)(0.979)
Solving the equation, total moment of inertia comes out to be:
IEQ (1) = 65.19647 kgm2

Similarly, resistance torque will be:

−3
23.8(10−3 )(2) 23.8(10 )(3)(4 ) 23.8(10−3)(3)(4 )(5)
TR (1) = 2.19 (10-3) + + +
0.909 (0.909)(0.941) (0.909)(0.941)(0.979)
From that, it comes out to be:
TR = 0.285907 Nm
Now for value of mass m = 6 kg, acceleration value will be:

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 1/2(6∗9.81∗0.0762)+0.285907
α1 = 2 = 0.02995 m/s2
1 /4(6) ( 0.762 ) +65.19647
For other values of masses, calculations are performed in a similar way and results obtained are
summarized in the table below:
Mass Acceleration α1
(kg) (m/s2)
6 0.029952514
8 0.041414821
10 0.052876107
12 0.064336372
Table 1 Acceleration against different masses

Based on the calculated values of acceleration, graph is plotted to check its trend. For this values
are inserted in Excel and graph is plotted, shown in figure 5.
0.07

0.06

0.05
Acceleration (m/s2)

0.04

0.03

0.02

0.01

0
6 8 10 12
Mass (kg)

Figure 5 Acceleration Vs mass

1.7. Discussion
It can be seen that with the increase in mass applied, there is increase in resulting acceleration of
the geared system. It is because more mass will create more force, which result in more torque
generation. This torque will lead to acceleration of the gears. For this reason, it is also termed as
the accelerating mass. Moreover, there is efficiency of the gears considered in calculations. In
ideal cases, efficiency of transmission of rotation between two meshed gears is not considered or
taken equal to 100%. But in our case, based on the type of gears, their meshing smoothness, we
have defined the efficiency value for each meshed gears. This will lead us to the more actual
results.

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Resisting torque is also included in the calculations. It is majorly due to friction between all these
meshed components. In actual, friction is one of the major concerning factor for any moving
body, so this factor, include all such kind of losses in it. It can be seen that its value is subtracted
in the equation of acceleration determination. In our case, its value comes out to be 0.285 Nm.
The final value of acceleration comes out to be 0.02995 m/s2.
In last, we have also made graph of acceleration Vs mass. It has been seen that with the increase
in accelerating mass, there is increase in the acceleration of the geared system.

1.8. Conclusion
In this experiment, acceleration of the geared system is determined. For this geared system
equipment is taken and different masses are applied on it. In this system, there are four shafts,
each one have their specific gears and its teeth. Based on this total moment of inertia and
resisting torque is determined. For our case, it comes out to be 65.19647 kgm2 and 0.2854 Nm.
Using both of these values and Newton’s second law, acceleration of the system is calculated,
which is 0.02995 m/s2 for mass of 6 kg. Its value is also calculated for value of masses i.e. 8, 10
and 12 kg and graph is plotted for all given mass values. It has been seen that with the increase in
accelerating mass, there is also increase in resulting mass.

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References

[1] "Types of gear (Spur gear)," Stock gears, 2021. [Online]. Available:
https://khkgears.net/new/gear_knowledge/introduction_to_gears/types_of_gears.html.

[2] R. Olson, "The different types of gears," REXNORD, 2021. [Online]. Available:
https://www.rexnord.com/blog/articles/gear/types-of-gears .

[3] S. M4, "WHAT IS GEAR RATIO? IT’S FORMULA AND CALCULATION ON GEAR RATIO," the Engineer
Post, November 2021. [Online]. Available: https://search.yahoo.com/search?
fr=mcafee&type=E210US91213G0&p=gear+ratio.

[4] "Acceleration of a Geared System," 2021. [Online]. Available: https://www.studocu.com/en-

au/document/university-of-queensland/intermediate-mechanical-space-dynamics/mech2210-
experiment-1-acceleration-of-a-geared-system/17143986.