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Module: NG1S422

AEROSPACE MATERIALS &

HARDWARE

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Disclaimer S

The information contained within this document is for TRAINING USE ONLY.

These training notes should not be used for carrying out any work or procedure on ANY
aircraft. You must always use the correct aircraft maintenance manual or equipment
manufacturer’s handbook.

You should abide by the rules set out by your regulatory authority and as laid down in
the company policy where you are working. All reports, documentation, etc., must be in
compliance with your organization.

For Health and Safety, always follow the guidance laid down by the equipment
manufacturer, company policy, national safety policies and national governments.

Aircraft Maintenance Engineering

University of South Wales
Treforest Campus
Pontypridd
NP20 2BP

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BOOK 11
TRANSMISSION

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Table of Contents HO
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Disclaimer.............................................................................................................................................................. 2 S

GEARS...................................................................................................................................................................... 5
Types of Gears................................................................................................................................................. 9
Spur Gear.................................................................................................................................................... 10
Helical Gears............................................................................................................................................. 11
Bevel Gears................................................................................................................................................ 13
Hypoid Gears............................................................................................................................................ 15
Worm Gear................................................................................................................................................ 16
Gear Trains................................................................................................................................................ 17

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GEARS HO
A gear is a machine element used to transmit motion between rotating shafts/wheels ED
when the centre distance between the shafts is not too large. They provide a positive DU
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drive, maintaining exact velocity ratios between driving and driven shafts.

Power transmission gears can be made from cast iron, stainless steel and from
chromium molybdenum steel (eg E4130) which provides good toughness and
resistance to wear. Some (low power) gears are made from sintered metal (powered
metal). Non-power gears can be made of almost any material including composites for
quieter running non lubricated arrangements and brass and Al alloy.

Most gears are run lubricated either by regular maintenance lubrication or by being run
semi submersed in oil or spray lubricated.

There are two basic gear tooth profile forms the origins from which all gear types are
derived. They are the involute gear, by far the most common in general use, and the
conformal gear, but because of problems that were largely insurmountable until now,
has not been used much in the past. Modern manufacturing techniques have brought
about its resurrection and at least one helicopter (the Lynx) now utilises conformal
gearing.

An involute tooth is laid out along a curved line which is generated by taut wire as it is
unwound from a cylinder. The generating circle is called the base circle of the involute.
The involute curve establishes the tooth profile outward from the base circle. From the
base circle inward, the tooth flank simply follows a radial line and is faired into the
bottom land with a small fillet.

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Terms used (refer figures 19, 20 and 21): HO
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Addendum. The radial distance between the Pitch Circle of a gear wheel and the top of DU
the tooth. S

Addendum Circle. The circle that passes through the tips of the teeth.

Circular Pitch. Length of the arc of the Pitch Circle between the centres of other
corresponding points of adjacent teeth. Generally referred to simply as the ‘pitch’.

Clearance. The difference between the Addendum and the Dedendum.

Dedendum. The radial distance between the Pitch Circle and the Root Circle (depth of
wheel tooth below pitch circle).

Dedendum or Root Circle. The circle that contains the roots of the teeth.

Face. That surface of the tooth which is between the pitch circle and the top of the tooth
parallel to the axis of the gear.

Flank. That surface which is between the Pitch Circle and the bottom land parallel to the
axis of the gear (the flank also includes the fillet).

Interference. If contact does not occur on the line of action, then interference may occur.
This is often the case when a pinion with a small number of teeth is in mesh with a
gearwheel with a large number of teeth – the faces of the wheel teeth binding with the
flanks of the pinion teeth. If this happens the pinion teeth will be undercut at the roots.
This will cause debris causing further wear and weakening of the teeth with eventual
failure.

Line of Action. Contact between the teeth of meshing gears takes place along a line
tangential to the two base circles. This line passes through the Pitch Point and is called
the Line of Action.

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Pinion. The term applied to the smaller of two mating gears.

Pitch. Gear teeth pitch may be measured as follows:

 Daimetral Pitch is the number of teeth per inch of Pitch Circle Diameter. It is a
ratio.
 Circular Pitch is the distance between two corresponding points on two adjacent
teeth around the Pitch Circle.

Pitch Circle. A circle, the radius of which is equal to the distance from the gear axis to
the Pitch Point.

Pitch Circle Diameter. The diameter of the Pitch Circle.

Pitch Point. The point at which two pitch circles meet – the point of contact which
transmits the motion tooth to tooth.

Pressure Angle. The angle between the line of action and the common tangent to the
Pitch Circles at the Pitch Point.

Top Land. Is the top surface of a tooth at the tip or crest. The Bottom Land is the surface
between the fillets of each adjacent tooth at the root.

Root Fillet. That bottom portion of the tooth profile where it joins the bottom land. It is
usually concave.

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Toe. That part of a bevel gear that is the shortest part of the tapered tooth. It subscribes
the smallest diameter. The heel is the other end of the tooth that subscribes the largest
diameter.

Tooth Space. Distance between two adjacent teeth measured along the pitch circle.

Tooth Thickness. The thickness of a tooth measured along the pitch circle.

Working Depth. Is the maximum depth that the tooth extends into the tooth space of the
mating gear.

Whole Depth. Is the sum of the Addendum and the Dedendum.

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Types of Gears HO
Various types of gears transmit power through gearboxes. The type selected for use in a ED
specific application will depend on: DU
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 How much power to be transmitted.
 Is a change of rpm required?
 Is a change of torque required?
 Is a change of angle or direction of drive required?
 Is the gear system to be free from feedback (non-reversible)?

Using a smaller driver gear (with less teeth) than the driven gear, will reduce the speed
of the driven gear but its torque will be increased. If a larger driver than driven is used
the reverse is true.

A gear system, or gear train, is made up of gears that are:

 Driver – a gear wheel that drives another gear wheel.

 Driven – the other gear wheel that is being driven.
 Idler – this is a driven and a driver wheel as it is a wheel between two others.
Often used to change the direction of rotation (eg anticlockwise to clockwise) or
change the speed.

Figure 23 shows an internal and external Spur Gear where either the larger or the
smaller gear could be the driver so loads in the system would be ‘fed-back’ from the
driven to the driver.

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Figure 24 shows a Worm Gear where the worm is the driver but the driven gear (Pinion
Gear) could not be the driver as any movement of it would not turn the worm (non-
reversible, no feedback).

Gears are named according to the angle of intersection of the axis and the shape of their teeth:
 Spur
 Helical
 Worm
 Hypoid
 Bevel etc

Spur Gear
These are classified as external (the most common), internal, and Rack and
Pinion. External spur gears have teeth which point outward from the centre of the gear.
Internal or annular gears have teeth pointing inward towards the gear axis. A rack (a
gear with teeth spaced along a straight line), together with a pinion gear, convert
straight-line motion into rotary motion and vice versa.

Spur gears are normally straight toothed (but can be spiral cut – helical gear).
Used on shafts that run parallel to one another but not on the same axis. Can be noisy
due to impact of engaging teeth.
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Helical Gears
These are a development of the spur gear. Instead of the teeth being parallel to the axis
of the gear they lie at an angle (a helix angle).

The main advantage of helical gears over straight cut gears is that more teeth area is in
contact at any one time. Meshing takes place along a diagonal line across the faces and
flanks of the teeth. Thus one pair of meshing teeth remain in contact until the following
pair engage so the load on the teeth is distributed over a larger area. This provides a
smoother and quieter drive as well as enabling more power to be transmitted.

The disadvantage of helical gears is that they produce a heavy axial load on the shaft.
This axial load can be eliminated by the use of double helical gearing (herringbone) but
can also be absorbed by thrust bearings that support the gear shaft.

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A double helical gear has two sets of teeth, one with a right hand helix and the other
with a left hand helix.

In some drive systems from engines to propellers and rotor heads, the axial thrust load
on a shaft fitted with helical spur gears is utilised for torque measurement purposes.
The shaft is allowed a small amount of end float and, as torque is applied, the shaft
moves axially (as it rotates).

This axial movement pushes on a small piston thus producing pressure in an oiled filled
dash pot. The oil pressure is transduced into an electrical signal for flight deck
indicators reading torque in Nm.

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Spur gears are found in gearboxes; in Epicyclic reduction gear trains; accessory drive ED
trains, and in gear-type oil pumps – for engine oil systems and some older hydraulic DU
systems (giving low pressure/high flow rates). S

For internal spur gears, the positions of the addendum and dedendum are reversed
from those of the external gear but are still related to the root and tip.

This results in a different tooth action and less slippage than with an equivalent external
spur.
The internal gear makes it suited to closer centre distances than could be used with an
external gear of the same size. When it is necessary to maintain the same sense of
rotation for two parallel shafts, the internal gear is especially desirable because it
eliminates the need for an idler gear. These conditions make the internal gear highly
adaptable to Epicyclic and planetary gear trains.

As mentioned above, helical gears are essentially spur gears. They run on parallel axes
with teeth oblique to the tooth surface, starting at one edge proceeding across the face
of the tooth. This action results in reduced impact stress and quieter operation,
particularly at high speed.
Herringbone gears are equivalent to two helical gears of opposite hand placed side by
side. They are suited to high-speed operation and eliminate the axial thrust produced by
single helical gears. Helical gears are referred to as right or left hand in the same
manner as screw threads. A right hand gear being one on which the teeth twist
clockwise as they recede from the observer looking along the gear axis.

Bevel Gears
Used to connect shafts in the same plane where the centre lines intersect and a change
of direction is required. The teeth can be either straight cut or spiral cut and its basic
form is that of a cone. They are commonly found on intermediate and tail rotor
gearboxes on helicopters where a change in the direction of drive is required. They are
also used in many gearbox accessory drives at the input stage of the turbine shaft and
the accessory drive. Used to change the shaft axis direction and/or change the speed.

The angle between the shafts is usually a right angle but it may have any angle up to 180°. The
velocity ratio is the inverse ratio of the diameters of their bases or teeth ratios.

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Two bevel gears with equal numbers of teeth and running together with their shaft axes
intersecting at 90° are called Mitre gears. Several forms of bevel gears are in use,
including straight-tooth, spiral and skewed gears.

External bevel gears have pitch angles less than 90°. Internal bevel gears have pitch
angles greater than 90°.

A crown gear is one having a pitch angle of 90°. In a crown gear therefore, its pitch
surface is a plane and the crown gear corresponds in this respect to a rack and spur
gearing.
The simplest form of bevel gear has straight teeth. The diametrical pitch of a bevel gear
is constant across the full width of the teeth.

Because each point on a straight tooth bevel gear remains a fixed distance from the
pitch cone apex, there is no sliding along as the tooth engages.

Spiral bevel gears provide a gradual engagement compared to the full line engagement
of straight bevel gears. Their teeth are curved and oblique. They have greater load
carrying ability than with straight teeth gears of the same size.

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Bevel Gear Terms

If the curved surface of the back cone is viewed normally the teeth have the same profile
as the teeth on a spur gear. The addendum and dedendum have the same proportions as
spur gear teeth but are measured above and below the pitch circle parallel to the back
cone driver.
Pressure angles for bevel gears are usually 14½° or 20° as for spur gears.

Additional to those terms used for spur gears the following are used:

Pitch Cone Angle. The angle between the axis of the gear and the pitch cone teeth centre.
When the pitch cone angle is 45° the gear is a mitre gear.

Face Angle. Angle between the line at right angles to the axis and the top surfaces of the
teeth.

Edge Angle. The angle between a line at right angles to the axis and the top edge of the
teeth.

Addendum Angle. The angle between the gear wheel and the top surfaces of the teeth.

Dedendum Angle. The angle between the gear wheel and the bottom surfaces of the
teeth.

On some gear boxes, to establish correct wear patterns, one of the bevel gears may be
adjusted forwards or backwards along its axis (by a fraction of a mm).
This may be carried out using shims (as per the manual) and will put more or less area
of tooth in meshing contact.

Hypoid Gears

These are used where the centre lines of the two shafts neither intersect nor run
parallel.

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They are similar to bevel gears in application and form, but the basic surfaces on which HO
they are cut are hyperboloids instead of cones. The teeth are helical and the axes of the ED
shafts do not intersect. DU
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Worm Gear
Used where a large reduction in speed and an increase in torque is required.
Gives a ‘no back-feed’ provision and used on systems where it is required that any load
taken by the system is not felt on the input to the worm. Used on lifting equipment using
either a manual or powered worm input.

These connect shafts at right angles which lie on different planes. The worm is
essentially a screw which may have a single, double or triple start thread.
These engage with teeth on the pinion gear. Older teeth on pinions were straight but
now are usually wasted to give a greater contact area with the worm. Worms may be
known as Encircling or Hindley Worms. With parallel worms the teeth are straight sided
on a section through the axis, and have the same proportions as standard involute track
teeth.

The worm is the driver and the pinion is the driven gear. Movement cannot be
transmitted the other way.

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Gear Trains HO
A principle function of gears is to change the speed of rotation and/or their direction. ED
Besides changing speeds, the torque can be reduced or increased. DU
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The change in speed of two gears in mesh is calculated as the Velocity Ratio.
Velocity Ratio (VR) is the number of revolutions N1 of the driving gear divided by the
number of revolutions N2 of the driven gear in the same time interval.

For gears with teeth T1 and T2, respectively, VR is expressed as the following equation:

Example 1. If a 20 tooth pinion (the smaller of a pair of gears) drives a 40 tooth gear, the
pinion must rotate twice for each one revolution of the gear.

Example 2. Driver spur with 200 teeth @ 400rpm. What is the speed of the driven gear
with 30 teeth?

Stepping up or stepping down the speed of the driven gear will also affect its torque.
Stepping up the speed reduces the torque by the same ratio and stepping down the
speed increases the torque by the same ratio.

If the final, or driven gear, in a two gear (external spur) gear-train is to rotate in the
same direction as the driver then an Idler gear is required between the two. If the
distance between the driver gear and the final gear is large then several idler gears may
be required. The idler gear does not affect the speed ratio.

The most important distinction on classifying gear trains is that between ordinary and
Epicyclic gear trains. In ordinary trains, all axes remain stationary relative to the frame
but in Epicyclic trains, at least one axis moves relative to the frame.
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The reduction in the speed of the final drive may be achieved in several stages as in
some helicopter main rotor drives. The first stage is normally comprised of an input
gear driving an input driven gear, which has a larger number of teeth than the driver.

The reduction achieved across this type of gearing is expressed as a ratio, where the
number of teeth on the driven are compared with the number of teeth on the driver.
Thus a gear train consisting of a driver with 30 teeth and driven with 90 teeth would
have a reduction ratio of 90: 30 or 3: 1.

The second reduction stage is usually in the form of a spur Epicyclic reduction gear. This
consists of a central, or Sun gear, which revolves inside a stationary
Ring gear (the ring gear, a fixed annulus, normally forms part of the gearbox outer
casing and is internally toothed). Interposed between the sun gear and the ring gear,
and meshing with both, are sets of Planetary Pinions, varying in number from three to
eight (figure 33 shows 3). The planetary pinions are housed in a carrier to which is
secured the output shaft.

As the sun gear rotates, the planetary pinions are made to rotate about their axis, and,
because they are in mesh with the ring gear, which is stationary, they “walk” round the
gear, taking with them the planetary pinion carrier.
This transmits a drive to the output shaft, which rotates in the same direction as the sun
gear, but at a reduced speed.

The reduction achieved in an Epicyclic gear assembly is also expressed as a ratio, but
the numbers of teeth of the sun gear and the ring gear only are considered.

The actual reduction can be found using the following formula:

Number of teeth of SUN + Number of teeth of RING

Number of teeth of SUN

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Thus an assembly consisting of a sun with 40 teeth and a ring with 120 teeth would HO
have the following reduction: ED
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This can be expressed as a ratio of 4: 1

From the above it can be seen that the planetary pinions are, in fact, idler gears and
their number of teeth is of no consequence to the actual reduction ratio. They are, of
course, an essential part of the assembly, providing the means of transmitting the
output drive power.

In some assemblies, the Epicyclic gearing is in two stages (figure 35), with the lower
stage output shaft driving the upper stage sun gear. In a single-stage assembly the
planetary pinion carrier transmits the drive directly to the main rotor drive shaft.

Bevel Epicyclic Gear

This gear train consists of two opposed bevel gears of different diameters.

The large gear in figure 34 is the driving gear and the smaller gear is a fixed stationary
gear. Three planet gears or pinions, free to rotate, are mounted on equally spaced arms
which are part of the output shaft (eg a propeller shaft).

They are situated between, and are in engagement with, both the driving and fixed bevel
gears. Rotation of the driving gear causes the planet gears to rotate which drives their
respective mounting arms and the shaft. The assembly allows for high torque
transmission and acts as a reduction gear.

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Figure 28 shows a two stage speed reduction gear box for a helicopter. Stage one is a ED
spur gear and stage two is a helical gear. This gear also acts as a torque transducer DU
utilising the fact that when power is transmitted through the gear the helical teeth S
produce an axial movement of the shaft.

Pressure is created in an oil filled cylinder which is converted to an electrical signal for
transmission to cockpit instruments.

Figure 35 shows the gear train or transmission system of a twin engine helicopter
(based on the Aerospatial Super Puma). There is no need to commit the details to
memory and the figures are approximate – but studying the drawing will give an insight
into how gears are used.

Both (jet) engines drive into the system at about 22,000rpm. This goes via a double
helical reduction gear to bring the rpm down to about 8000rpm. These two drives feed
into a common drive via a single helical reduction gear to bring the rpm down to about
5000rpm.

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This common drive drives the main bevel gear to reduce the rpm again – down to about HO
2000rpm. ED
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The final reduction stages to the main rotor are achieved using a double serially S
mounted Epicyclic reduction gear. This brings the final speed down to
265rpm.

The individual engine drives take spur gears to drive accessories such as oil pumps,
hydraulic pumps, generators etc (about 2000 to 3000rpm), and the common drive is
used to drive the tail rotor.

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