A PLANETARY GEAR TRAIN WITH RING-INVOLUTE TOOTH

Abstract

This paper proposes a planetary gear train with ring-involute tooth profile. Inherent in a planetary gear train is the conjugate problem among the sun, the planet gears and the ring gear. The sun gear and the planet gear can be obtained by applying the envelope method to a one-parameter family of a conical tooth surface. The conical tooth rack cutter was presented in a previous paper [5]. The obtained planet gear then becomes the generating surface. The double envelope method can be used to obtain the envelope to the family of generating surfaces. Subsequently the profile of a ring gear of the planetary gear trains can be easily obtained, and using the generated planet gear and applying the gear theory, the ring gear is generated. To illustrate, the planetary gear train with a gear ratio of 24:10:7 is presented. Using rapid prototyping and manufacturing technology, a sun gear, four planet gears, and a ring gear are designed. The RP primitives provide an actual full-size physical model that can be analyzed and used for further development. Results from these mathematical models are applicable to the design of a planetary gear train.