Gear

Ratios
Calculati
ons
The most used drive system
on a first robot uses
sprockets and chains. It is
vital to the success of a robot
to properly adjust the size of
sprockets in order to obtain
the maximum speed and
power. Balancing speed
versus power can be
daunting but with a few basic
guidelines it can be made
easy. Let s examine a couple
things to keep in mind while
choosing the right gear ratio .
. .
Two Broad
Types of
Sprockets
a) Driver Sprockets are directly
driven by a motor
b) Driven Sprockets mesh with
the driven sprocket
Gear Ratio Velocity
First, notice which sprocket has the
most teeth. This will be the sprocket that
completes one revolution. Take the
number of teeth on the driven sprocket
and divide that number by the amount
of teeth on the driver sprocket.
Driver Sprocket: 30 Teeth

Driven Sprocket: 10 Teeth
30/10 = 3:1 Ratio
Revolutions per Minute
To
calculate
the RPM
output of
a given
gear ratio,
take the
velocity
ratio and
multiply
that
number by
the RPM
output of
the motor
source.

Ex. 1:
Motor RPM (60 rpm) x gear ratio (3:1)
= 120 rpm
Ex. 2:
Motor RPM (100 rpm) x gear ratio (1:4)
= 400 rpm
RPM with a Compound Gear
The easiest way to calculate RPM on a
compound system is to split up the
problem into two equations or pairs
depending on the amount of gears
involved. After finding the ratio for each
pair, multiply them together with the motor
RPM to get your final RPM.
(see next slide for examples)
Ex. 1: This example involves 4 gears. Gear
A- Driver Sprocket, Gear B and Gear C are
Fixed, and Gear D. The motor RPM in this
example will be 100 RPM.

Driver Sprocket-Gear A (30 teeth) / Gear B (10 teeth) = 3:1 Ratio
Gear C (20 teeth) / Gear D(50 teeth) = 2:5 Ratio
3:1 Ratio x 2:5 Ratio x 100rpm = 120 rpm
Ex. 2: This example also involves 4 gears. Gear A-
Driver Sprocket, Gear B and Gear C are Fixed,
and Gear D. The motor RPM in this example will
be 60 RPM.

Driver Sprocket-Gear A (20 teeth) / Gear B (15
teeth) = 4:3 Ratio
Gear C (50 teeth) / Gear D (10 teeth) = 5:1 Ratio
4:3 Ratio x 5:1 Ratio x 60rpm = 400 rpm