5/29/2015

Planetarygearratiocalculations

Planetarygearratiocalculations
ThisarticlealsoavailableinSpanish
AquestionthatIoftengetishowtoworkoutplanetarygearsusingthegeartemplate
generator
Workingoutthe
toothcountsfor
planetarygearsis
actuallynotthat
complicated,soI
initiallyneglected
tomentionhowto
doit.Buthaving
receivedthe
questionanumber
oftimes,I'll
elaborate.
Forconvenience,
let'sdenoteR,S,
andPasthe
numberofteethon
thegears.
Numberofteeth
inringgear
Numberofteeth
S insun(middle)
gear
Numberofteeth
P
inplanetgears
Thefirstconstraintforaplanetarygeartoworkoutisthatallteethhavethesamepitch,or
toothspacing.Thisensuresthattheteethmesh.
R

Thesecondconstraintis:
R=2P+S
Thatistosay,thenumberofteethintheringgearisequaltothenumberofteethinthe
middlesungearplustwicethenumberofteethintheplanetgears.
Inthegearatleft,thiswouldbe30=29+12
Thiscanbemademoreclearbyimagining"gears"thatjustroll(noteeth),andimaginean
evennumberofplanetgears.Fromtheillustrationatleft,youcanseethatthediametersof
thesungear,plustwoplanetgearsbemustequaltotheringgearsize.
Nowimaginewetakeoutoneofthegreenplanetwheels,andrearrangetheremainingones
tobeevenlyspaced.Stillthesamesizegear.
Nowimaginethewheelshaveteeth.Theteethwouldstickoutbeyondthelineofthewheel
asmuchastheyindent,sothatthepitchlineofthegearswouldbethelinearoundthe
gears.Thegeometrystillworksthesame.Ifyougointothegeargeneratorandselect"show
https://woodgears.ca/gear/planetary.html

1/5

5/29/2015

Planetarygearratiocalculations

pitchdiameter",youcanseehowthe
pitchdiameterisjustacirclethatthe
teetharecenteredover.
Thepitchdiameterofagearisjustthe
numberofteethdividedbydiametrical
pitch(largervaluesof"diametrical
pitch"meansmallerteeth).Thegear
generatorprogramtendstoreferto
toothspacing.Pitchdiametercanalso
becalculatedastoothspacing*
numberofteeth/(2*),where2*=
6.283

Here'sanother
planetarygearset.
Themiddle
arrangementis
removed...

Gear Worm
1 Million+ Prequalified
Suppliers. Contact Directly
& Start Trading!

...andhereitisinserted.
https://woodgears.ca/gear/planetary.html

2/5

5/29/2015

Planetarygearratiocalculations

Inthiscase,the
planetgearshave
12teeth,thesun
gearhas18and
theringgearhas
42teeth.
So,applying
R=2P+S
Weget
42=212+18
Thesepicturesare
partofa
fasincatingly
complicated
planetarygear
drivebyRonaldWalters.

Workingoutplanetarygearturnsratios
Workingoutthegearratioofaplanetarygeartraincanbetricky.Let'sdenotethefollowing:
Tr Turnsoftheringgear
Ts Turnsofthesungear
Ty Turnsoftheplanetarygearcarrier(theYshapedthinginthepreviousphoto)
R Ringgearteeth
S Sungearteeth
P Planetgearteeth
Theturnsratioisasfollows:
(R+S)Ty=RTr+TsS
Example:
Now,usuallyinaplanetarygear,oneofthegearsisheldfixed.Forexample,ifweholdthe
ringgearinafixedposition,Trwillalwaysbezero.Sowecanremovethosetermsfromthe
aboveformula,andweget:
(R+S)Ty=TsS
Now,ifwedrivethesungear,wecanrearrangetheformulatosolveforturnsoftheY
carrier:
Ty=Ts

R+S
Sothegearratiois
S/(R+S)
https://woodgears.ca/gear/planetary.html

3/5

5/29/2015

Planetarygearratiocalculations

Constraintsonnumberofteethandplanets
Ifyouwanttheplanetarygearstobeevenlyspaced,andallbeengagingthenexttoothat
thesametime,thenbothyoursunandyourringgearneedstobeevenlydivisiblebythe
numberofplanets.
Ifyouwantthemtobeevenlyspaced,butdon'tneedthemtoallbeinthesamephasewith
respecttotheirteeth,thenthenthesumoftheringgear'steethandthesungear'steeth
mustbeevenlydivisiblebythenumberofplanets.Thatis:
(R+S)isevenlydividesbythenumberofplanets.
Ifhoweveryouarewillingtospacetheplanetsunevenly,thisconstraintdoesnotapply.The
anglebetweentheplanetgearsaboutthesungearishoweverstillconstrainedby:
Anglep2p=

360

N
WhereNisawholenumber
R+S
Thatistosay,theanglebetweenplanetgearsisamultipleof360/(R+S).
Finally,here's
anothercool
arrangementof
gears,thoughnot
reallya"planetary"
gearset.
Ifyouplaceagear
insideanother
gear,withthe
internalgear
havingatooth
countofhalfthe
ringgear'stooth
count,anypointon
thepitchdiameter
oftheinsidegear
willmovebackand
forthinastraight
line.
Thebrassrodinthisphotowillmovestrictlylefttorightintheslot,whilethegearitis
attachedtorollsaroundinsidetheringgear.Thatgearisactuallyattachedtoacrankwhich
keepsitrollingaroundtheedge,althoughonlythecenterpartofthatcrankisvisible,soit
doesn'treallylooklikeacrankinthephoto.
Photocredits:
Ihaven'tactuallyhadaneedtobuildaplanetarygearsetmyself,soIusedsomephotosthatweresenttome
byreaders.
ThefirstandlastphotosweretakenbyBrianKerr
ThesecondandthirdphotosweresenttomebyRonaldWalters

Seealso:
https://woodgears.ca/gear/planetary.html

4/5

5/29/2015

Planetarygearratiocalculations

Geartemplategenerator

Cuttingplywoodgears

Howtomake
woodengears

Workingoutcompound
gearratios

RonWalters's
planetarygeardrive

Penshakingcontraption

Makingrightanglegears

https://woodgears.ca/gear/planetary.html

5/5