Mechanism and Machine Theory 39 (2004) 153168

www.elsevier.com/locate/mechmt

Computer aided design of elliptical gears with circular-arc teeth

Biing-Wen Bair

Department of Mechanical Engineering, National United University, 1 Lien-Kung, Kung-Ching Li,

Miao, 360, Taiwan, ROC
Received 6 June 2001; accepted 9 July 2003

Abstract
An elliptical gear drive, whose rotation axis coincides with its geometric center, can be used as an oil
pump. Rack cutters with circular-arc teeth generate the tooth proles of circular-arc elliptical gears, which
have a convexconcave tooth prole contact. The mathematical model of a circular-arc elliptical gear based
on the theory of gearing and gear generation mechanism is also developed. Owing to its complex geometry,
the prole of circular-arc elliptical gears may have tooth undercutting and pointed teeth. Design parameters
such as pressure angle at pitch point, number of teeth, module, major axis, and circular-arc radius aect the
tooth undercutting and pointed teeth of circular-arc elliptical gears. This paper proposes a systematic
method to generate the tooth prole of circular-arc elliptical gears without tooth undercutting and pointed
teeth. Some numerical examples illustrate the eectiveness of the computerized design process.
2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Involute gears are widely used in industry, because the manufacturing of this type gear, which is
generated by a hob cutter in hobbing machines, has higher eciency than those of other types of
gears, e.g. cycloidal gears. Involute gear drives have a convexconvex tooth prole contact when
two mating gears are meshed. Compared with the gears having convexconcave tooth prole
contact, the convexconvex tooth prole contact results in a larger relative curvature and higher
contact stresses, those characteristics cause ill conditions of lubrication and a lower surface durability while the gear pair is meshed. Circular-arc gears, which are manufactured by a convex
circular-arc hob cutter and a concave circular-arc hob cutter, respectively, have a concaveconvex

Tel./fax: +886-3732-3152x19/13.
E-mail address: bairwen@mail.nuu.edu.tw (B.-W. Bair).

0094-114X/$ - see front matter 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/S0094-114X(03)00111-3

154

B.-W. Bair / Mechanism and Machine Theory 39 (2004) 153168

tooth prole contact. Therefore, the circular-arc gears decrease contact stresses and increase the
loading capacity. It also provides better lubrication conditions than those of involute gears.
Nieman and Hayer [1] investigated the Flender-type worms with concaveconvex surfaces. The
WildhaberNovikov gear (WN gear) is a helical gear with circular-arc teeth. Litvin and Tsay [2]
investigated the kinematic errors of a WN gear drive under various assemble conditions and
improved the transmission errors by correcting the tool settings. Litvin [3] also developed the
mathematical model of double circular-arc helical gears to analyze the kinematic errors and instantaneous contact ellipses. Tsay et al. [4] analyzed the stress of WN gears by applying the nite
element method. Ariga and Nagata [5] developed a new type of WN gear which is generated by a
cutter with combined circular-arc and involute proles. The new type of WN gear has a longer
fatigue life and is insensitive to center distance variations. Simon [6] analyzed the optimal setting
angle for the grinding wheel to ensure the precision of the reshapened circular prole hob for
worm gear manufacturing. Meanwhile, Simon [7] presented a worm gear drive with double circular-arc proles, which has the following advantages: favorable position of the instantaneous
contact lines, high load carrying capacity of the oil lm, and reduced elastohydrodynamic lubrication power losses.
The design and manufacturing of an elliptical gear are challenging tasks because the pitch curve
of the gear is an ellipse. Some studies [811] have focused on kinematic analysis and computeraided design of elliptical pitch curves. Freudenstein and Chen [12] developed variable-ratio chain
drives (e.g. elliptical gear drives), which were applied to bicycles and variable motion transmissions involving band drives, tape drives, and time belts with a minimum slack. Emura and
Arakawa [13] used the elliptical gear to analyze a steering mechanism, and this steering mechanism can turn a carrier with a small radius. Meanwhile, Kuczewski [14] used a spur gear to approximate the prole of an ellipical gear. Litvin [3] developed the use of evolute curves to form the
tooth prole, and also derived the tooth evolute of an ellipse. Chang et al. [15] used the inverse
mechanism relation and the equation of meshing to develop the mathematical model of elliptical
gears and also investigated the undercutting conditions. In their investigation, the rotation axis of
elliptical gears coincides with one of the elliptical foci, and the elliptical gears were treated as
generating by a rack cutter.
The elliptical gear tooth prole is usually cut by a hob or shaper cutter on a hobbing or shaping
machine. In this study, we simulate the manufacturing of elliptical gears by convex and concave
circular-arc hob cutters, respectively, on a hobbing machine. According to the theory of gearing
and the proposed generation mechanism, the mathematical model of a circular-arc elliptical gear,
which is rotated about its geometric center, is developed. Due to the complex tooth prole of the
circular-arc elliptical gears, some special gear characteristics should be considered, such as tooth
undercutting and pointed teeth. For a gear set with small number of teeth, tooth undercutting
may occur on the gear tooth surface. Some gear design parameters such as pressure angle at pitch
point, number of teeth, module, circular-arc radius, and major axis aect the tooth undercutting
of this type of elliptical gear. The root strength of the gear tooth can be increased by generating
the gears with a positive prole-shifted modication. However, pointed teeth may appear if the
cutter generates the gear using a larger positive prole-shifted modication. The right- and leftside circular-arc tooth proles intersect on or below the gear addendum circle. Meanwhile, the
pointed teeth are usually generated on the two ends of major axis of an elliptical gear. If a prole
index is dened to prevent the pointed teeth generation on both ends of major axis of an elliptical

B.-W. Bair / Mechanism and Machine Theory 39 (2004) 153168

155

gear, then no other pointed tooth is generated throughout the elliptical gear prole. This study
proposes two indexes for the undercutting and pointed teeth judgements of the elliptical gear
under various design parameters. Thus, the developed computer simulation program can calculate
and provide proper design parameters for the design of circular-arc elliptical gears without tooth
undercutting and pointed teeth.

2. Mathematical model of the circular-arc elliptical gear surfaces

A complete elliptical gear tooth prole consists of three surface regions: Working region, llet
and bottom land. A circular-arc rack cutter used for circular-arc elliptical gear generation also
consists of working region, llet and top land, as shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 2 depicts the circular-arc
rack cutter generates the elliptical gear in the cutting mechanism. Rack cutter translates along the
Xc -axis, performs a pure roll without sliding on the pitch ellipse, and the gear blank is rotated
about its geometric center, O1 .
2.1. Working region of circular-arc rack cutter prole
Fig. 1 presents the design of the normal section of circular-arc rack cutter Rp , where regions 3
and 4 are the left- and right-side working regions, regions 2 and 5 are the left- and right-side llets,
and regions 1 and 6 are the left- and right-side top lands. Meanwhile, design parameter Rp is the
radius of the circular-arc rack cutter, and hp is the angular parameter, measured from the horizontal line to the line corresponding to arbitrary point on the working region. The threedimensional rack cutter prole can be obtained by translating its normal section, shown in Fig. 1,
along the Zc -axis with a displacement parameter Up . Therefore, the working region of the circulararc rack cutter can be expressed in the coordinate system Sc Xc ; Yc ; Zc by the following equation:

Fig. 1. Normal section of rack cutter RP for generating the driving elliptical gear.

156

B.-W. Bair / Mechanism and Machine Theory 39 (2004) 153168

Fig. 2. Kinematic relationship between rack cutter and generated gear.

3
Rp sin hp
sin wn
Rc 4 Rp cos hp
cos wn B0  5;
Up

where parameter B0 is the half of tooth width of the elliptical gear; and wn is the pressure angle
measured at pitch point. In Eq. (1), the upper sign denotes the left-side circular-arc rack cutter
surface while the lower sign represents the right-side circular-arc rack cutter surface. The normal
vector of the working region of the rack cutter surface Rp can be obtained as follows:
2
3
sin hp
nc 4  cos hp 5:
2
0
2.2. Locus of circular-arc rack cutter working region
Fig. 2 displays the kinematic relationship between the generated circular-arc elliptical gear and
the circular-arc rack cutter. The rack cutter translates along the Xc -axis in the elliptical gear
generation. The coordinate systems that Fig. 2 represents are Cartesian coordinate systems with
the right-handed three mutual perpendicular axes. Coordinate system Sc Xc ; Yc ; Zc is attached to
the rack cutter, and coordinate system S1 X1 ; Y1 ; Z1 is attached to the generated elliptical gear,
whose rotation center coincides with the gear geometric center. S denotes the transnational distance, measured along the pitch line of the rack cutter, between the instantaneous pitch point I
and the origin Oc of coordinate system Sc . Meanwhile, parameter c1 , that corresponds to the
translated distance S of the rack cutter and the instantaneous pitch point I, is the angle formed by
axes Yc and X1 . The rotation angle of the elliptical gear is p2
c1 , and angle /1 is a function of c1 .
Furthermore, R1 is the position vector of the generated elliptical gear prole while Rc is the
position vector of the rack cutter surface. Applying the following homogeneous coordinate

B.-W. Bair / Mechanism and Machine Theory 39 (2004) 153168

157

transformation matrix equation allows us to obtain the locus (family) of the rack cutter represented in coordinate system S1 as follows:
R1 M1;c Rc ;

where
2

sin c1
6
cos c1
M1;c  6
4
0
0

cos c1
sin c1
0
0

3
0 r1 cos /1 S cos c1
0
r1 sin /1 S sin c1 7
7:
5
1
0
0
1

Substituting Eq. (1) into Eq. (3) leads to the family of rack cutter surfaces as follows:
2
3
B1 sin c1 C1 cos c1 r1 cos /1 S cos c1
R1 4
B1 cos c1 C1 sin c1
r1 sin /1 S sin c1 5;
Up

where
B1 Rp sin hp
sin wn and C1 Rp cos hp
cos wn B0 :

Note that B0 is the half of tooth width, and hp is a design parameter used to determine the
working region of the rack cutter RP and limited by hp min 6 hp 6 hp max , as shown in Fig. 1. According to the geometric relationship depicted in Fig. 1, it is found that



Rp sin wn
A0
hp min sin
1
;
6
Rp
and

1

hp max sin


Rp sin wn
A0 A1
:
Rp

Similar to Fig. 2, Fig. 3 shows the geometric relations of an elliptical gear, which is rotated about
its geometric center. Based on the geometric relations, the pitch curve of the ellipse r1 /1 , which is
represented in polar form, can be represented by the following equation:
s
1
e21
;
8
r1 /1 a1
1
e21 cos2 /1
where
s
a21
b21
:
e1
a1

In Eq. (8), parameter e1 is the eccentricity of the ellipse, a1 is the major semi-axis, and b1 is the
minor semi-axis. Expressing the pitch curve of ellipse, r1 /1 , using the Cartesian coordinate
system, then x1 and y1 components along the coordinate axes are

158

B.-W. Bair / Mechanism and Machine Theory 39 (2004) 153168

Fig. 3. Tangent line of the ellipse.

s
1
e21
x1 a1
cos /1 ;
1
e21 cos2 /1

10

s
1
e21
sin /1 :
y1
a1
1
e21 cos2 /1

11

and

According to Fig. 3, unit tangent vector, s1 , to the pitch curve at point I is positive in the fourth
quadrant. The tangent vector of the pitch curve can be obtained by dierentiating Eqs. (10) and
(11) with respect to parameter /1 and then normalizing the results. This process results in the unit
tangent vector as
s1

sin /1
1
2 cos2 /1 e21 cos2 /1 e41

i
1=2 1

cos /1 1
e21
1
2 cos2 /1 e21 cos2 /1 e41 1=2

j1:

12

According to Fig. 3, the unit tangent vector of the pitch curve can also be represented in terms of
c1 by the following equation:
s1 cos c1 i 1 sin c1 j 1 :

13

According to Eqs. (12) and (13), angle c1 can be expressed in terms of /1 as follows:
cos c1

sin /1
1
2 cos2 /1 e21 cos2 /1 e41 1=2

14

15

and
sin c1

cos /1 1
e21
1
2 cos2 /1 e21 cos2 /1 e41 1=2

B.-W. Bair / Mechanism and Machine Theory 39 (2004) 153168

159

The parameter S, as expressed in Eq. (4), is the arc length measured from the starting point M to
the instantaneous pitch point I along the pitch curve. From the integral operation, the arc length S
can be obtained as follows:
SMI

/1
0

2
Z /1 s
2
2
4
2
dr1
1
e1
e 1
e1 sin 2/1
r12
d/1
a1
1
d/1 :
2
2/
d/1
cos
1


e
41
e21 cos2 /1 3
0
1
1

16

2.3. Mathematical model of the driving circular-arc elliptical gears

When two gear surfaces mesh each other, both meshing surfaces should remain in tangency
throughout the meshing process under ideal contact conditions. Therefore, two conjugate mating
tooth proles have a common surface normal vector at their common contact point, which intersects the instantaneous axis of rotation (pitch point I). The equation of meshing for circular-arc
elliptical gears with conjugate shaped teeth can be represented in coordinate system Sc Xc ; Yc ; Zc
as follows [3,16]:
Xc
xc Yc
yc

;
nXc
nYc

17

where xc 0 and yc
S are the coordinates of the pitch point I, represented in coordinate
system Sc , as depicted in Fig. 2; Xc and Yc are the coordinates of the contact point; and nXc and nYc
are the unit normal vectors of the contact point, represented in coordinate system Sc , respectively.
Substituting Eqs. (1) and (2) into Eq. (17) results in the equation of meshing between the
circular-arc rack cutter and the driving circular-arc elliptical gear, as follows:
S sin hp Rp sinhp
wn
B0 sin hp :

18

The upper sign denotes the left-side circular-arc elliptical gear surface while the lower sign represents the right-side circular-arc elliptical gear surface. Therefore, the mathematical model of the
driving circular-arc elliptical gear surfaces should consist of Eqs. (4) and (18).
2.4. Mathematical model of the driven circular-arc elliptical gears
When a circular-arc elliptical gear drive, whose rotation axis coincides with its geometric center,
is used in an instrument (such as an oil pump), the driving circular-arc elliptical gear has major
semi-axis a1 , while the driven circular-arc elliptical gear has minor semi-axis b1 . Therefore, the
center distance of the driving and driven circular-arc elliptical gears is the sum of a1 and b1 . It is
found that if the rst generated point of the driving circular-arc elliptical gear is at the major semiaxis a1 , then the rst generated point of the driven circular-arc elliptical gear should be at the
minor semi-axis b1 . Therefore, although the pitch curve of the driven ellipse is the same as that of
the driving ellipse, the assembly angle of the driven ellipse leads or lags 90 compared with that of
the driving ellipse. Based on this geometric relation, the pitch curve of the driven ellipse can be
represented as follows:

160

B.-W. Bair / Mechanism and Machine Theory 39 (2004) 153168

s
1
e21
;
r2 /2 a1
1
e21 sin2 /2

19

where /2 /1 90.
The unit tangent vector of the pitch curve at the pitch point is obtained by dierentiating Eq.
(19) with respect to parameter /2 and then normalizing the results. This process produces the unit
tangent vector as follows:
s2

sin /2 e21
1
2

1
2e21 sin /2 e41 sin /2

i
1=2 2

cos /2
2

1
2e21 sin /2 e41 sin2 /2

j :
1=2 2

20

Similar to Eq. (13), the unit tangent vector s2 of the pitch curve of driven elliptical gears can also
be represented in terms of c2 and as a function of /2 . This process leads to
cos c2

sin /2 e21
1
1
2e21 sin2 /2 e41 sin2 /2 1=2

21

22

and
sin c2

cos /2
1
2e21 sin /2 e41 sin2 /2 1=2
2

Parameter S, as expressed in Eq. (4), is the arc length measured from the pitch point I to the point
M along the pitch curve. Using the integral operation, the arc length is obtained as follows:
s


2
Z /2
Z /2 s
dr
1
e21
e41 1
e21 sin2 2/2
2
a1

23
d/2 :
SMI
r22
d/2
3
d/2
1
e21 sin2 /2
41
e21 sin2 /2
0
0
The driven circular-arc elliptical gear is generated by circular-arc rack cutter Rg whose cross
section is illustrated in Fig. 4. The working regions, regions 1 and 6, of circular-arc rack cutter Rg
can be represented in coordinate system Sc Xc ; Yc ; Zc by the following equation:
2
3
Rg sin wn
sin hg
24
Rc 4 Rg cos hg
cos wn D0  5;
Ug
where parameter D0 is the half of tooth width of the driven elliptical gear; and wn is the pressure
angle measured at pitch point. Meanwhile, design parameter Rg is the radius of the driven rack
cutter, and hg is the angular parameter, measured from the horizontal line to the line corresponding to arbitrary point on the working region.
The unit normal vector of the working regions of rack cutter surfaces is obtained as follows:
2
3

sin hg
25
nc 4  cos hg 5:
0
By applying the similar process described in Sections 2.2 and 2.3, the mathematical model of the
driven circular-arc elliptical gear can be obtained as below:

B.-W. Bair / Mechanism and Machine Theory 39 (2004) 153168

161

Fig. 4. Normal section of rack cutter Rg for generating the driven elliptical gear.

3
B2 sin c2 C2 cos c2 r2 cos /2 S cos c2
R2 4
B2 cos c2 C2 sin c2
r2 sin /2 S sin c2 5;
Ug

26

S sin hg Rg sinhg
wn
D0 sin hg ;

27

and
where
B2 Rg sin wn
sin hg and C2 Rg cos hg
cos wn D0 :
hg is a design parameter used to determine the working region of the rack cutter Rg and limited
by hg min 6 hg 6 hg max , as shown in Fig. 4. According to the geometric relationship depicted in Fig.
4, it is found that




1 Rg sin wn
C0
;
28
hg min sin
Rg
and

1

hg max sin


Rg sin wn
C0 C1
:
Rg

29

3. Tooth undercutting
Tooth undercutting occurs when a singular point appears on the circular-arc elliptical gear
prole. Notably, the radius of curvature of the elliptical pitch curve must be limited to avoid
undercutting. Since the curvature of the elliptical pitch curve varies at each instantaneous pitch
point, tooth undercutting usually occurs in the minimum curvature region. Based on the relative

162

B.-W. Bair / Mechanism and Machine Theory 39 (2004) 153168

velocity and equation of meshing, the conjugate gear prole exhibits tooth undercutting when the
following equations are satised [16]:


 dXc
V c1 
Xc

 dp
30
 of
d/1  0;
of
 o

o/ dt 
p

and


 dYc
 dp
 of
 o
p




d/1  0;

dt

c1

VYc
of

o/
1

31
c1

c1

where f represents the equation of meshing; VXc and VYc are the relative velocity between the
tooth proles of the circular-arc elliptical gear and the circular-arc rack cutter expressed in coordinate system Sc , and Xc and Yc are X and Y components of the position vector of the rack cutter
represented in coordinate system Sc .
According to the geometric relation, the relative velocity between the circular-arc rack cutter
and the generated driving circular-arc elliptical gear can be obtained and expressed in coordinate
system Sc as follows:
V c1
x1 Rp cos hp
cos wn B0 Si c x1 Rp sin wn
sin hp  j c :
c

32

Since Eq. (18) is the equation of meshing between the circular-arc rack cutter and the driving
circular-arc elliptical gear, the equation of meshing can be expressed by
f hp ; /1 S
Rp

sinhp
wn
B0 :
sin hp

33

Substituting Eqs. (32) and (33) into Eq. (31), the condition of tooth undercutting is determined as
follows:
oS
Rp sin wn
sin hp sin wn

:
oc1
sin3 hp

34

Since the minimum value of the working point is hp hp min , Eq. (34) becomes
oS
Rp sin wn
sin hp min sin wn

q:
oc1
sin3 hp min

35

Wu et al. [17] proposed that the minimum radius of curvature qmin is occurred at both sides of the
b2
major axis of the elliptical curve and qmin a11 . To prevent tooth undercutting on the circular-arc
elliptical gear, the designed radius q must be below qmin .
4. Pointed teeth
A pointed tooth is a gear tooth whose right- and left-side circular-arc tooth proles intersect
each other, and whose top land radius is less than the radius of the addendum circle. Pointed teeth
reduce the addendum, instantaneous contact teeth, average contact ratio, and gear strength.
When a rack cutter generates a gear using a larger positive prole-shifted modication, pointed

B.-W. Bair / Mechanism and Machine Theory 39 (2004) 153168

163

teeth may appear. Pointed teeth are appeared when the radius of the intersection point of the
right- and left-side circular-arc tooth proles at the major axis is less than the radius of the addendum circle at the major axis. If a circular-arc elliptical gear is designed such that the radius of
its addendum circle at the major axis is less than the radius of its pointed teeth, then the circulararc rack cutter will not produce pointed teeth.

5. Numerical examples
In the previous sections, we developed mathematical models of the driving and the driven
circular-arc elliptical gears. Eqs. (4) and (18) dene the tooth surfaces of the driving circular-arc
elliptical gear, while Eqs. (26) and (27) dene the tooth surfaces of the driven circular-arc elliptical
gear. This study also develops a computer simulation program based on the developed mathematical model of circular-arc elliptical gear, allowing us to display the computer graphs, and to
investigate tooth undercutting and pointed teeth of the circular-arc elliptical gear. The following
two examples illuminate the design procedures necessary to obtain circular-arc elliptical gears
without tooth undercutting and pointed teeth.
Example 1. The standard circular-arc rack cutters, as shown in Figs. 1 and 4, are selected to
generate the driving and driven circular-arc elliptical gears, respectively. Some common gear
design parameters are: module m 5:0 mm/teeth, pressure angle measured at pitch point
wn 20, and major semi-axis a1 125 mm. The circular-arc radii of the driving and driven rack
cutters are Rp 350 mm and Rg 350 mm, respectively.
To produce a complete prole of the circular-arc elliptical gear drive, the circumference of the
pitch ellipse must satisfy S pmT , where T is the number of teeth. Eqs. (16) and (23) can be used
to compute the elliptical curve length of the driving and the driven circular-arc elliptical gears,
respectively. According to the developed computer simulation programs, Table 1 presents the
relations among the number of teeth T , circular-arc radius Rp , eccentricity e1 , addendum radius at
the major axis RT , pointed tooth radius RPT , minimum radius qmin , and the designed radius q to
prevent tooth undercutting on the driving circular-arc elliptical gear, which is dened in Eq. (35),
when the circular-arc elliptical gear has a major semi-axis a1 125 mm and module m 5 mm/
teeth. Eccentricity of the circular-arc elliptical gear can be calculated by applying Eq. (16) with
S pmT and the integral range from 0 to 2p. Meanwhile, according to Eq. (7) the radius of the
addendum circle
at the

 major axis RT can be computed by considering that
R sin w
A 2m
hp max sin
1 p Rn p 0
. Furthermore, the radius of the pointed tooth at the major axis RPT
and the designed radius q can be computed by applying the developed mathematical model of
circular-arc elliptical gear and computer simulation program. To prevent tooth undercutting, the
b2
dS
minimum radius of an elliptical gear qmin a11 should exceed q dc
. Meanwhile, when the radius
1
of the addendum circle RT is less than the radius of pointed tooth RPT at the major axis, the rack
cutter can produce a circular-arc elliptical gear without pointed teeth. According to Table 1, when
the number of gear teeth T 38, then some parameters are calculated as follows: e1 0:881,
RT 132:350 mm, RPT 131:892 mm, qmin 27:887 mm, and q 48:580 mm. Since RT exceeds

164

B.-W. Bair / Mechanism and Machine Theory 39 (2004) 153168

Table 1
Designed parameters correspond to the circular-arc elliptical gear with major semi-axis a1 125 mm, module m
5 mm/teeth, and A1 10 mm
T (teeth)

Rp (mm)

e1

RT (mm)

RPT (mm)

qmin (mm)

q (mm)

35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49

350
350
350
350
350
350
350
350
350
350
350
350
350
350
350

0.952
0.931
0.907
0.881
0.853
0.821
0.787
0.749
0.707
0.660
0.608
0.548
0.479
0.394
0.281

133.129
132.999
132.686
132.350
132.046
131.788
131.572
131.391
131.240
131.113
131.005
130.913
130.833
130.764
130.703

130.892
131.280
131.609
131.892
132.140
132.359
132.555
132.730
132.889
133.032
133.163
133.283
133.392
133.493
133.585

11.708
16.665
22.068
27.887
34.098
40.683
47.629
54.924
62.560
70.528
78.822
87.436
96.365
105.604
115.151

48.580
48.580
48.580
48.580
48.580
48.580
48.580
48.580
48.580
48.580
48.580
48.580
48.580
48.580
48.580

RPT and qmin is less than q, the tooth proles of the driving circular-arc elliptical gear have tooth
undercutting and pointed teeth on its tooth surfaces. Fig. 5 presents the computer graphs of the
driving circular-arc elliptical gear. When the number of gear teeth T 42, the calculated parameters become eccentricity e1 0:749, RT 131:391 mm, RPT 132:730 mm, qmin 54:924 mm,

Fig. 5. Circular-arc elliptical gear with tooth undercutting and pointed teeth.

B.-W. Bair / Mechanism and Machine Theory 39 (2004) 153168

165

Fig. 6. Computer graph of the driving circular-arc elliptical gear.

Fig. 7. Computer graph of the driven circular-arc elliptical gear.

and q 48:580 mm. Since RT is less than RPT and qmin exceeds q, the driving circular-arc elliptical
gear is produced without tooth undercutting and has no pointed teeth. Fig. 6 displays the generated tooth prole of the driving circular-arc elliptical gear, while Fig. 7 illustrates the tooth
prole of the driven circular-arc elliptical gear.
Example 2. This example investigates the eects of pressure angle measured at pitch point wn ,
circular-arc radius Rp , and parameter A1 on the tooth undercutting and pointed teeth. The design
parameters of circular-arc elliptical gears are the same as those of in Example 1 except that the
number of gear teeth T 38 and A1 1:8m.

166

B.-W. Bair / Mechanism and Machine Theory 39 (2004) 153168

It is known that parameter A1 aects the radius of the addendum circle at major axis RT . The
pointed teeth appears on the tooth prole of circular-arc elliptical gears when T 38 and A1 2m,
as investigated in Example 1. In this example, 
parameter A1 is chosen as 1:8m, and parameter

1 Rp sin wn
A0 1:8m
hp max is calculated by applying Eq. (7) as sin
. According to the similar calcuRp
lation procedure as that of Example 1 and T 38 and wn 20, Table 2 lists the calculated results
for the relations among circular-arc radius Rp , addendum radius at the major axis RT , pointed
teeth radius RPT , minimum radius qmin and the designed radius q to prevent tooth undercutting
and pointed teeth on the circular-arc elliptical gear. According to Table 2, RPT is larger than RT for
the chosen Rp , therefore, there is no pointed teeth generated on the tooth prole. The designed
radius q decreases when the arc radius Rp increases. However, tooth undercutting cannot be
avoided by only increasing the arc radius Rp . When T 38 and Rp 350 mm, Table 3 listed the
calculated results for the relations among addendum radius at the major axis RT , pointed teeth
radius RPT , minimum radius qmin and the designed radius q to prevent tooth undercutting and
pointed teeth by increasing the pressure angle wn . According to Table 3, when the pressure angle
wn 30, then some parameters are calculated as follows: RT 129:681 mm, RPT 130:524 mm,

Table 2
Designed parameters correspond to the circular-arc elliptical gear with major semi-axis a1 125 mm, module m
5 mm/teeth, A1 9 mm, and wn 20
T (teeth)

Rp (mm)

wn ()

RT (mm)

RPT (mm)

qmin (mm)

q (mm)

38
38
38
38
38
38
38
38
38
38

50
150
250
350
750
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000

20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20

130.090
130.489
130.589
130.634
130.697
130.712
130.733
130.739
130.744
130.746

131.534
131.816
131.870
131.892
131.921
131.928
131.937
131.940
131.942
131.943

27.887
27.887
27.887
27.887
27.887
27.887
27.887
27.887
27.887
27.887

120.633
58.139
51.212
48.580
45.343
44.674
43.694
43.374
43.215
43.120

Table 3
Designed parameters correspond to the circular-arc elliptical gear with major semi-axis a1 125 mm, module m
5 mm/teeth, A1 9 mm, and Rp 350 mm
T (teeth)

Rp (mm)

wn ()

RT (mm)

RPT (mm)

qmin (mm)

q (mm)

38
38
38
38
38
38
38
38

350
350
350
350
350
350
350
350

5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40

141.206
134.487
131.830
130.634
130.024
129.681
129.470
129.330

133.495
133.095
132.538
131.892
131.208
130.524
129.865
129.245

27.887
27.887
27.887
27.887
27.887
27.887
27.887
27.887

1126.210
214.527
88.502
48.580
31.037
21.817
16.393
12.945

B.-W. Bair / Mechanism and Machine Theory 39 (2004) 153168

167

qmin 27:887 mm, and q 21:817 mm. Since RT is less than RPT and qmin exceeds q, the driving
circular-arc elliptical gear is produced neither tooth undercutting nor pointed teeth.
From the above examples, the tooth undercutting and pointed teeth will not appear on the
tooth prole of circular-arc elliptical gears by properly choosing the design parameters for small
numbers of teeth.

6. Conclusion
This study presents the mathematical model of circular-arc elliptical gears, which have convex
concave tooth prole contact. Load capacity of a circular-arc elliptical gear drive is larger than
that of an involute elliptical gear drive. When a circular-arc elliptical gear drive is used as an oil
pump, by choosing gears with small number of teeth can increase the eccentricity of elliptical pitch
curves and results in the increase of pumping volume. Owing to the complexity of circular-arc
elliptical gears, whose rotation axis coincides with its geometric center, the tooth undercutting and
pointed teeth may occur on the generated tooth surfaces. Small number of teeth cause severe
tooth undercutting and pointed teeth. However, the tooth undercutting and pointed teeth can be
avoided by properly choosing the gear design parameters. Therefore, according to the developed
computer program, an oil pump consists of circular-arc elliptical gears with a larger pumping
volume and without the appearance of tooth undercutting and pointed teeth has been proposed in
illustrated examples.

Acknowledgement
The author would like to thank the National Science Council of the ROC for nancially
supporting this work under contract no. NSC 91-2212-E-239-002.

References
[1] G. Nieman, E. Heyer, VID 95 (1953) 141157.
[2] F.L. Litvin, C.B. Tsay, ASME, Journal of Mechanisms, Transmissions, and Automation in Design 107 (1985) 556
564.
[3] F.L. Litvin, Gear Geometry and Applied Theory, Prentice-Hall, New Jersey, 1994.
[4] C.B. Tsay, Z.H. Fong, S. Tao, Journal of Mathematical and Computer Modelling 12 (1989) 936946.
[5] Y. Ariga, S. Nagata, ASME, Journal of Mechanisms, Transmissions, and Automation in Design 107 (1985) 565
572.
[6] V. Simon, International Journal of Machine Tools and Manufacture 33 (1993) 615625.
[7] V. Simon, Mechanism and Machine Theory 29 (1994) 407414.
[8] F.H. Miller, G.H. Young, Product Engineering 16 (1945) 462464.
[9] T. Bernett, Mechanical Engineering 89 (1967) 3339.
[10] H. Katori, K. Yokogawa, T. Hayashi, Transaction of Japan Society of Mechanical Engineering 60 (1994) 668674.
[11] S.H. Tong, C.H. Yang, ASME, Journal of Mechanical Design 120 (1998) 337341.
[12] F. Freudenstein, C.K. Chen, ASME, Journal of Mechanical Design 113 (1991) 253262.
[13] T. Emura, A. Arakawa, JSME, International Journal Series III 35 (1992) 604610.

168
[14]
[15]
[16]
[17]

B.-W. Bair / Mechanism and Machine Theory 39 (2004) 153168

M. Kuczewski, Machine Design (April 1988) 166168.
S.L. Chang, C.B. Tsay, L.I. Wu, Mechanism and Machine Theory 31 (1996) 879890.
F.L. Litvin, Theory of Gearing, NASA Reference Publication RP-1212, Washington, DC, 1989.
X. Wu, S. Wang, A. Yang, in: 8th World Congress on the Theory of Machines and Mechanisms, Prague,
Czechoslovakia, 1991, pp. 391394.