1. Worm Gear Design Guide
2. How To Design Worm Gears
3. Worm Gear Design Calculation Pdf

A worm gear box must contain a worm and a mating gear (helical gear) and normally the axis of the worm is perpendicular to the axis of the gear. Look at the picture below:

Where,

Gear design in MDESIGN gearbox March 2012 - DriveConcepts GmbH, Dresden Tutorial for gear design and calculation with MDESIGN gearbox Dipl.-Ing.

D1 – Pitch Diameter of Worm

D2 – Pitch Diameter of Gear

C – Centre to Centre Distance between the Worm and the Gear

This worm gear design tutorial will discuss up to the selection of the module and pitch and the calculation of the number of teeth, pitch circle diameter and centre to centre distance between the worm and gear. We will use the AGMA formulae for doing the calculations. Design calculations of the other aspects of the worm gear will be discussed in a subsequent part of the tutorial.

Steps of the Design Calculation

• The axial pitch of the worm and the circular pitch of the gear must be same for a mating worm and gear. We will use the term Pitch (P) for both the pitch in this tutorial.
• Also, the module of the worm as well as the gear must be equal for a mating worm and gear.
• Now, let’s say we have the following design input:

Speed of the Worm (N1) = 20 RPM

Speed of the Gear (N2) = 4 RPM

• And, we have to find out the Module (m), Pitch (P), Number of helix of Worm (T1), Number of teeth of Gear (T2), Pitch circle diameter of Worm (D1), Pitch circle diameter of Gear (D2), Centre to centre distance(C).

• Select the suitable module and its corresponding pitch from the following AGMA specified table:

Module m (in MM) – Pitch P (in MM)

2 ————————-6.238

2.5 ———————- 7.854

3.15 ——————— 9.896

4 ————————- 12.566

5 ————————- 15.708

6.3 ———————– 19.792

8 ————————– 25.133

10 ————————- 31.416

12.5 ———————– 39.27

16 ————————– 50.625

20 ————————– 62.832

• Say, we are going ahead with the Module as 2 and the Pitch as 6.238.

• Use the following gear design equation:

N1/N2 = T2/T1

And, we will get:

T2 = 5 * T1……………….Eqn.1

• Now use the following AGMA empirical formula:

T1 + T2 > 40………………Eqn.2

• By using the two equations (Eqn.1 & Eqn.2), we will get the approximate values of

T1 = 7 andT2 = 35

• Calculate the pitch circle diameter of the worm (D1) by using the below AGMA empirical formula:

D1 = 2.4 P + 1.1

= 16.0712 mm

• The following AGMA empirical formula to be used for calculating the pitch circle diameter of the gear (D2):

D2 = T2*P/3.14

= 69.53185 mm

• Now, we can calculate the centre to centre distance (C) by the following equation:

C = (D1 + D2)/2

= 42.80152 mm

• The below empirical formula is the cross check for the correctness of the whole design calculation:

(C^0.875)/2 <= D1 <= (C^0.875)/1.07

Observe that our D1 value is falling in the range.

Conclusion

The worm gear box design calculation explained here uses the AGMA empirical formulas. A few worm gear design calculator are available on web, and some of them are free as well.

In the next worm gear box design calculation tutorial we will discuss the force analysis of a worm gear box.

Related Reading

Helical Gear vs. Spur Gear: If you have observed a spur gear application, you may have noticed that spur gear can be replaced by helical gear. Where should a helical gear should be used? What are the benefits and disadvantages of doing so?

Input Parameters

Teeth type - common or spiral

Gear ratio and tooth numbers

Pressure angle (the angle of tool profile) α

Module m (With ANSI - English units, enter tooth pitch p = π m)

Unit addendum ha^*

Unit clearance c^*

Unit dedendum fillet r_f^*

Face widths b₁, b₂

Unit worm gear correction x

Worm size can be specified using the:

• worm diameter factor q
• helix direction γ
• pitch diameter d₁

Calculated parameters

Common gearing ZN

Spiral gearing ZA

Normal tooth pitch

Axial tooth pitch

Basic tooth pitch

Lead

Virtual/alternate number of teeth

Helix angle at basic cylinder

Worm pitch cylinder diameter

Worm gear pitch circle diameter

Worm Gear Design Guide

Worm outside cylinder diameter

Worm gear outside circle diameter

Worm root cylinder diameter

Worm gear root circle diameter

Worm rolling(work) circle diameter

Worm gear rolling(work) circle diameter

Worm gear root circle diameter

Center distance

Chamfer angle of worm gear rim

How To Design Worm Gears

Worm tooth thickness in normal plane

Worm gear tooth thickness in normal plane

Worm tooth thickness in axis plane

Worm gear tooth thickness in axis plane

Work face width

Worm Gear Design Calculation Pdf

Contact ratio

ε_γ = ε_α + ε_β

where:

Minimum worm gear tooth correction

where: