KINEMATIC NOMOGRAPHS OF EPICYCLIC-TYPE TRANSMISSION MECHANISMS

A new methodology for the velocity ratio analysis of epicyclic-type transmission mechanism is presented. The well established graph theory is used to represent the system and then to detect the fundamental geared entities (FGEs). The identification of FGEs leads to automated construction of the kinematic nomographs in a systematic manner. Using nomographs the kinematic characteristics associated with various FGEs are investigated. Then, it is shown that the overall velocity ratio of an epicyclic gear mechanism (EGM) can be expressed in terms of the gear ratios of its gear pairs. From a single nomograph one can visualize the angular velocities of all the links of an EGM. The main advantage of kinematic nomographs is its simplicity. Also, algebraic expressions for all of the velocity ratios of an FGE or/and an EGM can be easily obtained by observation without the need to solve equations repeatedly and without specifying the exact siz