Spur gears are the humble hard workers of the gear world. Think of gears and the first image that will come to mind will be of spur gears. Their simple design and relatively easier manufacturing makes them ideal for a number of applications. And customers prefer them for the easy and cost-effective replacement options.

 

Spur gears may have been superseded by more sophisticated gear designs but they remain the gear of choice with designers in power transmission applications.

 

However, their simpler design also makes them noisier in their operation. Also, when they engage and disengage, spur gears are known to generate significant levels of heat and vibration. Spur gears are, therefore, best suited in applications where gears do not have to be swapped frequently. Since spur gears can be used to alter the driven speed being transmitted to the operation, they are a great fit for electric motors.

 

In this latest article we look at some applications where spur gears are used:

 

• Automobiles – No, helical gears are not the only gears that are used in automobiles. Sure, for the transmission, which must be able to swap cogs smoothly, helical gears are clearly the superior option, spur gears are the simpler, more effective option for most other applications. Think ancillaries and accessories connected to the engine, and even the crankshaft are connected using spur gears.
   
• Clocks – Perhaps the most remarkable, widespread use of spur gears is in clocks and watches. Virtually all timepieces utilize a complex mesh of spur gears in the timekeeping mechanism. What is particularly fascinating is how fantastically small the spur gears in particularly compactly engineered watches can be.
   
• Home appliances – The list of home appliance could be broken into dishwashers, washing machines and food blenders, but so prolific is the use of spur gears in home appliances that it is best to use a catch all tag. Note the common traits between all these: all are driven be electric motors; and all of them utilize gears in a ‘static’ configuration, i.e. spur gears maintain the link at all times.
   
• Tools – Electric screwdrivers, electric drills and hammers and the like rely on a similar principle as home appliances, in that an electric motor is used to drive spur gears, which, in turn, transmit torque to the tool. Since the motors are relatively small, they spin at very high rpm and the gears must be tolerant of tremendous stress and heat.