Gears - Shifting of Gears

Shifting of Gears

In some machines (e.g., automobiles) it is necessary to alter the gear ratio to suit the task, a process known as gear shifting or changing gear. There are several ways of shifting gears, for example:

  • Manual transmission
  • Automatic transmission
  • Derailleur gears which are actually sprockets in combination with a roller chain
  • Hub gears (also called epicyclic gearing or sun-and-planet gears)

There are several outcomes of gear shifting in motor vehicles. In the case of vehicle noise emissions, there are higher sound levels emitted when the vehicle is engaged in lower gears. The design life of the lower ratio gears is shorter, so cheaper gears may be used (i.e. spur for 1st and reverse) which tends to generate more noise due to smaller overlap ratio and a lower mesh stiffness etc. than the helical gears used for the high ratios. This fact has been utilized in analyzing vehicle generated sound since the late 1960s, and has been incorporated into the simulation of urban roadway noise and corresponding design of urban noise barriers along roadways.

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