ABSTRACT
Various methods for the kinematic analysis of planetary gear trains (PGT) exist. R. Willis’s formula can be used when the PGT works with F = 2 degrees of freedom—as a summation or as a division gear train. Unlike Willis’s method, which uses angular velocities ω the graphical method works with a diagram of the peripheral velocities of the gears. The speed ratios are expressed by the ratio of the segments that are plotted on the measuring line and are proportional to the angular velocity of the respective gear. The graphical method is often converted into grapho-analytical, using the radius of the gears, which in turn is proportional to the corresponding number of teeth. The graphical and grapho-analytical methods have a very limited application, more often for illustration, thanks to their clarity. At complex multi-carrier PGTs, such a tangle of lines is produced that working with this method is not only difficult, but it is simply impossible.
