ABSTRACT
The investigation of the contact geometry of curves and surfaces can be traced back to the 18th century. The purpose of a gear pair is twofold. The use of a gear pair makes possible the transmission of power from an input shaft to an output shaft. Transformation always occurs when power is transmitted. Either the direction/orientation or just the rotation of the output motion is altered when a motion is transmitted by a gear pair. In the first case, the design of an actual gear pair goes through a routine procedure that is well established in the industry. In the second case, the designer has an opportunity to synthesize a gear pair with favorable performance. A solution to the problem of optimization returns an optimal value of the radius, [Rlc]opt, of the desired line of contact, LCdes, and an optimal configuration of the desired line of contact, LCdes, in relation to the plane of action, PA.
