Computer-Aided Sketching of Epicyclic-Type Automatic Transmission Gear Trains

The enumeration of epicyclic gear mechanisms in the form of graphs gives rise to the need of a methodology for reverse transformation, that is, for constructing the mechanisms from graphs. This paper addresses the issue by discretizing an epicyclic gear mechanism into Fundamental Geared Entities. Further, these geared entities are shown to be a conglomeration of four primitives; namely, the carrier, sun, ring, and the planet gear. An algorithm is formulated to create the entities from a graph by using these primitives. The entities are then connected together to form a mechanism.