Mechanical Advantage - Speed Ratio

Speed Ratio

The requirement for power input to an ideal mechanism to equal power output provides a simple way to compute mechanical advantage from the input-output speed ratio of the system.

Power is the product of force and velocity. The power input to a gear train with a torque TA applied to the drive pulley which rotates at an angular velocity of ωA is P=TAωA.

Because the power flow is constant, the torque TB and angular velocity ωB of the output gear must satisfy the relation

which yields

This shows that for an ideal mechanism the input-output speed ratio equals the mechanical advantage of the system. This applies to all mechanical systems ranging from robots to linkages.

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