Design chains

Design a chain drive with two sprockets
  1. On the ribbon, click Design tab Power Transmission panel Roller Chains .
  2. On the Design tab:
    • Select the chain midplane for the chain drive coordinate system.
      Note: You must specify the chain midplane to design and calculate chain drive.
    • To select a chain, click Browse.
    • Within the browse window, select the chain type and the size. Click Accept.
    • Add 2 sprockets. The first sprocket is always a driver.
    • Specify the position of each sprocket by dragging a grip at the center of the sprocket.
    • Specify the sprocket size by dragging a size grip.
  3. (Optional) Click More in the right lower corner of the Design tab to open the More Options area, where you set additional options for chain drive design, such as adjust timing.
  4. Click OK to generate chain drive.
    Note: On the Calculation tab, you can perform a calculation and strength check. The calculation is performed when you click Calculate. If you do not want to use strength analysis on you chain drive, you can disable the calculation using the Enables/disables calculation in the upper right corner of the Design tab.

Design and analyze a chain drive with an idler
  1. On the ribbon, click Design tab Power Transmission panel Roller Chains .
  2. On the Design tab:
    • Select the chain midplane for the chain drive coordinate system.
      Note: You must specify the chain midplane to design and calculate chain drive!
    • Add 3 sprockets. The first is always a driver.
    • Set second sprocket as sliding. Select the Free sliding position option. Other sprockets have fixed centers.
    • Use grips to specify position and size of each sprocket.
  3. Select the third sprocket, and click the Sprocket properties to open Roller Sprocket Properties dialog box:
    • On the Design Guide group box, select Transmission ratio from the drop-down list.
    • On the Dimensions area, specify the transmission ratio value.
    • Set the power ratio to 1. The third sprocket is now driven.
    • Click OK.
  4. Switch to the Calculation tab:
    • In the Working Conditions group box, specify the power to be transmitted, type of application, lubrication, and environment.
  5. (Optional) Click More in the right lower corner of the Design tab to open the More Options area, where you set additional options for chain drive design, such as minimum safety factors.
  6. Click Calculate.
  7. If the strength check fails, the chain probably cannot transmit the load under specified operating condition.
  8. Switch to Design tab and click the Browse for a chain command next to the Chain box. Within the browse panel:
    • Select browse method to browse for solution with fixed sprocket diameters.
    • Select working solution, and click Accept.
  9. (Optional) Click Results in the upper-right corner to open the HTML report.
    Note: The Results command is available only if you specify the chain drive placement. (The chain midplane must be selected. Specify the placement in the Design tab.)
  10. Click OK to generate mechanically correct chain drive.

Calculate chains
  1. On the ribbon, click Design tab Power Transmission panel Roller Chains .
  2. On the Design tab:
    • Select the chain midplane for the chain drive coordinate system.
      Note: You must specify the chain midplane to design and calculate chain drive.
    • To select a chain, click Browse.
    • Within the browse window, select the chain type and the size. Click Accept.

      When browsing for the chain drive, you can specify the browse method. See for more information.

    • Add the number of sprockets. The first sprocket is always a driver.
    • Specify the position of each sprocket by dragging a grip at the center of the sprocket.
    • Specify the sprocket size by dragging a size grip.
  3. Switch to the Calculation tab:
    • Enter the calculation values. You can change the values and units directly in the edit fields.
  4. Click Calculate to perform the calculation.
  5. Calculation results are displayed in the Results area. The inputs that fail the calculation are displayed in red (their value does not correspond with other inserted values or calculation criteria). Reports of the calculation are displayed in the Summary of Messages area which is displayed after clicking the chevron in the right lower part of the Calculation tab.
  6. (Optional) Click Results in the upper-right corner to open the HTML report.
    Note: The Results command is enabled only if you specify chain drive placement (chain midplane must be selected).
  7. If calculation indicates design compliance, click OK.

Edit chains
  1. Open the Autodesk Inventor assembly with the already inserted Design Accelerator chain drive.
  2. Select the chain drive, right-click and select the Edit Using Design Accelerator.
  3. Edit the chain drive. You can change the number or type of sprockets, recalculate values, and so on. If you changed calculation values, click Calculate to see the strength check and geometric calculation. Calculation results are displayed in the Results area. The inputs that fail the calculation are displayed in red (their value does not correspond with other inserted values or calculation criteria). Reports of the calculation are displayed in the Summary of Messages area which is displayed after clicking the chevron in the right lower part of the Calculation tab.
  4. Click OK.
Parent topic: Roller Chains Generator