A Visual Basic Program to Calculate Gear Features

This paper describes a spur gear design analysis program written in visual basic. The program is used to assist engineering students in the design of spur gears, which involves many calculations and decisions. This software program simplifies and streamlines the design and selection process. Since the visual basic program is event driven, the user can go through the program by inputting values into text boxes and then initiating events by clicking on command buttons. An important feature of this program is the ability to insert pictures, tables, graphs, drawings, and figures to enhance the program functionality. Most inputs are taken from graphs, charts, or tables so the user knows where and how the information is obtained and used. Outputs are shown with their appropriate figures, drawings, or calculation formulas to assist the user in understanding how the output was derived. The software has the advantage of making minor changes to the problem quickly and easily to see how the output is affected.