While silent chains, leaf chains, and flat top chains are some of the available chain types, the most commonly used type for power transmission is the roller chain. The chain transfers motion from one sprocket to another by meshing and sliding over the teeth of the contacting sprocket.ĭepending on their use, the chain and sprocket in a chain drive can be of different types. It is wrapped around one or more toothed wheels, known as sprockets, that are generally mounted on specified shafts in a machine. The chain is an assembly of links, joined using pin connections. The two basic components of a chain drive system are a chain and sprockets. Chain drives made of different materials and varying sizes are used in a wide variety of applications, such as automobiles, conveyors, and hoisting devices like forklifts. Their main uses include transferring torque or motion, conveying material, or synchronizing motion between different components of a mechanical assembly. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.Ĭhain drives are an important class of power transmission systems, widely used in many industrial applications. Similar assemblies of chains and sprockets are also used in many machines to transfer power from one shaft to another or lift heavy objects. When you push the pedals and rotate the front sprocket of a bicycle, it is the chain that transmits this rotation to the rear sprocket and its connected wheel. You know how essential a chain on a bicycle is.

In the first part of this chain drive modeling blog series, you will see how to create realistic geometry models of roller chain sprocket assemblies using the built-in parametric geometry parts in the COMSOL Multiphysics Part Library. The COMSOL Multiphysics® software provides easy ways of modeling chain drive systems.

Invalid drive geometry