Nowadays, the progress in polymer materials and injection molding processing has enabled a drastic expansion of plastic gear applications. They are used not only for lightly loaded motion transmissions, but also in moderately loaded power drives in automotive, agriculture, medical, robotics, and many other industries.

When compared with the traditional gear design approach - based on pre-selected, typically standard generating rack parameters - the alternative Direct Gear Design method provides certain advantages for custom, high-performance gear drives.

In many gear transmissions, a tooth load on one flank is significantly higher and is applied for longer periods of time than for the opposite one; an asymmetric tooth shape reflects this functional difference. This paper describes an approach that rationalizes the degree of asymmetry (or asymmetry factor K) selection to meet a variety of operating conditions and requirements for custom gear drives.

In comparison with the traditional gear design approach based on preselected, typically standard generating rack parameters, the Direct Gear Design method provides certain advantages for custom high-performance gear drives that include: increased load capacity, efficiency and lifetime; reduced size, weight, noise, vibrations, cost, etc. However, manufacturing such directly designed gears requires not only custom tooling, but also customization of the gear measurement methodology. This paper presents definitions of main inspection dimensions and parameters for directly designed spur and helical, external and internal gears with symmetric and asymmetric teeth.