Abstract
The existing methods to split overall gear ratio of the cylindrical multi-stage gear train have their own limitations to be used in practical design and are also problematic to be implemented in a formalized algerian. This paper proposes two types of new methods to find gear ratios best approximating the overall gear ratio. The proposed methods are quite general to be applied to the gear train having any number of stages, and offer a considerably good result in a very short time. The first method uses the random search method and the second one is based on the simulated annealing algorithm. The proposed algorithms are expected to be very useful not only as an independent program to split overall gear ratio, but also as a desist sub-module for the integrated desist system of multi-stage gear drives.