With the many commercial gearboxes available today, it’s important to match the proper kind of gearbox with the drive, motor, and load. Whenever a machine requires a servosystem (drive and motor), the gearbox type is critical for accurate and repeatable motion. Planetary gearboxes fit the bill for servo applications.
High-precision helical planetary gearboxes are a great choice for applications that need precision and reliability. Planetary gearboxes have got very low backlash ratings (typically ranging from someone to nine arc-min), and when sized correctly provide a service life of over 20,000 hours with practically no maintenance. Helical planetary gears also provide very silent and more efficient operation when compared with competitive products.
Precision gearboxes are carefully machined to high tolerances – think clockmaker, not blacksmith. They provide power densities that means small bundle size and efficiencies of 90% and greater.
Servomotors often drive loads directly with no need for a gearbox, however in many applications it’s beneficial to use a gearbox between the motor and load.
One main cause to use a gearbox is torque multiplication. It lets designers use smaller servosystems that consumes much less energy. Instead of buying relatively huge servodrives and motors, developer can use smaller elements, saving space and cash.
Output torque raises in servo motor gear reducers direct proportion to the gear ratio, and top acceleration of the result shaft decreases. If a credit card applicatoin can withstand the decreased speed, a relatively small servosystem can supply high torque.
Gearboxes may also address inertia mismatches. For high performance servosystems — people that have high dynamic responses or low overshoot, for example – the ratio between the reflected load inertia and engine inertia should be as low as practical, preferably under ten-to-one. A precision gearbox decreases the reflected inertia by the square of the reduction ratio. For instance, using a 25:1 gearbox decreases the load’s reflected inertia by a factor of 625, a substantial improvement.