With the many commercial gearboxes on the market, it’s vital that you match the proper kind of gearbox with the drive, motor, and load. When a machine requires a servosystem (drive and electric motor), the gearbox type is critical for accurate and repeatable movement. Planetary gearboxes fit the bill for servo applications.

High-precision helical planetary gearboxes are an excellent choice for applications that require precision and reliability. Planetary gearboxes have got very low backlash ratings (typically ranging from someone to nine arc-min), so when sized correctly provide a service life of over 20,000 hours with practically no maintenance. Helical planetary gears provide very calm and more efficient operation in comparison with competitive products.

Precision gearboxes are carefully machined to high tolerances – think clockmaker, not blacksmith. They offer 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 reason to employ a gearbox is torque multiplication. It lets designers make use of smaller sized servosystems that consumes less energy. Instead of buying relatively huge servodrives and motors, designer can use smaller parts, saving space and cash.

Output torque improves in direct proportion to the gear ratio, and top speed of the result shaft decreases. If an application can withstand the reduced speed, a relatively little 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 only practical, ideally under ten-to-one. A precision gearbox reduces the reflected inertia by the square of the decrease ratio. For instance, utilizing a 25:1 gearbox decreases the load’s reflected inertia by one factor of 625, a substantial improvement.