With the many commercial gearboxes available today, it’s vital that you 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 crucial for accurate and repeatable motion. Planetary gearboxes suit you perfectly for servo applications.

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

Precision gearboxes are carefully machined to high tolerances – believe clockmaker, not blacksmith. They offer power densities that servo motor gear reducers translates to small bundle size and efficiencies of 90% and greater.
Servomotors often drive loads directly without the need for a gearbox, but 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 use smaller sized servosystems that consumes less energy. Rather than buying relatively huge servodrives and motors, developer can use smaller components, saving space and cash.

Output torque increases in direct proportion to the gear ratio, and top velocity of the output 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 — those with high powerful responses or low overshoot, for instance – 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 reduces the load’s reflected inertia by one factor of 625, a significant improvement.