What Are Planetary Gearboxes - Types and Working of The Gearboxes?

 

The term planetary gearbox originates its name from having a system based on one or more gears or we can call them planets, rotating around the vital sun gear. One of the precise gearboxes are the small planetary gearbox that is compact runs silently, works precisely, and delivers high power, density, and transmission efficiency.

How does a planetary gearbox work?

A planetary gearbox is also known as an epicyclic gearbox and is one of the most exciting gearboxes available within motion control to offer an efficient work station. The use of planetary gearbox takes place in automotive as an essential part of automatic transmissions. Planetary gearboxes are instruments where the input and output are both at the same center of rotation.

It means that the center of the input gear revolves around the center of the output gear, and the input gear revolves around the center of the output gear. Once this has been done, the shafts of both input and output shafts are aligned.

After the gears' alignment, it's compared to the solar system, where the planets revolve around the sun; this is why it is remembered as a planetary gearbox. Moreover, there is a sun gear in the mid of the planetary gearbox – which we might call a central gear. The planet gears are attached by a carrier, which in turn is connected to the output shaft.

Two major types of planetary gearbox:

Metal planetary gearbox:

They are designed for robust strength to sustain irregular or sudden load shifts. When it comes to sizes, the gearboxes can support an input size for up to 20k per min and output torque for up to 25 Nm when operating the intermittent cycles. Due to their low backlash characteristics, which results in high accuracy, the metal planetary gearboxes are appropriate for precise positioning applications.

Plastic planetary gearbox:

For moderate output torque and speed control, these plastic planetary gearboxes are designed and offered at the best price. If you want to reduce the noise level at high speed, the input stage's gears are created of plastic and preferred by industries that want no sound.