GearTopper July: Planetary gearboxes

​GearTopper: Planetary gearboxes

In this recurring column we would like to put a transmission or related product into the spotlight, our GearTopper. In this way, we like to share our product knowledge with our readers. In this edition, we focus on standard planetary gearboxes

Planetary gearboxes are recognized by their round housing. A planetary gear stage exist of a ring gear, satellite carrier with 3 or more satellite gears and a sun gear. In a standard planetary gearbox with output shaft, the sun gear is normally driven by a motor at the input of the gearbox, which creates a rotating satellite carrier due to the fact that the satellite gear rotates in a fixed ring gear. This rotating carrier rotates either the output shaft in case of a single stage gearbox, or it rotates the sun gear of the next stage.

​Since 3 or more satellite gears are in contact with the ring gear, this type of transmission is able to submit much more torque then a single stage of a non-planetary gearbox. This gives one of the biggest advantages of the planetary gearbox, lots of torque coming out of a relative small and light gearbox. This ends up in a relative low price per Nm and a compact design.

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Of course a planetary gearbox also has disadvantages, mainly the thermal capacity. Since a planetary gearbox is able to transmit a lot of torque in a compact housing with lots of gears inside and not a lot of oil, the gearbox gets easily overheated in case of low ratios. For low speed applications you won’t have thermal issues, but at higher speed you probably need to cool the gearbox oil but it also depends on the duty cycle and environmental temperature.

Aandrijf Technisch Buro supplies a wide range of planetary gearboxes produced by Dinamic Oil in Italy. The range goes from very small to extremely large with output torque over 4.000.000Nm. The units are available as inline version of right angle by means of a bevel input stage. There are a huge number of different outputs and inputs available, same like the available ratio’s till almost infinite.

Due to the modular construction of these gearboxes combined with our local stock, Aandrijf Technisch Buro is able to deliver a fair part of the range quickly. We are happy to provide you with professional advice, to make sure the gearbox fits seamlessly with your application.​

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