Benefits of planetary gear mechanism
Planetary gear trains provide high power density in comparison to standard parallel axis gear trains. They provide a reduction in volume, multiple kinematic combinations, purely torsional reactions, and coaxial shafting. Disadvantages include high bearing loads, constant lubrication requirements, inaccessibility, and design complexity.
The efficiency loss in a planetary gear train is typically about 3% per stage. This type of efficiency ensures that a high proportion (about 97%) of the energy being input is transmitted through the gearbox, rather than being wasted on mechanical losses inside the gearbox.
The load in a planetary gear train is shared among multiple planets; therefore, torque capability is greatly increased. The more planets in the system, the greater the load ability and the higher the torque density.
The planetary gear train also provides stability due to an even distribution of mass and increased rotational stiffness. Torque applied radially onto the gears of a planetary gear train is transferred radially by the gear, without lateral pressure on the gear teeth.
In a typical application, the drive power connects to the sun gear. The sun gear then drives the planetary gears assembled with the external gear ring to operate. The whole set of planetary gear system revolves on its own axis and along the external gear ring where the output shaft connected to the planetary carrier achieves the goal of speed reduction. A higher reduction ratio can be achieved by doubling the multiple staged gears and planetary gears which can operate within the same ring gear.
The method of motion of a planetary gear structure is different from traditional parallel gears. Traditional gears rely on a small number of contact points between two gears to transfer the driving force. In this case, all the loading is concentrated on a few contacting surfaces, making the gears wear quickly and sometimes crack. But the planetary speed reducer has multiple gear contacting surfaces with a larger area that can distribute the loading evenly around the central axis. Multiple gear surfaces share the load, including any instantaneous impact loading, evenly, which make them more resistant to damage from higher torque. The housing and bearing parts are also less likely to be damaged from high loading as only the planet carrier bearings experience significant lateral force from the transmission of torque, radial forces oppose each other and are balanced, and axial forces only arise when using helical gears.
