Industrial gearbox suppliers such as YB Components have access to a wide variety of gearboxes and geared-motor unit designs. There are so many different types with industrial gearbox manufacturers often having multiple examples of the many different kinds of gears available in their product catalogues.
With so many to choose from, it often falls to the industrial gearbox distributors themselves to help explain which type of gear is best suited to which type of operation. Here is a quick guide to a few of the most common gear designs and their functional capabilities.
Spur Gearboxes & Geared Motors
The most common and basic design of industrial gearboxes is the spur model, which resembles a classic cog with the teeth radiating outwards around the wheel shaft. This basic design enables the geared motor unit to operate efficiently with a variety of high gear ratios, though they are renowned for being very noisy. An additional issue is the excessive pressure that these gears can create, so the spur design is preferably used for low impact or low speed operations.
Helical Gearboxes and Geared-Motor Units
Helical gearboxes are often similar in appearance to spur gears, but they differ in that the teeth of a helical geared-motor unit are arranged at angles to the revolving axis, usually at 90 degrees, instead of being positioned straight across laterally. There are multiple variations of the helical gearbox, some featuring parallel or crossed teeth patterns, and each design will have differing load capacities so you may need to check with the industrial gearbox manufacturer’s product-specific instructions. Operationally, helical teeth produce a quieter noise than spur gears while still being able to handle high torques. They also require significantly more medial thrust than the spur gears.
Bevel Gearboxes & Geared-Motor Units
There are two parts to every bevel geared-motor unit, with this gearbox consisting of two interlocking shaft wheels with conical teeth. This particular design allows for the handling of large amounts of pressure during operation, though great care should be taken when first aligning the two parts. Some industrial gearbox distributors would advise interested parties that bevel gears are not as efficient as other designs, but they do have certain advantages as well, such as their ability to function with low gear ratios. They are better suited to lower speed operations as high speeds can include vibrations and impacts which may disrupt the alignment of the two moving parts of a bevel geared motor.
Planetary Gearboxes and Geared Motors
These highly efficient gearboxes are called planetary gears because they consist of multiple gears orbiting a single smaller gear, sometimes referred to as the sun gear due to its central positioning compared to its surrounding planetary gears. The titular planetary gears and the sun gear are contained within a single wheel or shaft, with the multiple inner gears able to provide much higher gear differentials at each stage while remaining very compact. Due to the extra gears involved in the operational functions of the planetary gearbox, they can produce much more torque than the more basic gearboxes such as the spur or helical gears.
If you require any industrial gearboxes and geared-motor units such as those described above, then contact YB Components who are the UK’s leading industrial gearbox suppliers who can ship these parts all over the world.