All About Helical Gear Motors

If you are buying a gear motor for the first time, then you might find it a bit confusing because there are three types that are commercially available on the market. The three types are worm, spur and helical gear motor. These three types are used in different cases and offer various advantages and disadvantages. Since the three of them differ in configurations, each gear motor is designed to be used in certain applications. The most recent development in the industry is the introduction of the helical gear motor configuration. This is an improved version of the spur gears which is the most popular configuration before the helical gear motor was created. An improved version was created because the engineers found out that a huge amount of power is wasted due to friction when the spur gears are used.

There are differences between the spur and helical gear motor configurations, but the major difference can be seen in the alignment of the teeth which can be seen in the gear profile. In the case of a helical gear motor, the teeth are positioned to create a specific helical angle with respect to the axis of rotation. The most common ones have an angle that ranges between 15 to 20 degrees. The angle is the main reason why there is very little contact between the area of the mating gears and because of this there is noise reduction caused by the gear train and the efficiency of the machine is higher. Helical gear motors are now used over applications that employ spur gears because manufacturers wanted machines that have better efficiency compared to before. One of the best examples of an industry that is now using helical gear motors instead of spur gears is the automobile industry.

Helical gear motors are also known to be more durable and are ideal to be used in applications with higher load. During the operation, the load is distributed to the teeth that comprise the gear which makes it less susceptible to wear. Whether shafts are right angle or parallel, the gears in a helical gear motor can still transmit motion and power between the two types. There are also downsides to using the helical gear motor configuration, and one of its disadvantages is that it cost more compared to other gear motor configurations. The reason why it is more expensive than the other two lies in the manufacturing process used in helical gear motors which cost more than the processes employed in manufacturing spur and worm gears. Compared to the other configurations, the size of the helical gears are only limited this it has a lower gear ratio. When the gear ratio is low, this could result to lower torque output and the gear train is larger in cases where the torque multiplication needs to be higher. It is therefore recommended that helical gear motors be used in applications wherein machine life needs to be increases while the torque conversion needed is lower. In conclusion, there are three types of gear motors with advantages and disadvantages which should all be considered to fit the right application.