How Gear Reducers Work: A Guide

Gear reducers – many people have heard the term, but don’t exactly know what they are. Gear reducers don’t necessarily “reduce gears”; they reduce properties of a gear, but not the gear themselves. While it may seem that gear reducers are just reduced gears, particularly in reference to size, gear reduction actually refers to the reduction in speed or torque of gears.

Gear reducers are typically used to reduce speed in other gears, while simultaneously increasing the torque.

Gear reducers are typically used to slow adjacent gears down. This is achieved when a smaller gear with fewer teeth meshes with a larger gear with more teeth. The meshing of both gears consequently increases the torque.

Gear reducers are used primarily in the automotive industry. Because gear reducers greatly increase torque, gear reducers are key to the function of a car. Torque affects a car’s acceleration. Therefore, if a car has a higher torque, it would be able to accelerate much faster.

Gear reducers can also work in the opposite way. Instead of increasing torque and decreasing speed, gear reduction can also refer to the reduction of torque, and the increase of speed. This is commonly used with wind turbines!

Wind turbine blades rotate relatively slow. Power generation in wind turbines are dependent on speed, as power is generated by the spinning of wind turbine blades. If a turbine blade rotates and spins faster, more power will be generated. Thus, by using a gear reducer to decrease the torque and increase the speed, more electricity will be generated!

When you’re in need of a gear reducer to either increase speed or torque for your machines, we at Bauer GMC are ready and able to service all of your gear-related needs. From gear reducers to gear motors, it’s easy to see why we’re an industry leader in innovation and product development!