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Don’t you agree that silence is something wonderful? In many industrial applications, low noise is decisive for the daily operation. And where convenience meets performance, the low-noise planetary gears from IMS Gear are a natural part of the solution.
The low-noise planetary gears from IMS Gear are used in different appliances, in building engineering and smart home, with e-bikes, AGVs and further drive solutions in intralogistics such as steering systems and many other applications all over the world. And soon in yours as well?
Sound, tone, noise - Sounds complicated?
What exactly are low-noise gears?
Low-noise gears from IMS Gear are planetary gears that are characterized by their smooth and low-noise operation achieved by an acoustically optimized gearing. This results in a sound that leaves a pleasant, haromonious impression. Thus, low-noise gears are particularly suitable for applications in which a very smooth running of the gear together with an accordingly low noise development is essential.
What distinguishes low-noise gears from “normal” planetary gears?
Compared to normal planetary gears, low-noise gears feature an acoustically optimized gearing. Both the toothing form and the materials used are adapted accordingly to achieve a high-quality noise image. Likewise, both the housing materials used and the housing design are noise-optimized.
Since when and why have low-noise gears been in place?
Low-noise planetary gears have been on the market for more than 10 years. Starting with the untypical field of fork-lift truck steerings, low-noise gears have become indispensable in many areas. With our low-noise gears we from IMS Gear have developed great expertise, thus ranking among the most important manufacturers of low-noise planetary gears.
Low-noise gears are used in areas in which customers draw a connection between the product quality and the impression of high-quality sound or in which the environment and application require a low noise contribution of the gear. You can find examples in numerous success stories with convincing low-noise planetary gears from IMS Gear.
What is the technological challenge to reduce the noise of a gear?
The acoustic optimization of a gearing often conflicts with the design that is focussed on the service life and power density of a gear. In simple terms, an improved acoustic behavior is often accompanied by a shorter service life and load bearing capacity. Often, the major technological challenge consists in solving this contracdiction for the respective application. In doing so, we from IMS Gear rely on many years of experience and thoroughtechnological expertise with respect to the development and manufacturing of low-noise planetary gears.
Are there differnent degrees of “low-noise”?
The sound pressure level and the sound power have been established as objective noise indicators. In particular the sound pressure level, a value measured in decibel (dB), is used as the indicator for noise. 0 dB are equivalent to the human hearing threshold, 40 dB to a pleasant, quiet surrounding, appr. 100 dB to a plane taking off, and 140 dB to the pain threshold.
Beyond this, the subjectively perceived noise impression of a planetary gear depends on its sound distribution across the frequency and its temporal regularity. In this way, noises that strongly vary in terms of time are perceived as low-quality or unpleasant. This may ultimately evoke the impression that the planetary gear is defective. In contrast, constant noise in combination with low frequencies is perceived as high-quality.
What kind of technological competence with respect to the development of low-noise gears has IMS Gear got?
Based on its decades of experience, IMS Gear has gained profound knowledge and all technological competences required to design low-noise planetary gears and distribute them around the world. From the theoretical toothing design of which the acoustic behavior is evaluated at an early stage by means of simulation to the low-noise design of all components and the production and acoustic final check of our products.
To give an example, IMS Gear has developed special simulation models and processes. These allow to virtually assess the toothing noise at an early stage of development. Once the first components are produced, we can objectively determine the first noise impression by our acoustic measurement systems in the acoustic chamber, compare it to the simulation results and deduct potentials for optimization. In production, we apply self-developed test stations to objectively measure and assess the noise of each of our low-noise planetary gears before they are dispatched.<o:p></o:p>
Which applications and industries require low-noise gears?
The applications for low-noise gears are manifold. Our low-noise planetary gears are often used in areas in which the customer draws a connection between the product quality and the impression of high-quality sound or in which the environment and application require a low-noise contribution of the gear. Examples are drives for:
- E-bikes
- Tailgate drives of vehicles
- Blind and shutter drives
- Locks and gates
- Various kinds of appliances
- Gears for fork-lift truck steerings
Are all planetary gears from IMS Gear also available as low-noise variants?
Almost all planetary gears from our three product lines IMS.Eco, IMS.Pro, and IMS.Drive are also available as low-noise variants. They feature a helical gearing in the first stage. Only our planetary gears with larger outer diameters (e.g. our IMS.120 Pro) are not available as low-noise gears.
An application-oriented special case is our IMS.Drive series: In order to meet the special requirements in the area of wheel drives, our IMS.Drive gears are by default designed as low-noise planetary gears.
Please check our overview of planetary gears for detailed information if a desired product is also available as a low-noise variant or configure your suitable product in our Solution Finder. if you have any further questions, our technical sales department will be happy to assist.
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Planetary Gears for robotic lawn mowers
Garden HeroesYou can rely on them
You can rely on them: Lawn robots reliably mow the grass in your garden, and not just on Saturdays. It takes powerful drive solutions to make things run smoothly. With its modular system and thorough expertise, IMS Gear has been one of the major manufacturers and suppliers of planetary gears for lawn robots.
With its modular system, IMS Gear’s spectrum ranges from quick quality solutions to customer-specific adaptations and sophisticated special gear configurations. The same applies to our solutions for lawn robots.
- High driving torque
- Good efficiency
- Robustness
- Individual adaptability
„Standard and individuality need not contradict each other: We from IMS Gear will be happy to prove it!”
Running Smoothly
The environmentally-friendly and independent lawn robots Ambrogio mow lawns of up to 3,200 m2, even with gradients of up to 30 degrees The robot automatically avoids obstacles such as trees and detects the grass height via blade motor. If the grass is short, the control reduces the blade number which results in lower power consumption. By means of an integrated rain sensor it even interrupts its work in rainy weather and automatically returns to its charging station.
The requirements to the gear technology reflect that - high output torque to handle the gradients, optimum efficiency to save the batteries and indestructible design to brave the rough mowing conditions
From Small to Big
Like many products in the field of appliances and garden devices, lawn
robots also feature a great number of product variations - the perfect choice for every customer. With our modular system we from IMS Gear can perfectly cater to this in the field of drive technology: We are the perfect partner for all lawn robots, from small and medium-sized to big!The smaller robot of the series 200 has a 3-stage planetary gear IMS.32 Pro with 4.5 Nm output torque and a gear reduction of i=169:1. The first and second stage are equipped with plastic planetary gears, the third stage with metal planetary gears, the sprocket is made of steel. The radial forces of up to 1,000 N generated at the output had to be considered in the design. The 3-stage planetary gear IMS.42 Pro with 15 Nm has the gear reduction i=150:1 and is used in the next bigger series 300. Likewise, the first and second stage were equipped with plastic planetary wheels, the third stage with metal ones. In this model, however, the radial load amounts to just 300 N, the axial load to 110 N.
From Standard to Individual
Due to our extremely wide range of standard components from the
modular system we from IMS Gear are capable of catering to individual
equirements - highly efficient and in shortest time-to-market.
This also applies to the development of planetary gears for lawn robots.
Sprockets, planetary carrier, planetary wheels and motor pinion selected
from our standard parts
From Individual to Standard
The motor flange und output bearing flange were solutions that had to
be customized: To connect the different motors with the gears and to be
able to reliably absorb the vibrations occurring during the mowing process, special aluminium motor flanges were designed. Due to the complete integration of the mounting interface at the customer’s side into the output flange of the gear drive, additional reception and bearing installations at the housing of the lawn robot could be completely omitted. A combination of ball and needle bearing was selected for the bearing as radial peak forces may occur briefly if a wheel is blocked. The distance between the bearings was adapted to the requirements. By means of this combination, the high life-time requirements could reliably be fulfilled.
For the 42 mm gear a special output shaft with hexagonal adapter and
inner thread was manufactured. This allows the customers to place and
mount the driving wheel directly to the output shaft.
Conclusion
You see - standard and individual adaptation need not contradict each other. With our manifold drive solutions we from IMS Gear prove this again and again - for example with our planetary gears for lawn robots. Contact us if you too wish to make a cut and get an “individual standard planetary gear” from us!
You are looking for a custom-fit solution for your application in the area of Household Appliances? Then let’s talk about it: As an experienced development partner, we at IMS Gear are always excited to develop new solutions for the world of tomorrow.
