Does the number of planetary wheels in a planet reducer affect their noise levels

From the perspective of vibration and impact

• When the number of planetary wheels is small

• Since the logarithmic number of gear teeth involved in meshing is relatively small, the load on a single gear teeth is relatively large when transmitting the same torque. When the gear enters and exits the meshing, the impact and vibration generated are relatively obvious. This impact and vibration will be transmitted to the housing of the reducer through the gears, shafts, bearings and other components, thereby generating greater noise.

• For example, in some small planetary reducers that only use 2 planetary wheels, a strong gear meshing impact sound can be clearly heard during the start and stop.

• When the number of planetary wheels is large

• The multiple planetary wheels mesh with the sun gear and ring gear simultaneously, which is equivalent to increasing the number of meshing points, allowing the load to be distributed more evenly on the multiple gear gear teeth. In this way, during the gear transmission process, each gear tooth bears relatively small load, the meshing between the gear teeth is more stable, and vibration and impact are reduced accordingly, thereby reducing noise.