Because the sun equipment in a hybrid unit is pre-aligned within the gearhead and not affixed to the electric motor shaft, these gearheads can be utilized in contouring applications like a glue-dispensing nozzle for affixing a windshield to a car. Motion of the nozzle as it comes after the seam between a windshield and its own window frame should be perfectly smooth; otherwise a ripple in velocity alters the bead diameter and causes messy glue app.

Smooth motion, this means the absence of torque and velocity variations (ripple), is essential in contouring applications. But, it really is difficult to consistently achieve smooth movement where the sun gear is mounted on the motor shaft. A good slight misalignment in the sun gear (motor shaft runout or coupling inaccuracies) can cause rough procedure and noise.

Many servo controllers use software compensation, and their success depends on knowing the lost motion of the entire system. This info is usually available from the gearhead manufacturer.
Contouring applications usually involve end-effectors or tool-points that adhere to mathematically defined paths. Sealant and bonding machines, water and flame cutters, laser beam welders and cutters, movement controlled cameras, and CNC machine tools are good examples.

Software compensation is servo gear reducer accomplished by commanding the engine to go beyond the apparently desired position by a quantity equal to the system’s lost movement, thereby bringing the load to the truly desired position. For example, consider a servomotor, gearhead, and leadscrew mixture in a pick-andplace robot. If 100,000 encoder counts equals 1.0 in. of linear motion and the machine has 0.1-in. dropped motion, then your controller tells the electric motor to go 110,000 encoder counts to get 1.0 in. of motion, therefore compensating for the 0.1-in. lost motion.

Backlash is the excess space between two adjacent equipment teeth and its engaging tooth; lost movement is the total looseness or motion at a reducer’s result shaft when the insight shaft is fixed. Dropped motion includes backlash, plus losses from bearing looseness, tolerances and fits, and shaft and gear tooth compliance.
Servo controllers could be programmed to compensate for backlash and lost movement in planetary gearheads. This technique compensates for backlash even where a credit card applicatoin requires accuracy much better than the minimal backlash of the gearhead.