Choosing a reducer starts with understanding what the component actually does inside a machine: it converts a motor’s fast rotation into the speed and torque the equipment needs. This article walks through the role of a reducer, the driving conditions it has to hold up under, and how the cycloid tooth profile supports strong torque and durability at the same time. It also introduces the Bonsystems BSR series and its pinless cycloid structure.
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Searching for ‘reducer company’ brings up a wide range of manufacturers and products at a glance. Since each company applies different structures and technologies, looking at manufacturer names alone makes it difficult to settle on the right product. To select a reducer suited to the equipment being developed, it is essential to understand exactly what role a reducer plays and how it performs, including whether it delivers sufficient torque for the equipment and whether it offers adequate durability.
In this article, together with the robot reducer company Bonsystems, we will explore the basic concepts of reducers, examine the performance requirements for equipment operation, and look into why cycloidal reducers are being considered.
What Role Does a Reducer Play
The movement of automated equipment and robots begins with the motor. A motor converts electrical energy into rotational motion to generate power, but high rotational speed alone is not enough to deliver the force that equipment requires. The component that adjusts a motor’s output to suit the working environment is the reducer.
A reducer converts the motor’s fast rotational motion into the speed and torque required by the equipment, providing driving force suited to the actual task. It is typically configured together with a motor to form an actuator and serves as a core component for achieving stable equipment movement.
Reducers are used in the drive units of a wide range of automated systems, from the joints of industrial robots to logistics automation equipment, AGVs, and collaborative robots. Because the range of applications is so broad, the performance requirements for a reducer also vary depending on the equipment. Depending on the equipment’s purpose and operating environment, strong torque performance may be critical, while in other cases, space efficiency or durability may take priority.
For this reason, selecting a reducer requires identifying the performance needed for the equipment’s specific working conditions and comprehensively considering installation space and operating environment to choose the right product.
Key Performance Conditions From a Reducer Company
So what conditions should a reducer meet to support stable driving performance across a variety of equipment environments? The first factor to consider is strong torque output. Because robots and automated equipment must withstand varying loads during operation, they require sufficient torque performance to respond stably even to sudden loads.
Durability is also essential, allowing performance to remain stable under repetitive operation and high load conditions. Automated equipment often runs continuously, placing ongoing stress on internal gears and components. This calls for an internal structure that reduces gear wear and damage while enabling stable long-term operation.
In addition, as equipment becomes more compact and space efficiency grows in importance, reducers are increasingly required to fit within limited installation space. Achieving the necessary torque and durability while reducing size has become a key challenge, and reducer companies continue to invest in research and development to address it.
The BSR Cycloid Reducer: A Differentiated Structure and Performance
Cycloid reducers are one of the key structures considered by reducer companies during development, as they can support both strong torque output and durability at the same time. This reduction method uses a smooth, curved tooth profile.
The cycloid tooth profile is designed based on the trajectory created by a point on a circle as it rotates. This structure creates a surface-contact pattern as the gear rotates, distributing loads that would otherwise concentrate on a single point. This makes it advantageous for maintaining stable power transmission and durability even under heavy loads or sudden impacts.
Bonsystems’ BSR series is a reducer product designed based on this cycloid tooth profile. Its slim structure allows it to fit within the limited internal space of a robot, and its strong torque output performance allows it to meet the driving requirements of a variety of equipment.
In particular, the 070 and 080 lines apply a pinless cycloid structure. This design retains the torque output characteristics and structural durability of the cycloid reduction method while improving manufacturing efficiency.
A pin gear type cycloid reducer uses additional components such as roller pins. The pinless structure reduces these pin components, lowering the number of parts and simplifying the overall design. This improves ease of assembly and reduces variation between units, helping maintain consistent quality during mass production.
The BSR series also offers a range of reduction ratio options from 19:1 to 99:1, allowing users to select the right option based on the torque requirements and driving characteristics of each drive axis within their equipment. Detailed specifications for each model are available on the official BSR series page. This makes it possible to consider a variety of drive configurations within a single series, and to manage multiple reducer specifications as products from a single reducer company. It also allows existing designs to be reused when expanding equipment lineups or developing new models, helping to improve development efficiency.
As outlined above, selecting the right reducer for a piece of equipment requires comprehensive consideration of not just output performance but also durability, size, and the application environment. To do this, it’s important to choose a reducer company that can understand the equipment’s requirements from the early design stage and work together to review the right reduction solution.
As a robot components developer, Bonsystems offers a wide range of cycloid reducer products and proposes well-suited reducer solutions tailored to each customer’s requirements. If you need to review reducer options for automated equipment or robot development, or if you’d like to see real-world applications of the BSR reducer, please feel free to reach out through our website.
F.A.Q
Q: What role does a reducer play inside a piece of equipment?
A: A reducer is a core component that converts the rotational force generated by a motor into the speed and torque required by the equipment. It is used in a variety of equipment, including robot joints and wheel drive units, and its role is to deliver enough torque for the equipment to withstand the loads encountered during operation and perform reliably.
Q: Besides torque performance, what else should be considered when selecting a reducer?
A: It helps to consider the equipment’s driving method and operating environment alongside torque performance, since internal structure and the way loads are transmitted affect vibration and durability characteristics. This matters especially for automated equipment that performs repetitive movements over long periods.
Q: What kinds of equipment can cycloid reducers be used in?
A: Cycloid reducers are well suited to equipment that experiences high loads or requires stable power transmission. Because they distribute force across the tooth contact surfaces, they offer strong long-term structural stability, and they are commonly considered for industrial robots, collaborative robots, logistics automation equipment, and a variety of other drive systems.
Q: Does a smaller reducer mean lower performance?
A: In general, as a reducer becomes smaller, the space available for internal components becomes more limited, which can make it harder to secure sufficient output performance. Because of this, an efficient gear structure and load distribution design are essential to supporting both compact size and strong torque performance at the same time.
Q: What is a pinless cycloid structure?
A: A pinless cycloid structure is a cycloid reduction design that removes the separate roller pin components from inside the case, leaving the tooth profile to carry the reduction. Reducing the part count simplifies the overall design, which helps with ease of assembly and with maintaining consistent product quality in high-volume production environments.
