Depth of the reducer industry

In recent years, benefiting from the rapid development of robot technology, the upgrading of industrial mother machines, and the transition of humanoid robots from laboratories to commercial mass production, the market demand for precision reducers has shown an explosive growth trend. However, this field has long been monopolized by foreign giants, and domestic enterprises face severe challenges in technology, processes, materials, and other aspects, with high industry barriers. But with the strong support of national policies and the continuous R&D investment of domestic enterprises, the domestic precision reducer industry is gradually breaking through the foreign technology blockade, achieving a leap from scratch to excellence.

This report provides an in-depth analysis of the current market situation, competitive landscape, technological barriers, upstream and downstream development trends, and future development trends of the reducer industry, aiming to provide readers with a comprehensive and in-depth industry analysis. Through a detailed analysis of the technical principles, application scenarios, advantages and disadvantages of different types of precision reducers, combined with policy environment, market demand changes, and the strategic layout of relevant leading enterprises, the development opportunities of the reducer industry in the new era are revealed.

Concept of reducer
 
Mechanical equipment generally consists of three major systems: power, transmission, and execution. The transmission mode of most mechanical equipment is gear transmission, which has the characteristics of precision, efficiency, safety, reliability, and high cost-effectiveness. Due to the fact that most mechanical equipment is not suitable for direct drive by a prime mover, it is necessary to use a reducer to reduce speed and increase torque.

A precision reducer is an intermediate mechanism that connects the power source and the actuator, and has the function of matching speed and transmitting torque. A reducer is an independent component composed of gear transmission, worm drive, and gear worm drive enclosed in a rigid housing. It is commonly used as a reduction transmission device between the power source (power input part) and the actuator (power output part). According to control accuracy, reducers can be divided into general transmission reducers and precision reducers. The control accuracy of general transmission reducers is low, which can meet the basic power transmission requirements of mechanical equipment. Precision reducers have small backlash, high precision, long service life, and are more reliable and stable, and are applied in high-end fields such as robots and CNC machine tools.

 
Classification of reducers
 
Precision reducers are mainly divided into harmonic reducers, planetary reducers, RV reducers, cycloidal pinwheel reducers, etc.

harmonic drive
 
Harmonic reducer is a new type of reduction mechanism that relies on elastic deformation motion to achieve transmission. It breaks through the rigid component mechanism of mechanical transmission and uses flexible components to achieve mechanical transmission. Harmonic reducer is mainly composed of three basic components: wave generator, rigid gear with inner ring gear (rigid wheel), and flexible gear with outer ring gear (flexible wheel). The wave generator is a cam component, with its two ends pressed against the inner wall of the flexible gear. Flexible gears are thin-walled gears that can generate significant elastic deformation. When the wave generator is installed in the flexible wheel, it forces the profile of the flexible wheel to change from circular to elliptical, with the teeth at both ends of the long axis fully meshing with the teeth of the rigid wheel, while the teeth near the ends of the short axis are completely disengaged from the rigid wheel. Harmonic reducers have the characteristics of high transmission ratio, small outline, few parts, and high transmission efficiency. They are generally placed on the small arms, wrists, or hands of robots.

Precision planetary reducer
 
The precision planetary reducer is mainly composed of a sun gear, planet gears, planet carrier, and internal gear ring, and its reduction transmission principle is the gear reduction principle. When a precision planetary reducer is in operation, it is usually driven by a servo motor or other prime mover to rotate the sun gear, and the meshing between the sun gear and the planetary gear drives the planetary gear to rotate on its own. At the same time, due to the meshing of the other side of the planetary gear with the annular inner gear ring on the inner wall of the reducer housing, the planetary gear will eventually roll on the annular inner gear ring in the same direction as the rotation of the sun gear under self rotation, forming a "revolution" motion around the sun gear. The planetary gear drives the planetary carrier to rotate through revolution, and the planetary carrier is connected to the output shaft to drive the output shaft to output torque. Usually, each precision planetary reducer will have multiple planetary gears, which will rotate around the sun gear under the drive of the input shaft and sun gear, jointly outputting power and driving the load movement.