worm gear

Worm gears are used when large equipment planetary gearbox reductions are needed. It is common for worm gears to have reductions of 20:1, and even up to 300:1 or greater.

Many worm gears have an interesting property that no additional gear arranged has: the worm can easily turn the gear, but the gear cannot turn the worm. This is because the angle on the worm is so shallow that when the apparatus tries to spin it, the friction between your equipment and the worm holds the worm in place.

This feature is useful for machines such as for example conveyor systems, where the locking feature can become a brake for the conveyor when the motor isn’t turning. An added very interesting utilization of worm gears is definitely in the Torsen differential, which is utilized on some high-performance cars and trucks.