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What Makes Helical Gears Indispensable
Helical gears are a popular gear because of their essential uses especially within automotive products. Their unique design gives them a one-of-a-kind function that sets them apart fully from other gear types, even similarly popular gears like spur gears.
What are helical gears?
Helical gears are instantly recognizable due to distinctive cuts on their outer diameter, also referred to as their teeth. The teeth on helical gears are cut at an angle with the purpose of interlocking with the teeth of another helical gear. As you can imagine, this actually looks a lot more complicate than it sounds, as the teeth of the interlocking helical gears actually run in opposite directions.
How do they work?
Like all gears, contact between the teeth spreads as the gears rotate – but this is more so with helical gears. As the engagement between teeth is much more gradual, the process feels a lot smoother and is certainly a lot quieter than other gears.
Where are they used?
The fact that helical gears have smoother and quieter teeth engagement makes them the ideal gears to be used in car transmissions. Transmissions are crucial components of cars that allow the gear ratio (the ratio between the rates at which the first and last gears rotate) between the engine and drive wheels to change as the car changes speeds.
The angles on helical gears help create a thrust load on the gear when they mesh. The more efficient the gears, the more flexible the car transmission can be, allowing it to run at its best performance rpm value. Helical hears also help reduce vibration, shock loads, and general wear and tear.
Aside from cars, helical gears can be used in machines as well, particular in machines that require high speed capabilities while needing to remain quiet and smooth in its operation.
True Gear & Spline have been in the business of gears for decades, cutting the most precise gears to fit our customers’ customization requirements. Get in touch with us today to get your hands on some top-of-the-line helical gears!
