How does a planetary gear work? | Design and operating principle simply explained

In this video, we take a closer look at the design and operating principle of planetary gears. In a planetary gearbox, the so-called planet gears rotate around a central gear wheel, the sun gear. The planet gears are enclosed by an internally toothed ring gear. The planet gears are mounted on what is known as a carrier. The carrier is in turn connected to a shaft that is guided through the shaft of the ring gear.

Depending on which component is firmly locked (ring gear, carrier or sun gear) and at which component the input or output takes place, different transmission ratios can be realized with a planetary gear. Planetary gears are therefore particularly suitable as shiftable transmissions and are used in hub gears of bicycles or in automatic transmissions of motor vehicles.

00:00 Stationary gearboxes
01:11 Ring gear as output gear
02:32 Adding further idler gears (planet gears)
03:14 Mounting the idler gears on a carrier
04:38 Advantages of planetary gears
05:16 Transmission ratio I: locked ring gear
05:54 Transmission ratio II: locked carrier
06:27 Transmission ratio III: locked sun gear
06:46 Transmission ratio IV: Direct drive
07:07 Summary