Efficiency Analysis of New Two-Stage Cycloid Drive Concept

A new generation of planetary speed reducers has a lot of various reducer concepts. One of the new type are cycloid drives. A massive appearance of cycloid drive reducers is related to the second half of the 20th century. This type of reducers represent a very interesting and attractive mechanical power transmission research field. The main reason for research interest is that cycloid reducers has a large potential in practice usage and they have very similar price related to conventional, planetary and other reducer types. Efficiency analysis of new two-stage cycloid drive concept is presented in this paper. The efficiency is determined based on losses due to friction in the bearing eccentric shaft surface, on the central gear rollers and the output rollers. New two-stage cycloid drive concept efficiency is done for 8 standard power values from 0.25kW to 15kW, with various input RPM and various transmission ratios. In order to evaluate the efficiency of new two-stage cycloid drive concept, the comparison with existing solutions in practice has been made. At the end of the paper are given conclusions with possible directions of research continuation.