Planetary Geartrain - Operation

OPERATION

Planetary gear sets are so named because of their physical arrangement. All planetary gear sets contain at least three main components.

- A sun gear at the center of the gear set.
- A carrier assembly with planetary pinion gears that rotate around the sun gear.
- An internal annulus that encompasses the entire gear set.

This arrangement provides both strength and efficiency and also evenly distributes the energy forces flowing through the gear set. Another benefit of planetary gears is that gear clash, a common occurrence in manual transmissions, is eliminated because the gear teeth are always in mesh.