Because the sun gear in a hybrid unit is pre-aligned within the gearhead and not affixed to the engine shaft, these gearheads can be utilized in contouring applications such as a glue-dispensing nozzle for affixing a windshield to an automobile. Motion of the nozzle since it follows the seam between a windshield and its own window frame should be perfectly smooth; otherwise a ripple in velocity alters the bead diameter and causes messy glue application.

Smooth motion, which means the lack of torque and velocity variations (ripple), is important in contouring applications. But, it really is difficult to consistently achieve smooth movement where the sun gear is mounted on the motor shaft. Even a slight misalignment in the sun gear (engine shaft runout or coupling inaccuracies) can cause rough operation and noise.

Many servo controllers use software compensation, and their success depends upon knowing the lost motion of the whole system. This details is usually obtainable from the gearhead producer.
Contouring applications usually involve end-effectors or tool-points that follow mathematically defined paths. Sealant and servo motor gear reducers bonding devices, drinking water and flame cutters, laser beam welders and cutters, motion managed cameras, and CNC machine tools are good examples.

Software compensation is accomplished by commanding the engine to go beyond the apparently desired position by a quantity add up to the system’s lost motion, thereby bringing the strain to the truly desired position. For instance, consider a servomotor, gearhead, and leadscrew mixture in a pick-andplace robot. If 100,000 encoder counts equals 1.0 in. of linear motion and the machine has 0.1-in. dropped motion, then the controller tells the engine to go 110,000 encoder counts to get 1.0 in. of motion, therefore compensating for the 0.1-in. lost motion.

Backlash is the extra space between two adjacent equipment teeth and its engaging tooth; lost motion is the total looseness or motion at a reducer’s result shaft when the insight shaft is fixed. Dropped motion includes backlash, plus losses from bearing looseness, tolerances and fits, and shaft and gear tooth compliance.
Servo controllers can be programmed to compensate for backlash and dropped movement in planetary gearheads. This technique compensates for backlash also where a credit card applicatoin requires accuracy much better than the minimal backlash of the gearhead.