The first ideas for the UP-gearhead were generated in the context of ESA's Mars project 'ExoMars' and NASA's 'Mars 2020' project, where there was a need to ensure the highest possible availability even in extreme environmental conditions.
Pioneering technological advances are often made in connection with Formula 1 and then gradually find their way into everyday motoring - with maxon these advances often occur while working on aerospace projects and are then introduced into the industrial sector.
A great advantage of this new range of gearheads is their efficiency. This can be defined as the relationship between output and input power. Significantly reducing the friction produced in any mechanical system naturally leads directly to optimization of the drive. In the new GPX planetary gearhead in the UP series, a technical repositioning means that the planetary wheels, which in traditional planetary gearheads are on plain bearings directly on the carrying axle, are now sited above the ball- or needle bearings. In mechanical engineering rms this is referred to as a 'transition from sliding friction to rolling friction'.
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