Development and Evaluation of Torque Characteristics of the Micro Planetary Gear Reducer Using 3D Printing and MEMS Fabrication

抄録

We propose micro planetary gear reducer developed using stereolithography-based 3D printing and MEMS deep etching. Micro-module gears (modules 0.0650, 0.0488, 0.0390) were fabricated from UV-curable resin and single-crystal silicon. Reducers with a 1/4 reduction ratio per stage were assembled and evaluated using a pulley–weight system and force gauge. At 63.8 µNm input torque, silicon gears achieved 67.8% efficiency. UV resin gears showed slight efficiency improvement with increasing torque, while silicon gears decreased, indicating material-dependent behavior. Multistage configurations reduced efficiency to 10–20%, highlighting cumulative losses. These results provide design insights for compact, high-reduction micro gear systems.