Planetary gearbox, 9:1 reduction, 44 N.m continuous
The Schneider Electric GBX0600090552F is a planetary gearbox with straight teeth, 60 mm housing diameter, and a 9:1 reduction ratio. It delivers 44 N.m continuous output torque at 100 rpm, with a maximum intermittent torque of 70 N.m at the same speed. The 94 % efficiency means roughly 6 % of input power is lost as heat — a typical figure for a single-stage planetary set, and well within what a motor mounted directly to the gearbox can tolerate without forced cooling. The housing is black anodised aluminium; the output shaft is C45 carbon steel. The shaft output seal is rated IP54, so the gearbox resists dust ingress and splash water but is not submersible — suitable for indoor conveyor drives, packaging machinery, or light industrial positioning axes where washdown is not continuous.
Torque, life, and stiffness — the sizing triangle
The rated service life is 30,000 hours at 100 rpm and 30 °C ambient with continuous torque of 44 N.m. That is about 3.4 years of 24/7 operation — a standard design life for a general-purpose industrial gearbox in this size class. The maximum torque of 70 N.m is available for intermittent peaks (starting, reversing, shock loads) but sustained operation at that level shortens life; the axial and radial force limits also drop under higher load. Torsional rigidity is 2.5 N.m/arcmin, and maximum backlash is 20 arc.min. A backlash of 20 arc-minutes at the output shaft translates to about 0.33 degrees of lost motion — acceptable for simple speed reduction or positioning where the load settles against a hard stop, but not for a precision indexing table or a servo axis that must hold position under bidirectional load without a separate brake. The 2.5 N.m/arcmin stiffness means the shaft twists about 0.4 arc-minutes per N.m of applied torque — the load's own inertia and torque ripple will produce measurable windup that a downstream encoder must compensate for in a closed-loop system. Lubricated for life — no oil changes, no grease ports. The gearbox ships sealed; the internal grease is selected for the full 30,000-hour service life at rated conditions. That simplifies MRO planning: the gearbox is a replace-at-end-of-life component, not a serviceable one.
Ambient envelope and overhung load limits
Operation is rated from -25 °C to 90 °C ambient. The lower bound matters for cold storage or outdoor installations where the grease thickens and starting torque rises; the upper bound limits use near ovens, dryers, or unventilated enclosures. At 90 °C the housing aluminium conducts heat away from the gear mesh, but the grease's viscosity drops and the seal life shortens — derate the continuous torque if the gearbox runs at the top of the range. Maximum axial force (Fa) on the output shaft is 450 N for the full 30,000-hour life, or 600 N if you accept a 10,000-hour life. Radial force (Fr) at mid-shaft is 340 N for 30,000 hours, 500 N for 10,000 hours. These are the limits for belt-drive or chain-sprocket loads that apply overhung force on the output bearing — a direct-coupled motor or a flexible coupling that imposes zero radial load preserves the full life. If the application uses a belt, the tension must be calculated and kept under the radial limit at the actual shaft extension length.