What is the use of a gearbox and why use it over an electric motor with a speed drive?

Question

I don’t quite understand the use of a gearbox. What is the purpose of it?

Say for example some machine use a gearbox for some reason is it possible to replace it with a motor and a speed contorller?

Thank You.

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In: 0

Answer 1

An internal combustion engine for a car mostly operates between 1500 and 2000 rpm. But we don’t want the wheels of the car to turn at such a rate as that is in excess of 100 mph! What the gearbox does is either increase or in this case decrease the speed of the output from the engine to a desired point. That way you can run an engine at 1700 rpm at 25 mph and at 65 mph.

A gearbox allows this conversion to be done mechanically with minimal loss of efficiency. Running a generator to produce electricity to drive an electric motor would involve a loss of efficiency and additional complexity.