The complete technical calendar from the April 2010 issue of Power Transmission Engineering.

This Q&A session with various experts at Thomson Linear Systems covers linear slides & stages, clutches & brakes, bearings and actuators.

When your $100 “Rolex” falls apart on your wrist, well, what did you expect? But when bogus bearings find their way into safety-sensitive applications, lives are at stake.

Ball screw assemblies are key to this patent-pending oilfield corrosion prevention solution.

motors with premium efficiency counterparts presents businesses with a significant opportunity to reduce operating costs. A comparison between premium and standard efficiency motors from 0.25 to 10 horsepower is conducted; comparisons of full-load efficiencies are shown, and estimated payback periods are calculated. Methods for calculating the yearly kilowatt-hour consumption and yearly cost savings of premium efficiency motors for this horsepower range are also given. The cost advantages of premium efficiency motors are summarized, and relevant examples of real world cost savings are shown.

In keeping with a national push to bring greater energy efficiency to wastewater treatment plants, a Pennsylvania facility used data loggers to analyze motor utilization, a first step toward cutting energy costs and meeting environmental rules.

A recent trend has been a movement to more user-friendly products in the mechanical power transmission industry. A good example of such a product is a high-horsepower, right angle, shaft-mounted drive designed to minimize installation efforts. Commonly referred to as an alignment-free type, it allows the drive package mounting to be quicker, more cost effective and require less expertise during installation. This facilitates the use of the drive in applications such as underground mining, where there is little room to maneuver parts. The most common application for the alignment-free style drive is for powering bulk material handling belt conveyors.

Much of the industrial energy being consumed by systems is wasted through inefficiency. For this article, a system will be defined as the following components working together: electrical input power, variable frequency drives, induction motors, gearboxes and transmission elements (chains, belts, etc.).

Our politicians in Washington continue dithering over the Obama administration energy bill aimed at developing alternative, green sources of energy production. As a result, when this country will have a viable energy program in place is anyone’s guess, given the usual D.C. gridlock. And yet, Americans can take more than cold comfort in the fact that at least some government agencies—U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)—and the private sector—some major manufacturers—are doing more than their share of work in trying to harness our existing, fossil-based energy sources in such a way that they are used to their best efficiencies.

The complete Product News section from the February 2010 issue of Power Transmission Engineering.