University lab's motor eliminates pricey rare-earth magnets.

Varying installation requirements for worm gears, as, for example, when used in modular gear systems, can necessitate grease lubrication - especially when adequate sealing for oil lubrication would be too complex. Such worm gears are being increasingly used in outside applications such as solar power plants and slew drives. While knowledge about the operating conditions is often appropriate, the basic understanding for load capacity and efficiency under grease lubrication is quite poor. Investigations done at FZG and sponsored by FVA/AiF are shown here to give an impression of the basic factors of load capacity and efficiency. The results of the investigation indicate a satisfying quality of calculations on heat, load capacity and efficiency based on characteristic parameters of the base oil with only slight modifications to the methodology known from DIN 3996 or ISO TR 14521.

The growth of worldwide energy consumption and emerging industrial markets demands an increase of renewable energy shares. The price pressure coming from coal, oil, nuclear and natural gas energy - combined with enormous worldwide production capacities for components of wind turbines - make wind energy a highly competitive market. The testing and validation of gearboxes within the test rig and the turbine environment attract a strong focus to the needs of the industry. The following contribution sums up the typical process requirements and provides examples for successful system and component verifications based on field measurements.

While the basic design of iron and coke blast furnaces is centuries old, today's steel makers are looking for innovative ways to produce molten iron with increased production and efficiency

A reader asks: I have heard that new axles no longer need a break-in period. True or false?

Beginning with a brief summary and update of the latest advances in the calculation methods for worm gears, the author then presents the detailed approach to worm gear geometry found in the revised ISO TR 10828. With that information, and by presenting examples, these new methods are explained, as are their possibilities for addressing the geometrical particularities of worm gears and their impact upon the behavior and load capacity of a gearset under working conditions based on ISO TR 14521 — Methods B and C. The author also highlights the new possibilities offered on that basis for the further evolution of load capacity calculation of a worm gearset based on load and contact pressure distribution.

The complete Product News section from the September 2014 issue of Power Transmission Engineering.

Videos, tweets, blog posts and other online exclusive from PTE and mechanical power transmission component suppliers.

The complete Industry News section from the August 2014 issue of Power Transmission Engineering.

Columnist Brian Langenberg provides a current outlook update, key findings from a recent energy sector conference, and takes another look at education and employment.