More than 27,000 packaging and processing professionals attended Pack Expo 2013 in Las Vegas from September 23–25. In addition to launching new products, creating brand awareness, achieving sustainability goals and generating new business contacts, Pack Expo was an opportunity to engage the next generation of workers in packaging, robotics and processing applications.

Grease lubrication has clear advantages over oil lubrication: Grease does not leak easily; it has sealing properties; and it protects bearing surfaces from corrosion. Its disadvantages are grease-life limitations and a limited cooling ability. Moreover, in some applications there is a risk of grease starvation, which leads to reduced lubricating films. However, if the right grease, sealing system and/or lubrication system are chosen, then grease lubrication offers clear benefits. This article summarizes aspects of grease lubrication mechanisms in rolling bearings.

This article describes the challenges involved in designing and implementing microstepping systems.

When designing a spur-crown pair, is there a formula, guideline or design guide for adapting the spur teeth for the radial angle of the teeth in the crown?

Dave Soma, the mechanical supervisor at Leland Olds Station, a coal-fired power plant near Stanton, North Dakota, says he and his maintenance team care deeply about keeping the plant running and providing people electricity, especially in the dead of winter.

Last month's Gear Expo in Indianapolis provided a great opportunity to meet potential suppliers of mechanical power transmission components -- mostly gears and gear drives, of course, but also a smattering of suppliers of bearings and motors as well.

For the Seabees, hazardous construction zones have always been part of the job.

The complete Industry News section from the August 2013 issue of Power Transmission Engineering.

Dovetails, gears and splines have been widely used in aero engines where fretting is an important failure mode due to loading variation and vibration during extended service. Failure caused by fretting fatigue becomes a prominent issue when service time continues beyond 4,000 hours. In some cases, microslip at the edge of a contact zone can reduce the life by as much as 40–60 percent.

Everything started in 1800 when Volta developed the first DC battery. Faraday used the DC battery to develop the first electric motor. It used brushes to transfer the battery voltage and current to the rotating disk rotor. This was in mid-1831. Thus was born the brush DC motor.