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.

An exploration of direct drive motor trends and examples of design uses for direct drives as replacements for gear drives or belt drives.

If you’re replacing your belts more than once per year, it’s time to analyze your drive. From belt crimping damage to high belt installation tension to sprocket misalignment and adverse environmental conditions, this guide walks you through how to identify the reasons behind premature failure and makes recommendations on corrective and preventive measures.

In an industrial application, equipment uptime is vital for on-time performance and profitability. The rotating members of industrial machines are subject to the highest degree of wear and are more susceptible to failure than non-moving parts. Bearing surfaces are the most critical and often the most expensive portion of the rotary assembly; it is imperative to protect these components. The primary protector of these components is the industrial seal.

Nitinol 60 (60NiTi), an intermetallic nickel-titanium alloy containing 60 wt % nickel and 40 wt % titanium, is shown to be a promising material for oil-lubricated, rolling and sliding contact applications such as bearings and gears.

In the history of machine tools, spindles have been very good relative to other bearings and structures on the machine. So quality professionals have developed a cache of tools—-ball bars, grid encoders displacement lasers, etc.—-to help them characterize and understand the geometry of the structural loop. But as machine tools have improved in their capability and precision, and the demands of part-geometry and surface finish have become more critical, errors in spindles have become a larger percentage of the total error.

The recent trend toward using segmented laminations as a means to increase slot fill and facilitate automated fabrication of electric machines comes with a penalty of increased core loss at the segment joints.

This case study presents how electronics and software can be applied to a mobile hydraulic application, as well as how electro-hydraulics have evolved over time.

The demand for stepping motors with high efficiency and low losses has been increasing, although the demand had been previously focused on high torque. Also, the selection of the most suitable grade of lamination for improvement in fastening of the laminated cores has reduced losses significantly at their peak, when compared to conventional stepping motors. Lowering the losses of the motor has enabled continuous operation that was previously impossible. An expansion of the stepping motor’s usage into applications where another motor has been used for continuous operation and other uses—due to the heat generation problem—can now be pursued. In addition, these motors are very effective for energy saving. This paper explains the technology used for lowering the iron losses of the stepping motor.

The Royal Danish Theatre has occupied the heart of Copenhagen for centuries and recently upgraded to a new control system featuring Sprint Electric DC drives to extend the lives of the existing motors, keeping replacement costs down. The Swedish stage design and technology company Visual Act retained most of the original motors and mechanics while providing a much-needed facelift to the stage.