We all dream of being our own boss, but living that dream is a rare reality. Not so for employees at Isthmus Engineering and Manufacturing, an entirely worker-owned cooperative, where each member has a vote in every aspect of the business.

The world of high horsepower drives often calls for mechanical design to be approached from different perspectives. As motors, gearboxes and machines increase in size, power density can become disproportionate from one driveline component to the next, emphasizing the need for more rugged, robust and compact equipment.

The SMMA – Motor and Motion Association is ditching the slickers and galoshes for this year’s Spring Management Conference, themed “After the Storm: Navigating in the New World.”

Sunnen grows product portfolio with motion control solution from Siemens.

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.

The complete product news section from the June 2009 issue of Power Transmission Engineering.

The complete Industry News section from the April 2009 issue of Power Transmission Engineering magazine.

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.

The repair-versus-replace decision is quite complicated, depending upon variables such as rewind cost, severity of the failure, replacement motor purchase price and other factors.

Most manufacturers of shaft-mounted speed reducers offer torque arms for their products. However, in some situations, a machine designer may be required to design his own.