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March 2023

PT Issue

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Technical Articles

Ball Bearing Inner Ring Fits and Creep

I think I spend more time talking about ball bearings today than at any other time in my career. Ball bearings have always had a large place in automotive, but not typically in high demand positions—other than a few niche areas. High demand positions, such as axles and planetaries, were typically reserved for tapers, needles and cylindricals. The landscape is changing quickly.

A Model for Considering Wheel Body Deformation in Tooth Contact Load Distribution

This study presents a simulation method for considering complex wheel bodies in an analytical tooth contact model. The wheel body is considered using reduced FE stiffness. Reduction points are defined over the width and linked with the analytical gear.

For cylindrical wheel bodies, comparative calculations show fewer deviations from the expected results with the new method. This is due to the additional degrees of freedom in the FEM model. In the calculation with cylindrical wheel bodies, bending due to axial force in tooth contact could also be verified in addition to the deformation in tooth contact and the influence of the shaft-bearing system.

Feature Articles

Making the Move to Digitalization and Electrification

The following article is a collection of products and technologies featured at IFPE and CONExpo/CONAGG 2023. 

Peering into the Crystal Ball on Condition Monitoring Technology

There is an increasing trend toward integrating evermore compact smart components into larger, more complex motion control systems, and advances in AI, ML, and IIoT are helping with the speed and quality of their adoption.

The High Demands of Off-Highway Drive Systems

The following off-highway, construction and mining solutions hint at the all-electric transition taking place across each industry.

Power Play

Product News

Kollmorgen Launches the Advanced P8000 Series With the New P80630-SDN Stepper Drive

Kollmorgen recently announced the new P80630-SDN stepper drive. Customers can now benefit from features such as smoothness, precision and torque across the full speed range in a significantly more compact package that enables smaller, lighter, more versatile machines. Kollmorgen will also be introducing additional stepper drives and features in the coming months, building upon the new, flagship P8000 stepper drive platform. 

Siemens Sinamics Drive Series Adds Frame Sizes for Higher Power Ratings

Siemens is extending its Sinamics G120C-series of drives to include three new frame sizes for high power output ranges.  The new frame sizes cover the power output range from 22 to 132 kilowatts (kW), making the series available from 0.55 kW to 132 kW.  Standard features of the series include a compact design with optional filter, long cable lengths, full integration into the Totally Integrated Automation (TIA) Portal and simple control and commissioning. 

Timken Provides Bearings for Ford's Electric F-150 Lightning

The Timken Company recently announced its packaged wheel bearings are being used on Ford Motor Company's F-150 Lightning, the first mainstream electric light-duty pickup truck to hit the market. Timken bearings on the F-150 Lightning represent incremental content per vehicle, compared to its gasoline-powered counterpart.

Haydon Kerk Express Online Tool Enables Quick Linear Actuator Selection

Haydon Kerk Pittman, a business unit of AMETEK’s Advanced Motion Solutions division, is pleased to announce its new Haydon Kerk Express online linear actuator calculator.

Force Control Eliminates Downtime for Industrial Lumber Sawmill

For nearly 50 years, AJD Forest Products has been producing top quality industrial lumber for the Lake States region. Located in Grayling, Mich., the company has earned a reputation for supplying high-grade red oak, hard & soft maple, aspen, ash, and basswood.  The mill processes 1,700-2,000 logs, or 70,000-90,000 board feet of lumber a day, but constant maintenance and adjustment on their stacker and chain conveyor brakes were forcing unplanned downtime.

Thomson Releases Compact Linear Motion System

Thomson Industries, Inc., a leading manufacturer of linear motion control solutions, has introduced a family of compact linear systems that makes it easier for motion designers to implement complex applications in small spaces. Designers needing thrust and bearing support in a single, compact unit now have the flexibility to build such applications with versatile, time-tested components from Thomson.

SKF Streamlines Bearing Analysis for Ansys Users

With the new SKF Bearing App for the popular Ansys Mechanical Finite Element Analysis (FEA) software, engineers no longer need to rely on approximations or complex, unreliable models in their simulations.