Geared for Action

Industrial motion control systems require ruggedness and long life, so those parameters are somewhat of a given. The battleground in gearheads and even gearmotors appears to be performance. This highly competitive market with design alternatives of planetary gears, beveled gears, hypoid gears, worm gears as well as helical versus non-helical designs, frequently instigates comparison of the improved performance levels over the competitor's design approach and even previous versions of the company's own products. In these units, positioning accuracy is influenced by torsional backlash and torsional stiffness.

LOW COST PLANETARY GEARHEAD

Danaher Motion's Micron ValueTRUE planetary gearheads provide users a lower cost option. With pricing up to 30 percent less than comparable gearhead technology, the company offers products in over 1000 size and ratio combinations. In spite of their low cost, these units still have only 4 arcmin of backlash. Units come in eight frame sizes from 60 to 200 mm in both inline and right angle configurations and easily mount to any motor in three easy steps: align, mount and tighten. To provide durability in harsh operating environments, gearheads have stainless steel output housings and lifetime lubrication requiring no maintenance. Compared to non-helical gearheads, the helical crowned true planetary gearing provides improved load capacity, lower backlash and smoother, quieter operation. The low-cost units provide a drop-in replacement for most common helical gearheads.

RIGHT-ANGLE GEARHEAD

Alpha gear drives TPK+ dual-technology gear reducer provides similar torque with only a third of the weight of servo worm gearheads. The two-stage right-angle gearhead has a helical-toothed planetary gearhead stage mounted at the output to provide high power density, positioning accuracy and stiffness as well as smooth operation. A hypoid gearset at the input (up to i=10 in a single stage), allows the two-stage gearhead to be used in place of a three-stage bevel-planetary gearhead in many applications and adds to the unit's smooth motion capability. With high reduction ratios (i=12 or more), the right-angle gearhead has high continuous operating speed and up to 200 percent more torque than bevel gearheads. Designed for servo applications, the gearhead has a robot flange that meets ISO 9409 (without a pin). The gearboxes target applications in machine building and automation industries.

COMPACT PLANETARY GEARHEAD

Alpha gear drives' TP+ low-backlash planetary gearhead achieves up to 40 percent more torque than the previous TP version. In addition, the helical tooth design in the TP+ makes the unit 6 dBA quieter than the spur-toothed TP's level of 70 dBA. The TP+ HIGH TORQUE version increases the torsional stiffness by up to 110 percent, provides up to 100 percent more torque in the reduction range from i=22 to 220 and has up to 900 percent overload capacity. The gearset's design maintains the same oil level whether it is mounted vertically or horizontally or with the output on top or on the bottom. Using optimized components and sealing rings with redesigned material and geometry, extends the service life of TP+.

PRECISION RIGHT-ANGLE GEARHEAD

Boasting up to 200 percent more torque and 100 percent higher speeds than comparable products, alpha gear drives' SK+ right-angle gear reducers also have lower noise levels. For example, the SK+ 180 has less than 4 arcmin torsional backlash for either a 1-stage or 2-stage version. Maximum input speed is 400 rpm and torsional stiffness ranges from 566 to 690 inch-lb/arcmin depending on the gear ratio and the noise level is less than 68 dBA. With reduction ratios from i = 3 to i = 100, the SK+ handles highly dynamic operations with up to 50,000 cycles/hr and has a service life of over 20,000 hours. The units target high speed continuous duty operation in the packaging industry, dynamic cyclic operation in the automation engineering, precise positioning in production machines and optimum running in roller drives for printing and converting equipment.

HOLLOW SHAFT GEARMOTOR

Bison Gear and Engineering's 562 series hollow shaft gearmotor provides almost twice as much continuous torque. The unit's increased low speed center distance and greater clearance for wider faced gears allows 1100 inch-lb of continuous torque. An optional 4th gear reduction stage achieves ratios up to 2,200 to 1 in the same envelope allowing a reduction in the input motor's size without sacrificing output torque. The series has hollow shaft options with multiple mounting configurations and the unit's 3/4-inch diameter hollow bore allows for interchangeable shaft designs. Offered with various ac and dc input motors, including three-phase and inverter duty, the variable speed gearmotors are designed and built to AGMA Class 9 gearing standards. Target applications include food processing equipment, conveyor systems and others.

RIGHT-ANGLE GEARMOTOR

Bison Gear and Engineering Corp.'s 750 series right angle gearmotors develop from 14 to 160 inch-lb of torque and operate from 30 to 520 rpm. The units use permanent magnet motors rated at 1/8 hp at 12V dc and at 24V dc as well as 1/8 and 1/4 hp at 90V dc. The gearhead housing is precision machined die cast aluminum and the shafts use hardened steel. The hardened and polished steel worm and forged bronze gears run on double shielded ball bearings. With sealed and gasketed lifetime oil bath lubrication systems, the units mount in all positions. Gear ratios of 5, 10, 13, 20, 30, 45 and 60 to 1 are available with a 3/4-inch diameter hollow shaft with face mount or a 5/8-inch diameter solid shaft insert with steel footplate.