Robot Mechanisms and Mechanical Devices Illustrated - Profe Saul

Chapter 2 Indirect Power Transfer Devices 79
Figure 2-8 A gear chain can
function as a ladder chain, as a
wide V-belt, or, as here, a gear
surrogate meshing with a standard
pinion.
shown in Figure 2-8. This is sometimes called plastic ladder chain. It is a
double cable form and is the kind that looks like a roller chain, except the
rollers are replaced with non-rolling plastic cross pieces. These teeth
engage a similar shape profile cut in the mating pulleys.
Another form of the cable-based drive wraps a spiral of plastic coated
steel cable around the base cable. The pulleys for this form have a matching
spiral-toothed groove. This type can bend in any direction, allowing
it to be used to change drive planes. Both of these synchronous drive
types are cheap and functional for low power applications.
CHAIN
Chain comes in three basic types.
• Ladder chain, generally used for power levels below 1/4 horsepower
• Roller chain, for fractional to hundreds of horsepower
• Timing chain, also called silent chain, for power levels in the tens to
hundreds of horsepower