IT Jan 2008 - Industrial Technology Magazine

POWER TRANSMISSION
Brakes, Clutches & Couplings
Special brake motor helps bottle
crusher break into new markets
An innovative product for the licensed trade that
can save time, space and therefore money has
been developed by Bottleworks of Normanton,
West Yorks, with Lafert brake motors key
Bottleworks has developed a selfcontained,
bottle crusher that
reduces space requirements for
empty bottles by as much as
80%. It’s compact enough to be stowed
behind a bar, taking the same space as a
typical bottle bin, and is no more noisy
than a glass washer.
Because it reduces the volume of
bottles so effectively, bar staff leave the
bar area (where they should be serving
customers) far less frequently to exchange
bins. The space saving efficiency that the
bottle crusher offers (and the reduced
collection charges) has already resulted in
success with major pub chains, clubs and
on ferries.
An integral component of the bottle
crusher is the single phase motor from
Lafert Electric Motors. It is a special high
torque unit with progressive brake. The
motor has been specially engineered to
accept peak loads as bottles/broken
glasses enter the crushing section of the
machine whilst having appropriate braking
characteristics for quiet, non-vigorous
stopping that might otherwise cause the
unit to ‘travel’.
Suitability for purpose
“Because this is such an innovative
product targeted at a very profit sensitive
market we had to be sure of its ‘suitability
for purpose’ before we launched it,” says
Collin Waller, director of Bottleworks. “It
had to be visibly acceptable, robust and
quiet but chiefly it had to function as
intended. Hence, we need a motor that is
man enough to do the job with the
performance characteristics required. The
Lafert motor meets all those criteria.”
Lafert’s expertise is in special motors. Out
of 4,000 motors produced daily by the
company, over 70% of them are specials.
MORE INFORMATION:
Enter Z184 on the enquiry card, or visit ‘latest issue
stories’ at www.industrialtechnology.co.uk for
further details from Lafert Electric Motors
New range of steel couplings are
backlash free and torsionally stiff
Couplings meet the needs of applications with frequent stop-starts
Renold Clutches & Couplings has
launched a new range of steel
couplings that are backlash free
and torsionally stiff. The new Renoldflex
couplings are designed around a disc
pack of stainless spring steel as the drive
element. Two carbon steel hubs are
connected to either side of the discs by a
system of micrometric precision bushings
and highly resistant screws.
This design ensures a high degree of
torsional stiffness and backlash free
operation. This is important on
applications with frequent stop-starts,
reversing, accurate positioning and
for applications on packaging
machinery, servo motors, printing
presses, machine tools and
general automation.
High temperatures
Additionally, because of the
coupling’s steel construction it is
suitable for use in high
temperature applications up to 240
degrees centigrade. According to Renold
the new Renoldflex couplings offer a long,
completely maintenance-free life and do
not even need cleaning or lubricating. The
couplings also reduce wear to other
components within the power
transmission system as the flexibility of
the disc pack absorbs vibrations that
safeguards the system and reduces wear.
The new couplings are machined with
very close manufacturing tolerances for
concentricity and perpendicularity and are
therefore suitable for high speed
applications, even where irregular torques
might be present in the system. The
range includes series one couplings, with
a single spring pack, that can be used to
compensate for angular and axial
misalignment and series two couplings,
with a double spring pack and spacer,
that can additionally compensate for
radial misalignment.
MORE INFORMATION:
Enter Z185 on the enquiry card, or visit ‘latest issue
stories’ at www.industrialtechnology.co.uk for
further details from Renold Clutches & Couplings
Couplings
handle high
misalignment
Ruland Manufacturing offers
oldham couplings that
accommodate large
amounts of parallel misalignment.
Applications for oldham couplings
include encoders, positioning
systems using servo and stepper
motors, and other light duty drives.
They are also useful in applications
where easy component removal for
cleaning is desired. In higher rpm
applications, the couplings feature
a balanced design for reduced
vibration.
Oldham couplings are a three
piece design comprised of two
hubs and a floating centre disc.
The centre disc, which is available
in acetal for high torsional
stiffness, or nylon for shock
absorption and vibration
dampening, is the torque
transmitting element. Torque
transmission is accomplished by
mating slots in the centre disc
with the drive tenons on the hubs.
The slots fit with a slight press fit,
are on opposite sides of the disc
and are oriented 90 degrees
apart. The press fit allows the
coupling with acetal disc to
operate with zero backlash. In
operation, the centre disc slides
on the tenon of the hub to
accommodate misalignment.
There are many advantages to
oldham couplings, but its most
distinctive feature is the ability to
accommodate large amounts of
parallel misalignment with light
bearing loads. In addition, oldham
couplings accommodate small
amounts of angular misalignment
and axial motion.
Ruland oldham couplings are
offered in seven sizes of set screw
or clamp style hubs with bores
from 3mm to 57mm. The hubs
are anodised for improved lubricity
and increased life.
MORE INFORMATION:
Enter Z188 on the enquiry card, or visit
www.industrialtechnology.co.uk for
further details from Ruland Manufacturing
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INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY • January 2008