Mechanical Components

BEI introduces the ES encoder series, a new line of environmentally sealed encoders designed specifically for harsh industrial applications. Through the use of a magnetic hub, these rugged incremental encoders are completely enclosed and sealed. The hub is installed on the equipment’s mating shaft, leaving a small air gap between it and the encoder. This isolates the encoder from high shock and vibration and makes them highly tolerant of shaft misalignment, meaning no more broken couplings! With an amazing IP67 rating, the ES encoder series are completely protected from environmental fluids, dust, dirt, grime, and even water immersions.

Christian Bauer disc springs are manufactured to the tolerances, material specifications and performance parameters of DIN 2093, provide highly reliable ‘elastic’ technical components which can form the building block elements of spring packs. Under applied load or torque, the spring yields with a defined and repeatable deformation, while an opposing reaction force is at the same time stored as energy within the spring.

UMC International designed polymer plain bearings into a new boat hull cleaning machine for use by underwater divers. The bearings require no lubrication and are impervious to corrosion and salt water. The Hampshire based company manufacture hydraulically powered hull cleaning machines, which typically have two rotating brushes. The vehicles can be powered forward or reversed, steered and the brushes raised and lowered on a gimbal mechanism. The usual cleaning speed is 1,000 square metres per hour.

These boards usually use heavy sets of ball race bearings in small diameter wheels as standard and must withstand bursts of speeds up to 30 mph. They are often used in dirty, salty and wet environments and so require regular cleaning and lubrication.

One feature of Lightweight Medical’s “Neo-Capsul” incubator is the enclosed bed, which slides right out to enable a baby to be reintubated: a frequent procedure absolutely critical to the survival chances of a baby.

Some dished washers purporting to be DIN 2093 components are proving to be ‘not fit for purpose’ when used in disc spring pack applications. Although both grades of product can look dimensionally identical, the use of inferior materials and a failure to comply with the DIN manufacturing standards means that component failures often occur. This can lead to break-down costs and production delays as well as potential danger in safety critical applications. There can be a huge price to pay for relatively modest savings in initial purchase prices.

Filters designed for operation at pressures between 16 bar to 1000 bar are now available from EPE (UK) Ltd. Available in both Simplex and Duplex configuration, and designed for pressurised lubricants together with liquids and gases, the filters can be used at temperatures from -40°C to +400°C. They can be supplied in various connection sizes including threaded ports and flanges in SAE, DIN and ANSI.

A new production method developed by igus® means its igubal® rod end bearings now have a range of spherical ball materials on offer. The aim is not only to give users a greater choice, but also higher operational safety, service life and better overall system quality.

igus® now offers lubrication-free polymer ball bearings. According to the company, more and more customers were asking for maintenance-free solutions using roller bearings. Therefore, igus decided to fill the gap where standard materials were not effective by putting to good use its 20 years experience in tribologically optimised polymers and in-house test laboratory.

A high-tech planetary reducer combines a rugged output bearing assembly based on two high capacity tapered roller bearings and a highly sophisticated planetary gear train.