High-torque industrial gearboxes come in high-integrity single-piece housings

The new gearboxes employ Nord's proven Unicase concept. The gearbox case is a single piece casting, with all bearing seats integrated and machined in a single process. This optimises strength and eliminates sealing surfaces that could deflect under the effect of torque or radial forces — minimising the possibility of oil leakage. The resulting high-integrity gearboxes deliver smooth, low noise operation with a long product life.

There are four choices in the new High Power Unicase family, offering maximum torques of 60000, 90000, 135000 or 200000 Nm. Available in helical-parallel shaft or helical/bevel right-angled drive configurations, a very wide range of gear ratios can be specified using two-, three-, or multi-stage reductions. The gearboxes are ideal power transmission solutions for material handling and processing equipment in applications such as steel manufacture, aggregates, mining and grain handling. The low losses of the helical gearing technology means that Unicase gearboxes can deliver excellent energy efficiencies of up to 96%-plus.

The gear units conform to Nord Drivesystems' modular design concept. This provides a plug-together approach to add-ons that makes it extremely simple to configure gearboxes for specific applications. A wide range of accessories includes brakes, backstops, a drywell solution, condition monitoring equipment, and a choice of cooling systems. Combined with the flexibility to be mounted on six sides, or via an optional flange, the new gearboxes can be adapted easily to provide customer-specific power transmission solutions.

Because of the gearboxes' inherently high efficiencies, Nord Drivesystems expects the units to appeal strongly to the refurbishment and repair market, especially when replacing older relatively inefficient worm gear units. In such applications, the energy savings will often provide a payback on the investment measured in months.

As with all Nord Drivesystems gearboxes, the company's production line is set up for rapid manufacture of application-specific solutions inline with customer requirements.