New range of drives unveiled at Drives and Controls
The latest development from R. A. Rodriguez is a clear indication of the company’s commitment to growing its core engineering component business in parallel with its new automation venture. R. A. Rodriguez has become the sole UK distributor for the Cone Drive range of slewing drives and harmonic solutions and, in so doing, has significantly extended its ability to provide products for performance critical applications.
Cone Drive’s slewing drives are designed to accommodate combined tilting, radial and axial loads and employ worm gear geometry that provides high ratio single stage gearing. The bearing and gears are assembled into a low profile housing that optimises weight against performance. Available in sizes ranging from 7 – 25 inches, these drives are highly cost efficient and supremely reliable; examples will be shown for the first time at Drives & Controls 2016.
The new slewing drives are ideal for applications in defence, aerospace, medical, power generation, oil & gas and production engineering, markets that R. A. Rodriguez has served for many years with its Kaydon range of thin section, turntable and custom bearing designs and also its own-brand of European manufactured turntable bearings.
The new partnership with Cone Drive also introduces a range of industry standard and customised harmonic solutions to the R. A. Rodriguez product programme. The design is an in-line motion control solution consisting of three main components; a wave generator and a flexspline through which speed reduction and torque amplification are executed as it engages with the last element, the circular spline which is the mounting interface for the assembly.
With ratios ranging from 30:1 to 160:1 in a single reduction and efficiencies up to 90%, the harmonic solutions can be more efficient with a shorter overall length than traditional planetary solutions; another advantage of harmonic gearing is ultra-low to zero backlash. As Cone Drive can design and manufacture components sets and gearsets – with customised input, output, size and ratio – harmonic solutions can now be supplied by R. A. Rodriguez for a very wide range of applications.
