MechChem Africa November-December 2023

⎪ Power transmission, bearings, bushes and seals ⎪

Modular design multiplies flexibility for gearbox users

The modular principle of SEW-EURODRIVE’s gearboxes is central to the company’s promise to customers, allowing it to deliver greater flexibility in its solutions. Modularity allows for more selection possibilities for the optimal solution, while delivering cost-effectiveness and quick lead times.

B y simplifying its configuration of components, SEW-EURODRIVE’s modular design delivers the flex ibility required to achieve techni cally unique innovations with parts that are readily available and cost effective. “Our modular design allows the same part to be used in different sizes of gearboxes, which facilitates more economic produc tion and less investment in stockholding,” explains Andreas Meid, SEW-EURODRIVE’s Head of Engineering. “By streamlining the number of parts required for a product range, this allows improved component availability and turnaround time.” For instance, modularity gives the com pany’s standard gearboxes a high degree of adaptability, so they can be run in either a vertical or horizontal orientation, says Meid. The customer therefore only needs a single housing in stock as it can be used vertically for an application such as agitation or hori zontally for a conveyor system. The majority of the parts are then interchangeable across various applications. SEW-EURODRIVE Johannesburg Sales Manager Jayson Jackson points out that most of the gearboxes’ pinion shafts would be suited to the specific gearbox size range, while the gear wheels would have more flexibility to be used in gearboxes of differ ent sizes. “This principle has allowed the produc tion of fewer specialised parts while still giving customers access to a wide range of options when developing a solution to their requirements,” says Jackson. Modularity also has positive impacts on the manufacturing process, which create benefits for customers in terms of cost con trol and availability of stock. Bruce Farthing, Project Engineer at SEW-EURODRIVE, notes that production of components can be streamlined to improve efficiencies, lead times and gearbox mass. “This also means we can focus our in novation efforts on a more limited number of parts, making a greater technological im pact,” says Farthing. “Moreover, the modular principle makes the assembly of gearboxes simpler across a range of applications.” He refers to a recent example of the flex ibility of SEW-EURODRIVE products when

SEW-EURODRIVE’s FM/FAM and KM/KAM designs are flexible and available as parallel-shaft helical gear units and helical-bevel gear units for ease of application into a range of industries.

Modularity gives standard gearboxes a high degree of adaptability, so they can be run in either a horizontal or a vertical orientation, as pictured.

a girth gear was installed for a mining cus tomer. The girth gear configuration requires two gearboxes – one which is orientated to a left-hand application and the other which is right-handed. “This is a critical item of equipment for the plant, so the customer required on-site spares,” he says. “Due to the modularity of our design, the mine needed to hold only one set of spares as our universal housing range can be adapted to either left-handed or right-handed use.” Jackson says the SEW-EURODRIVE range holds similar benefits for conveyor applications. Where customers have mul

tiple conveyors on site, they can minimise the spares inventory as the housing can be inverted to operate on either side of a conveyor. He notes that the modular design also creates useful flexibility in the servicing of gearboxes. “If a customer calls us with an input shaft assembly that is damaged, for instance, we can conduct a pre-assembly in our factory before delivering it to site,” he says. “The mine technician just needs to do a quick changeover instead of having to break the gearbox down to expose the bearings and gears,” he concludes. www.sew-eurodrive.co.za

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