Planning ahead

Abstract

Greg Cober, training manager, Altra Industrial Motion. “Other issues to be concerned with are exposure of electrical connections to liquids or exposure of bearings to high pressure washdown. If customer’s can keep friction faces clean and dry that will help them to achieve design life. Sometimes a simple shroud is sufficient, but in other cases use of an enclosed design is appropriate.” For the most part, electromagnetic clutches do not require maintenance since the armatures and rotors are designed to run as a set pair throughout the life of the clutch or brake. “So, ‘harsh’ for us means an abnormally difficult environment, such as potential for contamination/corrosion and/or heat which is the enemy for most clutches and brakes. For electromagnetic units, the best prevention is to keep chemicals or other corrosives away from the clutch and to make sure it is not exposed to a high external heat source,” said Brian Mather, industrial products manager at Ogura Industrial Corp.