01.01.2016 was the third anniver­sary of the takeover of ZEITLAUF GmbH Antrieb­stechnik by the ebm-papst Group. The inte­gra­tion is still on-going, the effects of bundling the indi­vidual compe­tences are already posi­tively notice­able in many places. Good func­tion­ality will be specif­i­cally opti­mized. Following the motto 1 + 1 = 3, poten­tials within the meaning of optimal drive solu­tions will be made signif­i­cantly more effec­tive.

In this way, existing customers and poten­tial new customers can, as usual, choose the best solu­tion for your appli­ca­tion from more than 4,000 drive combi­na­tions in the ebm-papst ZEITLAUF online-portal. This is based on the proven gear tech­nolo­gies (plan­e­tary trans­mis­sion, spur gears and miter gears) which are combined with suit­able motors (primarily brushed DC and EC motors). This offer will be supple­mented with other BLDC internal and external rotor motors with inte­grated elec­tronics from ebm-papst. The result for the customer is an even more complete drive solu­tion than before. A number of logic and power elec­tronics with different control func­tions inte­grated into the drive are new to the range. The inte­grated elec­tronics module K3 offers an inte­grated revo­lu­tions control func­tion as stan­dard. With elec­tronics module K4, it is also possible to control the torque and posi­tion of the drive unit.

Figure 1: Produc­tion line for the modular drive system prod­ucts.

Compact, space saving modular drive system solu­tion

Typical advan­tages appear in a compact solu­tion made up of construc­tion kit modules tech­ni­cally coor­di­nated with one another, and which can be inte­grated in machine concepts to save space. Lower instal­la­tion expenses on the basis of the reduced number of mechan­ical compo­nents combined with a signif­i­cantly simpli­fied elec­trical connec­tion reduces the total assembly and oper­a­tion expenses. In addi­tion to the purely tech­nical advan­tages, there are other bene­fits which come about through handling a reduced number of unit parts and dealing with fewer suppliers (Fig. 1, page 22). Posi­tive effects resulting from bundling devel­op­ment exper­tise also appear in the new prod­ucts, which will be grad­u­ally presented on the market.

Figure 2: Motor-gear combi­na­tion ECI 80 and Optimax 63

An example of this is the new motor ECI 80. Based on the concept of a brush­less internal rotor motor, this BLDC motor offers a power output of up to 754 Watts. Compared with the outputs of the previ­ously avail­able drives, this is more than double the possible power outputs. Related to the concept, motors of this kind offer a very high over­load capacity. In the short-term, peak torque can be offered, which exceeds the spec­i­fied contin­uous torque by 4 times. This over­load capacity leads to increased require­ments for a fitted gear. With the gear series Optimax, also new, ebm-papst ZEITLAUF will meet these require­ments for the robust­ness of gears. Beyond the inter­faces of the motor and gear, require­ments for a drive solu­tion are also defined (Fig. 2).

Optimax 63: compet­i­tive price-perfor­mance ratio

In a second stage, these will be broken down with clear tech­nical and commer­cial require­ments for the indi­vidual compo­nents. In the case of the new gear Optimax 63, the required over­load capacity is a mate­rial tech­nical require­ment. In real­izing the gear, this require­ment could be met on the one hand by the large effec­tive diam­eter compared to the external size of the gear. A large engaged toothed area, char­ac­ter­ized by the use of four longer, spur-toothed plan­e­tary gears, also makes a posi­tive contri­bu­tion. The careful selec­tion of high quality mate­rials, in partic­ular for the hollow gear and the plan­e­tary gears, round off the features. The small number of indi­vidual parts and the optimal design of the mechan­ical inter­faces on the fitted motor guar­antee a compet­i­tive price-perfor­mance ratio.

It is not only for new devel­op­ments that the compe­tences of the two drive special­ists are applied in a result-oriented way. The synergy effects also have a posi­tive effect on the range of even more complete drive solu­tions when the port­fo­lios are combined. Within a compre­hen­sive modular construc­tion kit, it will be possible to offer tech­nical solu­tions opti­mized in terms of time and costs for the most varied drive tasks.

Figure 3: Motor family from the VDC/ECI/BCI series

Within the frame­work of the construc­tion kit, there are several motor tech­nolo­gies for different appli­ca­tions with discharge lines of 5 to 750 Watts avail­able. The motors of the ECI series, real­ized using the prin­ciple of brush­less internal rotor motors, are distin­guished by a high power density thanks to a very good dynamic response. The motors for the VD/ VDC series (motors using the prin­ciple of brush­less external rotor motors) offer very good synchro­niza­tion char­ac­ter­is­tics in an extremely compact construc­tion. The BCI series (motors using the prin­ciple of brushed internal rotor motors) is distin­guished by economic motors with high starting torques (Fig. 3).

Elec­tronics, encoder and brake modules

Other drive system modules which can be flex­ibly combined with the motors of the ECI and VD/ VDC series are different elec­tronics modules. Consumers can orien­tate them­selves to a broad spec­trum of control func­tions, again inde­pen­dent of your application’s stated require­ments. The motor can there­fore be controlled in terms of the number of revo­lu­tions, torque or posi­tion. Both analog and digital nominal values or move­ment commands can be applied as the control over the bus (CANopen pursuant to DS 402). This drive type is rounded off and supported by a selec­tion of encoder and brake modules.

Figure 4: Gear family plan­e­tary gear/spur gear/miter gear

Gears with various tech­nolo­gies

An essen­tial task for a drive solu­tion is adapting the stated motor-specific perfor­mance para­me­ters and measure­ments to the require­ments of the partic­ular appli­ca­tion. Both the demands on the number of revo­lu­tions and torque as well as construc­tion measure­ments are to be met. With the takeover of ZEITLAUF, gears are avail­able as modular drive systems with various tech­nolo­gies and forms. (Fig. 4)

A compre­hen­sive product range of plan­e­tary gears is avail­able if an offset is not permitted in the appli­ca­tion. If a high degree of effec­tive­ness is to be achieved with minimal noise, the plan­e­tary gear Noise­less­Plus shows what it has got. The exem­plary quiet­ness is achieved using extra­or­di­narily robust, low-wear plastic plan­e­tary gears in an aluminum housing with slotted helical gearing. Double output shafts fitted with ball bear­ings effi­ciently absorb the power which high radial loads place on the shafts. The output shafts of the Noise­less­Plus gear are made from hard­ened and smoothed cemen­ta­tion steel and there­fore have a partic­u­larly long lifespan.

Outstanding power density Performax®

Performax® is an inno­v­a­tive, patented concept for high-perfor­mance plan­e­tary gears. With its path-breaking align­ment, the Performax® gear convinces with an outstanding power density, excel­lent quiet­ness and unique breadth of reduc­tion. Reduc­tions of up to 17:1 in one stage allow one-stage gears to be used where competitor prod­ucts must use two stages.

The series design features include helical toothed plastic gear wheels in the first stage, as well as a linear tooth profile with plan­e­tary gears made from case-hard­ened steel in the zinc diecast housing in the second stage. Another feature of the Performax® gear is repre­sented by the plan­e­tary gears of the second stage, equipped with needle bear­ings as stan­dard – with this, the series clearly stands out from current marketable plan­e­tary gears.

Inno­v­a­tive miter gears: EtaCrown®

EtaCrown® is the name of the inno­v­a­tive miter gears with crown wheel tech­nology. The vision of making crown wheel gears stronger, smaller and more effi­cient and, above all, to produce them econom­i­cally, is now reality. EtaCrown® signif­i­cantly improves the energy effi­ciency and the economic effi­ciency of drive solu­tions. By applying the modular drive system prin­ciple, it is possible to make flex­ible adjust­ments to any drive task.

A very compact construc­tion and space-saving geom­etry with a symmet­rical struc­ture with the highest power density are among its char­ac­ter­is­tics. Reduc­tions of 4:1 to 113:1 are avail­able as stan­dard. Smooth running as a result of shifting tooth grip­ping is stan­dard. Very quiet running thanks to intel­li­gent toothing tech­nology and gear design, and the highest radial load from double-sided bearing of the output shafts are also among the features of the equip­ment. A partic­ular feature of the miter gears is the lack of self-locking for tech­no­log­ical reasons. Unlike other drive tech­nolo­gies, this offers optimal protec­tion against vandalism.

Helical gears

The range of gears is rounded off with the helical gears from the Flat­line and Compact­line series. In the first gear stage, these have plastic skew gears which achieve optimal noise insu­la­tion. The following gear stages are opti­mally designed with regard to running noise and the torque to be trans­ferred. Hard­ened and smoothed output shafts as well as hard­ened gear wheels are stan­dard in all gears in the Flat­line and Compact­line series. Zinc diecasting is used as housing. Thanks to their construc­tion, gears in the Flat­line series can be used in partic­ular in appli­ca­tions with limited instal­la­tion lengths. In the gears from the Compact­line series, the gear widths have been dimen­sioned to opti­mize noise; in partic­ular in the area of the first stage they are as large as possible, and ensure a good cover between the motor shaft and the combing gear wheel.

Figure 5: Pref­er­ences from the modular drive system are ready to ship by ebm-papst in 48 hours

Pref­er­ences are ready to ship in 48 hours

ebm-papst ZEITLAUF has opti­mized logis­tics inter­nally in such a way that the pref­er­ences from the modular drive system can be shipped within 48 hours after receipt of the order (Fig. 5). Those inter­ested can read the docu­men­ta­tion on the drive compo­nents (tech­nical data, draw­ings, 3D models) in the ebm-papst ZEITLAUF online-portal, and print or down­load them if neces­sary. The poten­tial drive solu­tions are also presented in a new product overview “Motors and drive systems”. Inter­ested parties can there­fore display and select suit­able drives for their appli­ca­tion, order them imme­di­ately and test them in the appli­ca­tion after just a few days, all through the online-portal, and in the shortest time. Should you have any ques­tions during this phase, the appli­ca­tions engi­neers from ebm-papst will be happy to help.