Gates, an industry leader in fluid power and power transmission solutions, recently unveiled its new synchronous belt for industrial machines.
The PowerGrip GT4 belt is made of ethylene elastomer, which the company already uses in its high-performance products for the automotive market—and has taken the material from under the hood to on the assembly line.
Most elastomer belts in industry today are made with chloroprene, which has a significant ceiling in terms of performance. By replacing chloroprene with ethylene the company has produced belts that have higher power-carrying capacity, a larger temperature range it can work in, and improved resistance to chemical contaminants.
As a result, the belt can be used on narrower drives—which opens up a broader range of uses. Machine builders can fit a belt drive into smaller spaces or design machines that use more torque. And factory managers can save money as a result of a lower total cost of ownership by reducing downtime and repair costs.
This belt also allows end users to take advantage of more market opportunities by converting roller chain setups—which require a high degree of maintenance—to higher-performing belt drive alternatives.
This is a promotional video giving an overview of G-force belts:
“PowerGrip GT4 extends the success we've had with the PowerGrip family of industrial belts over many years by upping the performance bar," saidTom Pitstick, CMO and senior vice president at Gates. "It's right at home in heavy-duty industrial environments driving pumps, conveyor systems and other machinery where efficiency, reliability and high quality are required.”
The company claims that its new belts can eliminate the need for lubrication and maintenance—while running smoothly and quietly and reducing contamination risks. This makes it ideal to replace traditional chain drives. Over time chain drives can stretch unevenly, causing variations in length and speed of a conveyor that can slow or disrupt production—causing entire lines to be shut down so the chain can be retensioned, resulting in lost productivity, downtime and increased repair costs.
Using a Gates belt could eliminate stretching entirely, leading to consistent performance and doing away with the downtime needed for the retensioning and lubrication that chain drives require on an ongoing basis. And as industry keeps adopting higher performance machines, it is possible that machines using a belt like the PowerGrip GT4 will continue to displace chain drives in a variety of industries.
Read more about technological developments on the assembly line at LPT: Controls and Drives – Beckhoff PC Control for Warehouse Logistics, Mitsubishi Direct Drive Motor & More.