Right-angle gearhead is a powerful reducer

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team May 3, 2006

The SPK+ right-angle gearhead combines the best of two Alpha product families: the top selling SP+ planetary gearhead and the SK+ right-angle gearhead unveiled last year.

The SPK+ right-angle gearhead combines the best of two Alpha product families: the top selling SP+ planetary gearhead and the SK+ right-angle gearhead unveiled last year.

In today's world where the intensity of economic change is greater than ever, innovation has become not so much a sought-after key to exclusivity as a simple precondition of a company's survival.

Globalisation, copying, volatile raw materials markets and added financial pressures are just a few of the factors which pose a multitude of risks.

At the same time, the rapid pace of development in industry and science generates a steady stream of new innovation opportunities.

For the machine building sector this means new challenges with regard to productivity, end product quality, plant availability and engineering flexibility.

The urgent need for innovation remains unbroken in all these areas, with the design of the machine's drive train frequently playing a vital role.

Since precision and productivity are often constrained by the selected gearhead and motor, improvements to these and other drive components have a significant impact on the machine as a whole - and consequently on their value for users.

SPK+, a new right-angle gearhead for applications with high reduction ratios and torques, is Alpha's response to this trend.

The SPK+ combines the best of two Alpha product families: the top selling SP+ planetary gearhead ("the new generation") and the SK+ right-angle gearhead unveiled last year.

This alliance promises unprecedented performance in an integrated package crammed with practical new features.

The SPK+ is more compact, lighter and more economical than conventional bevel planetary gearboxes, which were never well suited for many important applications.

It achieves higher reduction ratios than other right-angle gearheads with the same number of stages.

Not only is it more powerful, it is also more economical.

In particular, handling tasks - often necessitating a reduction ratio of i=30 to i=40 - now profit from the superior performance of a planetary gearhead from Alpha.

compared with low-backlash worm gearheads, the next smaller size usually suffices.

The output stage assures impeccable positioning accuracy and perfect synchronism - both lasting a lifetime thanks to the fatigue-resisting design of the Alpha hypoid and planetary gearsets.

Its weight is only a third that of low-backlash worm gearheads with similar power transmission - an immense advantage for handling robots and loading/unloading machines with moving drives.

It has a low noise level, courtesy of the smooth-running hypoid gearset on the input and the optimised helical teeth in the SP+.

On the output side, SPK+ is characterised by significantly lower noise emissions than conventional designs.

There are options of i=16 and i=32 for applications like endless positioning, where binary reduction ratios are a must.

A host of solutions featuring SPK+, the SK+ right-angle gearhead, Alpha's high-precision rack-and-pinion system, TK+ and several further products can be implemented for the seventh axis of industrial robots or other additional axes in robotics applications.

cymex 3, the sizing software developed by Alpha, calculates the complete drive unit.

cymex 3, the most advanced servo gear sizing software in the world, has now been extended to include the new SPK+.

It works out all possible solutions to specific drive problems and allows the design to be varied by choosing from thousands of parameter settings.

This enormous versatility is attributable partly to the diversity of the gearhead and accessory solutions (pinions, racks etc) and partly to the fact that cymex 3 also optimises the motor selection process.

The SPK+ comes in four sizes with acceleration torques from 80 to 1100Nm (with 1000 cycles per hour) and 11 reduction ratios from i=12 to i=100.

The torsional backlash is between 2 and 6arc-min, depending on the version (with a deflecting torque equivalent to 2% of T2B).

Thanks to the universal Alpha motor mounting system, all popular servomotor types can be easily mounted.

The gearhead output is compatible with SP+, the de facto industry standard.

And the SPK+ is usually dispatched within one to two weeks.

Technical support and customer service are available worldwide through Alpha's own sales companies and agents.