Differential drives offer intelligent phase shifts

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Jul 2, 2003

Using the advantages offered by DuoDrive differentials, companies operating in industries such as printing, packaging, hygiene, converting, textile and labelling can expect to make significant gains.

Using the advantages offered by DuoDrive differentials from Andantex Kinematic, companies operating in industries such as printing, packaging, hygiene, converting, textile and labelling can expect to make significant gains.

Using the printing industry as an example, each printing head unit of a conventional machine is driven through a differential.

However, by dividing the printing head unit into two sections - conveyor web cylinders and printing cylinders - and employing DuoDrive differentials, motion is transmitted to two output shafts and intelligent phase shifting is permitted from one to the other.

This effectively means that the two sections of a head-printing unit are driven independently.

DuoDrive differential solutions are suitable for high-speed machines and thin paper applications as well as top quality printing and automatic control systems.

They offer many advantages over conventional differential solutions.

Firstly, high efficiency phase shifting of a printing unit is achieved thanks to its independence from the web drive.

Secondly, only low torque is necessary as it is just the printing cylinders that are being driven.

Also, with conventional machines, web tension variation is commonplace due to use of the web's elasticity during phase shifting.

However, providing that correction is only applied to the printing cylinders, the use of DuoDrive differential solutions will ensure that there is no influence on the web.

Several types of units have been developed to meet a variety of customer applications.

The DuoDrive differential gearbox with coaxial output shafts is based on the company's DR unit.

One of two output shafts is directly linked to the bevel gearbox without the potential for correction, while the other is linked via the differential providing possible correction, with a set of gears used to compensate for the ratio between them.

By using the corrected output shaft to drive printing cylinders, phase shifting can be obtained.

The other output shaft is used to drive a counter plate cylinder.

Phase shifting of this nature can also be achieved using parallel output shafts.

Similarly, DuoDrive differential gearboxes with parallel output shafts based on standard DR and Z bevel gearbox units can be supplied.

In this case, a lantern and a coupling shaft link together an assembly of standard components to produce a complete gearbox.

The main line shaft through the bevel gearbox provides the input and the standard DR unit driving printing cylinders provides the phase shifting.

The bevel gearbox drives all conveyor cylinders.

DuoDrive differentials are offered in parallel with the company's general range of industrial differentials found on all types of machinery that require high quality motion control.

The range includes epicyclic gear trains with multiple planets, precision planetary gear trains and cycloidal gearing with double eccentrics.