Nylon resin replaces aluminium in washing machines
A novel plastic pulley, among the first in the world and a cost-effective alternative to its cast aluminium counterpart, is now being used across the full range of Hotpoint washing machines.
A new plastic pulley, among the first in the world and a cost-effective alternative to its cast aluminium counterpart, is now being used across the full range of Hotpoint washing machines, designed and manufactured by Merloni Elettrodomestici UK, Peterborough, England, formerly known as GDA.
The injection-moulded pulley, made of glass reinforced Zytel nylon resin from DuPont, offers lower part costs versus casting, and there are no compromises in mechanical properties.
Design, analysis and manufacture of the pulley was carried out by Rolinx Plastics Company of Manchester, England in conjunction with Merloni UK.
Most domestic washing machines use a pulley to transmit torque from the motor to spin the washing machine inner drum.
Rolinx identified the opportunity to replace the commonly used cast aluminium option with a reinforced nylon resin, a mechanically stiff plastic used to make reliable, high-performance and cost-effective components and systems.
Such an injection-moulded part would not only cost less, on the basis of lower tool wear, but also offer sustained mechanical performance.
Zytel nylon resin from DuPont was nominated following a successful supplier evaluation exercise.
In order to act as an effective replacement for an aluminium pulley, the dimensions of the Zytel part needed to remain identical, whilst the centre boss section had to withstand a compressive force of 105N.
At the same time the pulley was required to withstand a belt tension of over 300N and operating temperatures of 70C and above, with noise levels not permitted to be greater than the aluminium variant.
The final design for the Zytel part was able to meet all design constraints, and with the aid of finite element and mould flow injection analyses, it was confirmed that it offered the most mechanically sound option.
Additional physical testing, involving the continuous running of the washing machine for the duration of the machine's "lifetime" was carried out by Merloni UK and backed up the analytical data.
Rolinx's own production and quality programmes are responsible for ensuring that the pulley part can be manufactured continuously to cost, to set quality standards and delivered to Merloni's assembly site to schedule.
The new pulley was introduced to Merloni's Hotpoint production line in April 2003.
Not what you're looking for? Search the site.
Browse by category
-
Capital Equipment (3,532)
- Capital Equipment (1)
- Compressors and Air Treatment (545)
- Electrical hardware (131)
- Electronics Manufacturing, Tools, Instruments (192)
- Machinery and Production Equipment (1,133)
- Manufacturing Machinery and Plant Equipment (478)
- Production line blowers and fans (74)
- Robotics, Handling and Storage (978)
- Consultancy and Services (927)
-
Control and Instrumentation (5,141)
- Cabling, Conduit, Signal Conditioning (818)
- CNC and Motion Controllers (190)
- Control and Instrumentation (3)
- HMIs/Operator Interfaces (297)
- Logic Controllers, Timers and Relays (96)
- Mid-range and Large PLCs (204)
- Plant- and Machine-Wide Communications (1,209)
- Plantwide control (1,354)
- Power Supplies, Uninterruptible Power (577)
- Smaller-Sized PLCs (393)
-
Drives, Motors and Controls (3,449)
- Drives, Motors and Controls (2)
- Industrial Drives/Controls (1,292)
- Industrial Motors (502)
- Linear Drives and Motors (121)
- Precision Motors and Gears (434)
- Stepper and Servo Drives, Motors, Controls (1,096)
-
Electrical and Electronic Equipment Design (4,324)
- Batteries, chargers and circuit protection (587)
- Connectors, Terminals, Busbars, Slip Rings (723)
- Electrical and Electronic Components (652)
- Electrical and Electronic Equipment Design (4)
- Electrical and Electronic Subassemblies (377)
- Enclosures and Equipment Cooling Fans (722)
- Knobs, Handles and Enclosure Hardware (430)
- PCs and Embedded Systems (829)
-
Engineering Design Software (6,385)
- 2D CAD software (203)
- 3D CAD software (1,199)
- CAM, CNC, production management software (583)
- Data, document management software (324)
- Electrical design software (167)
- Engineering Design Software (17)
- FEA and structural analysis software (377)
- File conversion software, data capture (358)
- Fluid, thermal, noise, vibration software (339)
- Materials design and moulding design software (153)
- Maths, charting, statistics, QA software (325)
- PLM and collaboration software (665)
- Process, instrumentation, automation software (269)
- Publishing and documentation software (234)
- Rendering, visualisation, styling software (208)
- Simulation, modelling, validation software (964)
-
Engineering Industry News, Resources (6,199)
- Electronic Resources for Engineers (273)
- Engineering Business News, Views (388)
- Engineering Conferences (438)
- Engineering Education, Resources, Standards (851)
- Engineering Exhibitions, Events (578)
- Engineering Guides, Newsletters (354)
- Engineering Industry Developments, Awards (635)
- Engineering Industry News, Resources (4)
- Engineering Industry Reports, Surveys (597)
- Engineering Recruitment, Employment (219)
- Engineering Seminars (421)
- Engineering Training Courses (458)
- Health and Safety Consultancy, Software (180)
- Health and Safety Events, Training, News (285)
- Health and Safety Legislation (403)
- Health and Safety Strategy, Risk Assessment (115)
- Machine Building (4,630)
-
Materials and Processing (3,040)
- Materials and components (2,271)
- Materials and Processing (5)
- Materials processing and testing (292)
- Rapid Prototyping (472)
-
Monitoring, Measurement and Quality (5,680)
- Data Acquisition Hardware and PC I/O Boards (491)
- Data acquisition Software and Communications (505)
- Data loggers (428)
- Electrical and Electronic Testing, PAT Equipment (645)
- Form/co-ordinate, optical, vision instruments (765)
- Gauges, Indicators and Instruments (449)
- Materials testing equipment (439)
- Monitoring, Measurement and Quality (1)
- Telecomms/network test equipment, software etc (159)
- Testing and Calibration Services and Information (522)
- Testing, analysing and monitoring equipment (1,276)
-
Powertrain Design (3,723)
- Bearings (986)
- Chains and belts (334)
- Gears, brakes, couplings and engines (1,482)
- Hydraulic Components (475)
- Lubricants (441)
- Powertrain Design (4)
-
Sensors (7,313)
- Accelerometers and Vibration Sensors (450)
- Barcode Sensors (103)
- Flowmeters and Flow Sensors (649)
- Gas, Chemical, Radiation, Magnetic Sensors (293)
- Humidity and Environmental Sensors (158)
- Level Sensors and Leak Detectors (539)
- Linear Position Sensors (417)
- Loadcells, Force Sensors, Torque Sensors (732)
- Pressure sensors (642)
- Proximity Sensors (715)
- Rotary Position, Tilt and Angular Sensors (564)
- Sensors (12)
- Temperature sensors (623)
- Vision and Colour Sensors (1,416)
- Small Mechanical Components, Joining, Tools (2,057)
- Valves, Pumps, Process Hardware (3,730)

