RENK - A Trendsetter for Innovative Gear Unit Components
17 January 2007
Irrespective of the excellent project and order situation prevailing at present, RENK is devoted to several research and development activities to order to strengthen its leading position on the market for special-purpose gear unit applications.
A new Central Gear Unit Technology department has been established in the special drive technology sector to focus on research and development activities.
New RENK developments include the elastically-accommodated gear unit with integrated thrust bearings, advanced thrust bearings and advanced propeller clutches.
Elastically-Accommodated Gear Units with Integrated Thrust Bearings
So far limited to a power of 8MW, these units will have to stand the test of time aboard a yacht at the beginning of 2007.
Advanced Thrust Bearings (ATB)
The ATB propeller thrust bearing by RENK allows an unequalled compact arrangement of the external thrust bearing and the elastically-supported gear unit. This patented construction of hydraulically-supported thrust pads provides for a direct attachment of the bearing on the gear unit. The usual minimum distance of 10 times the shaft diameter can be done without. As a consequence, the propeller thrust can be measured continuously without any extra appliance.
Before the development of the RENK ATB it took a lot of time and money to incorporate the oil distribution box of the cp propeller into the shaft train of elastically-supported gear units. A design variant of the ATB now allows the OD box to be mounted directly onto the gear unit, analogous to the rigid support.
Advanced Propeller Clutch(APC)
The main characteristic of the RENK APC clutch (patent pending) is a separation of the clutch from the main gear unit arrangement with no compromise to the compactness of gear and shifting unit. This type of arrangement with two clutches in one casing - developed within the scope of current CODLAG projects - transmits and shifts both the torque of the electric propulsion motors and that of the turbines arranged at the cross-connect gear unit. The link towards the gear unit is ensured via the diaphragm coupling. Gear unit and clutch are located on separate foundations which allows most simple foundation and alignment work.
