Optimized Metaperform® gear reduces power loss by up to 50%
Without drives the world would not turn, even in our more digitalized era. No raw materials are being processed, no food made, no containers loaded, no energy generated, no smartphones produced without a gearbox being involved. For more than 120 years, Flender has been at the forefront of drive technology. No matter the industry, over 500,000 Flender gearboxes are operating all over the world. After establishing the Flender Standard Gearbox (FSG) as the industry standard for industrial gearboxes around 30 years ago, Flender is now introducing its successor: Flender One.
Flender One, а gearbox with the ambition to revolutionize the market again. Flender defines a new path where “standard” is not the focus anymore. Flender One is produced exactly according to the individual customer requirements. However, it needs less time from order to commissioning thanks to its fully digitalized engineering process, because it is manufactured in exactly the same way as a series product. It maximizes efficiency, saves valuable energy and sets new standards in sustainability.
The new platform not only optimizes efficiency during planning, but also during operation. The optimized Metaperform® gearing reduces power loss by up to 50 percent compared with previous gear unit solutions. This is made possible by improved roll-off behavior and the even more uniform path of contact of the gearing.
Flender engineers have succeeded in developing the world’s narrowest gear ratio range with 103 stages between 1 and 7.1 per size for applications that require particularly precise speed, such as pumps and paper machines. This allows the rotational speed to be set almost ideally for maximum efficiency in these applications. The deviation between the desired speed and the available technical solution is at the utmost of 1.5 percent. This gives customers the optimum speed for their plant. Like its predecessor, Flender One will be available in all required sizes and attachments for the industry. This means it can be used in all applications and can replace an existing predecessor gearbox one-to-one and in plug & play without any modifications.
Smart: the drivetrain becomes intelligent
The digital enabler of all measurements and optimizations is Flender’s new gearbox intelligence AIQ. Its sensor technology and analysis functions continuously measure the torque and detect whether the gearbox and the plant are driven in overload or underload: the key to optimization and automation of the production processes and, moreover, to perfect design and dimensioning of the gearboxes for future plants. Thanks to AIQ, the gearbox becomes the central player in a constantly optimizing process that reduces CAPEX and OPEX and makes industrial production sustainable – thanks to raw material savings and more energy-efficient manufacturing processes.
The special feature of AIQ is the intelligence in the sensor. It not only records operating states, but also processes them directly, interprets them, and provides operators with recommendations for action – on site at the sensor, via app, or permanently in the customer’s own system. This offers operators many opportunities to increase the profitability of their plants. The detailed condition monitoring of the individual components detects deviations from the optimum at an early stage and enables the prediction of possible failures. Operators are thus able not only to control the drive and processes, but to optimize them. Precisely scheduled maintenance
