Though one may not think of gears as being versatile, gear couplings are extremely much regarded as a flexible coupling. A gear coupling is usually a mechanical device designed to transmit torque between two shafts that aren’t collinear. The coupling typically contains two flexible joints, one set to each shaft. These joints tend to be linked by a third shaft called the spindle.

Each joint generally consists of a 1:1 gear ratio internal/external gear set. The tooth flanks and external size of the external gear are crowned to allow for angular displacement between your two gears. Mechanically, the gears are equivalent to rotating splines with modified profiles. They are called gears because of the relatively large size of the teeth. Equipment couplings are usually limited to angular misalignments of 4 to 5°.

Equipment couplings ordinarily can be found in two variations, flanged sleeve and continuous sleeve. Flanged gear couplings contain short sleeves surrounded by a perpendicular flange. One sleeve is certainly placed on each shaft therefore the two flanges line up face to face. A series of screws or bolts in the flanges keep them together. Continuous sleeve equipment couplings feature shaft ends coupled collectively and abutted against one another, which are after that enveloped by a sleeve. Generally, these sleeves are made from metal, however they can also be made of Nylon.

Single joint equipment couplings are accustomed to connect two nominally coaxial shafts. In this application these devices is called a gear-type flexible, or versatile coupling. The one joint allows for small misalignments such as for example installation errors and adjustments in shaft alignment due to operating conditions. These types of gear couplings are generally limited to angular misalignments of 1/4 to 1/2°.