Industrial Automation Magazine India

igus to launch new strain wave gears at Hannover Messe 2020

Published on : Monday 02-03-2020

At its trade show stand in Hall 6, igus shows visitors the next generation of robolink drive elements.

March 2020 – In order to generate accurate movement along the 5th robot axis, the motion plastics specialist igus has developed new types of strain wave gears based on its tribo-polymer technology. Due to the use of lubrication-free high-performance polymers, they are not only extremely compact and light but also require very little maintenance and have an especially long service life. The latest generation supplements the gearbox series from igus and is part of the continually growing range of products for Low Cost Automation.

Tribo-polymers are used wherever the goal is an improvement of technical performance and a simultaneous reduction of costs. The advantages of tribo-polymers are especially apparent in the case of gearboxes: due to the use of iglidur high-performance polymers, strain wave gears from igus require no additional lubrication, in contrast to metal types of gear. Friction and wear are improved if lubrication-free tribo-polymers are used.

The main components of the gearbox include a wave generator and a flexible ring with outer drive teeth, as well as an outer ring, fixed in place in the housing and a rotary power take-off element with inner drive teeth. The necessary flexibility and high degree of wear resistance are achieved through the use of lubrication-free high-performance igus polymers. The wave generator has an elliptical shape, therefore the surrounding flexible ring also assumes this shape. The drive teeth of the flexible ring engage at two places in the inner drive teeth of the outer ring and power take-off element. As the outer ring has two teeth more than the other components, the flexible ring is only moved two teeth further per rotation when the wave generator is rotated.

Like igus worm gears and planetary gears, strain wave gears are also part of the igus Low Cost Automation product range. These products can be used to develop cost-effective and long-lasting automation solutions for small and medium-sized enterprises – such as robots that can dispense coffee in the retail trade, perform pick-and-place tasks in the electronics industry or, in future, empty a dishwasher in the home.