Rencol Tolerance Rings - Appoints sector specialist

Rencol shows its force at Domotechnica

Rencol Tolerance Rings
Hall 10.1, Stand A028
Domotechnica 2008
Cologne, Germany
18th – 21st February, 2008

Rencol Tolerance Rings is highlighting the key benefits of its spring metal fasteners to the appliance industry at Domotechnica 2008. This year’s Domotechnica, will be in Cologne, Germany from 18th – 21th February.

In almost every appliance, whether it is a washing machine, dishwasher or refrigerator, the electric motor creates or is subjected to noise and vibration – this presents one of the biggest failure modes in the white goods industry today. Finding a convenient and dependable method for mounting bearings in motors presents a difficult challenge, particularly in these severe operating conditions.

“Tolerance rings provide a simple and cost-effective way of addressing this challenge,” says Stuart Kelly, Appliance Product Manager at Rencol.

At the show, Rencol will introduce its innovative, yet simple, cost-effective and reliable, motor bearing mount that overcomes all of these problems. The tolerance ring acts as a spring fastener between the bearing and housing. This allows the tolerance on the housing to be relaxed significantly, since the spring characteristics of the ring compensate, so less costly “as moulded” parts can be used.

In similar way, the tolerance ring provides compensation for differential thermal expansion between the bearing and housing. Additionally, the sprung nature of the coupling in the assembly reduces or even eliminates the adverse effects of minor radial or axial misalignment.

“In service, the key benefit of tolerance rings is undoubtedly their reliability but they can offer other useful advantages,” explained Mr Kelly. “They are excellent, for example, at dampening vibration and helping with noise reduction. This can be particularly important in equipment operating at high rotational speeds, or in high-quality appliances where near-silent operation is a prerequisite.”

Mounting methods for bearings are many and diverse, with a simple interference fit still used in many applications. While seemingly simple, this conventional mounting method has many shortcomings, not least of which is that it relies on costly precision machining of the bearing housings. It is also intolerant of misalignment, thermal expansion and prolonged high levels of vibration.

For this reason, alternative mounting methods have been developed, including the use of O-rings, circlips, screws and plastic cups. Unfortunately, all of these techniques add to assembly cost and complexity without providing a comprehensive solution.

During the show, visitors to the Rencol stand, found in the components hall, will have the opportunity to see first hand an impressive array of leading-edge applications as well as speak to Rencol engineers about their bearing mount project needs. For further details of Rencol’s products and services, please call +44 (0)117 938 1700 or visit www.rencol.co.uk.

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