Shaft couplings for compact designs

Shaft couplings compensate for axial, radial and angular displacements in almost all ranges of machine construction. Thus they contribute to an extended lifetime of the drives and in the end to a possible life extension of the complete machine.

With the torsionally flexible and failsafe ROTEX jaw-type coupling KTR offers a solution that has proven successful in a wide range of applications due to its compensation for shaft displacements and its vibration-reducing effect. Since the machines become more and more compact and the power density continuously increases, KTR has now developed new ROTEX lines enabling the disassembly of the coupling and the exchange of the spider with low shaft distance dimension and a minimal additional need for space on the shaft.

Two variations are available: ROTEX GT and ROTEX GTS. The hubs of the ROTEX GTS each have one hub basic body and two shells. After detaching the two clamping screws connecting the shells and ensuring the necessary backlash-free frictional engagement with the shaft, the hub can be taken off without needing axially additional space on the shaft. The new design is slightly longer than the normal ROTEX type coupling. The ROTEX GTS is optionally available as flange drop-out centre design coupling ROTEX CF-GTS – one of the hubs has a flange connection.

In the case of the ROTEX GT the hubs are divided into 2 parts and connected by clamping screws. For the disassembly you need only a few millimeter´s of additional space on the shaft: After having detached the clamping screws, the hub halves are slightly tilted and removed.

ROTEX GTS and ROTEX GT are available from size 14 to 90 for nominal torques from 10 to 4,500 Nm along with different spider materials. Shortly after the launch of these new products into the market KTR are already receiving some interesting applications. In the conveyor market the design engineers have had the problem that the frame construction of pallet conveying units does not leave any space in order to disassemble the couplings in the synchronous operation of the chain drives. This can be easily overcome through the use of the ROTEX GT and ROTEX GTS. And not only this: After having the coupling disassembled, the gear motor can be exchanged without any changes in the assembly of the system.

The manufacturers of textile machines and printing machines already use this particularly compact coupling construction with the new ROTEX lines with an easy disassembly of couplings and other drive elements.