Kubota's Latest Has Low Horsepower, Lots of Heart

Kubota, a leading Japanese tractor manufacturer, is introducing its latest yardmonster, the M130X. It sports 140 horsepower engine, which doesn't sound like much. However, its torque figure of 570Nm at a miniscule 1,200rpm is pretty impressive. Also impressive is the fact that every component of the tractor is made in-house.

One very interesting feature of the M130X is its proprietary 16 forward/16 reverse Intelli-Shift transmission, which reaches 40kph and includes the option of eight creep speeds. The gearbox offers eight clutchless powershift steps in each of the two ranges, operated with buttons on the single transmission lever. ‘Auto’ mode is activated by a single switch alongside, and this gives two options. ‘Travel’ mode gives the driver three programmable gear changes according to road gradient and acceleration, while ‘Field’ gives a downshift of two gears upon the rear hitch being raised. A basic headland management sequence if you will, to add to the Dual Memory system. Beside its Intelli-Shift transmission the M130X features a bevel gear drive as part of Kubota's 4wd package, which presents the advantage of no differential to get caught and no UV joints to maintain.

Gear Application Friday: Positive Displacement Meters

Engineer Live has a great article about positive displacement meters. Positive displacement meters measure the volume of a fluid or gas by measuring the flow of the fluid or gas as it passes from a chamber, pushing a rotor. Positive displacement meters are also a common application of gearing technology. Depending on the type of gear used, the positive displacement meter will be different. Engineer Live breaks down the differences very well.

- Rotary Piston: As mentioned above these form the basis of domestic water measurement but the design of the rotary piston that oscillates in a circular chamber with a fixed web has been modified and extended to ultra low flows and high flows, as well as high pressures and for food applications. A good all-rounder.

- Spur gear: The fluid rotates two gears and is forced around the outside of the gears and the inside of the chamber. Depending on the location of the sensor these can yield very high pulses per litre values useful in batching and fast acting processes.

- Diaphragm (or bellows meter): These are common in many people's home as their domestic gas meters. When the gas flows through it alternately fills and empties bellows causing levers to crank a shaft providing an output. Very useful for wide-ranging gas totalisation.

- Oval Gear: Quite similar to the spur gear where two oval gears mesh together and sweep the chamber. The volume displaced is much larger than the round gear. Fairly low cost and some designs available in plastic.

- Nutating Disc: This meter is the hardest to understand but is effective. The rotor is a circular disc attached to a ball. The shaft on the ball is inclined. As the disc rotates in a spherically sided chamber the disc and therefore the shaft wobble creating an output.

- Helical Screw: Possibly the most accurate PD: meter two intersecting cylindrical bores are fitted with 2 interlocking helical screws. As the fluid passes through they rotate. On standard applications the author has observed differences of just +/-0.37 per cent of reading over 50:1 turndown over annual recalibrations over 10 years - quite an achievement. Also common nowadays fitted on petrol pumps.

Positive displacement meters are a great application for industrial gear manufacturers. They leverage the force multiplying aspects of gearing with chemical engineering ingenuity.

Some Turbulence for Gear Manufacturers

MIT's Technology Review has a story that is bad news for some gear manufacturers. Two of the largest manufacturers of wind turbines--Siemens and GE--are going away from using gearboxes in their wind turbine offerings. In the face of problems associated with using gearboxes in wind turbine builds, Siemens and GE both are turning to a direct-drive system. Last month, GE announced it would invest $451.8 million in facilities to manufacture direct drive wind turbines rather than gearbox driven ones.

The new Siemens direct drive turbine is supposed to weigh 12 tons less than a gearbox-driven build due in part to developments in the build of the electromagnetic power generating portion of the turbine.

Stiesdal [the Chief Technology Officer of Siemens] says Siemens reduced weight further by inverting its generator's design. Rather than a steel rotor covered with permanent magnets spinning inside a stationary doughnut-shaped stator (the design GE is using in its four-megawatt direct-drive turbine) Siemens's rotor is a steel cylinder with permanent magnets on the inside, and this rotor spins around a column-like stator.

The company expects to have direct-drive turbines commercialized in Norway by 2012. Siemens has not experience any significant failure of its gearbox-driven turbines. The major advantage of the direct-drive turbines seems to be that they have about half as many parts as their gearbox analogues. The only significant downside to the direct-drive turbines is the relative scarcity of the rare earth metals used to make their magnets.

A Shift in Ford's Transmissions

Ford Motor Company looks to be doing something original with its research and development: It has designed and engineered an automatic transmission that will deliver better fuel economy to a car than a manual transmission would. The gain seems to be about 11%, presently. The company calls its new transmission technology PowerShift.

The dual dry-clutch PowerShift automatic transmission is based on efficient manual transmission technology, eliminating the additional weight and complexity of a torque converter, planetary gears and the fluid pumps employed in traditional automatics. Electronically controlled, twin internal clutches shift gears quickly and smoothly, providing a seamless flow of torque with the refinement and ease customers expect from a premium automatic transmission.

Ford will equip PowerShift in this year's Ford Fiesta. By the end of the year, it expects to have 85% of its automobiles with PowerShift capability. And by 2013, it hopes to offer PowerShift in all its vehicles.

PowerShift is an interesting technology. It's a dual-clutch in order to reap many of the benefits of manual transmissions. And using new technology, it results in better mileage. This is the sort of innovation that's been sorely lacking in American automobile design. We're frankly thrilled to see it developing--finally.

Printed Gears... What?!

RepRap is undertaking a fairly mindblowing project: They're trying to make a self-copying, open-source 3D printer. (And you thought Avatar in 3D was impressive!) Think about that for a moment. They're trying to construct a 3D printer than can reprint itself. Endless self-iterations. Amazing.

RepRap's blog is documenting their progress, and they've just gotten their printer to print gears that it can use:

I have finally managed to print tiny little ball-chain gears that work with 3.3mm and 3.5mm diameter ball-chain and still fit on the NEMA17's 5mm output shaft. The trick is to print the gears in two pieces.

As you can see in the photograph, I print two 4mm thick sections of gear and put them on the shaft with an M5 washer sandwiched in between. Make sure the teeth are lined up on both gears. This gives a channel to guide the ball-chain down the centre of the gear, and grips the sides of the balls adequately. As the gears age, it will also stop the balls grinding their way too far through the PLA, though I must admit that my experience with ball-chain Z axis gears suggests this will not be a major issue.

This is a really cool project that we'll be sure to follow along with. Good luck, guys!

Google Adds Bike Paths to Google Maps

If you've been a reader of the Gear Manufacturer Blog, you know that we love bicycles. They're the most transparent example of gearing application in everyday life. In fact, we think often of the famous HG Wells quote, "Every time I see an adult on a bicycle, I no longer despair for the future." It's true: Bicycling is good exercise, doesn't pollute the environment, and it's just fun.

There's good news, recently, for bicyclists. Google Maps is adding bicycle routes to its great mapping website. Wired reports,

“This has been a top-requested feature from Google Maps users for the last couple years,” says Shannon Guymon, product manager for Google Maps. “There are over 50,000 signatures on a petition.”

The news thrilled bike advocates, who have for years been pushing — and petitioning — the search giant to include bike routes on Google Maps. No longer do they have to rely upon paper maps or open-source DIY map hacking or crazy-cool helmet-mounted heads up iPhones.

“This new tool will open people’s eyes to the possibility and practicality of hopping on a bike and riding,” says Andy Clarke, president of the League of American Bicyclists. “We know people want to ride more, we know it’s good for people and communities when they do ride more — this makes it possible. It is a game-changer, especially for those short trips that are the most polluting.”

It is great news, and we can't wait to get out there and try out the new Google Maps functionality.

Lord of the (Gear) Ring

New York City-based design company Kinekt Design has come up with an ingenious item, that is "complex enough to play with, yet simple enough to wear," as they say. They call it the Gear Ring, and as you can see in the video below, it is something you can both wear and play with.

The Gear Ring is made from high quality matte stainless steel. It has six small gears that turn in unison when the outerparts of the ring are spun (as can be seen in the video). If you have a gearing engineer--or just a gearhead--in your life, this could be a cool gift. (We're almost tempted to give this gift to ourselves!)