Couplings fall into two categories; rigid or flexible. Compared to flexible coupling, rigid couplings generally have limited application as they can’t compensate for shaft misalignments. They are therefore employed where shafts have already been positioned in precise lateral and angular alignment. Any shaft misalignment between the shafts creates high stresses and bearing loads making rigid couplings unsuitable where misalignments are likely to happen.
A degree of movement is a possibility and sometimes inevitable between the shafts due to thermal expansion. Flexible couplings are employed during the transmission of torque between shafts when the two are slightly misaligned. Flexible couplings have an advantage over rigid couplings because of the unavoidable misalignment between shafts in some machinery. A good example of flexible couplings is the torsionally flexible coupling.
A torsionally flexible coupling is specifically designed for mechanical units with internal combustion engines. You introduce torsional flexibility into transmission systems when there exists a risk of developing transient dynamic overloads and/or resonance conditions. These flexible couplings are used to compensate for misalignments and to dampen torsional vibrations.
Torsional Couplings Features
The usage of the term flexible doesn’t imply that the flexible coupling gives the coupled shafts complete freedom of movement with no transmissible force. Flexible couplings allow limited freedom of movement with the transmitted force. Stated differently, forces are essential to make a flexible coupling flex, and the forces are either lateral or axial in nature (or a blend of both).
Being flexible, torsional couplings offer several benefits to mechanical systems. They can protect your driveline and boost the life of the downstream equipment through dampening vibration. Besides, by design, they operate as flexible couplings, which helps them compensate for angular, radial, and axial misalignment. Flexible couplings misalignment can result in an excessive force on either the drivel load or motor, potentially leading to large volumes of vibration or the failure of other components.
Torsionally flexible couplings normally come with high torsional compliance to enhance their impact on transmission dynamics. They allow some degree of misalignment and for the isolation of vibration. Flexible couplings are specified for connecting the output and input shafts of the transmission to the compressor and motor.
Torsional Couplings Functioning
Flexible couplings accommodate different types of load conditions. No single type of coupling is capable of providing a universal solution to all problems associated with coupling. Therefore, many designs are available, and each has construction features designed to accommodate different application requirements.
Torsional flexibility is the elastic deformation that is induced in a coupling while it transmits torque. Sometimes, in applications employing encoders, it might be essential to set the torsional flexibility very low so that a reading error triggered by angular displacements doesn’t creep in. On the other hand, it may be desirable to have torsional deflection for reducing peak torque, especially when driving high inertia loads.
The torsionally flexible coupling from EED transmission can be plugged through a chain coupling sprocket. A chain couplings sprocket is used for low to moderate torque applications. It features flexible elements in both coupling halves. The flexible chain coupling and sprockets from Eedtransmission are designed for durability.
