Department of Energy gear drive unit final prototype testing and design evaluation

TL;DRAbstract

UniDynamics (formerly UMC Industries), Winsmith Division and the US Department of Energy entered a cooperative agreement in September of 1980 to design and develop a mass producible gear drive (DOE gear drive unit), for line focus tracking concentrating solar collectors under the technical direction of Sandia Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico. The gear drive was developed in two phases. The Phase I gear drive unit was primarily fabricated and tested for concept evaluation, while the Phase II gear drive design effort, on the other hand, was developed for mass producibility and refinement. A combination of design and material selection resulted in acceptable overall performance with an efficiency of 34 percent at an operating output torque of 18,000 in-lbs. This was accomplished with a two stage gear drive consisting of nitrided steel primary gearing and a second stage wormgear drive with a tin-plated nodular iron wormgear. A maximum operating survival load of 57,000 in-lbs. was appl

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