The winners of the 2022 LEAP Awards (Leadership in Engineering Achievement Program) were announced this week with products across multiple categories, including Mechanical. Here are the three medalists for this year’s extremely competitive Mechanical category.
Gold
System Seals, Inc.
VORTEX Main Bearing Seal
A wind turbine seal design that redefines rotary seals
System Seals’ VORTEX main bearing seal is a corkscrew-style seal that uses the turning action of a rotary shaft to pump escaping grease back inside the bearing where it belongs. During deflections, when grease naturally migrates toward the seal, the Vortex pumps it back inside. For wind turbine OEMs, traditional radial lip seals can damage main shafts, resulting in leakage and subsequent premature seal failures. VORTEX eliminates these issues due to its low contact force and wear-resistant materials.
For turbine owners/operators, VORTEX designs allow for retrofitting existing seal housings or can be custom-made to uniquely fit into the existing metal work, adding a seal where one was not originally designed. VORTEX increases grease retention, resulting in increased bearing life and significant savings in grease.
Silver
Ogura Industrial Corp.
MCNB-HS series brakes
New large bore brakes for robotics and medical equipment
Ogura has developed a new line of small brakes for robotics and medical equipment applications. The MCNB-HS Series power-off spring applied brakes have oversized bores to allow wires to pass through the shaft’s hollow bore. They accommodate encoders, cables, hoses, shafts, and tools. The ratio of the brake’s field core diameter to outer diameter is leading the industry.
Internal designs allow for reduced backlash, high cycling, long life, optimized torque per size, thin profile, low weight, limited drag, low heat generation, and low power requirements. Reduced backlash is important for precision and accuracy. Special attention is made to supply stable performance and response during total life for high-cycle applications. Torque is optimized to provide a smaller package size and lower weight. The thin profiles give an advantage where space constraints are tight. Low power requirements reduce energy consumption and limit heat generation.
Bronze
Bishop-Wisecarver
LoPro V6
The expanded LoPro product line makes it more versatile than any other linear actuator on the market. Bishop-Wisecarver’s LoPro linear actuators have always provided best-in-class reliability… especially in harsh and extreme environments. This includes resistance to particles, shards, abrasive debris, weld splatter, liquids, corrosion, washdown pressures, extreme high and low temperatures, vacuum conditions, and more. The options for belt, chain, lead screw, and ball screw drive systems capture a wide range of speed, thrust, debris resistance, and accuracy capabilities. As tough as LoPro® actuators are, they still come with a low profile and offer smooth, quiet motion over long lengths.
Filed Under: LEAP Awards, Awards • acquisitions