Gear Technology Magazine
www.geartechnology.com/articles/22910

Voith Introduces New Fluid Coupling

April 13, 2005
The new TurboSyn friction coupling from Voith Turbo increases the economy of single drives and utilizes its potential for energy savings. With the new fluid coupling, the nominal slip has been eliminated, according to the company's press release. For the operation of mills, this means lower energy requirements and outputs increased by 3% or even 10% for fans. As a result, the annual throughput can increase considerably. According to the company, the new Voith Turbo coupling combines the existing advantages of hydrodynamic couplings with a newly patented principle. The hydrodynamic advantages crucial for the start-up procedure, e.g. motor protection and smooth acceleration of the driven machine, are retained and nominal operation now occurs without slip. The basic design is similar to that of a standard Voith coupling. However, the inner wheel consists of pivoting segments attached to the hub in a rotary fashion. As soon as a certain speed is accomplished, segments radially swivel to the outside and create a friction connection between inner wheel and coupling shell. As a result, the differing speeds of outer and inner parts are synchronized, and a direct connection between input and output is realized. Voith adds that the TurboSyn is a compact coupling that does not need a control system in order to protect against overload?the coupling itself does this.