Practical research on the gearing test rig
Weight and resource savings, installation space reduction, cost optimization — these macro trends demand gear designs pushed to the limit. And since every design is only as precise as its empirical basis, a technological platform is needed to establish this basis under realistic conditions. The solution is a test rig with infinitely adjustable center distance, suitable for metal and plastic spur gears, enabling endurance runs as well as flexible load cycles under various lubrication scenarios (oil or grease). This versatility allows the collection of application-specific load capacity values and project-specific use for quick tests or isolated gear validations — also available as a service.
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Gearing Test Rig and its Benefits for Plastic Gears
Plastics as gear materials remain under-researched. A lack of material data and multifactorial failure scenarios make the development of plastic gearboxes near their performance limits particularly challenging. With the gear testing rig, the Franz Morat Group is taking the next step in its in-house research and development of plastic gears — moving away from the standard VDI 2736 test scenarios towards concrete application-based testing.
Research collaboration on high-performance plastic gear teeth
igus is researching new plastics for 3D printing of gears
To date, there are no polymer materials that can be used to manufacture durable gear components using 3D printing. The “motion plastics” specialists at igus in Cologne have taken on this niche and are developing high-performance resins for 3D printing. To optimize and refine these materials, igus relies on the gearing expertise and gear testing bench of Framo Morat. Here, the behavior of gears from different prototyping processes can be examined under defined conditions. The goal: to use additively manufactured gears to approach the precision of injection-molded series components. At the same time, comprehensive running tests are carried out to collect load-bearing data for both 3D-printed components and injection-molded series components in order to make them comparable.
Areas of Application
- Research and collection of load capacity values
- Project-specific use
- Quick tests
- Variant comparisons
- Isolated gear validation
- Test rig also available as a service
Technical Details
Test specimens
- Straight or helical gear stages
- Metal pairings, plastic pairings, metal-plastic pairings
Lubrication system
- Dry running
- Grease lubrication
- Oil lubrication (immersion lubrication, injection lubrication, oil mist lubrication)
Testig modes
- Endurance
- Application-specific load spectra
Measurement categories
- Torque
- Speed
- Efficiency
- Lubricant temperature
Other features
- Automated damage detection with linked stop condition
- Regulation of operating temperature (with oil lubrication)
- Low-vibration, damped test setup
How can we support you with our gear test bench?
Whether you need to determine application-specific load-bearing capacity values, perform quick project-specific tests, or carry out isolated gear validations, we look forward to hearing from you.