MOTION SYSTEMS HANDBOOK
Basics of
sprockets
and chain drives Roller-chain selection chart Chain strands 4
motion systems for more than a century. They are versatile and reliable components to drive machinery and convey products. Now, advances chains in more applications than ever. Remote installations benefit from long-life chain that requires no lubrication, for example. Chain-based machinery abounds, but the most common industrial designs use roller chain. This type of chain consists of five basic components—pin, bushing, roller, pin link plate, and roller link plate. Manufacturers make and assemble each of these subcomponents to precise tolerances and heat treat them to optimize performance. More specifically, modern roller chains exhibit high wear resistance, fatigue strength, and tensile strength. Roller-chain applications generally fall into two categories: Drives and conveyors. Chain-drive applications: Most typical drive applications use an ASME/ANSI roller chain wrapped around a driver sprocket (connected directly to the motor or reducer) and the driven sprocket (often connected to a machine’s conveyor head-shaft). This portion of the drive lets the designer build a system that’s either faster or slower by simply changing the ratio of teeth between the drive and driven sprocket. The ratio of the teeth determines the reduction in rpm … so to reduce rpm, the driven
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DESIGN WORLD — MOTION
Chain Drives — Motion Control HB 08-19 V4.indd 32
Roller-chain drive capacity (horsepower)
in precision and technology let designers use
3
2
900 1,000 700 1,000 800 500 800 600 400 600 400 300 400 300 200 300 200 200 100 100 80 60 40 30
100 80 60
30
30
20
20 10 8 6 4 3
1 0.8
500 400 300 200 100 80 60 40 30 20
10 8
10
6
8 6
4 3
4 3
2
2
1 0.8 0.6
2
2 1 0.8
40
40
20 10 8 6 5 4 3
80 60
1
1 0.8 0.6
0.6
0.4
0.6
0.4
0.3
0.4
0.3
0.2
19 T 19 22 T T 2 25 21T 5T 22 19 T T T 21 25 25 T 25 T 23 23 T T 2 17 T 21 25 T 1 20 40 T T T 25 1 9T 0 17 21 7T T 1 T 21 T 16 80 T 25 0 14 23 17 T 0 T T 12 2 15 25 1T 0 T 10 T 17 19 0 T T 19 80 T 23 60 T 15 50 T 40 35
Engineers have used chains in
0.4 0.3 0.2
10
30 20
50 80 200 500 1,000 3,000 7,000 40 60 100 300 700 2,000 5,000 10,000
Speed of roller chain’s small sprocket (rpm) 8 • 2019
motioncontroltips.com | designworldonline.com
8/15/19 2:31 PM
