How Safety Couplings Prevent Costly Equipment Downtime

<Snippet: Downtime is an aspect of industrial operations that can lead to unplanned losses. Learn how you can avoid that with the help of safety couplings in our post.>

Industrial or equipment downtime is an important and inescapable part of using heavy machinery and daily operations. That’s because it can either improve or worsen the organization’s efficiency. This depends on whether it’s planned or unplanned, respectively.

For example, a disruption in Australia’s telecom carrier Optus’ network upgrade led to a technical failure and 4 deaths. This is an example of unplanned downtime.

Planned downtime involves scheduled maintenance checks and other aspects, while unplanned downtime does not. It can lead to sudden equipment failure, as seen in the preceding section.

Apart from that, as per a report by Siemens, an hour of downtime in the automotive industry causes a loss of $2.3 million USD ($3.48 million AUD) annually.

You can prevent suffering from these financial losses with the help of safety couplings. These components can help you avoid hefty repair bills and unwanted productivity losses. But how can they do that, and what are they?

Let’s cover that below.

What Are Safety Couplings?

Safety couplings are components that are used between industrial machinery parts to protect them from overloading. These components often have built-in fail-safes, which separate the parts they are put in between off, in the event of overloading.

In other words, unlike standard couplings, these components prevent the transfer of torque and movement. By preventing the transfer of torque and movement, these devices prevent device failure.

There are three types of these couplings, as seen in the table below:

Let’s take a brief look at them in the table below:

Table 1: Types of Safety Couplings

Let us now understand how they prevent equipment downtime below.

How Do Safety Couplings Help You Avoid Unwanted Equipment Downtime?

Using safety couplings helps you avoid downtime by absorbing the overloads, separating the machinery parts, or protecting driveshafts.

Absorbing The Overloads

These couplings absorb the overloads faced by machines and prevent the aftershocks from traveling through the machine. They do this with the help of different mechanisms, which depend on the type of coupling.

For example, let us consider fluid-based coupling devices. These devices are used to transmit torque and prevent overloads through the use of fluid media. That’s because they work on the hydrodynamic principle.

This principle ensures that the couplings can transmit power effortlessly between the two machine components due to the fluid medium. In other words, the power is transmitted between the two machine parts through the water molecules.

In case of excessive power loads due to, say, power surges, the excess power is transmitted away via valves. The quick transfer of excess power prevents additional wear and tear on the machine.

Separating the Machinery Parts

As mentioned in the preceding section, safety couplings trip in cases of power surges or transmit excess power away via valves. The quick detachment ensures that the power surge does not affect any vital parts.

This can be seen in torque-limiting couplings. These couplings utilise proximity sensors to detect additional movement near and about them. In case they detect these movements, which may be caused by overloads, they separate the parts immediately.

But that’s not all. Let us consider the working mechanism of a mechanical friction torque limiter. In case of an overload, the disc spring’s pressure is exceeded by that of the overload.

This action causes the outer parts of the machine to “slip”, which prevents the torque transmission to the inner parts.

Slipping can also take place in the opposite direction. In such an instance, the inner parts of the limiter would slip and prevent torque transmission to the outer parts.

You must note that the torque-limiting coupling device only continues to slip until the overload power is cleared.

Protecting Driveshafts

Safety coupling devices protect the driveshafts (transmit power and torque in machines) by compensating for misalignment. This can be seen in the bellows coupling. These coupling devices can transmit high amounts of torque without getting distorted.

Apart from that, they can compensate for a certain amount of misalignment in both angular and axial shaft arrangements. So you can find these coupling devices being used in older machinery, as their shafts are rarely perfectly aligned.

If you’re looking for more variety, you can consider torsionally flexible couplings as well. They can handle axial, radial, and angular misalignments.
Another feature that makes couplings vital for protecting driveshafts is their low inertia. In other words, the movement of the other machine parts does not affect their connection to the driveshaft.

As such, they are used in high-speed applications.

Which Industries Benefit Most from Safety Couplings?

Consider the table below to know which industries benefit from safety coupling devices, including a torsionally flexible coupling as well:

Table 2: Types of Safety Couplings and Industrial Applications

Consider the infographic below to understand the factors you should look for when choosing the right safety coupling equipment:

Infographic 1: Factors To Consider When Choosing A Coupling Device For Industrial Use

Looking to Reduce Downtime in Your Operations?

Safety couplings can help you reduce your downtime and prevent an increase in your operational budget. These devices will also help you prolong the life of your equipment. This is why you should choose the right coupling equipment.
Explore reliable safety coupling solutions tailored for your specific needs by considering a reliable supplier today!