Power Transmission Engineering is a unique
magazine. Instead of focusing on a specific industry,
we focus on specific subject: namely, the mechanical
power transmission components that drive many different
types of machinery.

So we find ourselves continuously writing about the same
things: gears, bearings, motors, gear drives and so on.

But this is a good thing.

It gives us a chance to cover these components from
many different angles and explore the various industries
they’re used in. We believe that an engineer working in
the mining industry can learn from our examples in the
food and beverage industry, for example. Aerospace engineers
can learn from automotive articles, and automotive
engineers can learn from construction industry articles.
You get the idea. The point is that we’re trying to bring
you the best examples of articles about mechanical power
transmission solutions, no matter where they come from.

This issue we have a focus on lubrication, and we have
several articles that should be of interest, no matter your
industry. Senior editor Matthew Jaster’s article on automatic
lubrication systems (p.24) explores how lubrication
is advancing into the era of Industry 4.0. The article
“6 Critical Grease Characteristics” (p.30) highlights the
different functions of bearing grease and gives you ideas
about how to determine the optimal blend for your application.
And in “High-Performance Plastics,” we explore
how new materials are advancing the science of seals.

We’re also taking a close look at gearmotors this issue
(p.18). Contributing Editor Joseph Hazelton talks with
several leading manufacturers of gearmotors to explore
the ways increasing gearmotor efficiency can save money
in your applications, whether you’re replacing a whole
factory’s worth of conveyor gearmotors or redesigning
an internal components for an end product like an automated
guided vehicle (AGV).

Our motors blogger and frequent contributor, George
Holling, helps us understand how advances in electric
motor technology are bringing down costs, opening up
new applications and freeing the supply chain from reliance
on increasingly difficult to source rare-earth elements
(p.41).

Finally, we have a pair of technical articles about gears
and gear drives for electrified automotive powertrains.
The first presents a method to model power losses in
a geared transmission (p.44). The second explores the
suitability of powder metal gears for high power density
applications, with a special focus on how they can be
adapted to the NVH and high speed requirements of edrive
applications.

It’s a full issue, covering many of our core subjects, and
then some. I’m proud to present it to you, and I hope you
find these articles interesting and useful. I would appreciate
it if you let us know how we’re doing. If you have any
reaction to any article in this issue, positive or negative,
please send an e-mail to wrs@powertransmission.com