Winner announced for LEAP Awards in Mechanical category

Last night, at the inaugural LEAP Awards dinner gala in Costa Mesa, Calif., the winning company was announced in the Mechanical Category. The finalists created and incredible mix of mechanical component technology advances.

In the category of Mechanical, the finalists were:

CPC – Colder Products Company
Ultra-Compact LQ2 Quick Disconnects

R+W Coupling Technology
World’s Largest Ball-Detent Safety Coupling

Rolling Motion Industries
Traction Drive Technology

Twin Spring Coupling
TSC500 flexible coupling unit

WITTENSTEIN
Rack Assembly in Minutes, Chipless Pinning with INIRA

…and the winner is:

Rolling Motion Industries
Traction Drive Technology

We offer a new patented technology that is going to be a game changer in many industries. Traction drives have been around for over 100 years, but they were complex and expensive. What we offer is simple and cost-effective. Our technology gives smooth, quiet, efficient and accurate rotation. These offerings solve current problems in the industry, and RMI is the solution. With the use of the most modern CNC equipment and precise tooling at our partner/manufacturer FCS, we can handle any quantity, any size drive, and any application.

Due to the simplistic design of our patented product we are able to penetrate many markets. In most circumstances, a superior product means a much more expensive product, but this is not the case with RMI. Simplicity is the essence of brilliance is a saying and our patented technology sure fits that category. RMI started as a visualization of a new way to get to point B.

This new traction drive from Rolling Motion Industries called the RMI Marmalade includes six moving parts — a cup shaft component, a toroidal shaft component, twin precision-matched bearings for shaft support, one pair of rolling elements between the shaft elements, and engineered traction fluid to help the balls transmit torque. The engineered traction fluid inside the sealed housing works for power transmission and cools and lubricates the drive. A microscopic gap between the rolling elements lets the fluid slip through — but as the fluid squeezes through this microscopic gap, high pressure causes the fluid to temporarily solidify. Then the solid structure of the fluid transmits torque from input to output shaft. Material science has enabled this new traction drive mode of operation. Traditional traction-drive fluids have friction coefficients of 0.05 to 0.06. The new drive employs fluid with coefficients of friction of 0.1 to 0.12 — particularly useful for the transfer of torque through smaller normal forces … even with operation that makes slippage between input and output shafts impossible.

From the judges: “ This is a game-changing technology that competitors will be chasing for years to come. Truly impressive performance.”