Gates Sponsored NHRA Team Update

The NHRA season is racing to its conclusion, with 4 races left in the 2013 Countdown to the Championship. Gates is proud to sponsor John Force Racing and Don Schumacher Racing. Gates Poly Chain belts are used in the Top Fuel and Funny Car classes to drive the supercharger. The supercharger application is harsh and demanding, with high speeds, extreme HP requirements, and severe torque reversals. The Poly Chain belt is the only belt that can handle the highly destructive application. With only 4 races left, culminating in the final race on November 7-10 in Pomona, CA, the Gates sponsored cars and their teams are shaking out in their chase for the 2013 season championship. Top Fuel Spencer Massey (Don Schumacher Racing) Currently 1st Place Tony Schumacher (Don Schumacher Racing) Currently 5th Place Anton Brown (Don Schumacher Racing) Currently 8th Place Funny Car Matt Hagan (Don Schumacher Racing) Currently 1st Place Robert Hight (John Force Racing) Currently 3rd Place John Force (John Force Racing) Currently 4th Place Jack Beckman (Don Schumacher Racing) Currently 5th Place Ron Capps (Don Schumacher Racing) Currently 6th Place Johnny Gray (Don Schumacher Racing) Currently 7th Place Courtney Force (John Force Racing) Currently 8th Place

Belts and Hose in Different Zip Codes

Gates Corporation is the industry leader for belt and hose products, and its distributors are located all over the world. It's easy for North American customers to locate a distributor near them by clicking the "Where to Buy" tab anywhere on the Gates website or by simply using this link Distributor Locator.

PowerGrip GT2 – The Best Fit for Your Positioning Drive

PowerGrip GT2 belts are an advanced design of Gates HTD system and feature:

• A higher load-carrying capacity and longer belt life than either the PowerGrip HTD or PowerGrip Timing belts.
• The greatest registration and indexing accuracy.
• A modified curvilinear tooth profile with mating sprocket grooves.

This deep tooth profile of the PowerGrip GT2 belts provides…

• Increased contact area and improved resistance to ratcheting.
• Easy, clean entering and exiting the sprocket groove resulting in reduced vibration.
• Parallel contact with the groove eliminating stress concentrations and tooth deformation under load.
• Improved registration characteristics and maintains high torque carrying capability up to 2X that of PowerGrip HTD belts and 3X that of PowerGrip Timing belts.

As a comparison, the PowerGrip GT2 belts greater tooth depth and increased contact area results in full flank contact whereas the PowerGrip Timing belt primarily contacts the sprocket in the root radius only.  In addition, though the PowerGrip HTD belt has a deep tooth profile, it has considerably greater backlash due to the relatively poor belt/sprocket pitch fit when compared to the PowerGrip GT2 belt (see illustrations below).  

Wet Evaporative Type Air Cooled Heat Exchangers

V-belt drives in wet evaporative type air cooled heat exchangers are sometimes converted to synchronous belt drives for more constant fan speed, reduced maintenance and to reduce energy consumption.  While these benefits are often realized from belt drive conversions in many industrial systems, this particular application can be especially challenging.

Wet evaporative air cooled heat exchangers are sometimes structurally compliant allowing drive center distances to flex while in operation.  This allows belts to loosen dynamically resulting in accelerated belt tooth and sprocket groove wear.  Moisture seems to accelerate the rate of wear further with Poly Chain GT Carbon belts.   The first Poly Chain GT Carbon belt may last up to 6 months or so, then 2 to 3 months for the second and then maybe a couple of weeks for the third.  Belt teeth typically wear to a sharp point resembling “shark fins”.  By this time the sprocket grooves are often worn severely as well.

Poly Chain GT Carbon drive system life can be extended up to 12 to 15 months in these adverse applications with nickel plating on the sprocket groove surfaces.  Nickel plating is best applied to fresh cleanly machined sprockets as opposed to sprockets that have been painted or coated previously and then stripped.  In addition, sprocket finish diameters for freshly machined sprockets are corrected to account for the added thickness of nickel plating.  This improves the belt meshing quality reducing component wear.  Our Made-To-Order Metals Group can assist with properly plated sprockets that will perform well.  Contact them at makemymetal@gates.com or at 800-709-6001.

A quick and easy test for structural compliance is to stop the drive system, safely lock it out and then pull or push the belt spans together.  If any shaft or structural movement can be detected, the structure is not adequately sound for synchronous belt drive systems. In these cases V-belt drive systems are probably the better choice.

For further information feel free to contact us at ptpasupport@gates.com or at 303-744-5800.