Why Retrofitting Industrial Gearboxes Makes Sense

Retrofit or new acquisition? Customers of Kachelmann Getriebe GmbH often ask themselves this question when it comes to reworking or replacing old gears. The family-run company has been producing special gearboxes up to 20 t for all industrial sectors for over 125 years.

Retrofit is cheaper and faster

“Our core business is customer-specific gearbox solutions. We now have over 500,000 gearboxes in use worldwide. It is completely normal for long-standing customers to come to us and ask: Should we order a new transmission or is it more sensible to modernize the existing transmission?”Says Andrea von Wartenberg, who, together with her brother Alexander Kachelmann from Colberg, says the company leads in the fourth generation. "Our experience shows that a retrofit is often the more sensible solution. Because firstly, a retrofit is significantly cheaper and secondly much more time-saving than buying a new one, because we can use the existing gearbox for the retrofit and can continue to use a number of components. This means that no external changes need to be made to the overall system.”

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Select, design and insert the gear correctly

The term retrofit is derived from the Latin word "retro" (= backwards) and the English "to fit". This means upgrading or modernizing an old system. Existing system components are replaced with modern components or new components are added to meet current technical and legal requirements. Because while the mechanics of a machine hardly become obsolete even after many years, the technologies in the areas of control, drive and automation technology develop very quickly.

Specialized in special gearboxes

If an industrial gearbox has reached the end of its service life, it could fail at any time and shut down entire production lines. Therefore, it makes sense to modernize or replace such gears, even if the mechanics still seem to be working properly.

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New solutions for the development and simulation of gears

“During a retrofit, we disassemble the complete gearbox and create a precise analysis of the current gearbox status. We clean and paint all parts, measure them on our testing machines and use them to create a complete set of production drawings, if the customer so requests. This will ensure the future supply of spare parts,”says Alexander Kachelmann from Colberg.

Components are exchanged, reworked, optimized

“Our transmission experts then decide which components are replaced and which are reworked. Rolling bearings and seals are generally replaced and the running surfaces of the sealing rings on the shafts are reworked. In many cases we optimize the toothing with regard to noise, so we significantly reduce the noise level of the gearbox. In this way, we bring older transmissions back up to date with more power and lower costs. Our customers also benefit from shorter downtimes than when purchasing new equipment,”says the managing director.

User meeting mechatronic drive technology

The focus of the user meeting mechatronic drive technology is on the mechanical components of gears, clutches and brakes as well as their design, dimensioning and interaction in the overall mechatronic system.

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Over 100 years of special gearbox construction

Due to the long company history, Kachelmann Getriebe GmbH has delivered special gearboxes to almost all industrial sectors worldwide and has repaired and modernized countless third-party gearboxes. “Our great strength lies in the extensive know-how from over 100 years of special gearbox construction for countless drive solutions worldwide. Due to the medium-sized structure, we can respond to customer requests very quickly, flexibly and pragmatically, "says Andrea von Wartenberg." We work solution-oriented so that the economic damage caused by a transmission failure is kept as small as possible. Our technicians can reach almost any transmission location worldwide within 24 hours. Because we know from many years of experiencethat trouble-free systems in industry are a key competitive factor for productivity."

Use retrofit to exchange gears with sensors

More and more companies are working with predictive maintenance on their machines and systems. This means that maintenance or service is only carried out when components are in danger of failure. That is why components, machines and systems are increasingly equipped with modern sensors and communication technology in order to constantly monitor their service life. "A retrofit is also an interesting way to make gearboxes fit for Industry 4.0 applications. Modernized transmissions can be digitally monitored and networked in this way,”confirms the Kachelmann managing director.

transmission

Efficiently “going around the corner” with crown gear drives

Mechatronic drive technology

Optimal design of efficient drive system

On virtual paths against the corona crisis

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