In a recent article, I wrote about step-motor system performance emphasizing key concepts that all engineers need to understand about this widely-used electro-magnetic-mechanical digital actuator. As ...

Blindly assuming the dynamic peak torques listed on servomotor data sheets for a design almost always results in over-sized, inappropriately expensive gearboxes. A motor’s acceleration peak torque is ...

The optimal size for a clutch or brake is determined by three things: Required torque, thermal horsepower per engagement, and average required thermal horsepower. Here, we'll discuss the first, ...

The rollercoaster that is the upper Midwest winter is moving along at a breakneck pace. One day, the high temperature was in the single digits. Two days later, the high was pushing 50. In a few days, ...

With or without a clutch pedal, all cars have three elements that make up their performance combination: the car's weight, horsepower, and gear ratios. When a torque converter is added in place of a ...

Thread the nut onto the bolt, hit it with 37 “ugga-duggas” and it’s all done, right? *insert buzzer here* Whoops! That’s a fail, and now you have a broken bolt. If you have been turning wrenches for a ...

Here is a simple method for estimating the actual load on an electric motor without special equipment. But first, a word of caution: Some applications (e.g., a large forced draft fan) require more ...

Racing cars in the top echelons of motorsport can accelerate to 100 km/h in little more than a second or two and reach incredible top speeds three times that fast. They have tons of horsepower, but do ...