J. Hilbert Anderson, President of Coupling Corporation of America, discusses some of the reasons why FLEXXORs are designed differently from all other flexible couplings, and why they have such an excellent record for solving difficult drive problems.
In recent years, many new demands have been made on flexible shaft couplings. Years ago, most centrifugal compressor applications were limited to low-pressure air and low-pressure refrigerants. Shaft torques and speeds were relatively low compared to those used today where high-density gases are the common thing for compressors, and the torques and speeds have increased dramatically. This has resulted in much higher torque and higher speed requirements for flexible couplings. In addition, today many gases being handled require tight shaft seals, and the temperature differences between machines have tended to increase. All of these factors help to make flexible coupling requirements more stringent than ever before.
With these increasingly difficult requirements for couplings, the problems that have developed in the field have been more and more frequent, and more and more severe. The FLEXXOR was developed to overcome the many problems and difficulties which occurred with commonly used gear type or multiple strip flexing couplings.