Starship drives fan China's power expansion
May 1st 2007

Industrial expansion in China has increased demand for electrical power which has resulted in a massive rise in fossil fuel power stations.

Power station boiler applications require efficient air preheaters for optimum performance.

Renold Gears has supplied two solutions as the drive for the preheater, both having multiple inputs which give a resemblance to a starship.

The first is a shaftmounted gear unit, based upon the TW series, which is fitted to the central main shaft of the preheater fan and fixed into position using huge shrink disc couplings.

Each drive is a multiple reduction unit comprising two sets of worm gears and a primary helical box with a further two helical reductions, driven by electric motor.

The fan of the preheater must turn indefinitely, so the gearbox has two flangemounted drive motors that act as standby drives.

The second option uses a designed based upon the HC series. It is a two-stage helical unit with a bevel gear first reduction, mounted with three first reduction bevel gears, giving three separate input drive shafts.