Tolerance Rings take the strain

The number of electric motors used within our everyday life is growing at an astounding rate, with industry analysts predicting this figure will continue rise. Chris Needes, Product Manager at Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics Rencol, explains some of the innovative ways in which tolerance rings are currently being used.

Electric motors are found in anything that has an electrical movement or solenoid function; familiar examples include refrigerators, washing machines and power tools. In the automotive world, car manufacturers are increasingly employing electric motors for powered windows, seat adjusters and mirrors; they are also now being used in electric power steering (EPS) systems and active suspension and brake systems.

Indeed, with the proliferation of electric motors into these wide ranging applications, OEMs are now keeping a close eye on the motor’s reliability, size, weight and noise generation, as well as the overall system costs. This is pushing the motor manufacturers to re-engineer their designs – for example, there have already been novel advances in motor control. Today, however, OEMs are looking to new advances in electric motor design as well as the system itself. Here the innovative use of tolerances rings is already proving invaluable for an impressively wide range of applications.