Types of couplings

A coupling is used to join two drive shafts, placed end to end.
There are three classes of coupling:

Rigid couplings

accouplement rigide Rigid couplings are used to attach two drive shafts in a completely rigid manner, as if they had been welded. In this way, the apparent length of the shaft is increased. However errors in alignment can not be corrected, and even risk being amplified. The transmissible couple is very high See the pages

Flexible couplings

accouplement panamech These couplings, said to be 'precision couplings', are rigid under torsion, but, however, allow the correction of errors in the alignment of the shafts. They are widely used in robotics or automatisms, because they are suitable for very accurate movements. See the pages

In the same category one also finds universal joints. The latter are in fact, very rigid under torsion, but allow the correction of large angular errors See the pages

Elastic couplings

rotex Elastic couplings correct errors in alignment, but are not completely rigid under torsion, which permits them to support more force in case of surges, or stop/start forces. (for example in the cases of pumps or generators) See the pages

Clutches

Clutches provide protection for a system in case of an overload: The clutch serves as a sort of fuse. Most of the time, it's a fuse which doesn't need replacing, but is re-usable as often as you like. See the pages

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