Renold Chain's innovative chain sensor, Smartlink, is now available for smaller pitch sizes down to half inch (12.7mm) pitch chain. Up until as recently as late 2007, it seemed as though it would be impossible to make Smartlink available for anything less than one inch pitch chain. The breakthrough has been possible thanks, in large part, to advances in the miniaturisation of components, and means that Smartlink is now available for use on a much wider range of applications. According to Renold, there is approximately ten times as much half-inch pitch chain in use as one-inch pitch.
Smartlink is the only device in the world that can be fitted to chain on real applications and record dynamic data such as peak and shock loads. The units are remotely controlled by means of a handheld device and the data collected can be downloaded onto a PC for analysis with software developed by Renold. The results enable engineers to understand the loads applied to the chain throughout the whole system. It can point, quite specifically, to problem areas in the system, such as misaligned sprockets and can be used to determine more precisely the ideal size of chain that should be used.
Eduardo Abanses, the brains behind the development of Smartlink at Renold, says: "This is a major breakthrough for us and great news for manufacturers and OEMs using half-inch pitch chain who want to optimise their systems. We never thought we’d get Smartlink this small and in a way we’ve achieved what we previously thought was impossible."
The main stumbling block to reducing Smartlink’s size was battery technology. Because Smartlink is attached to the chain’s side plate, the unit must carry its own power supply and the first Smartlink devices were fitted with a PP3 9V battery.
Abanses explains: "Smartlink isn’t like a watch, it needs a bit more power than that because it’s doing a lot more things. It has to power a strain gauge, process and record data and communicate with its remote controller via an infrared signal."
The new Smartlink for half-inch pitch chain uses batteries that take up less than half the space of what was being used before, and it was this development that first gave the team at Renold a glimmer of hope that a new half-inch pitch Smartlink might be possible.