Increased customer requirements regarding longer service life and the greatly increased power density within the gear units are challenges that SEW-Eurodrive's development departments face on a daily basis. In order to meet these challenges, the individual machine elements were examined and a high development potential was recognized in the design element lubricant. SEW can draw on almost 90 years of experience in the development and construction of gear units and countless customer applications. During this long period, the company has gathered extensive tribological knowledge. After all, the Bruchsal-based company is one of the world's largest purchasers of gear oils in the industrial sector of drive technology.

"We have now been able to incorporate our decades of experience in the field of gear lubricants into our own range of lubricants together with competent development partners," reports Alexander Hüttinger, Head of the Tribology & Sealing Systems technology group at SEW-Eurodrive. He continues: "We have now expanded our approach of offering customers everything from a single source to include lubricants." The aim was to provide lubricants of consistently high quality to customers worldwide and within the individual SEW-Eurodrive locations, Drive Technology Centers and Service Centers.

Available worldwide
Eiko Filler, Product Manager for gear units at SEW-Eurodrive, confirms: "With SEW GearOil, we can offer a high-quality lubricant that is standardized throughout the SEW companies worldwide. The long shelf life of up to six years exceeds the usual market standards and helps us and our customers with storage." The customer should receive the optimum solution for every lubricant type and viscosity. "We see the lubricant as a central drive component. This enables us to offer our customers the best possible performance for every gearbox," emphasizes Georg Ochs, development engineer at SEW-Eurodrive. "Our lubricants are designed to reduce friction losses as much as possible, which is reflected in an increase in gearbox efficiency." Many years of excellent cooperation with leading lubricant manufacturers laid the foundation for this new development with very high requirements.
Based on the experience of millions of gearboxes in use by customers and the specialized know-how of the development partners, cross-industry oils were developed that produced the desired result after countless test runs and chemical analyses: "We can now provide the best oil for each gearbox type and application area - be it mineral oil or synthetic oil or special lubricants for use in the food industry," emphasizes Rene Richert, development engineer at SEW-Eurodrive. "Ultimately, the key to success was the very close cooperation within the project team, the full commitment of everyone involved and the trusting and open exchange with the development partners," explains Thomas Bühnen, specialist purchaser for lubricants at SEW-Eurodrive, looking back.

Optimal overall solution
The employees from Development, Purchasing and Product Management as well as the external development partners can be proud of their performance. "Our approach of being able to offer the customer everything from a single source has been well received. In parallel to the lubricants, we have also developed the Premium Sine Seal oil seal with a strong partner," reflects Alexander Hüttinger. "These new developments offer our customers absolute and exclusive added value. There are countless lubricants from numerous manufacturers on the market. They all have different compositions and properties. However, not all of them are suitable for gearboxes because they can damage the shaft seals, for example, which can lead to oil leaks. We are looking for the optimum package for the entire drive that significantly extends the service life of both the lubricant itself and the wear parts such as sealing rings or bearings." Buyer Bühnen concludes: "We are also in talks with other suppliers in order to be able to offer our customers the optimum solution for every application."