With more than 40 years experience, Warner Electric has become the
recognized leader of clutch/brake technology for commercial and residential
power lawn mowers and garden tractors.
The most significant increase in market demand has been for commercial
mowing equipment used by mowing service contractors (due to the aging
U.S. population). At the same time, sales of residential mowers continues to
be strong.
Since their introduction more than 20 years ago, ZTR (Zero Turning Radius)
mowers, with increasing deck and engine sizes, have continued to grow in
popularity for both commercial and residential use.
Over the years the industry has continued to tighten the standards for mower
blade stop times. Today, the ANSI commercial riding mower blade stop
standard is 7 sec. (5 sec. for residential riding mowers). Federal law currently
requires a 3 sec. blade stop on all walk-behind mowers.
Commercial customers are asking for faster ground speeds with enhanced
suspensions for operator comfort due to tough terrain. Since their livelihood
depends on their equipment, contractors also want better reliability and
improved uptime productivity. These trends challenge OEMs to design
mowers with extremely reliable clutch/brakes that can maintain required blade
stopping performance over years of service in harsh outdoor conditions.
INNOVATIVE WARNER ELECTRIC CMS SERIES
CLUTCH/BRAKES SET THE INDUSTRY STANDARD
FOR DURABILITY
While new commercial mowers had been tested for blade
stop time compliance, there were no initial standards
set for durability. The development of Warner Electric’s
Commercial MagStop (CMS) clutch/brake represents
the latest innovation in permanent magnet braking
technology.
CMS 250 Series Commercial MagStop clutch/brakes
are designed for heavy-duty mowers with up to 96”
decks and engines up to 37 HP. Units feature rugged
construction for continuous-duty and long life. Other
unique features include:
• Patented, modular, permanent magnet brakes for
more consistent torque over the life of the clutch
• Large 6208 armature bearing pressed into machined
bearing cup
• Patented D-drive mounting adapter locks crank shaft
to aid in securing and removing mounting bolt
• Large 6008 field bearing with high-temperature
poly acrylic seal and high-temperature Krytox® grease
• Larger pulley sizes to extend belt life
U.S. MANUFACTURING AND IN-HOUSE TESTING
CAPABILITY SUPPORT FLEXIBLE OEM DELIVERY
REQUIREMENTS
Ever-changing OEM production schedules often require
flexible delivery options from component suppliers.
Rolling changes in product designs need to be tested
quickly to ensure performance expectations are met.
Located in Columbia City, Indiana, Warner Electric’s
manufacturing facility is positioned near most of the
world’s leading mower OEMs. This close proximity
allows customers to quickly access Warner’s application
engineering expertise and testing support.
With a focus on lean manufacturing, the state-of-the-art
plant is configured to ship product quickly in response
to rapid OEM design changes while other clutch/brake
manufacturers often require 6-month lead times.
Based on long-term relationships, most major mower
OEMs now view the Warner engineering team as an
extension of their internal engineering departments.
OEMs routinely ship prototype mowers to Warner’s test
facility so Warner engineers can develop a custom clutch/
brake solution for the specific mower application and
then define and perform all appropriate testing protocols
in-house.
Warner in-house testing capabilities include ANSI stop
times, cycle tests, blade spindle bearing temperature
and other mower performance parameters. Three
large environmental test chambers can each house
an entire mowing machine. These chambers allow for
24/7/365 unattended tests that simulate a variety of
high-temperature conditions combined with load cells
that simulate different grass mowing conditions.
In-house inertia test stands feature belt-driven motors that allow
zero-hour prototype brake and clutch torque testing.