White Paper: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
The Gearmotor Applications Playbook
SPONSORED BY: ![]()
Bodine Electric Company has been designing and manufacturing electric gearmotors for 120 years. Having seen thousands of applications over the years, the engineers at Bodine know the best play for each situation. They have now made available a collection of 17 case studies describing how Bodine Electric solved the unique challenges for each one. This resource will provide OEM design engineers with expert insight into scoring a winning design. Download your copy now!
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Overview
The Bodine Electric Company’s "Gearmotor Applications Playbook" showcases 17 detailed examples highlighting the use of fractional-horsepower gearmotors across a wide range of industries and applications. Drawing on over a century of engineering expertise, Bodine demonstrates how custom and standard gearmotor solutions meet precise, demanding operational needs efficiently and reliably.
Applications span medical equipment, laboratory instruments, personal mobility, packaging machinery, industrial machines, warehouse automation, printing, recreation equipment, food service, farm machinery, pharmaceutical processing, oil and gas, and communications technology.
In medical devices like mammography machines, Bodine developed quiet, smooth-operating right-angle worm gearmotors with precision-machined parts and optimized brush components to minimize noise and improve patient comfort. For pharmaceutical dissolution testers, they reduced brush noise in low-voltage 24 VDC motors by recommending electro-graphite brushes, ensuring performance parity with higher voltage models.
Laboratory instruments for media feeding in large format printers were improved using brushless DC parallel shaft gearmotors with built-in controls, eliminating maintenance and noise from brushes. Personal mobility stairlifts employ self-locking, quiet 24 VDC gearmotors capable of reliable, battery-powered operation.
In packaging, Bodine replaced mechanical linkages in continuous band polybag sealers with synchronized AC synchronous gearmotors run from a single inverter drive, simplifying design and enhancing reliability. Similar totally enclosed AC gearmotors resolved water ingress issues in vertical carton sealers.
Warehouse automated guided vehicles rely on custom brushless DC gearmotors with position feedback, rugged connectors, and temperature sensors to operate reliably under continuous heavy use and harsh environments.
High torque 24 VDC gearmotors with positive locking brakes enable boat lifts to raise large watercraft reliably in harsh marine environments, powered by solar or battery systems. Food equipment manufacturers use special winding designs to achieve smooth operation over an extended speed range in pizza conveyor ovens.
Farm machinery—autonomous tractors and seed planters—benefit from Bodine’s integrated gearmotor and controller solutions for precision steering and seeding.
Oil and gas industry applications use brushless DC parallel shaft gearmotors with low-viscosity synthetic lubricants to improve efficiency and extend operation in harsh, cold environments for pipeline chemical injection pumps.
Finally, communication satellite antenna positioning systems employ compact, totally enclosed 24 VDC planetary gearmotors with built-in encoders and sealed wiring harnesses to achieve precise motion control in remote outdoor locations.
Overall, the playbook illustrates Bodine’s ability to engineer tailored gearmotor solutions—combining motors, gearing, lubrication, controls, and environmental protection—to solve complex challenges across diverse industries, enhancing performance, reliability, maintenance ease, and cost-effectiveness.