Eaton Increases Uptime for Oil, Gas and Mining Applications with New Airflex® Water-Cooled Brake

EDEN PRAIRIE, MINN. – Power management company Eaton today announced the Eaton Airflex launch of Eaton’s Airflex® WCBD3 and WCSB3 Water-Cooled Third Generation Brake, a disc type, water-cooled dynamic tensioning brake designed to keep oil, gas and mining operations up and running. The latest design helps dissipate extremely high thermal energy loads experienced in applications like drawworks, marine winches, cranes, metal processing and dynamometers. The brake’s improved internal design allows for faster drilling and gives original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), distributors and end users the ability to downsize their brake, saving up to $60,000 a brake installation.

The third generation in Eaton’s innovative Airflex product line, the latest innovation integrates seamlessly with other brakes in this product line. Equipped with backward compatibility into existing WCB/WCBD/WCSB applications, improved wear adjustments and increased brake size horsepower rating (650 to 1,000HP per plate), it is longer-lasting and better performing than existing water-cooled brakes. It is also easy-to-replace and maintain and more cost-effective than competitive-style brakes.

“Innovative products like the Water-Cooled Third Generation Brake reduce costs and increase productivity, demonstrating Eaton’s dedication to providing safe, reliable and efficient braking solutions for our customers,” said Michael Williams, product manager, Eaton. “Building on the extensive Airflex product line, the new brake is the next evolution of Eaton’s cutting-edge technology for the industrial clutch and brake industry.”

Standard features of the brake include corrosion resistance for harsh marine environments, wear spacers located at the front for easy access and maintenance and new sealing technology to eliminate water leakage. The industry-leading water cavity helps increase the thermal rating by 50 percent while achieving greater flow with lower pressure drop. Up-front-investment costs can be reduced in some applications where the increased energy capability allows for a smaller brake to be used. In drawworks applications where the higher energy is applied, the WCB3 allows up to 54 percent faster drilling while tripping into a hole for an average savings of $10,000 per operation.

In addition to these features, the WCB3 has two plates to eliminate the outboard mounting support for significant ease of design and cost reduction.