Gates Design Power is a new software platform offering multiple digital design tools to support the engineering and specification of belt-drive systems across a broad array of applications.
“At Gates we are committed to relentless innovation and finding ways to make our customers’ lives easier. Digital innovation is as important as product innovation in making this happen,” said Tom Pitstick, chief marketing officer and senior vice president of strategic planning for Gates. “The new Gates Design Power software platform builds upon our existing design tools to support our Global ‘Chain to Belt’ initiative, making it even easier for engineers across all applications, from two-wheelers to manufacturing equipment, to design-in our products and get the most out of their belt drives.”
The digital toolkit consists of six modules, including four all-new applications and substantially upgraded versions of well-known Gates digital tools, Design IQ and Design Flex Pro. Among the all-new programs is the industry-first Mobility Drive Analysis tool aimed at making it easier for engineers from bicycle, scooter, motorcycle, and power sports OEMs to design Gates clean, quiet, durable and low-maintenance Carbon Drive belt systems into their next-generation vehicles, further accelerating conversion from chain and other technologies.
The Gates Design Power platform includes belt-performance models in the industry, based on data gathered at Gates state of the art, global test laboratories, to ensure that customers are designing robust, application-specific drive systems, ultimately improving safety and operating costs, while reducing energy consumption and downtime in their operations.
Added features in the new platform improve the design process and make it easier than ever, even for inexperienced engineers, to design belt drives. New collaboration functionality enables customer engineers to partner with Gates application engineering experts to efficiently create the optimal drive design. A built-in knowledge base provides design guidance for more advanced users, and the platform now automatically synchronizes with Gates product catalog, giving design engineers direct access to Gates’ latest products, specifications, ratings and list prices. Users also now have the ability to store multiple designs in a single project file, tracking design derivatives and iterations, and noting who made what changes along the way.
Gates Design Power is now available globally as a free download and includes 15 different languages for use across most regions. Development of the Design Power platform is ongoing, and additional features and enhancements are planned to roll out over the next 12 months, including mobile device compatibility.
