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The wind turbine industry has engineered a solution that
eliminates opposing forces inherent in combining motors
with primary gear reducers—and Leitner’s DirectDrive
borrows from that technology.

Part of the reason is the braking system requirements within
the ANSI B77 Standard.
“The standard calls for braking on two surfaces—one
on the bull-wheel flange and the other on the high-speed THE FUTURE OF SNOW
input of the gear box,” said Mauch. “With the gear box
eliminated on direct drive lifts, so too goes one of your
braking surfaces.”
As a solution, the braking system on the Leitner
DirectDrive has both a service brake and a safety brake
equipped with their own hydraulic system that acts directly
on the drive sheave. The drive sheave is connected with
the output shaft by means of a quick-release radial tooth
coupling and can be properly disconnected from the drive
chain. Overall it’s a more sophisticated braking system
that is capable of making many micro-adjustments per
second in order to decelerate correctly.
Before they could move forward with their direct drive
lift installations, Copper and Winter Park had to receive
variances on the ANSI requirement approved from the
Colorado State Tramway Board and the US Forest Service.
A requirement in ANSI B77.1 -2017 states that a service
brake is required, and that the brake cannot act on the same DEMACLENKO · Gilmanton
tel 603 267 7840
surface as the bull wheel brake. This requirement was in previ- sales.usa@demaclenko.com
ous editions as well, for the purposes of providing braking www.demaclenko.com
redundancy, which can prevent problems in the event that

EARLY WINTER 2018 | NSAA JOURNAL | 45