Parvalux Electric Motors Ltd is a British manufacturer of

fractional horsepower A fractional-horsepower motor (FHP) is an electric motor with a rated output power of less than (the term 'fractional' indicates less than one unit). There is no defined minimum output, however, it is generally accepted that a motor with a frame ...

gear A gear is a rotating circular machine part having cut teeth or, in the case of a cogwheel or gearwheel, inserted teeth (called ''cogs''), which mesh with another (compatible) toothed part to transmit (convert) torque and speed. The basic pr ...

electric motors An electric motor is an electrical machine that converts electrical energy into mechanical energy. Most electric motors operate through the interaction between the motor's magnetic field and electric current in a wire winding to generate force ...

. Based in

Wallisdown Wallisdown is a residential and commercial area situated partly in Bournemouth and partly in Poole, in southern England. The appropriate ward is called Wallisdown and Winton West. Geography Wallisdown is situated on the border between Bournemo ...

Bournemouth Bournemouth () is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council area of Dorset, England. At the 2011 census, the town had a population of 183,491, making it the largest town in Dorset. It is situated on the Southern ...

in southern

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. In December 2018, Parvalux was acquired by

maxon motor AG Maxon Group is a Swiss manufacturer and supplier of high-precision motor systems. The group, including its subsidiaries, offers electric DC motors, AC motors, encoders (sensors), gears, and electric motor controllers. History On December 5, 1961 ...

History

The name ‘Parvalux’ derives from the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

' parvulus' and '

lux The lux (symbol: lx) is the unit of illuminance, or luminous flux per unit area, in the International System of Units (SI). It is equal to one lumen per square metre. In photometry, this is used as a measure of the intensity, as perceived by the ...

' and means 'young light', alluding to the hopes that founder Leslie J. Clark had for the

Romford Romford is a large town in east London and the administrative centre of the London Borough of Havering. It is located northeast of Charing Cross and is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. Historically, Romford ...

-based business where he first began selling motor rewinds in 1947. After relocating to

in 1957, the company moved from simply re-winding motors to designing and manufacturing complete gear-motor units for industrial applications. Parvalux prospered for forty years through continued expansion of its product offer to cover a broad range of AC/DC electric motors and gearboxes, enabling the business to sell into a diverse range of markets and applications ― all over the world. In 2003, Steven Clark took over as Chief Executive. In 2008 Parvalux acquired rival firm and DC motor application specialist EMD Drives Systems of Halstead, thereby creating the UK’s largest privately owned manufacturer of sub 1 kW electric motors and gearboxes. Until that time EMD had shared a similar history to Parvalux, initially winning recognition in the 1960s as volume AC motor supplier to household names such as Qualcast and Hotpoint, but then moved exclusively into DC products by the 1980s where they would compete directly with Parvalux for some 30 years. EMD was relocated in its entirety to the Bournemouth headquarters during 2009, with key members of the EMD staff relocating to join the newly merged business. The merger allowed Parvalux to offer products in much higher quantities than previously possible and cemented this position with a new 'product development and design' function (PDD). The company has 185 employees in three production sites in Bournemouth, Dorset. Parvalux generates revenues of 23 million British pounds annually, with just over 40% being exported around the world.

Applications

One notable application of a Parvalux product was documented as under test at the university of California in 1966 for inclusion on the cancelled

Voyager program (Mars) The Voyager Mars Program was a planned series of uncrewed NASA probes to the planet Mars. The missions were planned, as part of the Apollo Applications Program, between 1966 and 1968 and were scheduled for launch in 1974–75. The probes wer ...

mission.
The Brayebrook Observatory in Cambridgeshire uses two Parvalux AC induction gear-motor units to operate dome and shutter functions.
In 2006 Team Joker used a Parvalux unit as a servo motor on their combat robot 'Joker'.
Classic Flight cite Parvalux's PM60LWS as a component in a build-your-own motion base for flight simulation.

Current Products

*Motors **

Brushless DC electric motor A brushless DC electric motor (BLDC motor or BL motor), also known as an electronically commutated motor (ECM or EC motor) or synchronous DC motor, is a synchronous motor using a direct current (DC) electric power supply. It uses an electronic ...

s **AC

Induction motor An induction motor or asynchronous motor is an AC electric motor in which the electric current in the rotor needed to produce torque is obtained by electromagnetic induction from the magnetic field of the stator winding. An induction mot ...

s **Variable speed AC/DC series wound or DC shunt wound motors (see

Torque and speed of a DC motor A brushed DC electric motor is an internally Commutator (electric), commutated electric motor designed to be run from a direct current power source and utilizing an brush (electric), electric brush for electrical contact, contact. Brushed motors w ...

) **

Brushed DC electric motor A brushed DC electric motor is an internally commutated electric motor designed to be run from a direct current power source and utilizing an electric brush for contact. Brushed motors were the first commercially important application of electri ...

s (Permanent Magnet) *Gearboxes **

Worm drive A worm drive is a gear arrangement in which a worm (which is a gear in the form of a screw) meshes with a worm wheel (which is similar in appearance to a spur gear). The two elements are also called the worm screw and worm gear. The terminolo ...

Epicyclic gearing An epicyclic gear train (also known as a planetary gearset) consists of two gears mounted so that the center of one gear revolves around the center of the other. A carrier connects the centers of the two gears and rotates the planet and sun gea ...

- (planetary gearheads with integrated Permanent Magnet motors) New stand-alone 'HP' range released Autumn 2008 **inline/right-angle

s **helical/spur

s **double reduction

s Parvalux also now offers a fully bespoke OEM product design service for quantities over 5,000 units.

External links

Parvalux UK

Parvalux USA

Parvalux France

Parvalux Germany

Parvalux Poland

Parvalux South Africa

Parvalux Spain distr.

References

. . . {{Citation , last = Sacks , first = Tony , title = Parvalux buys EMD to create UK's largest gear-motor maker , journal = Drives & Controls , volume = 2008 , issue = September , year = 2008 , page = 1 , url = http://www.drives.co.uk/fullstory.asp?id=2364 , url-status = dead , archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20110725050539/http://www.drives.co.uk/fullstory.asp?id=2364 , archivedate = 2011-07-25 . Electrical engineering companies of the United Kingdom Companies based in Bournemouth Electric motor manufacturers