Downsizing motors in conveyor applications

Conveyors and other material handling and packaging automation applications often require high starting torque but relatively low running torque. That usually means engineers must specify a large and costly motor to meet only occasional performance demands. Lenze’s new Smart Motor overcomes this headache and provides considerable versatility to the machine builder and user. 
The Smart Motor blends the simplicity of an ac motor with the technical benefits of an electronic drive control, explains Robert Gradischnig, electromechanical business development manager, Lenze Americas. It has been designed with special windings and dimensioned to provide 4X the starting torque of its continuous torque rating, often letting users specify a smaller motor. Two current versions have maximum torque ratings of 7 and 20 Nm.
It also gives packaging engineers a lot of flexibility. The unit’s constant speed can be steplessly set between 500 and 2,600 rpm. This reduces the number of different gearbox ratios, and the number of different drive versions, by up to 70%, says Gradischnig.
And with a Lenze app it is fully programmable from a smart phone, simplifying commissioning and diagnostics, he explains.
The Smart Motor complies with IES2 the top efficiency class for drive systems, while maintaining a small footprint. Among its standard functions, the Smart Motor enables speed switchovers and the ability to set individual start-stop ramps. Integrated ramps ensure smooth acceleration and deceleration to protect the system mechanics and product being handled. The Smart Motor features full motor protection, eco mode for energy savings, and digital outputs for speed selection, direction and status messages.
“By reducing the total number of different motors required for a given operation, our packaging customers can reduce the costs for engineering, documentation, procurement, and spare parts—key aspects in the value-added chain,” says Gradischnig.http://www.lenzeamericas.com