Drives for mk Conveyor Technology

Motor Selection

Our products use high-quality motors and gearboxes from SEW Eurodrive as standard. These gearmotors, consisting of an asynchronous AC motor or a DC motor combined with a Spiroplan, helical-worm or helical gearbox, satisfy efficiency class IE3 and protrction class IP 54. Custom motors, UL-CSA approval or multi-range motors are also available as options.

Drive Location

The drive location determines how and where the drive, including the motor, is installed. You can choose to position the drive on the infeed or discharge end, above or below the conveyor frame, on the left or on the right.

The head drive is located on the discharge end of the conveyor and pulls the transport medium, e.g. the belt. This is the most common, safest and most affordable drive position. If you have location restrictions, you can also install a head drive on the infeed end for use as a rear drive (pushing). In this case, however, you must provide adequate pre-tension and prevent the transport medium from getting kinked.

Drives known as lower belt drives, or centre drives, can be installed in various locations below the transport level. The primary application for these drives is reverse operation (reversible conveying direction), since the transport medium is always pulled, preventing the problems that arise when the belt is pushed. You can achieve fixed installation lengths by selecting the design with a tensioning roller in the centre drive. Since two snub rollers are typically used, this drive is also known as an omega drive. A further benefit of this drive is the option to install knife edges on both the infeed and discharge ends for transferring small products.

Internal drives with a drum motor produce small obstructing edges, making them particularly popular for applications with limited installation space. They are also popular in clean environments, since they exhibit low particle emissions and have few surfaces on which dirt can deposit.

Overview of Drive Variants

Drive Type

In the most commonly used indirect drives, force is transferred using a chain or timing belt. This additional option to adjust the transmission ratio allows you to achieve very fine speed increments and compensate for alignment errors. With servo and stepper motors, a timing belt can be used to dampen the abrupt, jerky starting behaviour. With a direct drive, the motor is connected directly to the drive shaft, offering a compact and low-maintenance alternative.

Motor Orientation

As shown in the figures, the motor orientation can vary between 0°, 90°, 180° and 270°. If the customer does not specify the drive location, the drive is delivered on the discharge end, on the left side, below the conveyor and with a motor orientation of 0°.

Speeds

The maximum conveying speed depends on the motor selected, the load on the belt, the duty type and other influencing factors. The speeds provided here are nominal values and may deviate due to the speed tolerances of the motors from - 10% to +20%. Higher speeds are also achieved when the system is operated on a 60 Hz grid, for example in the USA. If you need a precisely defined speed, this can be accomplished with a frequency inverter or reglomat.

Adjustment Ranges

The frequency inverter allows you to control the conveyor speed within a range of 1:7 (10-70 Hz), assuming an alternating current and the nominal speed at 50 Hz. For internal drives (drum motors), the adjustment range is 1:3 (20-60 Hz). For direct current with the reglomat, the range is 1:6 (0.25- 1.5 A or 0.5-3 A).