Gear up to reduce downtime and running costs in the boning room

The Alliance Group, a major New Zealand meat processor, needed to upgrade its carton conveyors located at its Dannevirke, Hawkes Bay, processing plant. In the boning room there were three carton conveyors that needed to be upgraded from older powered roller technology to a modular belt design driven by a highly efficient drive package. Two of the conveyors were straight while the third had a large radius.

Power transmission supply company Russet Engineering Supplies recommended the geared motor drive package for the upgrade. Further to the old technology already in place was the issue of the existing worm geared motors overheating. Even in the cold ambient temperature of 7°C inside the boning room, the inefficient worm geared motors were too hot to touch and were failing within a very short service life of up to six months.

Importantly, Alliance engineer Dennis Rodgers wanted the new geared motor package to offer increased reliability and an extended service life. The other major criteria was that the new drive package must be suitable for the aggressive washdown environment of a meat plant.

NORD Drivesystems advised Russet Engineering Supplies that its new NORD 2-stage helical bevel gearbox, complete with the new NORD HM series smooth exterior electric motor, would meet all of Alliance’s requirements.

“We viewed NORD’s new 2-stage helical bevel gearbox and the new smooth series electric motor prototypes when we visited NORD Drivesystems in Melbourne recently,” said Power Transmission Specialist for Russet Engineering Supplies Mark Bond.

The NORD 2-stage helical bevel gearbox includes oversized bearings which extend the reliability and ultimate service life of the geared motor. This technology also offers the highest overhung output shaft load capacity available. The 2-stage helical gear set is 97% efficient, which further enhances the drive package’s efficient capacity to transmit maximum torque with minimum demand to the electric motor power. The high material specification, the high tolerance manufacture and the heat treatments employed by NORD in Germany ensure that the NORD 2-stage helical bevel gearbox offers long life expectancy.

The NORD HM series electric motors feature a smooth exterior surface, with no cooling fins at all. All exterior surfaces are sloped to facilitate flow of water and washdown off the surface. The NORD HM series electric motors are MEPS2 compliant (AS/NZS1359.5) and are rated for S1 continuous duty.

The complete NORD geared motor assembly was coated with NORD’s Severe Duty Extreme Stainless Steel coating system (NSD), which is suitable for hygienic and food applications including washdown with aggressive chemicals. The NSD coating is extremely hard and will not chip or crack. The NSD coating has particular resistance to aggressive cleaning chemicals such as sulfuric acid, hydrochloric acid and caustic soda, making it appropriate for the meat processing industry. The NSD coating encapsulates the entire geared motor assembly, prohibiting the ingress of water and chemicals under the exterior surface.