Motors and drives are put to the test every day in food plants. New features such as energy efficiency and stainless formats are second to none.
The TorqLOC compact hollow shaft mounting system from SEW-Eurodrive uses interchangeable bushings for mounting the company’s SEW 7-Series hollow shaft reducers onto various sized solid shafts with no keyway required.
The use of stainless steel for motor and drive equipment in the food industry
is on the upswing. Some years ago, coated iron and steel were the norm. A tough,
white epoxy coating would keep corrosion at bay reasonably well, and could stand
washdowns, at least for a while. Stainless was expensive and used only when
necessary. When the price of stainless started to come down, according to Mark
McElhinny, business manager of food and beverage industries for Rockwell Automation,
regulations and company standards started to require it. For that reason McElhinny
expects to see users moving to “stainless motors, stainless reducers,
stainless bearings much quicker than they have in the past.” However,
there are still plenty of epoxy-coated drives on the market, many with stainless-steel
shafts.