Get the right product for the right job
When N.Z. Quality Water in Putaruru commissioned the construction of their new high-speed PET water filling system they wanted a thoroughly modern design with features to ensure fast, reliable and efficient conveying of their product. One of the key components was the MatTop drive.
The drive system chosen was Sumitomo Cyclo Drive to ensure it catered for the variations in bottle shapes, height and capacities. It had to be compact in size with a high reduction ratio 731:1, and also be linked to a V.S.D. to enable control over a wide range of speeds.
The Sumitomo Cyclo Drive has some unique features which made it the perfect choice for this application. Reduction ratios are available in a single stage from 6:1 to 119:1, ratios unheard of in the world of involute tooth-form gear-motors. They can be combined up to three stages with ratios approaching 1,000,000:1.
Maud Kirk has been assembling Cyclo Drive in New Zealand for over 20 years: being one of only two companies outside the Sumitomo Corporation allowed to carry out this function.
The required ratio of 731:1 was easily accommodated with a 2-stage Cyclo Drive combining ratios of 17:1 and 43:1 in a very compact form. A conventional helical or planetary system would require four or stages and resulted in a compromised design. This unit has grease packed effectively allowing it to be sealed for life. A wide range of lubricants can be used in the Cyclo Drive including food grade grease making it the ideal choice within sensitive industries and areas.
The Sumitomo Cyclo Drive is based on an ingeniously simple principle; basically the speed reducer has only three major moving parts for a single stage unit. The design is a combination of planetary gearing principles and a constant speed internal gearing mechanism. Due to the Cyclo Drive’s unique epitrochodal tooth profile external gear, the contact ratio is high and cannot be sheared off. This gives the strength to withstand high overload (up to 500 per cent) that would break conventional gear teeth. The rolling contact action of the Sumitomo Cyclo Drive also results in reduced noise levels and a high mechanical efficiency, in excess of 92.5 per cent in a single stage. The Cyclo Drive design also has a very low inertia so frequent stop-start-reversing is never an issue.
Another great feature of the Sumitomo Cyclo Drive system is that it can accommodate a wide range of motors. If a customer has a site specification or preferred electric motor brand, this can easily be accomplished with the range of IEC frame motor adaptors available for almost all Cyclo Drive frame sizes. In this case however the drive needed to be as small as possible so a Sumitomo Integral motor was installed on the unit. The Integral motor removes the requirement to have a standard IEC motor frame adaptor and plugs directly onto the Cyclo Drive reduction assembly reducing the overall length. When combined with the V.S.D. the system is more than capable of handling all the variations thrown at it.
The end result is a highly reliable, efficient and low maintenance system.
This allows N.Z Quality Water to concentrate on what they do best, produce a great product.