NORD gearmotors get the job done for TMCI Padovan

Searching for a solution to replace a traditional vacuum filter, a well-known Italian producer of flavoured drinks had several stipulations: the solution must be reliable and energy efficient, and be able to operate for 8 to 10 hours a day, 365 days a year.

The company identified TMCI Padovan’s Dynamos machine, supplied with NORD Drivesystems gearmotors, as one possibility and asked TMCI Padovan to perform a test in its production plant. Happy with the test, the company installed the Dynamos machine.

The machine is involved in the final processing of the grounds resulting from the cross-flow filtration of vermouth-based wines and from clarifications with decolourising carbon.

The Dynamos’s software flexibility allowed the company to match the operating parameters to the final products. In addition, the Dynamos’s compactness and cleanliness enabled it to be situated in a closed room, allowing for better hygiene and reduced overall size.

Dynamos is based on the principle of cross-flow filtration applied to discs.

Temperature pick-up is negligible and, being a closed system, the product oxidation is virtually nil, the company says. The machine operates without adjuvants, providing both safety and environmental benefits. The reduction of filtering adjuvants and resulting waste was one feature that led the company to choose the Dynamos.

The Dynamos is claimed to be the first rotating dynamic cross-flow filter provided with an innovative calibrated back-pulse system. It is most suitable for use in the filtration of must and wine grounds without adjuvants (ie, liquids with a high level of suspended solids).

The machine operates on the principle of cross-flow filtration applied on discs. The process prevents lock-ups and allows easy cleaning. It requires long filtration cycles (up to 72 h without interruptions) and high-rated yields (25 to 50 L/m²/h with no lees), without reduction of the red colour and with low oxygen absorption. The compact machines are available in models ranging from 2 to 40 m², plus multiples.

The smaller machine includes four NORD SK3282AF parallel-axis gearmotors with an SK205E inverter and 2.2 kW motor. The larger machine has double the number of drives; as the gearmotors rotate the filtration discs, their number varies as a function of the number of disc-holding shafts (1 to 16) on the machine. The machines have one or two tanks for the product. Each tank uses four gearmotors; it is therefore necessary to double the gearmotors when two tanks are in use.

To ensure a time-constant rotation, the gearmotors are supplied with a sensorless vectorial inverter - an inverter that doesn’t require a speed sensor - and the SK205E inverters. The drives adjust the system speed by communicating with the control PLC through Fieldbus. The Dynamos filters are also provided with a 4-pole 3 kW motor with a NORD SK205E inverter for the circulation pump.

SK 200E inverter models are available for either installation beside the motor or integrated in the motor, with the same function range of the centralised inverter series SK 500E for cabinet installation. Besides offering a large overload capacity of 200%, the distributed inverters allow the users to place the driver with high accuracy. The relevant positions (incremental or continuous axes) or the absolute values (rotating tables/repeatable fixed positions) can be controlled by binary values entered through SK 200E inputs and stored in the drive. Alternatively, they can be set through a Fieldbus system.

The positions are detected through incremental encoders (in the basic supply of inverters an onboard reference function is included), or it is possible to directly set the values provided by an absolute encoder on CANopen. The configuration is simple and quick - only a few parameters need to be set for commissioning and optimisation.

TCMI Padovan says a number of features of the NORD gearmotors contributed to the success of the application, such as: their high rotation accuracy; the energy-saving function which uses only a fraction of the rated power when the filter doesn’t require the full rated power; the ease of mounting due to their compactness; the local storage of all the programming data on removable EEPROM; and the possibility of matching safety standards like EN 61508: SIL3.

“We selected NORD mostly because of the quality, the robustness and the typology of material that we consider to be suitable for prolonged industrial use,” said Narciso Gatti, purchase and operations manager for TCMI Padovan.

“Our company already uses NORD products, especially for vacuum filters, vegetable oil processing machines and tunnel pasteurisers. NORD has been a supplier to TMCI Padovan for many years. The first contact was established about 11 years ago following a research that we made internally.”

Before NORD gearmotors with onboard inverters were available, belt transmission motors were used in Dynamos filters.

“The new technology allowed us to obtain several advantages, like greater energy savings, greater reliability, a more simplified machine design and  greater safety for operators,” said Gatti.

“In the future, we will probably use NORD solutions also in our other products. In particular, we’ll replace the current transmissions based on motors and pulleys with toothed belts and in plants for industrial use.”