Drives (VFDs) and gear motors for conveyors in food and beverage

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Drives for conveyors

Maximize conveyor uptime

Ensure maximized uptime and the lowest cost of ownership for conveyors in dry, wet, or aseptic areas. Danfoss solutions ensure high energy efficiency whilst providing optimized motor control, improved quality and product consistency, minimized waste and optimized filling and packaging areas.

For highly sensitive product lines, such as conveyors for still bottled water and alcohol-free beer or new materials for packaging and bottles, Danfoss is unique in offering IPA compliant solutions for use in hygiene-critical sub-systems.

Examples of conveyor optimization using drives

Discover how to maximize uptime with the VLT® FlexConcept® system

VLT® FlexConcept® combines modern motor technology with the most advanced inverter drives. This flexible unified drive system offers cost savings via high efficiency, robust reliability and variant reduction.

Read more about VLT® FlexConcept®

Reduce spare parts stock

The VLT® FlexConcept® system simplifies project planning, installation, commissioning and maintenance, especially for conveyor systems. System variants can be reduced by up to 70% so users benefit from maximum flexibility with a minimum number of modules. The system comprises only 3 gear motor variants to optimize your spare parts stock. Motors and drives in the VLT® FlexConcept® system offer a unified operating concept and standardized functionality regardless of whether the system is implemented with a centralized or decentralized structure.

FAQ

The drives are the parts in the conveyor that are responsible for controlling the conveyor motion. The conveyor drive may refer to the motor, or to the assembly that mounts the motor upon the conveyors.

 

Conveyors work to transport objects from one point to another point. The design allows movement of items too large for humans to transport. Conveyors save time and resources by shifting goods between different locations with high efficiency.

 

The end drive conveyor positions the conveyor drive on the edge of the conveyor, while the center drive conveyor places the motor in the center. These two kinds of conveyor drives have an integral motor that is installed externally.

 

VFDs (also known as variable speed drives or AC drives) are electric motor control regulators that can control the AC motor speed and the DC torque, and can vary the motor input frequency voltage and motor output frequency. Using this control, the VFD reduces the energy consumed by the conveyor motors, to optimize energy efficiency of the system.

 

A conveyor controller is a PLM controller which can be controlled by another sensor associated with your transport equipment. In addition to transferring weight information back to the PLC, an automatic conveyor scale is able to adjust the speeds of the conveyor in accordance with the load. Danfoss drives are compatible with all makes of PLC.

 

The typical types of conveyor are belts, rolling, motorized, and overhead conveyors. Conveyors can be classified as either floor or overhead. Use them when moving, packaging, and distributing a product sequence. Drives from Danfoss optimize performance of all these types of conveyors.

 

Using drives (VFDs), you can achieve energy savings of up to 30% in conveyor systems. Read about VLT® FlexConcept®.

Read about energy efficiency requirements in the Ecodesign Directive

 

Reduce the risk of unexpected downtime

Did you know your Danfoss drive can monitor system health to deliver early warnings of wear or malfunction? Activate integrated intelligence on the edge to enable condition-based monitoring (CBM) for high uptime and optimal maintenance planning.

Discover CBM

Products

Case stories

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    Future-proof energy efficiency at AB InBev Hoegaarden® brewery

    Challenged by aging machinery and no time for downtime, AB InBev Hoegaarden® chose Danfoss iC7-Automation and VLT® OneGearDrive®—for high energy efficiency.

  • if (isSmallPicture) { Conveyor line of hot dog buns at Kohberg Bakery; } else if (isBigColumns) { Conveyor line of hot dog buns at Kohberg Bakery } else { Conveyor line of hot dog buns at Kohberg Bakery }
    Effortless control: Kohberg Bakery thrives with iC7-Automation

    DENMARK: Kohberg Bakery upgraded its conveyor line for bread rolls to implement full control with built-in sensors and easy scalability for future adaptability.

  • if (isSmallPicture) { Bottling line at Legendre Conveyors using Danfoss iC7-Automation drives; } else if (isBigColumns) { Bottling line at Legendre Conveyors using Danfoss iC7-Automation drives } else { Bottling line at Legendre Conveyors using Danfoss iC7-Automation drives }
    First mover controls beverage conveyor systems with iC7-Automation

    BELGIUM: Legendre Conveyors has built up great trust in Danfoss over many years of conveyor design using VLT® drives. Now they progress to the new iC7 series.

  • if (isSmallPicture) { Danfoss OneGearDrive attached to a conveyor at Pivara Skope's plant; } else if (isBigColumns) { Danfoss OneGearDrive attached to a conveyor at Pivara Skope's plant } else { Danfoss OneGearDrive attached to a conveyor at Pivara Skope's plant }
    Maximizing uptime for high-volume bottle filling

    NORTH MACEDONIA: To meet new standards for uptime, flexibility, and energy efficiency, Pivara Skopje’s RGB line needed modernization. The ideal VSDs? VLT® FlexConcept®.

  • if (isSmallPicture) { Brewing up real change at HEINEKEN; } else if (isBigColumns) { Brewing up real change at HEINEKEN } else { Brewing up real change at HEINEKEN }
    Brewing up real change at HEINEKEN

    NETHERLANDS: HEINEKEN understands that to meet demand, its production line must always be up to the task – with all assets expected to deliver a consistently reliable and excellent performance. At Den Bosch brewery, the tough working environment posed several challenges. The solution was an upgrade using drives with integrated condition-based monitoring.

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    Ready-made sauces the sustainable way

    ITALY: The home of pasta is also the seat of sustainable sauces. From Barilla’s Rubbiano plant, in the heart of the Parma food district, over 150 million jars of ready-made pasta sauce leave every year for tables all over the world. A plant expansion completed in 2019 uses more than 400 gear motors and decentralized drives from Danfoss to reduce complexity, optimize space, and minimize carbon footprint.

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