Custom-engineered drives for aerator and liquid mixer applications

One of the latest of the locally engineered HD drives to be delivered this year integrates 55kW six-pole motors with HDP helical parallel series drives featuring dry well construction and OP2 lubrication pump.
The motors – specified for 55kW power and 10 kNm torque – incorporated the OP2 lubrication pump to ensure good bearing performance in vertical mountings. They were also epoxy coated for corrosion protection, cleanliness and durability. The drives incorporate dry well construction to safeguard against oil leaks into process liquids as seals age and wear.

“These particular drives were for aerators at a wastewater treatment plant, but many of the features apply equally well to other process applications involving food and beverage manufacturing or minerals processing liquids,” said the managing director, Bonfiglioli Transmission (Australia), Malcolm Lewis.

“For example, drive bearings were engineered to accept the greater loads generated when used on the long shafts found in aerators.”
One of the flexibility features of Bonfiglioli’s new Australasian production and testing line for HD drives is that the company can adapt specific drives to particular applications.

HD drive combinations are particularly suited to conveyor drives and materials handling applications across a wide range of industries, including manufacturing, mineral processing, primary processing, resources, energy and water and waste water, said Lewis.
Bonfiglioli’s HD drives series is a totally new generation of large industrial drives engineered to produce outstanding reliability and torque densities to record values, said Lewis.

“The drives feature excellent torque distribution across their entire ratio range, with gear ratios laid out in close progression and the drives having a rugged capacity to cope with the shock and impact of intermittent loads,” he said.

Finite element analysis and multi body simulations were conducted extensively to identify the stress pattern on each of the main components and to optimize the design for:
•    System structural stiffness
•    Gear geometry
•    Shaft deflection
•    Extended gear and bearing lifetime

Bonfiglioli Transmission (Australia) is part of the international Bonfiglioli group, with 2500 employees worldwide. The full Australian branch is part of a global network of 13 full branches and eight production plants supported by nearly 80 national distributors and an Australasian network of distributors complemented by offices in Australian States and New Zealand.
Contact: sales@bonfiglioli.com.au