16 000 tons of sugar beets! And that every day. This is the amount the Südzucker AG proceeds in the Offstein plant. In order to transport the sugar beets reliably to the manufacturing process, Südzucker trusts in industrial gear units and motors by SEW‑EURODRIVE throughout the entire plant.
Location: Offstein / Germany
Industry: Food industry
Application: Conveyor belt
Maximal production reliability
High degree of reliability
Not only is the Südzucker AG an international market leader for sugar production, but they also are the one of the leading providers of processed sugar products. In specialized segments such as CropEnergies and Fruit, the company is one of the top players on the global market. With 16 500 employees, Südzucker produces 4.1 million tons of sugar per year and generates annual sales of 6.4 billion Euro.
Besides the headquarter in Mannheim, the Südzucker AG operates 9 sugar production locations. One of the oldest locations is the Offstein plant, that is located 10 km west of Worms and operated since 1885. During the so-called campaign (the annual time for processing sugar beets), 16 000 tons of sugar beets are processed to approximately 2000 tons of glucose syrup and sugar per day.
"Decades of experience show us that SEW‑EURODRIVE always provides us with an extremely durable quality and with a quick service we can rely on."
In order to maximize the production reliability, the new conveyor belt was equipped with two almost identical drives. The 2 gearmotors are connected to the drive drum using a pin coupling. For changing from one gear unit to another, the 2 couplings must be mechanically interchanged. This can be performed within 2 hours. The 2 energy-efficient IEC AC motors of the DRN.. series by SEW‑EURODRIVE have a power rating of 200 kW each. They are operated at a fixed rotational speed, but are suitable for soft start. The torque is transmitted from the motors to the conveyor belt by 2 large industrial gear units; These are three-stage bevel-helical gear units of type X3KS210/HU/B designed for a nominal gear unit torque of 90 kNm, that reduce the motor speed from 1.489 min-1 to an output speed of 33 min-1.
When 2 drives are flange-mounted to a conveyor drum on both sides, either the motors or the gear units must operate in opposite directions. „We used 2 gear units with opposite directions of rotation, so that the motors may be easily replaced“, explains Maximilian Krantz, M. Sc., responsible for process engineering at Südzucker. "This means, the motors have the same direction of rotation and can be interchanged in case of an emergency. We could gain a high redundancy, are safely and effectively protected against failure, and thus need less spare parts in stock."
With this project our collaboration with SEW‑EURODRIVE has proven to be the right decision once again – for West as well as for Südzucker. "We use many drives by SEW in the Offstein plant. After all those years of good experiences, SEW‑EURODRIVE is one of our favorite brands," states Maximilian Krantz. "Whenever we call for tenders, in principle, SEW is already on the shortlist. Not only when we require screw conveyors or conveyor belts, but also for the countless other drive tasks we require in our plant; In all those cases, we rely on motors and gear units from Bruchsal."
This is possible due to the extensive range of products SEW‑EURODRIVE offers to their customers. In detail, SEW provides customers with a broad range of drives in a power range of 0.09 kW to 200 kW. With industrial gear units, even higher powers can be transmitted, reaching powers in the megawatt range in case of the XP series. The company from Bruchsal basically performs all manufacturing steps in house; they manufacture their own gear units and even their own motor windings. As a result, the various components are perfectly matched – from motors and gear units to controllers. "Special request are also accommodated without any problems. In case of our conveyor belt we required a special temperature sensor for the gear unit, a special food grade gear unit oil, and a special food grade grease for the deep groove ball bearings of the motors, all approved by us. Not only does SEW‑EURODRIVE offer a convincing range of products, but they also convince completely during collaboration, so we will continue to collaborate with them in the future," sums up Maximilian Krantz.
