Decentralized drive solution for tire conveying systems

The Portuguese plant engineering company MOVAÇO has been working in a close and successful partnership with SEW‑EURODRIVE Portugal since 1996. The systems for conveying tires were added in 2009 and are also equipped with our drive technology. More than our high-quality, robust and reliable drive components, the successful collaboration across the decades is based on the common ground that unites the two companies. Both partners

• see themselves as problem solvers and solution providers and not solely as component manufacturers and component suppliers

• offer state-of-the-art automation solutions

• are close to customers and provide support using their technical expertise

• attach great importance to responding to and answering customer queries rapidly

• have specialist experts with many years of experience to provide advice

• offer customer-oriented and, if required, turnkey solutions for new systems, as well as for upgrading existing ones

• provide their own teams with continuous training to ensure assembly and maintenance services have a high technical standard

• prioritize safety

• set great store by effective and efficient processes

• and a whole lot more.

Energy and cost savings were a key factor in this conveying system project in the beautiful city of Castelo Branco in eastern Portugal. The decision was therefore made to exclusively use decentralized drive technology. In the complex facility, car tires are carried on horizontal and slanted conveyors between 1.5 and 30 meters long, with production operations on multiple levels. Transverse Roller Top (TRT) plastic belt conveyors are provided to output tires sideways, while roller conveyors gather them together.

The company opted here for our MOVIMOT® gearmotors. In total, 195 of these decentralized drives, which provide an ingenious and space-saving way of combining gearmotors and digital frequency inverters, are installed in the tire handling system, which has a complex structure and runs over several levels.

As there are no control cabinets, the cabling work has been reduced dramatically, thus making the installation much quicker and easier. The integrated DRN.. series IE3 AC motors deliver the desired energy efficiency.

Prefabricated hybrid cables (communication and power in a single cable), a field distributor and intelligent communication via PROFINET® and EtherCAT® modules complete this customer-specific drive solution.

On the basis of this successful collaboration, MOVAÇO is currently evaluating the use of additional decentralized SEW drive solutions, such as MOVIGEAR®, in conveying systems so as to achieve even greater energy savings in the future.