What power transmission and power supply products offers SEW-EURODRIVE?

Whenever longer distances need to be covered without obstructive and high-maintenance drag chains, conductor systems and rigid floor installations such as conveyor belts, our MOVITRANS® line solution for contactless energy transfer is the ideal choice. Quiet, wear-free and low-maintenance.

Whenever, for example, mobile assistance systems or people movers need to move freely in space independently of fixed distances, the energy must be transferred to a battery or capacitor storage unit at a specific point. This is where our solution: MOVITRANS® spot ensures perfect, contactless energy transfer. Clean, wear-free and low-maintenance - ideal even for such critical areas where contamination due to energy transfer is to be avoided.

The perfect complement to the solutions with contactless energy transfer MOVITRANS®: The MOVI-DPS® power supply with its components enables intelligent power and energy management in mobile and stationary applications. In this way, you protect your system against power fluctuations or power failures and ensure maximum availability. At the same time, you only draw as much power from the grid as necessary.

What is contactless energy transfer?

Contactless power transfer has become indispensable in modern production processes where long travel distances have to be bridged at high speed. This is because it eliminates the need for complex and cumbersome drag chain systems.

With contactless energy transmission, energy is supplied either continuously via a line conductor along the transport route, or via stationary charging points, where autonomous vehicles, for example, pick up their energy at specific points and can then move freely in space. In this case, the energy is transmitted inductively and wirelessly via an air gap.

How does contactless energy transfer work?

The most important physical basis for contactless energy transmission is electromagnetism. This results from a combination of magnetic and electric fields. Considered by themselves, these fields are static and thus limited to the place where they are generated. If magnetic and electric fields interact, however, they can leave their place of origin as electromagnetic alternating fields.

Such alternating electromagnetic fields are used in contactless energy transmission. The energy is transmitted from a primary coil to a secondary coil. In principle, the primary coil is applied to an external electrical voltage. The incoming current generates an alternating magnetic field. If the secondary coil is then brought close to the primary coil without direct contact, this alternating field transmits an alternating voltage to the secondary coil.

Where is contactless energy transfer used?

• Pallet transfer shuttles:
  In logistics, they ensure the reliable distribution of pallets or boxes within a conveyor level to several adjacent conveyor sections
• Skillet conveyors:
  These systems are used primarily in the automotive industry. There, they pass through various work and assembly stations in a continuous or intermittent manner in a network of several pushing platforms.
• Automated guided vehicles:
  These all-rounders connect warehouses and workstations with each other over long distances, either along a line cable or completely autonomously freely in space
• Electric monorail systems:
  These rail-guided conveyor systems, which are usually installed in the ceiling of the hall, can be operated particularly efficiently and flexibly thanks to contactless energy transmission.
• Stacker cranes:
  With the help of contactless energy transmission, stacker cranes in automated material management systems can store and retrieve goods wirelessly, quickly and without wear.
• People movers:
• If, for example, people are to be transported from attraction to attraction in amusement parks using an electrically operated funicular, contactless energy transfer with MOVITRANS® spot ensures trouble-free charging at every stop in the station.
• Sorters:
  These distribution machines run with MOVITRANS^® wear-free and reliably in continuous operation with maximum availability. Frequent applications are found in the mail and parcel service or in baggage distribution at airports.

What can be done about grid fluctuations and outages?

Mains fluctuations are completely normal in our power grid. Everyone knows this from home: It's Sunday lunchtime and households are cooking. The hotplates take a little longer to heat up or you set them one step higher. Depending on where you are in the world, such mains fluctuations can occur to a greater or lesser extent, even leading to power failures.

Industry also has to deal with such mains fluctuations and outages in the power supply, because they can have a significant negative impact on plant availability.

This is where special industrial single-energy storage solutions – such as our "Drive Power Solutions" MOVI-DPS® – can help to ensure a stable power supply to plants. Here, electrical energy is stored in storage capacitors and then made available again according to demand.

How safe is contactless energy transfer?

Very safe with SEW-EURODRIVE! Thanks to SAFS, a safety function specially developed by SEW-EURODRIVE for safe disconnection of the power transfer. The abbreviation stands for Safe AC Field Stop (AC = alternating current).

To prevent people from being exposed to invisible electromagnetic fields, our MOVITRANS® technology includes this unique safety function. SAFS ensures the magnetic field is safely switched off when there is no vehicle for loading on the route or on the hold point outside of the charging times. The SAFS function complies with the ISO 13849 standard at Performance Level d (abbreviated as PL d) or the IEC 61800-5-2 standard for drive systems.

This can be used to advantage, for example, when the line conductor section/charging points are not in use or for vehicle maintenance purposes.