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Drive components for „food and beverage“

René Edelbusch

Industry Manager Automation

T: +495971 798-539 E: r.edelbusch@ktr.com

No matter whether baker’s or butcher’s machines, agitators, filling lines or packaging lines are concerned: design engineers in the food-processing industry need a wide range of drive components. 

We offer them a wide product portfolio, among other things of couplings, clamping sets and torque limiters (also referred to as overload systems or safety couplings) fully complying with the industry-specific requirements such as corrosion resistance, good cleanability and „hygienic design“. Thus it is ensured that the drive units undoubtedly meet the demands on cleanliness and hygiene of machines for the food and beverage production.

These series are partly provided with customer-specific, food-safe coatings or made of hygienically compliant materials (specifically stainless steel). Here re-sistance to aggressive cleaning agents and acidic media and compliance with the relevant industry-specific standards and specifications (FDA, ECOLAB, HACCP…) are essential.

Backlash-free couplings for the food industry

The backlash-free couplings of our range – vibration-damping ROTEX GS shaft couplings, torsionally stiff TOOLFLEX metal bellow-type couplings and RADEX-NC steel laminae couplings – are often used in food-processing machines. It differs, among other things, with regard to displacement capability, torsional stiffness, elasticity and damping of vibrations.

This allows the design engineer to select the coupling most suitable for the respective application – also with sophisticated tasks such as cutting meat or process engineering like agitating, mixing, cooling, heating that often require additional properties from the couplings.

Flexible coupling for food production

Flexible and damping properties are required with those applications where drives are exposed to vibrations and shocks. The elastomer coupling of the ROTEX series are suitable for this purpose. Depending on the type, these flexible jaw couplings for food-processing machines are available with a clamping hub, taper clamping ring or feather key connection. 

Torque limiters for food technology

To protect the drive train and subsequent machine elements against overload, numerous manufacturers of food-processing machines use our safety couplings. These drive elements limit the torque reliably while uncoupling driving and driven side with overload. Besides, the couplings perform process-relevant functions; thus the set torque of the coupling ensures, for instance, safe closing of every single bottle in filling lines of the beverage industry.  

The design engineer has the choice between various systems and series: RUFLEX torque limiters, KTR-SI overload systems and backlash-free SYNTEX overload systems. As a wear-free and contactlessly operating alternative we provide MINEX magnetic couplings. Combinations of shaft and safety couplings are part of the catalogue range, too. 

Drive components for food packaging machines

Machines for primary and secondary packaging are part of every product line for food and beverages. The manufacturers of such packaging machines often request for particularly compact coupling designs. In part combinations with overload systems (also referred to as torque limiters and safety couplings) are used or the couplings are combined with sprockets, belt pulleys, etc. Apart from that our product range includes clamping sets for packaging machines that allow for a reliable, installation-friendly and space-saving shaft-hub-connection.

Backlash-free couplings for packaging machinery manufacturing

Since the individual processes in packaging machines – supply of packaging material, positioning of packaged goods, grouping, grasping, binding in boards, shift-ing off, labelling, sealing, etc. – are closely interconnected and often have extremely short cycle times, precision of motion sequences is of utmost importance. That is why backlash-free couplings are often used.

Depending on the requirements set on factors like torsional stiffness, damping of vibrations and shaft displacement, different backlash-free coupling series are used  – for example the backlash-free torsionally flexible elastomer jaw coupling ROTEX GS, the backlash-free torsionally stiff steel laminae coupling RADEX-NC or the backlash-free torsionally stiff metal bellow-type coupling TOOLFLEX.

Torque limiters for packaging technology

To protect the drive train and subsequent machine elements against overload, numerous manufacturers of packaging machines use overload systems of the KTR product range. They limit the torque reliably while uncoupling driving and driven side with overload. The design engineer has the choice between various systems and series, among them torque limiters, backlash-free overload systems as well as contactlessly operating magnetic couplings. Compact combinations of shaft and safety couplings are part of the KTR catalogue range, too.