Gravel plant cuts costs and reduces maintenance expenditures by using geared motors. In many gravel pits, stone crushing plants and similar operations, motive power for conveyor belts is provided by shaft and belt drives. Until recently, this was the situation at the gravel plant of NorStone AS in Tau, located in the southwest region of Norway. Recently NorStone, a subsidiary of HeidelbergCement AG, decided to change to robust geared motors. This option promised lower investment costs and increased operational reliability, along with better process security. Reduced energy consumption thanks to higher efficiency was also anticipated.

The inauguration of NORD’s new Australian subsidiary, NORD Drivesystems Pty. Ltd., will take place on 6 October 2011 in the presence of NORD founder G. A. Küchenmeister, Mark Alexander, Managing Director of NORD Drivesystems Australia, and Gernot Zarp, Head of International Sales at NORD. NORD Drivesystems Australia commenced operations in 2010 with the construction of an assembly hall in the Melbourne suburb of Derrimut and started manufacturing gearboxes and electric motors. Investments into an extension of the paint facility and a modern drying room followed at the beginning of 2011.

More than two thirds of the energy consumed in industrial applications goes into the operation of electric drive technology. Since an electric motor’s energy consumption makes up about 98% of its total cost of ownership, investment in efficient drive technology is more than worthwhile. Nord offers energy efficient drive systems, including Unicase gearboxes with regenerative breaking, IE2 motors, and frequency inverters that automatically reduce magnetization when the motor is operated under partial load. All together it reduces energy consumption by a half compared to former solutions.

NORD Drivesystems celebrates anniversary and opens building extension

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NORD Drivesystems issues its new M7000 electric motor catalog. At www.nord.com, the print version can be ordered and the electronic version is available for download. The catalog provides an overview of asynchronous low-voltage motors manufactured by NORD. It addresses in detail the implications of the switch to IE2.

NORD Drivesystems supplies PROFINET modules for the integration of frequency inverters into PROFINET environments. In the second quarter of 2011, NORD introduced new modular units for cabinet-mounted SK 500E inverters while a version for distributed SK 200E-type inverters will follow in the fourth quarter.

At this year's Hannover Messe exhibition, a preview of a new line of two-stage helical bevel gear units, which consists of models in five different sizes with torques between 90 and 660 Nm, has been showcased at NORD Drivesystems' booth. All units feature a high-strength die-cast aluminum gearcase which is designed according to the proven UNICASE principle. Since the gearcase requires neither an inspection cover nor a screw-on input cover, the units are especially small and light-weight. This facilitates handling, and helps reduce energy consumption particularly in applications where drives are moved.

NORD Drivesystems extends its SK 500E series of compact frequency inverters for control cabinet installation, adding the top-of-the-line model SK 540E which features an integrated basic PLC functionality. Without the support of an external controller, the cost-effective inverter is able to control many demanding applications with sequences and links to counters, comparators and flags that are easily programmed in accordance with the industry standard IEC 61131-3 using the PC-based NordCon tool.