MAXXDRIVE Industrial Gear Units Boost Mixing and Agitating System Performance
Heavy-duty MAXXDRIVE industrial gear units ensure mixing and agitating systems receive maximum operational reliability with a robust design to handle heavy loads.
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MAXXDRIVE® industrial gear units
from NORD DRIVESYSTEMS are an established drive solution for heavy-duty applications. In addition to conveying, lifting, and driving, they also play an important role in mixing and agitating systems. MAXXDRIVE units feature a compact, one-piece UNICASE™ housing that delivers long service life, easy maintenance, and quiet operation. Their robust design handles high axial and radial loads, achieves output torques of up to 2,495,900 lb-in, and powers up to 8,075 hp.
Thanks to their optimized bearing and sealing systems, MAXXDRIVE industrial gear units provide significant operational reliability. Bearing options include extended bearing spacing for high loads, DRYWELL options for additional leak proofing through an extra catchment spacer in the flange and visual leak indicator, and TRUE DRYWELL options for maximum safety due to a reduced oil level and standpipe. Versions with conical roller bearings for managing high axial loads are also available. MAXXDRIVE agitator drives can be equipped with sensors that monitor the operating state of the drive, including oil level sensors, temperature sensors, oil pressure sensors, vibration sensors, and leak indicators.
Drive Systems for Stack Mixers and Counter Rotating Drives
Coaxial drives are often used for stack mixers and counter rotating drives that require a double agitator due to the large size of the tank. The drives consist of agitator blades which rotate in one direction in the middle of the tank while a scraper blade rotates in the opposite direction, removing material stuck to the walls and returning it to the agitation process. NORD’s MAXXDRIVE solution features two MAXXDRIVE industrial gear units stacked atop each other, operating two shafts inside each other. The inner agitator is driven by the upper gear unit and the outer agitator is driven by the larger bottom gear unit. This stacking method enables the direction of rotation and the speed of the agitators to be independent of each other.
Drive Systems for Lauter Tuns
Lautering is an important part of the brewing process that functions like a large sieve, separating the wort from the solid materials of the mash. The lauter tun drive rotates and lifts the racking machine inside the vessel, allowing the wort to filter through the grain bed. NORD offers highly configurable drives for lauter tuns from 2 m3 to 30 m3 and standardized solutions for vat diameters up to 14 m. They can provide a spindle lift or prepare the unit for hydraulic lifting systems.
Drive Systems for Biogas
In biogas plants, agitating and mixing are extremely important. Only by thoroughly blending the products for fermentation can a homogeneous mass be obtained, providing ideal ambient conditions for microbes regarding temperature, viscosity, and acidity. Only active microbes will produce sufficient biogas.
The biogas plant expansion of the Dutch Smits Group’s large-scale agricultural unit presented the designers of the mixing technology with a challenge. Contrary to standard practice, the rotating agitators had to blend a rectangular base of about 1,200 m2 instead of a typical circular one. Another difficultly lay in that more concrete pillars than roof girders had been placed in the towers.
To combat these difficulties, the Dutch system manufacturer, Jongia Mixing Technology, developed a concept in which two high-performance agitators were placed in each tower to ensure optimized biogas production. Each agitator with a 4.5 m shaft is driven by a MAXXDRIVE industrial gear unit. The application uses a total of 16 ATEX-compliant NORD gear units powered by 50 hp electric motors with a 123:1 reduction through the box, generating almost 257,000 lb-in of torque. The construction of another biogas plant with eight fermenters utilizing MAXXDRIVE industrial gear units is already being planned to further increase biogas production.
For more information about MAXXDRIVE industrial gear units, visit www.nord.com.
