Meat+Poultry - January 2020 - 91

The drum motor does not require any maintenance. However, in the event of electric motor or

sues had to be addressed in order to increase drum
motor market share.

gear reducer failure, the drum motor has to be removed from the conveyor frame. Using the conventional external motor/gearbox drive system, repairs

Drum motor design issues
and solutions

can be completed in less time because all drive components are located outside the conveyor frame
and more accessible to maintenance personnel.

Most drum motor manufacturers are producing
drum motors as a sideline to other industrial products they manufacture or supply. Combined with

Market penetration

low market penetration, these companies have little incentive to allocate funds and resources into

In North America, the drum motor represents
approximately 7% of the overall conveyor drive ap-

research and development to improve the design
in order to increase market share.

plications. With all the benefits that the drum mo-

One exclusive drum motor manufacturer, with

tors offer, it would be reasonable to ask why the

facilities in the USA, Canada and the Netherlands,

drum motor has such a low market penetration.

invested in research and development to improve

When drum motors first appeared in the mar-

the drum motor design. In 2012, after an extensive

ket, the overall selection of belt speeds, horse-

study, the company developed the revolutionary

power, drum diameters, and drum lengths were

designs of today's drum motors.

very limited, with belt speed selection the larger

The two-year study of testing and analysis re-

issue. For these reason, majority of conveyor drives

vealed that lack of heat dissipation was a major

with chains and sprockets to power the head roller

issue impacting the overall product reliability.

were more popular.

The basic principle of electric motor design is

Changing belt speeds on conventional drives can

the method of cooling. The majority of electric

be achieved by simply changing the drive sprock-

motors used as conveyor drives are fan cooled,

ets. Changing the belt speed of the drum motor re-

which is a very effective method of cooling an

quires removing the drum motor from the convey-

electric motor. Since all drive components of the

or frame and changing the gear ratio of the gear

drum motor are housed internally, fan cooling is

reducer. This problem has been largely eliminated

not possible. Instead, the drum motor uses oil to

with the introduction of variable frequency invert-

transmit the heat from the electric motor to the

ers. Adjusting the belt speed with a frequency in-

drum shell and dissipates to the belt. Cooling of

verter contributed to a relatively small increase in

the drum motor through oil submersion is not

market penetration of the drum motor.

as effective as the method of fan cooling of a

Market study indicated that conveyor manufac-

standard conveyor motor.

turers and end users implement the drum motor

Operating condition can negatively impact the

into their conveyor systems only when there are

heat transfer from the motor to the belt. If for ex-

space constraints. Market feedback also showed

ample an application requires the drum motor to

issues with oil leakage, premature bearing, gear

have rubber lagging for belt traction, the rubber

and electric motor failure. These drum motor is-

lagging will resist heat from exiting the drum mo-

Meat+Poultry - January 2020

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