When Conveyor Units, a manufacturer of roller and belt conveyors, needed a compact drive panel for use with its new range of Uni-Flex flexible roller conveyors, drive specialist Vacon was able to supply a complete and cost-effective offering. The panels supplied by Vacon incorporate 1.5kW versions of the company’s versatile NXL drives, plus contactors and individual motor protection devices with trip indicators for every motor.
In order to maximise the versatility and ease of handling of Uni-Flex conveyors, the drive panels are mounted beneath the conveyor itself, which means that the space available to accommodate them is very limited. Because of the small dimensions of the bookshelf-type NXL drives, and their inclusion as standard of internal chokes and RFI filters, Vacon was, however, able to produce particularly compact panels that easily meet Conveyor Units’ requirements.
“We approached a number of variable speed drive manufacturers when we were looking for a supplier for this project,” said Trevor Dicken, product manager for Uni-Flex conveyors at Conveyor Units, “and Vacon was able to meet out specific requirements. In addition, the company has an excellent reputation for quality, and it was able to offer support to us on a global basis.”
Several technical features of the NXL drives are also proving invaluable, including the clip-on cooling fan to assist with heat dissipation and the integral keypad unit which is an important aid to setting up and fault finding.
The NXL drives are pre-configured by Vacon to suit the majority of applications, but the settings can easily be adjusted by Conveyor Units when necessary. Vacon also supplies special versions of the panels incorporating, for example, extra drives, to suit specific requirements.
All versions of the panels feature robust steel enclosures that offer IP55 protection, allowing them to be used even in harsh operating environments.