How can materials, goods and products be transported from A to B as efficiently as possible? Particularly for large logistics projects – for example in parcel distribution centres, in baggage handling at airports or in warehouse logistics – this is a key issue. High-efficiency, variant-reduced drive solutions and intelligent maintenance concepts (keyword: predictive maintenance) ensure a functioning logistics chain and guarantee a continuous flow of goods. As a result, the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) remains low.
Efficient logistics form the backbone of every production company, as they ensure the uninterrupted flow of materials in manufacturing. If the right goods are not in the right place at the right time, production comes to a standstill. A functioning logistics chain is therefore essential. To prevent the flow of goods from being interrupted, reliable and sophisticated concepts are required.
Efficiency, flexibility and economic efficiency are still among the key requirements of logistics and intralogistics. In addition, topics such as networking, automation and digitalisation are playing an increasingly important role, as are sustainability and climate protection. Drive systems play a decisive role in overcoming these challenges, as they are the basic elements for factory and plant networking and thus form the basis for future-proof concepts. Intelligent and efficient drive solutions help to optimise and speed up processes whilst saving costs. For this, several competing requirements must be reconciled. A holistic approach that benefits both the system integrators and operators is therefore particularly promising. Individual requirements can be implemented profitably, while the customer benefits from the economical and environmentally friendly operation of the installed drive technology.
About 70% of the electrical energy used in industrial applications is consumed by electric drives. For the economically and ecologically necessary reduction and optimisation of the energy and resource consumption, this is an important starting point for almost every industrial company and logistics installation. Optimisation of the efficiency of the drive system as a whole, including the application in which it is implemented, is a significant factor for savings. Here, the potential is typically between 30 to 60 percent. However, reducing the energy consumption is just one of many aspects to increase the efficiency of logistics systems in the field of drive technology. The drive concept, number of drive variants, commissioning process, maintenance effort and spare parts management should also be examined.
NORD DRIVESYSTEMS is a long-time and experienced logistics and intralogistics partner and implements scalable drive solutions for all subareas – be it conveying, storage, sorting, commissioning, palletising or packaging. The company takes a comprehensive TCO approach, carefully considering individual aspects and creating an optimum compromise between investment, operating and maintenance costs. Drive solutions from NORD are characterised by high operating reliability, economic efficiency and service life, ideally combining variant reduction and energy efficiency. Networked drives with decentralised intelligence also enable continuous condition monitoring and therefore form the basis for predictive maintenance.
NORD DRIVESYSTEMS has developed the LogiDrive solution space specifically for the special requirements in logistics. LogiDrive is an energy-efficient, service-friendly and standardised modular system. Depending on the industry and objective, different NORD products are combined into one drive solution, which is 100% tailored to the respective industry standards and application requirements. The LogiDrive solution space is intended for conveyor applications in the fields of post & parcel, airport and warehouse, and comprises one advanced variant with IE5+ synchronous motor technology and a basic variant with IE3 asynchronous motors. While the LogiDrive advanced drives address issues such as energy efficiency, variant reduction and TCO, the basic LogiDrive's main focus is on low investment in conjunction with advantages such as variant reduction.
All LogiDrive systems for logistics are efficient and extremely easy to maintain and install thanks to plug-and-play technology. The entire system has a modular design, so that all components of the drive solutions can be individually serviced. This minimises maintenance and repair costs. All connections are made using simple plug connections while integrated maintenance switches and manual control switches ensure a high level of user-friendliness. NORD also supplies the cables. Potential sources of error are thus eliminated, and commissioning is facilitated. The compact design of the drive solutions saves space and is light in weight thanks to the aluminium housing. Due to the motor design and the frequency inverter operation, the same motor variant can be universally used worldwide.
LogiDrive for post & parcel and airport
LogiDrive for warehouse
The whole concept is designed for optimum performance, highest efficiency and best possible user-friendliness. Utilising the system’s wide adjustment range, all drive solutions are individually tailored to each customer and specifically designed for the system’s individual load range.
The especially compact and energy-efficient IE5+ synchronous motors feature a high efficiency of up to 94 percent over a wide torque range and thus also possess optimum energy consumption performance in partial load and partial speed ranges. The patented DuoDrive goes one step further and sets new standards with regard to performance, installation space and variant reduction. At up to 92 percent, it offers one of the highest geared motor efficiencies on the market for this power class, and also achieves very high system efficiency in the partial load range. It is thus future-proof and a real cost reducer. This was achieved by fully integrating the IE5+ synchronous motor into a single-stage helical gear unit. The unventilated wash-down design with smooth surfaces meets the most stringent hygiene requirements and ensures optimum cleaning.
The NORDAC ON/ON+ decentralised frequency inverter is characterised by an integrated Ethernet interface (PROFINET, EtherNet/IP and EtherCAT can be set via parameters), full plug-in capability and a very compact design. This inverter type was specifically developed for horizontal and vertical conveyor technology. The smart inverters can be ideally integrated into any logistics system, thus saving space. Additionally, the motor-mounted version eliminates the need for complex cabling between inverter and motor. There are two versions available: NORDAC ON and NORDAC ON+. NORDAC ON has been designed for use with asynchronous motors whereas NORDAC ON+ is intended for the combination with high-efficiency IE5+ synchronous motors.
NORD DRIVESYSTEMS | Case study | High-efficiency portfolio
All frequency inverters from NORD have condition monitoring solutions for predictive maintenance systems and are well equipped for use in IIoT and Industry 4.0. The integrated PLC can process data from connected sensors and actuators, initiate control sequences and communicate with other system components. The periodic or continuous recording of drive and status data allows for an early detection and avoidance of impermissible operating states. Unscheduled downtimes in logistics can be significantly reduced and status-oriented maintenance (predictive maintenance) replaces time-based maintenance. Machinery and plant downtimes can be scheduled.
Whether parcel distribution centres, airport technology or warehouse logistics: With ideally matched drive solutions that are specifically designed for application-specific requirements, logistical flow of materials and goods can be implemented with maximum efficiency. The tailor-made and easy-to-use system solutions from NORD DRIVESYSTEMS enable an optimum balance between energy efficiency and variant reduction and allow a significant reduction of costs over the product service life (TCO) in logistics.
According to studies, the consumption of electric drives amounts to up to 70 percent of the entire energy consumption in industry. This is not only a significant cost factor – it also provides a huge optimisation and savings potential. NORD DRIVESYSTEMS helps its customers to use this potential.
Large intralogistics projects for airports or parcel centres must reconcile several competing requirements. For drive technology, NORD DRIVESYSTEMS therefore relies on a comprehensive TCO approach.