More extruders use novel 4-motor drive.

An unusual variation on a high-torque drive is actually a combination of four small motors, each angled onto the drive shaft in a more compact layout than the equivalent power supplied by a single large motor. The patented gearbox for four motors was invented by K. & A. Knoedler GmbH in Ostfildern, Germany (represented here by Henschel America Inc., Green Bay, Wis.). It will be seen at October's K 2004 show in Dusseldorf on extruders from at least two makers, possibly more. Battenfeld Extrusionstechnik GmbH (represented here by American Maplan Corp., McPherson, Kan.) will show the four-motor drive on a 90-mm BEX single-screw pipe extruder. The higher-torque, direct-drive system reportedly produces less noise than a single large motor with reduction gears and gets 25% higher output.

Leistritz in Germany (U.S. office in Somerville, N.J.) was the first to use the compact four-motor drive. It was shown at NPE 2003 in Chicago on an 18-mm ZSE-18 twin-screw lab line. Knoedler: www.knoedler-getriebe.de * Henschel: [phone]/PTDirect: 258HH * American Maplan: [phone]/PTDirect: 817SD * Leistritz: [phone]/PTDirect: 731HD