A leading natural fashion retailer ‘hessnatur’, is using energy-saving 24 volt drive technology from Interroll at its dispatch centre.
Operating at an 8,700-square metre dispatch centre with 38,000 storage places, the company ships approximately 2.7 million parts to its customers in about 1 million packages. For the past 2 years, system integrator PAIS GmbH from Stockstadt, Germany, has been gradually replacing the outdated 400V-drive technology that was put into operation back in the nineties, with energy-efficient and low-maintenance 24V technology from Interroll.
It was important to keep down time at hessnatur to a minimum and therefore the retrofit was carried out in stages. Because sustainability plays a very important role for hessnatur, they looked for a solution that would allow for the conveyor side frames to be reused and only the conveyor rollers and plastic components to be replaced.
24-volt RollerDrive including DriveControl and ZoneControl was their first choice because all of the requirements can be optimally met with the Interroll solution.
For Paul Waigand, Managing Director of PAIS GmbH, finding a full-service provider of modern drive technology who could supply both the control systems and the driven rollers was extremely important to the retrofit project. “We specialise in the migration of outdated roller conveyors and rely on the internationally active manufacturer Interroll.”
At the DC, buffer zones are equipped with EC310 RollerDrive – providing belt drive for conveyor rollers (featuring two grooves & spring axles) and each individual zone is operated under ‘ZoneControl’.
The curves are fitted with EC310 RollerDrive and DriveControl. To prevent slippage of the conveyed material, rubberized conveyor rollers are being used in certain places.
A system driven by Interroll RollerDrive is always structured in a decentralized manner. The drives are located in each individual conveyor zone, switching on or off and operating only when materials are present to be conveyed with zero pressure. This means there is enormous potential for energy savings and significant noise and wear reduction.
Siegfried Koenig, the person responsible for planning, organization and operation support at hessnatur reported on the reasoning behind the system retrofit: “Energy efficiency protects the environment and reduces our operating costs. Our customers also tend to benefit indirectly from lower prices. Sustainable action also means improving working conditions for our employees and the lower noise level that we achieve by using Interroll RollerDrive was an important feature for us.”
hessnatur and many other end users around the world have modernised their conveyor systems to include this 24 volt drive technology that offers a fast return on investment (ROI). Results of a scientific study that the Institute for Material Handling and Logistics (IFL) at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) conducted under the supervision of Prof. Dr.-Ing. Kai Furman clearly show the strengths of 24-volt solutions compared to 400 volt drive technology in many application examples. (Available for download from the website www.interroll.com… “24 Volt Drive Technology in Continuous Conveyor Systems”)
For further information contact:
Interroll Ltd., Unit 1A Orion Way, Kettering, Northamptonshire, NN15 6NL
Tel: (01536) 312770
e.mail: gb.sales@interroll.com
Website: www.interroll.co.uk
