Rollers, Drum Motors and DriveRollers: definitions and differences
What are the differences between rollers and drum motors? Moreover, what is the difference between the former two and the highly technological DriveRoller?
In this useful article, we will offer some interesting definition and highlight differences in terms of applications that will make it easier to understand the variety of solutions by Rulmeca.
All three industrial solutions exist to facilitate the movement of materials by supporting and transporting them. However, rollers, drum motors and DriveRollers are incredibly different in so many ways.
Let’s take a closer look.
In general terms, rollers – or industrial rollers – include a wide range of solutions for different sectors and applications. More specifically, Rulmeca designs and manufactures rollers destined to all those industries where transportation is the business core. Rollers, therefore, represent an essential, invaluable part in every conveyor system and in bulk material handling, whose goal is to move materials from one location to another. They can be produced in steel, stainless steel and in many different elastomeric materials.
The wide range of rollers manufactured by Rulmeca includes a variety of solutions for the most diversified applications in terms of unit handling: from rollers for gravity conveyors to rollers for chain-driven conveyors or curves. In general, what characterizes all Rulmeca components and rollers for unit handling is high quality and reliability in all fields of applications.
Drum motors, also known with the name of “motorized pulleys” are on the other hand geared motor drives placed inside a steel shell. Their peculiarity is to provide a single component driving pulley for conveyor belts, which is the standard mechanical handling equipment designed to move materials to one place to another. Their basic design includes an asynchronous or synchronous electric motor fixed to a stationary shaft at one end of the drum. The structure is coupled through the pinion to a gearbox, which is attached to the other stationary shaft.
In general terms, drum motors are very much capable of operating in very low and very high temperatures (from minus 40 deg. C to plus 50 degrees on average) and they can also tolerate high-pressure water jets or chemical cleaning. However, drum motors by Rulmeca are designed to operate flawlessly even in way harsher conditions, such as in the presence of water or dirt, chemicals, oil or grease, and during high-pressure washdown procedures. Also, the fully sealed design by Rulmeca ensures that no internal part of the drum motor is ever exposed to tampering or external environmental conditions. The result is a maintenance-free, completely self-sufficient unit throughout its entire service lifetime.
Finally, DriveRollers are part of the range of motorized rollers by Rulmeca and destined for unit handling industrial applications. The entire range of DriveRollers by Rulmeca is ideal for applications requiring low, medium or high speeds that operators can set or vary; for constant high torque throughout the speed range, frequent stop/start cycles, low level of system noise and an optimized working consumption. DriveRollers are an essential component in industrial applications where roller transportation is vital, and they configured according to the system and environmental conditions.
Get in touch with Rulmeca now to receive a dedicated consultancy for any component for your unit handling or bulk handling.
