Custom Made Pneumatic Motors

Special Applications – Not in the catalogues?

Not only do Deprag offer probably the largest range of standard motors, they also manufacture custom built motors on request for special applications – even for short runs.

Below are some examples.

We recently supplied 1.2kW motors for stirring sulphuric acid to a mine in Tasmania.

The motors were going to be partially immersed in the acid, but the standard air motors are just a low grade stainless steel, which would not have lasted long.

So Deprag offered the customer a standard 1.2kW pneumatic motor, however with a high grade stainless steel body, an extra gearbox cover, stainless steel shaft as well as special shaft seals to keep the acid out of the gearbox.

So far the customer has reported that the motors are still running well ofter a year under these extreme conditions.

Do you have a special application that you would like to discuss?  Call our product manager Paul De Rossi on 0418 699 884, or go to our contact page.

Deprag were approached by a VAT drainage equipment manufacturer to supply a 1,200W pneumatic brake motor, approved for use in an explosive environment. 

A brake motor would be a nice solution to hold the VAT in place for safety reasons, and it would have to be ATEX approved because the equipment provides vat drainage of toxic powder materials with grains smaller than 100 µm, a bulk weight of 0.86 kg/l and ignition energy of less than 20 mJ.

Up until now there was no off the shelf solution, and the only alternative would be a complex custom built system.

DEPRAG engineers developed an entire system with the exposed parts made out of stainless steel, consisting of motor, brake assembly and gears. It corresponds with ATEX standards. This motor technology is now available as a standard product.

Wilfried Beer, managing partner of Beer Fördertechnik speaks enthusiastically of the immense advantages of this new type of brake motor. “By using this complete system for my vat drainage equipment, I can save myself enormous additional construction and manufacturing expenses because the brakes, which provide the safety for my mechanism, are already integrated.”

The integrated brake, which acts as a holding brake, is comprised of three brake disks, a pressure spring and a piston. They are controlled separately using an airline. When the control line has a pressure of over 5 bar the brake is released.  If the pressure drops below 5 bar it is engaged.

Here is the difference.  A normal brake has a grey area, where if the control line pressure is close to the compression force of the spring the brake can slip which would cause dangerous levels of heat, thereby elevating the risk of explosion in a hazardous area.

To produce a motor, which could be authorized for use in potentially explosive environments, DEPRAG engineers had to think outside the box. Mr Gerd Zinn, Manager of the Serial Machine Development Department said: “By implementing a safety valve, we have minimized this risk.” The valve turns the air feed off automatically when the pressure falls under 5-bar, causing the pressure applied to the brake to become zero. The brakes are then forced together fully and the motor is blocked.

The new motors are now available in various torque ranges and speeds in the 200, 300 & 1.2 kW stainless steel motor program from DEPRAG. They comply with ATEX guidelines.

We were asked by a well known juice manufacturer to look at a solution for mixing their juices.  A concentrate has to be mixed with water slowly for several hours to make the final product.  They were using a small electric motor with a very large gearbox to reduce the speed, but they were concerned about the possibility of oil leaking into the juice and contaminating a large batch.  Furthermore the motors with gearboxes were too heavy.  Each time one had to be serviced, they had to hire lifting equipment to get it off the top of the vats.

We were able to supply a small air motor with gearbox that weighed only 2kg.  Deprag manufactured it with an extra seal cover and packed the gearbox with food grade grease.  The motor also had a leakage line that warns the maintenance crew in case the shaft seals fail.

Do you have a special application that you would like to discuss?  Call our product manager Paul De Rossi on 0418 699 884, or go to our contact page.

Deprag supply special stainless steel bodied motors coupled with various gearboxes to suit the demands of use in the paper and pulp industry.