Extruders powered by innovation and Kolmer motors
Extruders are complex machines but they are indispensable in the production of daily commodities. Extrusion is a technique that presses a pliable substance through a matrix, ultimately creating an elongated product. This process is used in the manufacture of a diverse variety of goods, from spaghetti to aluminium sheets.
An extruder is powered by one or more electric motors. Traditionally, direct current (DC) motors were used in this production process however, in recent years these have been increasingly replaced by alternating current (AC) motors. The advantage of this new generation of AC motors is that of higher efficiency levels resulting in lower energy consumption.

 Water-cooled extruder motor
In the past few years, various extruders have been equipped with IE2 and IE3 AC motors. Kolmer, however, has recently begun applying a new innovation. In conjunction with an extruder supplier, the choice was made to apply specially designed water-cooled motors to the extrusion machines. Not only are these motors more efficient in their energy consumption, but as well they are smaller than a standard AC motor making the installation more compact. In addition, these motors have several other assets such as a high power/torque density, high rpm rate and low rotational inertia.

 Standard and special motors
Standard motors can be applied for smaller installations with Kolmer delivering these motors directly from their stock. However, for larger and more complex industrial extrusion processes, standard motors will need to be adapted or in some cases, specially designed. This would be the case, for example, with water-cooled motors with a capacity of up to 750 kW, built to precise customer specifications.