Cheese maker changes motor requirements

For quality and hygiene reasons, cheese manufacturer replaces existing conventional DC and AC motors with stainless steel machines.

As part of an ongoing process of maintaining quality standards with attention to hygiene, Australian cheese manufacturer Bega Co-operative Society is implementing a policy of replacing existing DC and AC motors with stainless steel machines.

This motor replacement programme is designed to eliminate problems relating to salt-initiated corrosion and its consequent maintenance and hygiene implications.

The motors being replaced are used on salt blowers and pumps at Bega's plant in North Bega, New South Wales, and they range in size up to 7.5kW.

The problems experienced with the DC motors were corrosion of the brushes and motor housing; the first causing time consuming maintenance with the additional risk of intermittent malfunction between routine maintenance duties and the second potential corrosion flaking in a hygiene-sensitive environment.

Like the DC motors, the AC machines experienced housing corrosion but also suffered from moisture ingress.

The introduction of the Marlin Stainless motors has eliminated these problems at the plant, where 500 employees produce some 14,000 tonnes of cheddar annually as well as 7000 tonnes of whey powder and 800 tonnes of butter for home and export markets.

"Where we have installed the Marlin motors they have eliminated all the corrosion and maintenance problems we experienced with the original mild steel motors," said Phil Scheibel, Electrical Supervisor at Bega Cheese.

"We installed the first machines two years ago and they're still running great".

"With the original motors, we would have been lucky if they got much past 12 months".

"What's more, we're not fitting protective shrouds for the Marlin motors like we have done in the past on previous models".

"Because they are doing such a great job, we have got some of the stainless motors on the shelf so we can drop them in as the old machines fail".

"We're really pleased with their performance".

The motors were supplied by Lafert EM Australia, Melbourne, a sister company of AEG Electric Motors.

Motors ranging from 0.37 to 7.5kW have been installed, either as TENV or TEFC machines.

Principal merits of the motors are their IP66 rating that makes them suitable for high-pressure hose downs, corrosion resistance, smooth body that will not harbour infection risk residues, and IEC metric dimensions that make the motors ideal retrofit items.

There is also a range of mounting options.

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