MacNeil Electric Drive Conveyor

Any opinions on the MacNeil Electric Drive Conveyor?

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It's going in our next wash. We'll let you know.

I am concerned with what happens when the conveyor jams. Unless that gearbox is some kind of fluid drive or is clutched somehow the inertia of the electric motor will tear-up your conveyor. I used to have an old conveyor that used shear pins. A service man got lazy on a busy day and shoved a solid piece of shaft in the shearpin hole. The conveyor jammed and actually bowed up six inches on the exit section tearing the weldments right out of the concrete. Needless to say that conveyor was never the same afterward. What's in that right-angle speed reducer box?

The key to the electric drive and gearbox is that a VFD co0ntrols the motor, and it is settable for both torque and accel/deccel speed. This completely eliminates the need for shear pins, etc. Assuming you set the torque relief correctly, the conveyor will have all the power it needs and will also stall when it should, just like hydraulic.
We're running one at our 200' full service, and after the pain of dumping the chain 8-10 times while we tried to find the appropriate torque setting, it's been flawless for 6 months. I expect it to remain that way for a long time, until the day our trench fills with water, at which time the motor will be scrap metal.
We left the hydraulic motor laying there with bolts, ready to go, because some day that will happen.

Let's not forget the new Hydraulic drives allow for your PLC to control both torque and speed control. The new Pressure comp variable volume pumps only flows the oil when you need it helping with electrical cost.

>>>, until the day our trench fills with water, at which time the motor will be scrap metal.
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Was thinking about this. Trench doesn't fill often, maybe once every few years the drain clogs and it's typicaly on a busy day.
Now, with the electric immersed in water which also contains a huge metal conveyor, what are the safety issues?

There is a high water cutoff switch that shuts off the conveyor. Worst case the motor will be fried, and the VFD will be toast. It is more energy efficient where we have a 10 hp hydraulic for our conveyor, we needed only a 7.5 HP for electric drive, and quiet.

You know I have traded out a number of 10 H.P. drives for 7.5 H.P. and sometimes a 5 H.P. will work. Our in-tank pump hydraulic units are just as quite as the Electric drive and often less expensive.

A chain is a chain, so, is the price difference between hydraulic and electric powered conveyors still great enough to offset the cost benefits of VFD and no changing oil and no ruptures and clean-ups, etc.?