Food-safe NXD tupH® surface protection from NORD DRIVESYSTEMS

The food-safe NXD tupH® surface protection makes NORD drive systems with aluminium housings more resistant to cleaning chemicals. Image: NORD DRIVESYSTEMS

Aluminium drives become “tough” against cleaning chemicals 

With NXD tupH^® from NORD DRIVESYSTEMS, users of hygiene-sensitive applications in food & beverage and primary packaging industries can benefit from the strengths of aluminium drive solutions. The food-safe surface treatment provides aluminium with properties that make the material comparable to stainless steel in terms of hygiene and corrosion resistance.

With NXD tupH^®, NORD DRIVESYSTEMS has developed an effective and food-safe surface protection especially for aluminium housings. The respective gear units, smooth motors and decentralised frequency inverters become particularly corrosion-resistant and withstand extensive cleaning procedures in food processing industries over the long term. NXD means “NORD eXtreme Duty”; tupH combines the English terms “tough” and “pH-value”.

Test prove chemical resistance
NXD tupH^® combines a special surface treatment with a high-performance sealer. The result is a non-porous surface that can be cleaned hygienically and neither flakes off nor corrodes after numerous cleaning cycles. NXD tupH^® has proven its chemical resistance in a long-term test, including the use of Ecolab cleaning agents. NORD drive components with NXD tupH^® surfaces are furthermore food-safe in accordance with the requirements of the FDA, EU and Switzerland as well as the MERCOSUR states. They are suitable for food-contact applications in the fields of food & beverage and primary packaging.

Economical alternative to stainless steel drives
With this, NORD provides users with an economical and powerful alternative to stainless steel drives. Drive solutions with aluminium housings are more lightweight and allow for compact design. Since aluminium dissipates heat well, a higher power density and lower surface temperatures can be achieved. With NXD tupH^®, aluminium housings now also become chemical-resistant, making the drive solutions durable and increasing the system availability in wash-down applications.

The surface protection from NORD does not require any special design and thus no separate warehousing and installation costs. The manufacturer applies its surface treatment to existing components. This way, it can use the options of its modular products for the drive system design, and supply tailor-made NXD tupH^® drive systems completely from a single source.

NXD tupH^®-treated complete solutions from a single source
NXD tupH^® is available for all NORD aluminium products with a smooth surface, including the integrated DuoDrive gear unit / motor system, the energy-efficient IE5+ smooth motors as well as NORDBLOC.1^® helical in-line gear units and NORDBLOC.1^® helical bevel gear units. Furthermore, with NORDAC ON PURE, a decentralised frequency inverter with NXD tupH^® surface will be available soon. Solution provider NORD can thus supply complete drive systems with food-safe surface treatment from a single source.