Celebrating its 90th year as a market leader, Bauer Gear Motor, a part of Altra Industrial Motion Corporation, is continuing to showcase the innovation that has driven the business forward for nearly a century. 

Bauer’s range includes products for wastewater processing; motors that offer increased energy efficiency; the Bauer HiflexDRIVE range; stainless steel geared motors for hygienically sensitive environments and bespoke engineered solutions designed to tackle specialist application challenges.

Bauer’s extensive choice of ATEX rated geared motors for potentially explosive application environments includes the new IE4 PMSM drive, offering high energy efficiency whilst being suited for explosive atmospheres. IE4 is the highest motor efficiency that can be achieved with current technology, so the device offers a unique combination of explosive area compliance and market leading energy efficiency. This enables energy savings for end users of up to 40% compared to a standard asynchronous drive also in an explosive atmosphere.

In addition, Bauer’s extensive selection of ingress protection solutions incorporate specialized sealing systems and coatings. In fact, a WIMES coated drive developed to operate submerged in slurry is available, with the capability to run proficiently up to a depth of 10 meters.

Energy efficiency has been a hot topic in the motor industry for a number of years, with the progress towards ever more exacting IE ratings aiming to reduce the carbon footprint of devices as much as possible. Bauer has always been ahead of this particular curve, illustrated by its wide range of now mandatory IE3 and futuristic IE4 synchronous motors. IE4 is not currently an industry requirement, but end users now have the flexibility to specify a motor that will offer market leading efficiency in operation. 

The introduction of the new EtaK 2.0 de-central inverter adds to this ethos. Available as a helical, shaft mounted, bevel or worm geared device with an integrated variable speed drive – the EtaK 2.0 is a smart power component that is adaptable to specific application demands and process speeds. The drive is squarely aimed to complement future system designs and efficiency guidelines.

Of further interest is the recently extended HiflexDRIVE range, which now incorporates a model that operates down to 80 Nm with a BK04 gearbox. Intrinsically low weight, compact and highly efficient – the entire HiflexDRIVE range offers an energy saving of up to 40% when operating under partial load by utilizing in-built permanent magnet technology. Available in standard, aseptic and stainless steel variants, the HiflexDRIVE can be easily specified to suit almost any application environment. The design of the HiflexDRIVE ensures that it is able to provide constant motor speed independent of load or voltage, making it suitable for constant toque applications such as conveyors.

Bauer also focuses on stainless steel solutions, illustrated by the new HiflexDRIVE derived IEC motor, a compact drive designed specifically for hygienic application areas. The motor features a construction that avoids matter and fluid accumulation, offering increased contamination protection in processing areas.

Not every application demand can be met with a standard solution, so Bauer’s capacity and experience in the delivery of bespoke geared motor solutions can be useful to end users. Bauer aims to offer unique advantages via customized products – providing increased efficiency, performance and durability tailored to their application. Those interested in these highly specialized devices are urged to talk to a Bauer representative to discuss potential bespoke options.