Kollmorgen Expands KED for Washdown Applications

Kollmorgen Corporation has expanded the application range of its Kollmorgen Essentials Servo Drive (KED) to support hygienic and washdown environments. The move allows machine builders to pair the drive with AKMA aluminium washdown motors and AKMH stainless-steel hygienic servo motors, enabling high-performance motion control in demanding applications at a more cost-effective price point.

The servo drives support multiple industrial Ethernet protocols, including EtherCAT, EtherNet/IP and PROFINET, helping reduce system and inventory complexity. To strengthen this offering, AKMA and AKMH motors are now available with Smart Feedback Device, Multi-Turn (SFD-M), allowing KED to support absolute multi-turn positioning in washdown and hygienic environments.

SFD-M provides high-resolution absolute feedback without the maintenance needs of battery-backed encoders. Its energy-harvesting technology retains position data through power cycles, while embedded motor data supports automatic drive configuration and faster commissioning across Kollmorgen servo drives.

AKMA motors feature anodised aluminium housings with IP69K protection for medium- to heavy-washdown applications, while AKMH motors offer stainless-steel construction with IP69K sealing for daily washdown environments involving high pressure, high temperatures and caustic cleaning agents. With this extension, Kollmorgen is offering a unified and affordable motion solution for food and beverage, pharmaceutical packaging and similar sectors.