Nord's Tailor-made Drive Solutions for Crane & Cargo

06 Feb 2025 CW Team

Cranes are highly complex transport systems in which the motion sequences of lifting, travel and cross-travel running gears are sometimes superimposed. NORD modular products allow to create suitably dimensioned drive solutions consisting of efficient motors, scalable drive electronics and powerful MAXXDRIVE® industrial gear units.

NORD developed the MAXXDRIVE® XD industrial gear unit specially for lifting gears. The housing design of the helical gear unit is precisely matched to the typical installation situation and occurring loads. An elongated arrangement of the gear stages enables a U-shaped drive design with rope drum and motor on the gear unit side. The industrial gear unit series features a centre distance of up to 1,281 mm.

The MAXXDRIVE® XJ industrial gear unit is ideal for use in travel and cross-travel running gears. Its special feature is the J-shaped shaft arrangement. It combines an elongated arrangement of the gear stages with a vertical drive shaft. As a result, the helical bevel gear unit extends the scope for system design and provides a space-saving gear unit design for confined installation spaces.

All industrial gear units of the MAXXDRIVE® series are based on NORD’s torsionally rigid UNICASE housing. For MAXXDRIVE® XD and MAXXDRIVE® XJ, the robust design was optimised for downwards and external loads. The gear unit design can be tailored to the specific application requirements with optional accessories such as drum couplings for rope drum drives or brake consoles.

"From our modular products and with our industry expertise, we can develop tailor-made drive solutions for any type of crane system”, says Jörg Niermann, Head of Marketing at NORD. “This enables us to offer our users three decisive advantages.” On the one hand, the energy-efficient motors and optimum control via drive electronics from NORD ensure CO2e-reduced operation. On the other hand, the maximum centre distances of the MAXXDRIVE® XD and MAXXDRIVE® XJ implement optimum weight and size utilisation. Finally, tailor-made drive solutions from NORD realise a cost-optimised crane design.

The safe design of the systems is carried out according to global industry standards from FEM (Europe) as well as ASME and CMAA (North America) to IS (India). In addition to the development, NORD also supports users in the operation of the drive solutions for crane & cargo. The system supplier provides worldwide service for which it can rely on a global network that comprises more than 80 countries.

Nord Drivesystems offers complete drive systems for crane applications from a single source. In addition to motors and drive electronics, the MAXXDRIVE® industrial gear units are the centrepiece of the crane & cargo portfolio. With MAXXDRIVE® XD and MAXXDRIVE® XJ, the solution provider has two industrial gear units that are optimised for use in cranes. Cranes are highly complex transport systems in which the motion sequences of lifting, travel and cross-travel running gears are sometimes superimposed. NORD modular products allow to create suitably dimensioned drive solutions consisting of efficient motors, scalable drive electronics and powerful MAXXDRIVE® industrial gear units. NORD developed the MAXXDRIVE® XD industrial gear unit specially for lifting gears. The housing design of the helical gear unit is precisely matched to the typical installation situation and occurring loads. An elongated arrangement of the gear stages enables a U-shaped drive design with rope drum and motor on the gear unit side. The industrial gear unit series features a centre distance of up to 1,281 mm. The MAXXDRIVE® XJ industrial gear unit is ideal for use in travel and cross-travel running gears. Its special feature is the J-shaped shaft arrangement. It combines an elongated arrangement of the gear stages with a vertical drive shaft. As a result, the helical bevel gear unit extends the scope for system design and provides a space-saving gear unit design for confined installation spaces. All industrial gear units of the MAXXDRIVE® series are based on NORD’s torsionally rigid UNICASE housing. For MAXXDRIVE® XD and MAXXDRIVE® XJ, the robust design was optimised for downwards and external loads. The gear unit design can be tailored to the specific application requirements with optional accessories such as drum couplings for rope drum drives or brake consoles. From our modular products and with our industry expertise, we can develop tailor-made drive solutions for any type of crane system”, says Jörg Niermann, Head of Marketing at NORD. “This enables us to offer our users three decisive advantages.” On the one hand, the energy-efficient motors and optimum control via drive electronics from NORD ensure CO2e-reduced operation. On the other hand, the maximum centre distances of the MAXXDRIVE® XD and MAXXDRIVE® XJ implement optimum weight and size utilisation. Finally, tailor-made drive solutions from NORD realise a cost-optimised crane design. The safe design of the systems is carried out according to global industry standards from FEM (Europe) as well as ASME and CMAA (North America) to IS (India). In addition to the development, NORD also supports users in the operation of the drive solutions for crane & cargo. The system supplier provides worldwide service for which it can rely on a global network that comprises more than 80 countries.

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