Built for Rough Conditions: KEB Drives Support Shredding Systems

Vecoplan’s expertise in shredding systems meets KEB’s F6 drive and automation technology to help recycling machines run smoothly. Together, they support the reliable processing of materials in demanding, high-throughput applications.

What Happens To Our Recycled Materials?

Every day, millions of households toss bottles, cardboard, and plastics into recycling bins, rarely considering what happens next. That is where Vecoplan AG comes in.

Before these materials can be reused, they pass through demanding industrial environments. High-throughput shredding and processing facilities push machines to their limits, where constant dust, high humidity, continuous vibration, and heavy loads are the norm and downtime carries real consequences.

Shredders must maintain consistent throughput while handling peak torque loads that can reach several tens of thousands of newton meters. Keeping rotor speed stable, preventing blockages, and minimizing downtime are essential to efficient operation.

Meeting these demands requires more than robust mechanical design. It calls for highly adaptable drive and control technology that can perform reliably under extreme conditions.

Vecoplan’s Industrial Shredders

Headquartered in Bad Marienberg, Germany, Vecoplan is a manufacturer of industrial shredders, chippers, and conveyor systems for processing wood, plastics, paper, and waste. Its shredding and processing machines operate in harsh environments where reliability isn’t optional. It’s the entire value proposition.

“In the recycling industry, we often find environments with a very high dust load. This can quickly lead to damage in the plant. In order to prevent this error-proneness and to increase the degree of protection, the circuit boards in our Drive Controller, for example, are given a special coating that ensures greater robustness”, says Malte Habbishaw, sales engineer at KEB. “We have products that are up to IP protection class 66. This makes our drive controllers, for instance, ideally suited for use in particularly humid or dusty conditions.”

Designing for those conditions means every component decision matters. Vecoplan’s engineering team prioritizes machines that maintain speed and throughput under variable loads, resist contamination from dust and debris, and minimize unplanned downtime.

Finding the right automation technology partner was essential to meeting those goals.

The Machine at the Center: VIZ 1300 Rotary Shredder

Vecoplan’s product line includes a range of shredders, including single- and double-shaft, mobile, and dissolving machines.

One of Vecoplan’s flagship machines is the VIZ 1300, a single-shaft industrial shredder built to handle plastics, paper, textiles, cardboard, and mixed waste. Compact yet flexible, the VIZ 1300 is designed to adapt quickly within operations without sacrificing throughput.

The process begins when material loads into a hopper and is fed by a hydraulic ram toward a large rotating cutter rotor. As material contacts the rotor and cutters, it’s progressively reduced in size until it can pass through for downstream processing.

While the process seems simple, the machine’s performance demands are significant. Breaking down bulky waste materials requires reliable torque and flexibility under changing loading conditions. Any blockage or error can halt the process and incur unnecessary costs. This is where utilizing proven drive and control technology components becomes essential.

Selecting the right VFD allows rotor speed and torque to be matched to the load and material characteristics in real time, and enables smoother starts that help the shredder get a heavy rotor moving without the large current draw associated with direct-on-line starting. The result is a shredder that can adapt to the variable, often unpredictable nature of recycling feedstock while protecting the drivetrain and motor from excessive wear.

To maintain performance in these demanding applications, Vecoplan needed an automation partner capable of delivering solutions that provide reliable torque, support high-throughput operation, and withstand harsh recycling environments.

The KEB Solution

With over 15 years of experience supplying products for recycling machines and systems, KEB has built deep expertise in this space. Drawing on that knowledge and with their own engineering standards in mind, Vecoplan selected KEB motion control solutions to meet the system requirements of its customized shredding machines.

• F6 VFD: With graduated size options, voltage classes, and cooling types, this powerhouse of a drive controls shredder motor speed and torque in machines like the VIZ 1300. It also integrates STO safety functionality and is available in high-IP configurations.

• Filters and Chokes: KEB’s selection of filters and chokes pairs well with the F6 drive system, improving power quality and system reliability. With features that reduce electrical noise, voltage spikes, and harmonics, they help ensure stable operation in the demanding environments in which shredding machines operate.

• Braking Resistors: With KEB, braking resistors are integrated directly into the inverter. Thanks to its compact size, the braking resistor helps reduce control cabinet space and simplify wiring. Overall, this component simplifies machine integration for a manufacturer like Vecoplan. It also helps machine builders reduce cabinet footprint without sacrificing performance.

A Partnership Built on Customization

Industrial shredders are rarely one-size-fits-all machines. Material types, throughput targets, and facility layouts differ from customer to customer, and that means drive and automation solutions must flex accordingly.

Over the course of their partnership, Vecoplan and KEB have consistently delivered reliable shredding performance, streamlined control cabinet designs, and ensured efficient operation in demanding recycling environments.

“Usually, our shredders are high-performance customer-specific solutions. This is always accompanied by special requirements for the drive and automation technology,” says Tim Hamer, Sales Manager for the Recycling|Waste unit at Vecoplan.

KEB has addressed these challenges by approaching the partnership as a long-term technical collaboration rather than a transactional supplier relationship.

“For more than 15 years, we have been offering complete control cabinet solutions for trouble-free operation for applications in the field of recycling plants,” Michael Zacharewicz, Head of Product Management and Systems at KEB. “We contribute this know-how to Vecoplan and have been able to constantly develop and optimize our range for these demanding applications through our long collaboration.”

Driving Recycling Forward

Each day, millions of materials are recycled and move through these industrial processing facilities before they can be reused. Behind that work are machines designed to withstand demanding conditions and keep performing.

Vecoplan builds those machines, and through their partnership with KEB, they continue to equip them with the drive and automation technology needed to keep fast-paced recycling facilities running.

For more information on KEB’s automation solutions for shredding and recycling machinery, visit Recycling industry: KEB Drive Controller in shredder plants | KEB Automation KG & Vecoplan and KEB: Crushing in cooperation | KEB Automation KG to learn more.