Are you looking for a linear drive with a high protection class and large force in a small space? Then your search is now at an end. We help manufacturers in the food industry to cope easily with the high hygiene standards, because our stainless steel MINI has no edges and is completely leak-tight.

• Compact drives made entirely of stainless steel with protection class IP65 for easier cleaning
• Round and compact design for the avoidance of dirt traps
• Lifetime lubricated – no re-lubrication necessary
• Easy to control without danger of leaks
• Also suitable for low temperature use

Consider all the things that food has to fulfil nowadays! It should taste good, look tasty, be healthy, nutritious and good value, keep for a long period, be convenient to prepare and be available all year round if possible. No untreated natural product can do that. In view of a market of around 450 million people in the European Union alone, it would appear to be impossible to meet all these requirements without the highly industrialised processing of foodstuffs. At the same time, the manufacturers are under high pressure to meet the demanding requirements for food safety.

Food safety is of paramount importance in the food industry. Consumers expect not only quality products, but also safe foodstuffs produced under optimum hygienic conditions. Cleaning and disinfection are therefore the highest priorities at food manufacturers. One of the commonest methods in numerous areas is wet cleaning. However, that demands high robustness on the part of the equipment, which has to withstand hot water and high pressure. In addition to the design of the housing and the housing material, perfect leak-tightness is also important.

One of the important components in the food industry is the lifting spindle drive, which is used in almost all areas of the food industry – from the handling of the raw materials to the processing and packaging. With its lifting spindle drives from the MINI series, GROB Antriebstechnik helps manufacturers in the food and packaging industries to cope easily with the high hygiene standards.

The family-owned company based in Sinsheim-Steinsfurt is an international specialist in linear drive technology. GROB Antriebstechnik is well known as an innovative problem solver and partner for applications involving lifting, moving and conveying. The company's MINI spindle drives are suitable for the harsh environmental conditions found in the meat, poultry and fish industry, amongst others. They even withstand high-pressure cleaning with no problems at all.

The lifting spindle drives from the MINI series are characterised by their particularly compact design compared to their performance. That's why they are particularly suitable for applications where little space is available. Thanks to a large number of options that are available as standard, the MINI drives cover a very wide range of uses. Despite their compact, lightweight design, they are extremely sturdy and durable.

With the five sizes MINI 0, MINI 01, MINI 1, MINI 2 and MINI 3, the series covers lifting speeds from 0.5 to 130 mm/s and can move loads ranging from 1,000 to 26,000 N. Structural adaptations are also possible in larger batch sizes, so that the gear motor can be adapted individually to certain requirements.

The lifting spindle drive with integrated limit position cut-off is extremely compact, which makes it particularly suitable for applications in reversing operation with cramped installation conditions. The stroke can be adjusted from the outside over the entire stroke length, which simplifies the assembly and setup. In the standard version the drives are protected against splash water (IP54). The optional water jet protection (IP65) and the use of stainless steel enable the use of this drive even under harsh and aggressive environmental conditions such as those found, for example, in the hygienic areas of the food industry.

The MINI meets the requirements of the EU regulation (EC) no. 852/2004 on food hygiene. The compact drives are available completely in protection class IP65 for applications in the food industry. This results in easy cleaning, even in the harsh washdown environment in which the devices remain undamaged even in the case of high-pressure cleaning with hot water. The stainless steel housing cannot corrode. In addition, the MINI has no edges and is completely leak-tight. Thanks to its round and compact shape, dirt traps in which dirt and other contaminants can accumulate are avoided.

Lifetime lubrication means that re-lubrication is not necessary. As the drives are completely closed, no lubricating grease can escape and no dirt can penetrate into the drives. The MINI lifting spindle drives are also suitable for low temperature use as necessitated, for example, by the cooling or freezing of meat and fish.

The general trend away from hydraulic and pneumatic drives is strengthened even further by this product. The changeover is additionally facilitated by the fact that the MINI strongly resembles a hydraulic cylinder in terms of its external dimensions. The MINI is a completely finished system without an external pump. The advantages over hydraulic/pneumatic technology are its better controllability, its compactness and leak-tightness as well as a better energy balance over the service life, as no pump has to permanently build up pressure.

Unlike common linear drives, the MINI is also available as a complete system with brake, potentiometer, limit switch and rotary encoder – and all of this in one cylinder. The compact design is achieved by having the spindle run through the motor. The rotary movement of the motor is transmitted to the spindle nut, which then causes a linear movement of the spindle. Thanks to an integrated planetary gear, high loads can also readily be moved. In addition, each MINI is equipped with integrated limit switches and safety limit switches, so that the user does not have to attach any additional switches to his system.

Our linear chains help to move packages at -20 °C. Linear chains are likewise available completely in stainless steel.