Practical example: MOVIGEAR® for Rotkäppchen sparkling wine

Energy-efficient drives in the Rotkäppchen sparkling wine cellar

The sparkling wine cellar in Freyburg (Unstrut) uses a Krones AG bottling plant with energy-efficient SEW-EURODRIVE motors.

Automation for a cost-efficient production and bottling process is extremely important in order to remain competitive in the beverage industry. The SEW drives allowed the sparkling wine producer to achieve energy savings of up to 50%.

Rotkäppchen sparkling wine - a sparkling success

The Rotkäppchen sparkling wine cellar is a corporate success story. It was founded in Freyburg, on the Unstrut, in 1856. Today, Rotkäppchen-Mumm Sektkellereien GmbH, with its large range of products, is the national market leader in sparkling wine. The sparkling wine cellar in Freyburg produces about 115 million bottles each year. The entire group produces about 240 million bottles of sparkling wine and spirits every year.

The cooperation between SEW-EURODRIVE and Rotkäppchen-Mumm Sektkellereien GmbH goes back many years. The subsidiary, Matheus-Müller-Sektkellereien GmbH, in Eltville, had already fitted a filling line with SEW drive technology and traditional gearmotors. The Rotkäppchen sparkling wine cellar in Freyburg was also due for a performance increase and a technological upgrade of the filling line.

The planning for this ambitious project started in mid-2011. The company then completed the refurbishments in the spring of 2012. The company installed a new Krones filling line. This had a nominal output of 27,000 bottles per hour, which is very high in the sparkling wine sector.

A number of ingenious individual solutions on the new filling line contributed to the performance capacity of the sparkling wine bottling plant:

Dynamic handling units to close the bottles and attach the red cap
Robust slatband chains to transport the bottles
Efficient motors to drive the materials handling technology – decentralized drives with outstanding efficiency reduce energy consumption.
Mechatronic drive units MOVIGEAR^® already meet the requirements of energy efficiency class IE4

Project impressions

MOVIGEAR® with Hygienic Design

MOVIGEAR® with Hygienic Design
MOVIGEAR® IE4

MOVIGEAR® IE4
Rotkäppchen sparkling wine

Rotkäppchen sparkling wine
Rotkäppchen filling line

Rotkäppchen filling line
Filling line: 27 000 bottles / h

Filling line: 27 000 bottles / h

Highly efficient mechatronic drive systems for the optimal achievement of objectives

The bottle weight, the high rotational speeds and the bottle-chain material pairing resulted in heavy stresses on the transport systems. As a result, Rotkäppchen used stainless steel slatband chains. The sparkling wine producer's focus was on high reliability and energy efficiency while reducing the noise pollution. The company decided to use newly developed chains with reduced spacing. According to Krones, these run 1.5 dB more quietly than conventional conveying systems. In addition, the sparkling wine cellar was impressed by significant energy savings, of up to 50% compared to conventional drives, forecast by Krones, when using MOVIGEAR^®.

We specifically supply the MOVIGEAR^® mechatronic drive unit, including in the DSM design, with detachable electronic part, for energy-efficient retrofits in central installation concepts for the beverage industry. As a result, Rotkäppchen, in cooperation with Krones, installed 50 MGF..-DSM drive units, which already meet energy efficiency class IE4. The frequency inverters are also housed in a central control cabinet container at the company. In winter, Rotkäppchen uses its waste heat to heat an area in the warehouse.

Mechatronic drive systems are the result of the consistent development of the extremely successful concept of decentralized drive systems and have a number of positive properties:

A compact design that is ideal for the installation of efficient conveying systems
Integration of highly efficient individual components leads to outstanding system efficiency
MOVIGEAR^® drives generate high breakaway and acceleration torque in order to restart the system after extended idling times
The use of MOVIGEAR^® results in a considerable reduction in the energy costs
The integration and coordination of all the drive components lead to a long service life and high system availability
The surface layout in a hygienic design means that the mechatronic drive system is destined for applications in the food and beverage industry. Approved for wet areas thanks to its anti-stick coating
Reduction of wiring and startup expense thanks to the use of Single Line Network technology with MOVIGEAR^® SNI. This only requires one line instead of a 400 V grid and a 24 V electronics supply as well as the separate communication bus

As the company's overall energy requirement across all its locations adds up, additional energy efficiency measures were also considered to be worthwhile. So the sparkling wine producer equipped itself for the future and introduced an energy management system as another saving measure.

A Krones AG service team was on-site for 3 months after the official completion of the plant in order to optimize the settings. The buffer time was extended to one and a half minutes; which is a lot. This ensures that the filler, as the main machine, can run continuously. This is essential, as it has a direct influence on output.

30% to 50% energy saving by using MOVIGEAR® MGF..-DSM

Customer request

Rotkäppchen's focus was on high reliability and energy efficiency while reducing the noise pollution.

Our solution

The sparkling wine cellar was impressed by the significant energy saving provided by MOVIGEAR^® and SNI technology of up to 50% compared to conventional drives. The company also decided to install newly developed stainless steel slatband chains with smaller spacing. According to Krones, these run 1.5 dB more quietly than conventional conveying systems.

Components and solutions used

Quote: Tobias Rost, Technical Manager, Rotkäppchen sparkling wine cellar in Freyburg

New, efficient drives for Rotkäppchen

We inspected a conveyor line with MOVIGEAR^® at the Krones AG Neutraubling plant near Regensburg. We were impressed by the forecast energy saving. …

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... The container and packaging unit transport (bottles and cartons) together require about 70 kW of drive power. This is quite a significant amount based on the total connected line load of 150 kW. That's why the use of energy efficient drives was important to us. Since the line started up, we have already filled 120 million bottles. SEW is a complete partner who can swiftly meet all our needs. Our past cooperation has been very satisfactory. If the supplier does not hear from the customer then everything is as it should be.