News release | August 2026

ZRAY has completed the rollout of IE3-class energy-efficient motors across its entire case former lineup, paired with variable frequency drives (VFDs) on all conveyor and feed motors. The change cuts the machines’ electrical power draw by an average of 18% — and up to 30% on machines running at partial speed — with no reduction in rated output.

Where the Power Goes on a Case Former

A typical automatic case former draws power in four places:

The biggest lever was the conveyor group: most lines run the conveyor at full speed all day even when the machine is idling between batches. With VFDs, the conveyor speed follows the actual machine cycle, and the motor draws power proportional to load — not nameplate.

Measured Power Reduction

Field measurements across five installations (beverage, e-commerce, and contract packing), taken with a power analyzer over 30-day runs:

At a typical 0.12 USD/kWh industrial tariff, a double-head former running 20 h/day saves USD 700–900 per year in electricity — and the machines’ duty cycles mean the savings compound over a 10-year service life.

Engineering Changes Behind the Numbers

1. IE3 Motors with Correct Sizing

The new motors are IE3 premium-efficiency class, and — just as importantly — they are correctly sized. The previous generation often overspecified motors by one frame size to cover worst-case duty; the new range sizes each motor against the actual torque profile measured on the production floor, which alone accounts for a large share of the efficiency gain.

2. VFD Speed Matching on Conveyors

All conveyor and infeed motors are now driven by VFDs that follow the PLC’s cycle command:

• At idle (no blank in the magazine for 5 s), conveyor speed drops to 30% — enough to keep product moving without wasting energy.
• During changeover, the VFD ramps the conveyor to crawl speed, cutting power further.
• On restart, the conveyor returns to full speed in under a second, so there is no throughput penalty.

3. Regenerative Option on Servos

For high-cycle machines, the servo drives now support regenerative braking: energy from decelerating axes is fed back to the DC bus instead of dissipated as heat in the brake resistors. On machines with frequent start-stop cycles (e.g., short batch runs), this recovers an additional 5–8% of the servo group’s energy.

4. LED and Low-Power Auxiliaries

Machine lighting has moved to LED, the HMI backlight dims during idle, and the control cabinet’s cooling fan runs on demand (temperature-triggered) instead of continuously.

Combined with the Air-Saving Circuit

The motor upgrade complements the compressed-air reduction program: together, the two programs cut a double-head former’s total utility cost by roughly 25–30%, which is what the payback math for a new machine should really be based on.

Compatibility

The energy-efficient motor package is standard on all new case formers — single-piece case erector, three-piece case erector, and double-head high-speed case former. For machines installed since 2022, the motor + VFD upgrade is available as a field kit.

Availability

The IE3/VFD package ships standard on all new orders. If your plant reports energy usage per line to a corporate sustainability program, ask for the energy performance certificate that ships with each machine — it documents the measured baseline and the new power draw for your reporting.

Request the energy performance data or message us on WhatsApp at +86 13681839278.