Name: Drywall texture spray applicator

The customer wanted to improve his present drywall texture applicator to one that would maintain commercial robustness while pumping a wide variety of different slurries.

Overview: The goal is to finish the job as quickly as possible, thereby lowering the cost and increasing productivity. For new construction, a wide range of materials can be put on drywall including acoustic sound proofing and fireproofing.

Application benefit: By auger pumping the slurry of textured material with a 3-phase AC induction motor controlled by a NEMA 4X Variable Frequency Drive (VFD), a wide range of materials can be handled with a high throughput rate. This robust, long-life, portable AC Drive can survive high-pressure washdown and rough travel from site to site.

The customer's product: The customer's product is a robust, portable texture applicator machine that is taken to building construction sites to spray drywall textures such as knockdown, acoustic sound proofing, and fireproofing on the walls of new houses or commercial buildings.

The customer's existing solution: The pump in the customer's present product was controlled with a DC motor and an analog DC Drive in a sheet metal enclosure. The customer's request was to integrate the Variable Frequency Drive for the AC induction motor into a NEMA 4X die cast aluminum enclosure that would have a custom appearance to promote his product's identity. Special customized software recipes would handle the spray pump speed/ torque profiles for different textures.

The KB capabilities for the solution: KB has the KBAC-27D Adjustable Frequency Drive (AFD) series. It incorporates the powerful, second-generation, micro-controller that is programmable for custom OEM applications using software with proprietary motor monitoring capabilities. KB's engineering staff has a reputation of working directly with the customer applications to reach satisfactory solutions.

The KB solution: The objective was to integrate the Variable Frequency Drive into a custom enclosure with software specific to the application. The KBAC-27D NEMA 4X die cast base and cover castings were retooled to customer specifications along with the customer's own label design. A stereo lithography (SLA) model was fabricated from the 3D CAD software for customer review and approval.

The results: The KBAC-27D in a custom cast aluminum enclosure with custom software provided a robust enclosure with high starting torque for high throughput and suitable for rapid transport from job to job.

Customer's strategic advantage: The customer got exactly what he wanted -no more, no less -including a custom cast enclosure, custom software, major performance enhancement, and a unique product that outperforms the competitors.

A Win-Win solution for both the customer and KB.