With SmartDrive, Ridder is introducing a new generation of smart drive systems to provide greater ease of use and even more accurate control of the climate inside the greenhouse. ‘SmartDrive is revolutionary for greenhouse builders, installers and growers alike.’  

The process of installing ventilation and screen motors inside greenhouses has always been highly labour-intensive and time-consuming, but now the Ridder SmartDrive is simplifying and speeding up that installation process dramatically. Each individual Ridder SmartDrive has an integrated digital position feedback sensor which detects the positions of the vents or screens even more precisely. That’s a major advantage for the climate computer: based on this highly accurate data, it can select exactly the right screen or ventilation position, ultimately leading to the best possible growing conditions inside the greenhouse. In addition to integrated position feedback, the SmartDrive also has smart digital functionalities which enable the drive to monitor the use of the motors and the load, making the whole system easier to maintain and extending its service life.

The Ridder SmartDrive also offers major benefits to greenhouse builders, screen installers and electrical technicians. Each SmartDrive has a patented digital limit switch in the gearmotors, which simplifies the installation process. The SmartDrive guides the installers or technicians through the installation process within a few minutes, with its intuitive LCD user interface. This simple procedure means that there’s no longer any need to complete the time-consuming analogue and mechanical process of calibrating the start and end positions of the motors, which normally requires at least two people. All that is a thing of the past with the Ridder SmartDrive because the start and end positions of just one drive can be set using the digital control panel. The settings can then be easily copied to the other motors using a Bluetooth connection and a smartphone app. This simple process reduces the installation time for each hectare of greenhouse space by at least 75%. 

‘SmartDrive is revolutionary for greenhouse builders, installers and growers alike,’ says Joep van den Bosch, Chief Innovation Officer at Ridder. ‘Now we can utilize a key part of the greenhouse set-up more smartly and achieve the optimum growing climate even more easily and accurately.  So, we see this as a vital step forward towards the creation of a fully intelligent growing environment.’

Brigitte Nugteren, Managing Director of Drive Systems at Ridder, is very proud of the new SmartDrive. ‘In recent years we’ve invested a lot in analysing and researching market trends and developments among our customers and partners. New technological developments in the field of digitization and the application of smart innovation are offering many opportunities to tailor our drive systems even better to the needs of our customers. The SmartDrive is the ultimate demonstration of this: now we can provide a smart system that on the one hand significantly improves the ease of installation and use, while also responding to the trend towards the data-driven greenhouse and the smart future of horticulture.’