I've had this problem a couple times on different Sculpt keyboards (one I use at work and one I use at home). Both times I ultimately discovered that the problem was caused by a key getting stuck (most recently it was the F8 key). Presumably when the key is pressed repeatedly and no other keys are being pressed to interrupt it, the keyboard decides to disconnect.
Both times when I fiddled with the sticking key a bit and to get it unstuck, the problem of the keyboard disconnecting (despite the number pad working) went away - no more taking the batteries out and putting them back in every time I stopped using the keyboard for a few minutes.
The design of this keyboard seems to have an issue with keys somehow getting caught in the pressed position, but fixing that when it happens generally solves the problem of disconnecting.