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otor drives have the same problems as almost all the product categories weve written about lately: A declining market overall during the past several years, a move of major markets to Asia, and a dearth of new products and technology hitting the street. When a market is down, manufacturers tend to cut back on research, development and new products, and the same appears to be true with motor drives.
The North American AC and DC drives market declined 2.3% over the past two years, says IMS Research, mostly because of the Iraq war. It expects a slight pickup in the North American drives market in 2004, but expects it will fall off in 2005 and 2006.
The Asia-Pacific market for AC and DC drives is booming, however. ARC Advisory Group predicts sales of high-power AC drives will grow 11.1% in China over the next five years, while IMS says overall drive sales will grow in India by 13.3%. Of course, that is because those countries are building new plants and an infrastructure, while the replacement market will drive sales in North America.
Users in the process control industry learned long ago that one way to save energy calls for installing variable-speed drives. Local power utilities often have grants and subsidies available to cushion the cost of purchasing new drives. Unfortunately, most North American process plants can only afford to replace failed drives in maintenance programs and not as part of a plant-wide energy reduction program.
ARC says the motion control market in North America is stepping up, and predicts an annual growth rate of 6.2% over the next five years, with OEMs on the front lines of development. ARC says manufacturers are faced with the need to handle greater product variations, run at faster production speeds, and achieve higher quality. To achieve this, ARC says machine builders will put advanced motion control techniques into new production equipment.
Alas, the motion control industry is engaged in standardization battles involving networks, programming languages and architectures, says ARC.
Therefore, as OEMs, machine builders and end users seek new and advanced drives and motion control systems that conform to some any!sort of standard, they may be frustrated by the lack of new products available. Several of the products listed below in this years roundup are just warmed-over versions of older products, with a few enhancements, such as upgrades, extensions and new options. Some are last years products, submitted again for your consideration. Few drive manufacturers are taking the lead in setting standards.
There are, as always, a few new technical advances hidden away in this years roundup. For example, we got a glimpse at the list of parameters available for asset management purposes in a Siemens Micromaster drive. The list goes on for 24 pages, and includes energy consumption information, power factor, phase current, motor inertia, and temperature of the inverter, rectifier, motor, etc. The list contains literally hundreds of variables that are being monitored or calculated by the drive, and are available to any end user who knows how to extract them. Clearly, drive manufacturers understand the need for asset management information, and are making the data available to users.
Unfortunately, weve also noticed a decrease in the quality of marketing efforts when it comes to motor drives. For example, several of the motor drive product descriptions we received for the roundup were more than difficult to understand. Just when integrators, machine builders and end users need to fully understand the complex technology being built into drives and motion controls, some leading manufacturers appear to be having difficulty communicating with them.
On one manufacturers web site, a host of technical information is readily available, but it is garbled by poor translations from the original language.
Its as if drive and motion control vendors are waiting for something wonderful to happen in the business world, so they can unleash all their pent-up new product designs and set professional marketing forces loose on us to hawk major advances in motor drive technology. We are with child in anticipation of that day.
The Telemecanique Altistart 01 Soft Start provides smooth motor starting control for applications that do not require high starting torque. Soft starting limits the stress on the mechanical parts of a machine and reduces the cost of maintenance and downtime. The starter works with 110575-V, single-phase and three-phase asynchronous motors, with ratings of 1/475 hp, and 20 60-hp three-phase motors rated 3285 A at 208, 230, 460 and 575 V. Schneider ElectricVariable-Speed AC Drives Allen-Bradley PowerFlex 700H and 700S AC drives are available in power ratings from 0.5450 hp at 400 and 480 V. Machine builders can integrate drives into a manufacturing process using NetLinx, DeviceNet, ControlNet or EtherNet/IP networks. Software includes DriveExecutive and DriveTools SP for programming, configuration, monitoring and troubleshooting. Options include 24-V or 115-V digital I/O plus analog I/O. All drives are CSA/cUL Certified, UL Listed, and CE marked. Rockwell AutomationMotion Controller Uses Fire WireAutomation 3200 NMotion SMC controller offers 32 axes of synchronized motion control through one interface, expandable to 62 axes. It uses a distributed control architecture that enables it to maintain performance independent of the number of axes being controlled. This avoids the processing bottleneck caused by its previous single-processor control architectures. Trajectory generation is done on the PC, which sends incremental position commands to a drive via the IEEE-1394 (FireWire) serial bus. AerotechSeven-Axis Motion ControllerThe NextMove ESB provides seven axes of motion control, including up to three axes of servo and four axes of steppers, or seven precision servos. It supports servo loop closure times of 100 µsec and will provide pulse and direction for steppers up to 500 kHz. On board I/O includes 20 digital inputs, 11 digital outputs, two 12-bit differential analog inputs and a precision 12-bit output. Baldor Electric
Amplifier Board Mounts To Motion Controller The AMP-20540 servo amplifier board attaches directly to the 96-pin DIN connector of the companys DMC-2143 controller without the need for any cable or wiring. The board drives brush and brushless motors up to 500W. The 6.92 x 4.85 in. board contains four transconductance PWM amplifiers, each capable of producing up to 500 W. It accepts 18-60 VDC, produces 7 A of continuous current, and has a PWM switching frequency of 60 kHz. Prices start at $495 in 100s. Galil Motion ControlSmart Servo Drive Goes CammingCompact Compax3 provides position, speed, or torque control, label registration and advanced gearing. Multiple units can be synchronized for multi-axis applications. Units incorporate motor drive, full-feature controller and power supply in a single module. Setup is made easy with an intuitive interface, wizards, online help and an oscilloscope function. Motion controls includes advanced camming, curve linkage virtual master, feed-forward, observer and over sampling functions. Options include analog or step-and-direction signal inputs. CompumotorSmart Servo Installs Quickly
Smartstep servo motor and drive can be set up and running quickly and easily by simply plugging it in and setting the rotary and DIP switches on the front panel. If it has a technical problem, the drive will display an alarm number that indicates what caused the fault. Its autotune function makes motor tuning nearly effortless and, for quick installation, prefabricated cables connect drive to companys position control modules. The motors and drives start at $960. OmronMicrostepping Motion Controllers
Additions to MDrive line include models with NEMA motor sizes 14, 17, 23 and 34, in a choice of stack lengths. All have microstepping, speed control with oscillator, and motion control with indexer. Options include an encoder, linear actuator, planetary gearbox, and rear knob for manual control. Applications include instrumentation, packaging, semiconductor, robotics, test and measurement, labeling, inspection, engraving and material handling. Intelligent Motion SystemsDrive Enhancements Get Open
Enhancements to ACOPOS drives include the addition of PLCopen motion control function blocks and sensorless operation of synchronous and asynchronous motors. Software makes it possible to run motors in servo mode with feedback, or in frequency inverter mode without feedback. Applications which use synchronous or asynchronous motors without encoders can be integrated with servo motors in the network. Programming languages include ladder diagram. structured text, Automation Basic or ANSI-C. B&R Industrial AutomationCNC Controller Talks to Drives
IndraMotion MTX CNC uses SERCOS for real-time communication with intelligent electrical or hydraulic drives. The CNC provides a maximum interpolation time of 1 ms when controlling eight axes. One controller can operate up to 64 axes using 12 independent CNC channels. The controller is suitable for 3D machining of complex workpieces on 5 and 6-axis machines in tool and mold making applications. Rexroth
Inverter Drives Three-Phase Motors
The Sinamics G110 low power AC drive frequency inverter operates variable-speed, three-phase motors on single-phase line power supplies. It is rated for 200240V input with a power range of 1/6 to 4 hp, and is available in three frame sizes. Siemens Energy & AutomationModules Extend Drive Products
Enhancements to the ACS800 industrial drives include rectifier and DC-supplied inverter modules, which enable users to wire input power via a single three-phase AC connection, with each inverter unit sharing the bus. Compared to the companys other products, these drives free up more floor, wall and panel space to install other electrical components, or use for other operations. ABBServo Drives Connect to FieldbusKollmorgen S300 Series servo drives connect to DeviceNet, Profibus, SERCOS and CANopen. Drives are available as drive-only or with a single axis control card for complex motion tasks. The compact drives offer 1.5-70 A, 115-480 VAC operation, and are suitable for smaller power, space-restricted applications in industries such as packaging, material handling, converting and plastic molding. Danaher MotionAdjustable-Frequency DrivesVLT 4152 and 4352 Series drives for variable torque applications are 35% smaller than their predecessors. The NEMA 12/IP54 drives have RFI immunity to EN 55011 class B, integral disconnect with fuse option, 98% operating efficiency, and single box lug or dual cable leg power termination. Drives work in ambient temperature ratings of 4045° C. Logic routing includes tie-down provisions to simplify installation and protect against noise disturbance. Danfoss DrivesServo Amplifiers Get SmartThe MMC Smart Drive servo amplifiers provide 0.524 kW continuous output power for 230 and 460-VAC systems. Configuration, tuning and maintenance are accomplished via PiCpro software. The software also allows programming in ladder logic, function block, and structured text languages, and allows development of multi-axis motion control solutions. The amps have phase to phase and phase to ground short circuit protection. G&L Motion ControlDrive Hits the High NotesThe Cornet drive with Composer software makes this drive sound sweet. The software can be used for set up, configuration, tuning, a âscope, and displays. The drive provides up to 3-kW continuous power and 6 kW of peak power in a 7 x 5 x 3-in. package weighing 2.4 lb. It has 32 kB of user programmable memory for controlling complex motion profiles, event triggering, and capturing data. Elmo Motion ControlsStepper Drive Starts at $19The SureStep family of open-loop stepping systems includes four motors with holding torques from 83434 oz-in, NEMA size 17, 23 or 34 frames, and prices from $19 $149. Models are available with 2002,000 steps per revolution. A nine-position DIP switch is used to set up the drive for self test, step angle selection, current level selection, and idle current reduction. No software or add-on resistors are required for configuration. Automation DirectMotion Control System Goes Modbus
Enhancements to V 2.5 of the Axiom Plus motion control system include an analog input, ModBus RTU connectivity, and improvements to the software, such as a debugging mode, watch window for monitoring changing values of registers and flags, and sequential programming functions. The analog input can also be used for digital inputs. Tol-O-MaticBrushless DC Motor Gets Integrated
The NEMA Size 23 motor has an integrated drive for controlling speed and direction with pulse-width modulation. The motor can be configured for unidirectional on/off operation for controlling speed, direction and tachometer output. An optional resistor and capacitor will supply DC voltage proportional to motor speed. Drives are available at 24 48 VDC with continuous current ranges from 15 A, 10-A peak. EAD MotorsBrushless DC Motor Expands and Controls
Enhancements to the BX Series brushless DC motor include models with outputs of 200 and 400 W, quiet gearheads or round shafts, electromagnetic brakes with stationary position hold, and controllers. The standard-speed controller provides a ratio of 100:1 with no reduction in torque, while the OPX-1A control module provides speed control with position and torque control. Oriental Motor
AC Drive Takes on Servos
The G7 adjustable-frequency AC drive gets servo performance from induction motors. It has a three-level power architecture at 480 V to eliminate problems with IGBT switching, protect from motor insulation failure, and lower motor noise. The drive is suitable for speed, torque or position control applications. It supports DeviceNet, Profibus-DP, Modbus Plus, and Ethernet Modbus TCP/IP networks. Programming is via DriveWorksEZ software on a PC. Yaskawa
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