Schneider Electric’s Altivar 1200 medium voltage drive system is designed for high reliability, ease of use and excellent performance.
Energy demand is rising and there is an ever increasing need for industries to decrease their carbon footprint. To do this, a variable energy management solution is paramount. Schneider Electric, a specialist in energy management, believes that this starts by improving the management of the motors that control pumps, fans and compressors.
“Research shows that these motors consume 70% of the energy required by industries and infrastructures,” says Anton Kotze, general manager for engineered speed drive sales at Schneider Electric South Africa. “With Altivar variable frequency drives you can however achieve energy savings of up to 40%, depending on the type of installation.”
The Altivar 1200 medium voltage drive system is designed to maximise reliability, ease of use and performance, and can be applied to three-phase medium-voltage asynchronous motors (sensor/sensorless vector control mode) as well as synchronous motors (V/f mode). “With freely available low cost, low voltage insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) utilised in our multi-level technology, our drive can be used in applications ranging from simple to high precision applications,” states Kotze.
The core component of the Altivar 1200 is the power cell, which is a single phase, two level output switching device supplied by one of the 18 to 54, 700V low voltage windings of the integrated multi-winding transformer. The main advantage of this is that the switching elements are state-of-the-art low voltage components. By putting these lower voltage power cells in series, the output voltage is achieved, ranging from 0 to 11 000 V. The number of power cells determines the output voltage. Every cell provides a small step of motor voltage, resulting in a smooth sine waveform. With this 18 to 54 pulse phase shifting technology on the secondary windings of the transformer, harmonics on the input of the drive can be eliminated.
Schneider Electric offers this transformer in a standard efficiency as well as in increased high efficiency. Benefits include an easily understandable multilevel architecture that can save money when it comes to maintenance – fewer spare parts are needed because there is only one power cell design for the whole drive. This results in a smooth output voltage because each power cell provides only a small step of the voltage.
The Altivar 1200 also includes an optimised combined cabinet with front access, enabling easy entry to the control and transformer cabinet. This not only makes the installation and maintenance operations easier, but also saves about 30% on floor space. As a certified IP31, IP41 and IP42 cabinet – even with top cooling fans – the high performance Altivar 1200 offers comfort and reliability with its interlock system, large 10 inch HMI, new easy software configuration, internal lighting, uninterruptible power supply (UPS) and more.
Kotze emphasises that a total harmonics distortion of current (THDI) of less than 2% is obtained, thanks to the multi-level technology that draws a clean sinusoidal waveform, thus fulfilling major standards. “The quality of the output voltage creates no stress on the motor bearings, windings and terminals, avoiding special and expensive dv/dt mitigation equipment for the motor. Due to this output sinewave the Altivar 1200 can run long motor cables of two kilometres and more without additional components. With these benefits the ATV1200 is the ideal retrofit drive for old motors where insulation levels are unknown. Added to this is the well arranged sharing of cooling airflow managed only by main cooling fans, thus avoiding bottom transformer fans and cooling fans on the electronic compartments,” he says.
Also noteworthy is the product’s friendly and easy-to-use interface, with LCD touch-screen and a Windows arrangement to guide the user to the required result in just a few touches. “Control features allow results to be available at the user’s fingertips. It has a dedicated multi-level menu to guide the user and comes standard with different access levels for service and commissioning engineers, such as operator, manager and administrator. The software is also available in multiple languages and consistent with all other menus within the Altivar ranges.
“The very favourable cost to power ratio is the reason why more than 40 units have been sold this year alone with many more in the pipeline,” Kotze concludes.
For more information contact Belinda Aslett, Schneider Electric, +27 (0)11 254 6400, belinda.aslett@schneider-electric.com, www.schneider-electric.co.za
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