Industry across the board is reliant to one degree or another on low voltage variable speed drives in the range of 0,37 to 2400 kW. Key requirements are safety and energy efficiency, accompanied by high performance and easy configuration.
Industry demands
Demand is also climbing for reliable, ready-to-use, flexible solutions that meet application needs and offer optimised cooling solutions with the co-ordination of components tested and approved under full load conditions. Pre-engineered drive solutions save time with respect to engineering, ordering, installation and commissioning. There is also a growing demand for easy configuration, maintenance and training services as well as ready-to-use customised solutions.
The Schneider solution
The Schneider Electric Altivar 71 Plus provides excellent torque control, high starting torque and dynamic braking, combined with safety functions and quick start-up. It is ideally suited for conveyor belts, mixers, extruders and crane drives. The Altivar 61 Plus suits fans, pumps, compressors and screw feeders, with features including ‘catch on the fly’, low motor noise, power monitoring, high efficiency and high power rating.
Both the Altivar 61 and 71 Plus solutions combine exceptional performance with simplicity of use. Advanced functions and features include active front end and water-cooled solutions. The products can be adapted to the end-user’s applications and integrated into existing systems. They meet requirements for protection and ensure that equipment works correctly under all conditions.
Energy efficiency
All Schneider drives have been designed with energy efficiency as a key focus. The Altivar 61/71 Plus range is well protected for use in harsh environments and the IP54 separate airflow offers a proven solution for the prevention of dust entering the drive, while any influence from external polluted air is prevented by the fully encapsulated power electronics. Most of the drive losses can be extracted from the electrical room using an external heat exchanger.
Both the Altivar 61 and 71 Plus are delivered ready for connection, a factor that reduces wiring costs while ensuring quick installation and set-up. The design provides optimum functionality and even in a compact unit there is ample space to connect the cables. Extra extensions can be added using the control panels.
All Altivar 61/71 Plus drives are equipped with components to reduce harmonics. Depending on local requirements and power range, this can be achieved through a line reactor, DC choke, 12/18/24 pulse rectification, passive filter or active compensation of harmonics. With power ranges above 400 kW, a 12-pulse supply provides the most efficient harmonics reduction solution for best drive efficiency. The return on investment for the additional cost of a 12-pulse supply with a 3-winding instead of a 2-winding transformer to increase total efficiency, is less than a year.
Enclosures equipped as required
Ready assembled enclosures offer a flexible and safe solution across a wide power range and voltage, with protection appropriate to each environment. The basic version is equipped with a Sarel special 6000 enclosure; main switch and fast-acting fuses; AC in-line reactor or DC choke; variable speed drive; remote graphic display in the enclosure door; and motor and control terminals.
Enclosures can be customised with a wide range of ready-assembled options. These include logic I/O and fieldbus cards, encoder interface cards, 24 V power supply terminals, terminal extensions, emergency stop buttons, safety relays, PTC/Pt100 relays, key switches, control voltage transformers, circuit breakers, voltmeters and ammeters, motor filters, braking units, air conditioning, motor standstill heating controls, motor external fan controls, and enclosure heating and lighting.
An innovative control system
The Altivar 61/71 Plus design ensures reliability, flexibility in programming, communication and control requirements, easy maintenance and flexibility in application requirements. The incoming/outgoing section is configurable to individual customer needs.
Overall, the Altivar 61/71 range offers an innovative control system with perfect torque control for start and operation, a programmable controller inside card for specialised applications and safety off function. The products are open for nearly all fieldbuses and control commands, while the architecture provides safe and simple integration and rapid start-up of the drive.
Schneider Electric’s compact, standard and specialised drives and drive systems are available as 0.37 to 2400 kW (low voltage); all voltages up to 690 V; 300 kW to 10 MW (medium voltage); and 3.3 kV up to 11 kV, with even higher ratings coming soon.
For more information contact Jacqui Gradwell, Schneider Electric, +27 (0)11 254 6400, [email protected], www.schneider-electric.co.za
| Tel: | +27 11 254 6400 |
| Email: | [email protected] |
| www: | www.se.com/za |
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