Friday, October 20, 2006
Bearings are made for motors and generators
Bearings for motors and generators combat the effects of electrical currents on both the bearing surfaces and lubricants, which can otherwise cause premature wear and potential failure.
The latest Insocoat coated bearings and Hybrid bearings from SKF have been launched to extend significantly the operating life of bearings used in motors and generators. In particular, the new Insocoat and Hybrid bearings have been developed to combat the effects of electrical currents on both the bearing surfaces and lubricants, which can otherwise cause premature wear and potential failure leading to equipment downtime and increased cost of maintenance. Although the effects of electrical currents on bearing life have been recognised for many years, the growing use of high capacity variable speed drives and frequency convertors, together with increasingly powerful motors and generators, is leading to a reassessment of the potential problems.
In particular, the risk of flashovers caused by charges induced in both shafts and bearings can dull the surface of ball bearings and cause cratering in metal surfaces and fluting in raceways.
Although it is possible to combat the effects of electrically generated currents by insulating either equipment housings or each rotating shaft, both these solutions are relatively expensive and require additional components, leading to increased maintenance costs.
By comparison, replacing standard bearings with SKF's latest Insocoat or Hybrid bearings, makes it possible to eliminate the need for additional insulation yet still provide an excellent degree of protection to each bearing.
Insocoat bearings feature a specially developed surface coating, just 50um in thickness, which acts as an electrical insulator to provide protection against electrically induced flashovers of up to 500V; thicker coatings are also available to withstand discharges of up to 1000V.
Just as importantly, the coating has minimal impact on overall operating temperatures, is unaffected by extremes of temperature or humidity and can be used with all common lubricants, while the bearings offer identical performance to conventional devices and can be fitted using normal techniques.
The latest Insocoat bearings are available in a range of sizes for shaft diameters of 55 to 150mm.
They can be supplied with brass or steel cages, and used in applications with dynamic loads of up to 276kN and shaft speeds of up to 6700rev/min, depending on the lubricants used.
SKF Hybrid bearings incorporate silicon nitride rolling elements to provide excellent insulation properties, making them ideal for isolating housings from shafts in AC and DC motors, as well as generators.
The latest Insocoat coated bearings and Hybrid bearings from SKF have been launched to extend significantly the operating life of bearings used in motors and generators. In particular, the new Insocoat and Hybrid bearings have been developed to combat the effects of electrical currents on both the bearing surfaces and lubricants, which can otherwise cause premature wear and potential failure leading to equipment downtime and increased cost of maintenance. Although the effects of electrical currents on bearing life have been recognised for many years, the growing use of high capacity variable speed drives and frequency convertors, together with increasingly powerful motors and generators, is leading to a reassessment of the potential problems.
In particular, the risk of flashovers caused by charges induced in both shafts and bearings can dull the surface of ball bearings and cause cratering in metal surfaces and fluting in raceways.
Although it is possible to combat the effects of electrically generated currents by insulating either equipment housings or each rotating shaft, both these solutions are relatively expensive and require additional components, leading to increased maintenance costs.
By comparison, replacing standard bearings with SKF's latest Insocoat or Hybrid bearings, makes it possible to eliminate the need for additional insulation yet still provide an excellent degree of protection to each bearing.
Insocoat bearings feature a specially developed surface coating, just 50um in thickness, which acts as an electrical insulator to provide protection against electrically induced flashovers of up to 500V; thicker coatings are also available to withstand discharges of up to 1000V.
Just as importantly, the coating has minimal impact on overall operating temperatures, is unaffected by extremes of temperature or humidity and can be used with all common lubricants, while the bearings offer identical performance to conventional devices and can be fitted using normal techniques.
The latest Insocoat bearings are available in a range of sizes for shaft diameters of 55 to 150mm.
They can be supplied with brass or steel cages, and used in applications with dynamic loads of up to 276kN and shaft speeds of up to 6700rev/min, depending on the lubricants used.
SKF Hybrid bearings incorporate silicon nitride rolling elements to provide excellent insulation properties, making them ideal for isolating housings from shafts in AC and DC motors, as well as generators.
Controllers promise versatile motor protection
The new Simply Smart TeSys Model U controllers from Telemecanique, a brand of Schneider Electric, provide versatile motor protection that can be matched to the exact needs of the application. Cost-saving integrated inputs and outputs for control functions along with convenient communication facilities are among the key benefits of the new controllers. The introduction of the new controllers means that these important benefits, already provided for motors up to 15kW by the popular TeSys Model U range of integrated motor starters, are now available for motors rated up to 480kW.
Conventional motor starters still outnumber variable speed drives (VSDs) by a very wide margin.
Until now, however, the communications, control and protection options typically offered by VSDs have been complicated and expensive to replicate in conventional starters.
TeSys Model U products provide a complete solution to this problem.
Designed to operate from current transformers, the new TeSys Model U controllers comprise a base unit, into which are plugged control, function and communication modules, as required to meet the needs of the application.
By selecting suitable current transformers, the controllers can be used with motors having full load currents from 1A to 800A, eliminating the need for users to order and stock different types of motor protection relay for motors with different ratings.
When used in conjunction with correctly selected Telemecanique contactors and short-circuit protection devices, TeSys Model U controllers provide Type 2 co-ordination.
This reduces the risks associated with serious faults, while keeping plant downtime to a minimum by making it possible to return equipment to service quickly after a fault has been cleared.
Basic control units for TeSys Model U controllers are available to provide either class 10 or class 20 motor protection and can be set from 35% to 105% of rated current, while multifunction control units offer selectable trip class together with jam, underload and earth-fault protection.
Additional features, including alarm outputs and motor load indication, can be added by using the appropriate function module.
The communication module for the TeSys Model U controller range provides a Modbus interface; and adds two auxiliary inputs plus one auxiliary output to the ten inputs and five outputs built into the base unit.
Conventional motor starters still outnumber variable speed drives (VSDs) by a very wide margin.
Until now, however, the communications, control and protection options typically offered by VSDs have been complicated and expensive to replicate in conventional starters.
TeSys Model U products provide a complete solution to this problem.
Designed to operate from current transformers, the new TeSys Model U controllers comprise a base unit, into which are plugged control, function and communication modules, as required to meet the needs of the application.
By selecting suitable current transformers, the controllers can be used with motors having full load currents from 1A to 800A, eliminating the need for users to order and stock different types of motor protection relay for motors with different ratings.
When used in conjunction with correctly selected Telemecanique contactors and short-circuit protection devices, TeSys Model U controllers provide Type 2 co-ordination.
This reduces the risks associated with serious faults, while keeping plant downtime to a minimum by making it possible to return equipment to service quickly after a fault has been cleared.
Basic control units for TeSys Model U controllers are available to provide either class 10 or class 20 motor protection and can be set from 35% to 105% of rated current, while multifunction control units offer selectable trip class together with jam, underload and earth-fault protection.
Additional features, including alarm outputs and motor load indication, can be added by using the appropriate function module.
The communication module for the TeSys Model U controller range provides a Modbus interface; and adds two auxiliary inputs plus one auxiliary output to the ten inputs and five outputs built into the base unit.
Scanner drives 5-axis CNC engine porting
Innovative porting technique with digitising routines, gives significant improvement over hand porting and 3-axis machining, allowing exact duplication of optimum IC engine port designs.
For Florida-based CNC Cylinder Heads, certain aspects of engine manufacture just didn't make sense. Why spend thousands of dollars on a precision-machined engine block, crank and pistons, just to bolt on a set of unported cylinder heads with mismatched port volumes and rough wall surfaces inherent to the casting process? For professional engine builders, precisely ported heads mean better engine efficiency and dyno results.
Hand porting is an art form, but from a manufacturing standpoint, it is impossible to identically size each port volume, or to accurately replicate an 'ideal' port design on another head.
It is also time-consuming, often taking a highly skilled person up to 40 hours to complete a set of heads - very inefficient for a high-variety, low-volume porting business.
From a performance standpoint, cleaning up ports by hand does assist flow by reducing restrictions, but the head cannot deliver its full horsepower potential because of mismatched port volumes.
Numerous manufacturers machine heads on 3-axis CNC machine tools, but machining only in 3-axes, leaves tool marks that cross over one another in various directions, requiring hand polishing and blending to smooth surfaces.
Not only does this add time to the process, but it also removes additional material, making the port larger than originally designed.
With these shortcomings in mind, Bob Hudgins, President of CNC Cylinder Heads, developed a system to solve both problems.
Employing a special combination of high-tech equipment, including vertical machining centres (VMCs), custom-built head fixtures with A- and B-axis CNC rotary tables, and specialised CAD/CAM software, he machines aluminum and cast iron heads in five axes simultaneously, producing a mirror-smooth surface finish, without toolmarks, straight off the machine.
But what to do about the duplication dilemma?
For that, Hudgins uses one additional piece of equipment - Renishaw's Cyclone scanning machine A continuous-contact, reverse engineering tool, the Cyclone scans port and combustion chamber wall surfaces collecting dimensional data to produce a 3D wireframe model of the internal features.
A 3-axis system, the Cyclone is fitted with Hudgins own-design thin probe styli and a special fixture that rotates the head in A- (rotation about the X-axis), and B- (rotation about the Y-axis) axes to allow access to hard-to-reach port areas.
From that data, SURFCAM CAD/CAM software creates 5-axis NC code that drives the machine tool through its cutting routines.
After machining and cleaning, heads are ready for immediate assembly.
Hudgins-designed cylinder heads can be found in various enthusiasts' cars, and NASCAR teams, where cars achieve speeds of 200-mph.
CNC Cylinder Heads also sells the 5-axis system as a turnkey package, offering the technology and training for other companies to duplicate and machine heads using this proven method.
The need for duplication comes from two sources - external and internal.
Professional engine builders approach CNC Cylinder Heads to replicate their new port designs and cut them into numerous other castings.
Builders for NASCAR teams may order up to twenty sets at the beginning of each new racing season, but often come back with new designs throughout the season since their R and D is ongoing - requiring a quick turnaround from Hudgins and his team.
CNC Cylinder Heads' in-house engineers are also continuously developing their own port designs on a variety of manufacturers' castings for street performance and racing applications.
After a newly designed head passes various flow bench and swirl meter tests, the Cyclone digitises the finalised design for duplication.
The company has hundreds of port designs and gigabytes of machining programs stored in a DNC workstation, to be downloaded to a machine tool at a moment's notice.
CNC Cylinder Heads sells these heads off-the-shelf, often packaging them with matching cam, intake and computer chip from other vendors, for purpose-built racing or street applications that often raise base horsepower by 40%.
Digitising deep inside a port - in effect, an angled tube - is more difficult than digitising the perimeter of an object.
Hudgins designed a special Cyclone fixture that can be rotated in A- and B-axes manually or by way of servomotors.
This rotation, combined with Hudgins' special thin styli, allows the Cyclone to digitise all areas of the port.
Rotary encoder's register the angular position of the fixture and a digital display shows position to one thousandth of a degree.
Once all port areas that can be accessed from the home position have been digitised, the fixture is rotated by the operator, to allow access to other areas of the head, and the new angular position is noted.
Separate digitised data files, called patches, are stored for each different angular position.
When all areas of the intake port that can be reached from the intake side of the head are digitised, the head is rotated to finish scanning the intake port through its valve opening.
Digitising then begins on the exhaust port through its valve opening, and the complete scanning of the combustion chamber.
It is then further rotated to finish digitising the exhaust port from the exhaust side of the head.
The Cyclone uses Renishaw's Tracecut software to establish the datum, or home position, and to collect the digitised data.
The patches are downloaded into SURFCAM which has a provision for inputting patch angular position.
Having various mirroring and copying features, SURFCAM is used to manipulate and translate the data into 5-axis NC code for all ports and combustion chambers.
Not every port is digitised - typically one combustion chamber, intake and exhaust port, and sometimes an additional exhaust port depending on head configuration.
Accurate to within 50 microns, the continuous-contact Cyclone scans at a rate of 140 points per second, at a maximum scanning speed of 3 metres/min.
A small block Chevy head can be scanned on the Cyclone in a couple of hours.
The NC machining code is loaded into a DNC workstation that stores the program and downloads it to the machine's control.
Not all machine controls have sufficient processing speed or memory to handle the large 5-axis part programs.
Slow program processing may cause axis-lag errors, leading to inaccurate ports.
While not specifying a minimum processing speed, CNC Cylinder Heads has developed a list of recommended VMCs.
Heads can be quickly set up on another Hudgins-designed fixture which holds and positions the head on the machine tool.
An A-axis Nikken CNC rotary table is mounted on a B-axis rotary table to supply the fourth and fifth axes of movement.
The 5-axis NC code simultaneously moves the machine tool in X-, Y- and Z-axes and the rotary tables in A- and B-axes.
Ports can be machined in one set-up, compared to as many as five set-ups for 3-axis machining.
Not only does this provide quicker throughput, it also eliminates cumulative fixturing errors.
CNC Cylinder Heads uses standard ball nose end mills and special back-cutting tools for hard-to-reach port areas.
As with digitising, the tools cannot reach all port areas, so the head must be rotated for access to combustion chambers and ports.
Typically, it takes four hours and two tool passes to machine a NASCAR head, due to the nature of its casting.
Those heads are purposely cast with additional material in port areas so that any port design will fit into the head without leaving walls between ports too thin.
Heads for street cars, cast with less material, can be machined in half the time, needing only one tool pass.
High-compression NASCAR engines require a smoother wall finish compared to lower-compression street-engines.
However, CNC Cylinder Heads doesn't aim for a specific surface finish specification because it is difficult to determine a very accurate reading on cast aluminum due to material porosity.
Rather, he defines surface finish by tool incremental step-over (distance the cutting tool increments into the port after each pass) or cusp measurement (height from bottom to top of cutting groove).
For a NASCAR head, tool step-over may be 0.76-0.89 mm, whereas a street head would be double that - another reason street heads can be machined quicker.
Cusp height is dictated by the tooling chosen, and ranges from 0.005 mm on a NASCAR head to 0.127 mm on a basic street head.
When first developing his system, Hudgins used a 3-axis 'scan-and-duplicate' digitiser that was fitted to one of his VMCs.
With this device, whatever was scanned was machined, meaning the 3-axis cam software drove the machine tool in the same path as the probe.
The probe's path was not always the quickest or most efficient for the machine tool, and whilst the machine tool was scanning, it wasn't cutting metal.
Hudgins found it much more efficient to have a machine tool cutting a head at the same time a stand-alone digitiser was scanning another - very appropriate for high-variety, low-volume work.
Since the Cyclone is a continuous-contact digitising machine, scanning routines can be done much quicker than point-to-point probing on a machine tool, effectively cutting the scanning routine from days to hours.
Whilst it is a precision instrument, the Cyclone's working envelope measures 600 x 500 x 400 mm and it can hold a model weighing up to 225 kg, more than sufficient to support an aluminum or cast iron cylinder head with fixture.
Hudgins offers his proven system to anyone wishing to duplicate his shop's capabilities.
Maintaining a 100% installation success rate, Hudgins packages everything a job shop needs for 5-axis cylinder head machining, except the machine tool, itself.
For a customer's verified VMC, Hudgins matches the Cyclone digitising system with SURFCAM software, special fixtures for both the Cyclone and machine tool, Nikken rotary tables, special thin probing styli, all necessary accessories and training at its Pinellas Park, FL facility.
For Florida-based CNC Cylinder Heads, certain aspects of engine manufacture just didn't make sense. Why spend thousands of dollars on a precision-machined engine block, crank and pistons, just to bolt on a set of unported cylinder heads with mismatched port volumes and rough wall surfaces inherent to the casting process? For professional engine builders, precisely ported heads mean better engine efficiency and dyno results.
Hand porting is an art form, but from a manufacturing standpoint, it is impossible to identically size each port volume, or to accurately replicate an 'ideal' port design on another head.
It is also time-consuming, often taking a highly skilled person up to 40 hours to complete a set of heads - very inefficient for a high-variety, low-volume porting business.
From a performance standpoint, cleaning up ports by hand does assist flow by reducing restrictions, but the head cannot deliver its full horsepower potential because of mismatched port volumes.
Numerous manufacturers machine heads on 3-axis CNC machine tools, but machining only in 3-axes, leaves tool marks that cross over one another in various directions, requiring hand polishing and blending to smooth surfaces.
Not only does this add time to the process, but it also removes additional material, making the port larger than originally designed.
With these shortcomings in mind, Bob Hudgins, President of CNC Cylinder Heads, developed a system to solve both problems.
Employing a special combination of high-tech equipment, including vertical machining centres (VMCs), custom-built head fixtures with A- and B-axis CNC rotary tables, and specialised CAD/CAM software, he machines aluminum and cast iron heads in five axes simultaneously, producing a mirror-smooth surface finish, without toolmarks, straight off the machine.
But what to do about the duplication dilemma?
For that, Hudgins uses one additional piece of equipment - Renishaw's Cyclone scanning machine A continuous-contact, reverse engineering tool, the Cyclone scans port and combustion chamber wall surfaces collecting dimensional data to produce a 3D wireframe model of the internal features.
A 3-axis system, the Cyclone is fitted with Hudgins own-design thin probe styli and a special fixture that rotates the head in A- (rotation about the X-axis), and B- (rotation about the Y-axis) axes to allow access to hard-to-reach port areas.
From that data, SURFCAM CAD/CAM software creates 5-axis NC code that drives the machine tool through its cutting routines.
After machining and cleaning, heads are ready for immediate assembly.
Hudgins-designed cylinder heads can be found in various enthusiasts' cars, and NASCAR teams, where cars achieve speeds of 200-mph.
CNC Cylinder Heads also sells the 5-axis system as a turnkey package, offering the technology and training for other companies to duplicate and machine heads using this proven method.
The need for duplication comes from two sources - external and internal.
Professional engine builders approach CNC Cylinder Heads to replicate their new port designs and cut them into numerous other castings.
Builders for NASCAR teams may order up to twenty sets at the beginning of each new racing season, but often come back with new designs throughout the season since their R and D is ongoing - requiring a quick turnaround from Hudgins and his team.
CNC Cylinder Heads' in-house engineers are also continuously developing their own port designs on a variety of manufacturers' castings for street performance and racing applications.
After a newly designed head passes various flow bench and swirl meter tests, the Cyclone digitises the finalised design for duplication.
The company has hundreds of port designs and gigabytes of machining programs stored in a DNC workstation, to be downloaded to a machine tool at a moment's notice.
CNC Cylinder Heads sells these heads off-the-shelf, often packaging them with matching cam, intake and computer chip from other vendors, for purpose-built racing or street applications that often raise base horsepower by 40%.
Digitising deep inside a port - in effect, an angled tube - is more difficult than digitising the perimeter of an object.
Hudgins designed a special Cyclone fixture that can be rotated in A- and B-axes manually or by way of servomotors.
This rotation, combined with Hudgins' special thin styli, allows the Cyclone to digitise all areas of the port.
Rotary encoder's register the angular position of the fixture and a digital display shows position to one thousandth of a degree.
Once all port areas that can be accessed from the home position have been digitised, the fixture is rotated by the operator, to allow access to other areas of the head, and the new angular position is noted.
Separate digitised data files, called patches, are stored for each different angular position.
When all areas of the intake port that can be reached from the intake side of the head are digitised, the head is rotated to finish scanning the intake port through its valve opening.
Digitising then begins on the exhaust port through its valve opening, and the complete scanning of the combustion chamber.
It is then further rotated to finish digitising the exhaust port from the exhaust side of the head.
The Cyclone uses Renishaw's Tracecut software to establish the datum, or home position, and to collect the digitised data.
The patches are downloaded into SURFCAM which has a provision for inputting patch angular position.
Having various mirroring and copying features, SURFCAM is used to manipulate and translate the data into 5-axis NC code for all ports and combustion chambers.
Not every port is digitised - typically one combustion chamber, intake and exhaust port, and sometimes an additional exhaust port depending on head configuration.
Accurate to within 50 microns, the continuous-contact Cyclone scans at a rate of 140 points per second, at a maximum scanning speed of 3 metres/min.
A small block Chevy head can be scanned on the Cyclone in a couple of hours.
The NC machining code is loaded into a DNC workstation that stores the program and downloads it to the machine's control.
Not all machine controls have sufficient processing speed or memory to handle the large 5-axis part programs.
Slow program processing may cause axis-lag errors, leading to inaccurate ports.
While not specifying a minimum processing speed, CNC Cylinder Heads has developed a list of recommended VMCs.
Heads can be quickly set up on another Hudgins-designed fixture which holds and positions the head on the machine tool.
An A-axis Nikken CNC rotary table is mounted on a B-axis rotary table to supply the fourth and fifth axes of movement.
The 5-axis NC code simultaneously moves the machine tool in X-, Y- and Z-axes and the rotary tables in A- and B-axes.
Ports can be machined in one set-up, compared to as many as five set-ups for 3-axis machining.
Not only does this provide quicker throughput, it also eliminates cumulative fixturing errors.
CNC Cylinder Heads uses standard ball nose end mills and special back-cutting tools for hard-to-reach port areas.
As with digitising, the tools cannot reach all port areas, so the head must be rotated for access to combustion chambers and ports.
Typically, it takes four hours and two tool passes to machine a NASCAR head, due to the nature of its casting.
Those heads are purposely cast with additional material in port areas so that any port design will fit into the head without leaving walls between ports too thin.
Heads for street cars, cast with less material, can be machined in half the time, needing only one tool pass.
High-compression NASCAR engines require a smoother wall finish compared to lower-compression street-engines.
However, CNC Cylinder Heads doesn't aim for a specific surface finish specification because it is difficult to determine a very accurate reading on cast aluminum due to material porosity.
Rather, he defines surface finish by tool incremental step-over (distance the cutting tool increments into the port after each pass) or cusp measurement (height from bottom to top of cutting groove).
For a NASCAR head, tool step-over may be 0.76-0.89 mm, whereas a street head would be double that - another reason street heads can be machined quicker.
Cusp height is dictated by the tooling chosen, and ranges from 0.005 mm on a NASCAR head to 0.127 mm on a basic street head.
When first developing his system, Hudgins used a 3-axis 'scan-and-duplicate' digitiser that was fitted to one of his VMCs.
With this device, whatever was scanned was machined, meaning the 3-axis cam software drove the machine tool in the same path as the probe.
The probe's path was not always the quickest or most efficient for the machine tool, and whilst the machine tool was scanning, it wasn't cutting metal.
Hudgins found it much more efficient to have a machine tool cutting a head at the same time a stand-alone digitiser was scanning another - very appropriate for high-variety, low-volume work.
Since the Cyclone is a continuous-contact digitising machine, scanning routines can be done much quicker than point-to-point probing on a machine tool, effectively cutting the scanning routine from days to hours.
Whilst it is a precision instrument, the Cyclone's working envelope measures 600 x 500 x 400 mm and it can hold a model weighing up to 225 kg, more than sufficient to support an aluminum or cast iron cylinder head with fixture.
Hudgins offers his proven system to anyone wishing to duplicate his shop's capabilities.
Maintaining a 100% installation success rate, Hudgins packages everything a job shop needs for 5-axis cylinder head machining, except the machine tool, itself.
For a customer's verified VMC, Hudgins matches the Cyclone digitising system with SURFCAM software, special fixtures for both the Cyclone and machine tool, Nikken rotary tables, special thin probing styli, all necessary accessories and training at its Pinellas Park, FL facility.
Thursday, October 19, 2006
Cost effective yet powerful micro drive
According to Rockwell Automation, the Allen-Bradley PowerFlex 4 provides cost-effective powerful speed control for single- and three-phase AC motors from 0.2 to 3.7kW. This newest, small and low cost member of the PowerFlex family provides most of the benefits of its larger relations for panel builders and OEMs requiring accurate speed control in applications such as machine tools, fans, pumps and materials handling. The PowerFlex 4's compact design uses advanced heat sink and IGBT technology to minimise size, a zero stacking feature allows drives to be mounted side by side with no gaps, while commonality with other products in the range ensures familiarity for existing PowerFlex users.
For ease of installation and use, the PowerFlex 4 includes an integral keypad with local potentiometer, while the quick start feature provides fast start up.
There is easy access to the terminal block, and an integral RS485 port allows the use of Allen-Bradley DriveExplorer and DriveExecutive configuration software.
A range of configuration options make the PowerFlex 4 amazingly flexible.
Available in an IP20-rated package that can be DIN-rail or panel mounted, further options include an IP30/Nema 1 kit and plate drive or chassis mount configuration.
An integral filter version is also available for single-phase applications, further reducing the drive's footprint while still complying with EMC requirements.
OEMs exporting their machines around the world have the reassurance that the PowerFlex 4 meets worldwide power ratings, packaging requirements and electromagnetic compatibility - like all PowerFlex products, it is CSA/cUL Certified, UL-Listed, C-Tick and CE Marked.
Rockwell Automation is also able to offer the PowerFlex 4 preconfigured with a range of software, operator interfaces and power options.
This service allows the drive to be specified to meet the precise requirements of the application, further reducing the time required for installation and setup.
The Allen-Bradley PowerFlex family of advanced AC drives now covers the power range 0.2 to 3000kW.
All drives in the range share operator interfaces, programming and networking ability, giving a common look and feel, and enabling users and installers to program and run any PowerFlex drive with confidence.
For ease of installation and use, the PowerFlex 4 includes an integral keypad with local potentiometer, while the quick start feature provides fast start up.
There is easy access to the terminal block, and an integral RS485 port allows the use of Allen-Bradley DriveExplorer and DriveExecutive configuration software.
A range of configuration options make the PowerFlex 4 amazingly flexible.
Available in an IP20-rated package that can be DIN-rail or panel mounted, further options include an IP30/Nema 1 kit and plate drive or chassis mount configuration.
An integral filter version is also available for single-phase applications, further reducing the drive's footprint while still complying with EMC requirements.
OEMs exporting their machines around the world have the reassurance that the PowerFlex 4 meets worldwide power ratings, packaging requirements and electromagnetic compatibility - like all PowerFlex products, it is CSA/cUL Certified, UL-Listed, C-Tick and CE Marked.
Rockwell Automation is also able to offer the PowerFlex 4 preconfigured with a range of software, operator interfaces and power options.
This service allows the drive to be specified to meet the precise requirements of the application, further reducing the time required for installation and setup.
The Allen-Bradley PowerFlex family of advanced AC drives now covers the power range 0.2 to 3000kW.
All drives in the range share operator interfaces, programming and networking ability, giving a common look and feel, and enabling users and installers to program and run any PowerFlex drive with confidence.
Kit for sensorless control of brushless DC motors
The Agile Development Kit is ideal for motor OEMs and application specialists working with sensorless motors, providing full application software for current (torque) or velocity (RPM) mode operations
Suitable for motor voltages from 10 to 190 VDC with peak current ratings up to 45A, the Development Kit includes a full set of cables and the Agile DPWin setup, tuning and diagnostic software on a CD. With DPWin over 25 parameters can be optimally set (including PID loop settings) or the user can rely on built in algorithms to set them based on the motor parameters and the user performance requirements. The motor controller is mounted in a heat sink enclosure and fully potted for rigidity and environmental protection.
The user connects the controller to their PC using the optically isolated RS232 full duplex connection, inserts the DPWin CD and immediately begins working with the industry's most advanced sensorless controller.
Agile DPWin software includes parameter setting, auto-calculating control algorithms, datalogging and current stimulus, loop compensators and oscilloscope windows.
Using the Agile proprietary control algorithms the development kit is ideal for sensorless applications where consistent, reliable starting is required, for both low and high speed motors, applications with high starting torque and for motors with low inductance (including slotless designs).
Agile Systems is a world leader in the design, development and manufacture of advanced motion control technology including motor control and power conversion.
With expertise in integrating power electronics, digital control and network communications in small, cost effective packages, Agile has established customers in a broad range of industries including robotics, automation equipment, automotive, industrial machinery and alternative energy.
Suitable for motor voltages from 10 to 190 VDC with peak current ratings up to 45A, the Development Kit includes a full set of cables and the Agile DPWin setup, tuning and diagnostic software on a CD. With DPWin over 25 parameters can be optimally set (including PID loop settings) or the user can rely on built in algorithms to set them based on the motor parameters and the user performance requirements. The motor controller is mounted in a heat sink enclosure and fully potted for rigidity and environmental protection.
The user connects the controller to their PC using the optically isolated RS232 full duplex connection, inserts the DPWin CD and immediately begins working with the industry's most advanced sensorless controller.
Agile DPWin software includes parameter setting, auto-calculating control algorithms, datalogging and current stimulus, loop compensators and oscilloscope windows.
Using the Agile proprietary control algorithms the development kit is ideal for sensorless applications where consistent, reliable starting is required, for both low and high speed motors, applications with high starting torque and for motors with low inductance (including slotless designs).
Agile Systems is a world leader in the design, development and manufacture of advanced motion control technology including motor control and power conversion.
With expertise in integrating power electronics, digital control and network communications in small, cost effective packages, Agile has established customers in a broad range of industries including robotics, automation equipment, automotive, industrial machinery and alternative energy.
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