Motors & Drives Information

Available in NEMA 1 or NEMA 12 enclosures, Series AC550 features sensorless vector design, combined with 2 internal slots for options such as encoder feedback, 115/230 V digital interface card, I/O expansion, or fieldbus adapters. Units are suitable for end users, OEMs, system integrators, and panel builders that need compact drives to power fans, pumps, and other motors common to machines and processing equipment.

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(The ACS550 drives line has been extended beyond the 208/240 and 380/480 volt class for use in a variety of industrial applications)

NEW BERLIN, Wis., March 24, 2005 . . . Extension of the voltage rating of ABB's ACS550 AC drives line to 600 volts, in a 1.5-150 HP range, widens significantly the universe of end users that now will be able to install the drives for a variety of industrial applications. "That includes applications in the U.S., and customers throughout Canada where 575 volts is the standard," according to Cliff Cole, director of marketing for ABB Inc., Automation Technologies, Low-Voltage Drives.

The ACS550 line, which "features a unique built-in combination of simplicity, convenience, fieldbus connectivity, harmonic mitigation and programmability to a degree we've not seen in drives before," Cole said, "has been greeted with immense enthusiasm during the roll-out over the past year.

The ACS550 is ideal for OEMs, who make machines for use throughout North America, Cole noted. "Through ABB, these machine builders now can access this complete drive family, which is optimized for common North American voltages." Drives rated at 600 volts also are used in the southeast and along the Gulf Coast in a variety of industries, including textiles, and petrochemical (refineries and processing facilities).

As the 1-550 HP, 208/240 and 380/480-volt class of the drives were introduced, ABB engineers developed the drive further, with extensions to 500, 575 and 600 VAC inputs. The 1.5-150 horsepower drives are ideal for powering fans, pumps, and the host of motors common to machines and processing equipment.

It's All Inside --

High horsepower in a compact design delivers high power density to end users, OEMs, systems integrators, and panel builders who need a full-featured drive in a small, flexible package. They are available in NEMA 1 or NEMA 12 enclosures.

The power-to-volume ratio in this sensorless vector design, combined with two internal slots for options such as encoder feedback, 115/230V digital interface card, I/O expansion, or fieldbus adapters, gives the ACS550 line "a leg up on the competition, when it comes to customer ease of installation," according to Jukka Nurmi, product line manager for the ACS550 series. "Drive usage has never been so easy."

The 600-Volt drive units are now available from stock, Nurmi noted, and they currently are in production and assembly at the ABB drives factory in New Berlin. "Production here also facilitates quick, easy delivery of the new drives to customers throughout North America," he said.

ABB Inc., Automation Technologies, Drives and Motors, is the world's largest manufacturer of electric motors and drives. In the USA, an integrated channel of sales representatives, distributors, and system integrators, allows ABB, New Berlin, Wisconsin, to supply a complete line of energy-efficient electric drives, motors and engineered drive systems to a wide range of industrial and commercial customers. Products manufactured include AC and DC variable speed drives for electric motors from 1/2 through 135,000 HP, large AC machines and drives, medium-voltage AC drives, power electronics and rectifier systems, AC & DC motors, and application-