The demands on equipment placed directly in production areas in the food and beverage industry are disproportionately heavy. Tough hygienic demands requiring frequent wash downs with aggressive cleaning agents, coupled with an increasing need for higher throughput in this sector, necessitate instrumentation solutions that are specially developed for this industry.
Danfoss Drives Solutions has made distributed motor control a viable solution to the challenges posed by the food and beverage industry through its FCD 300 series of frequency converters. This concept has attracted the interest of OEMs and end-users alike as it is space saving, has reduced wiring and is free of heat dissipation difficulties.
"Specially developed for decentralised motor control, our FCD 300 frequency converter series has overcome the environmental difficulties presented by decentralised food and beverage applications," says Mick Baugh, business unit manager. "A consistently robust design ensures that the locally placed motor controls will operate reliably, accurately and - even under rough conditions - incessantly."
Properties contributing to this level of performance include the FCD 300 series' independence of ventilation and cooling measures. This innovative construction removes a wearing part in the form of the fan, and permits an enclosure class as high as IP 66/NEMA 4.
A dirt-repelling surface incorporates smooth paint that is resistant to corrosion, chemicals and strong cleaning materials, while a special Gore-tex gasket in the cable glands allows moisture to escape, but keeps water out. In case of wall mounting, the fittings ensure an air space between the wall and the device, wide enough to allow effective cleaning. The fins are also regular and run lengthwise only, leaving no hard-to-clean areas.
The FCD 300 makes an all-round, flexible and user-friendly frequency converter that fits into a host of applications, and is compatible with virtually all standard AC motors. This versatility also makes the series appealing to the many users in demand of retrofit options. For mounting on the motor, the FCD 300 frequency converter is equipped with an adaptor plate, ready for connecting to a range of selected motor brands - including all Bauer geared motors.
The frequency converter can be mounted either on the motor, a wall or a rack, and the mounting direction is optional. No cabinet or plant control room is required, leaving only a PLC, which makes bus communication suitable. Wiring is minimised, saving not only costs for expensive screened cables, but also hours of costly installation work. A maximum number of cable entries of different sizes, accessible from two sides of the device, facilitate the necessary wiring. All functions can be grouped in one module of a plant, thus reducing installation time, planning and commissioning. This benefit is particularly interesting to OEM's striving for modularisation.
Commissioning and service exchange is easily handled, since the FCD 300 is composed of two parts, which are electrically connected. All external wiring is done in the installation part and all electronics are confined to the other part. Regarding functions, the FCD 300 shares the software and hardware platform used by the VLT 2800 frequency converter and consequently it shares the same benefits. Among them should be mentioned the automatic motor tuning feature, which automatically measures the motor to ensure optimum match between drive and motor.
Adding to this flexibility, the FCD 300 frequency converters secure reliability in industrial environments, thanks to a built-in RFI filter IA, which makes the drive compliant with the EMC directive EN 55011 1A requirements. A built-in DC link choke reduces the harmonic distortion, thus rendering external line reactors superfluous, and the device is compliant to IEC 61000-3-2.
The FCD 300 series shares the user-friendliness of the entire OLE_LINK1VLT product range, including the Quick Menu feature with all parameters basically needed for commissioning. The frequency converters can also be operated from a handheld control panel with full text, as well as from a PC via serial communication. LEDs on top of the device indicate the mode of operation. On top of the VLT2800 series platform, the FCD 300 frequency converters offer two extra benefits useful for industrial applications - built-in supply voltage for the mechanical brake renders external voltage generation superfluous, and the mechanical brake can be controlled.
The control card is active independently of the power supply, since the device comes with 24 V external supply. This is ideal for commissioning and service purposes, and it allows users to see possible alarms/error messages prior to a dropout. The capacity range of the FCD 300 series is 0,37 to 3,0 kW at 380 to 480 V.
"The new FCD 300 frequency converters complete the Danfoss offer for industrial motor control," Baugh concludes. "With the VLT program, we can supply solutions for central motor control; with the FCM 300 drive motors we offer integrated decentralised control; and finally with the FCD 300 series we meet the requirements of people in the trade who do ask for decentralised solutions, however prefer to stick to their present flexibility with separate suppliers of motors/geared motors and motor controls."
For more information contact Mick Baugh, Danfoss, 011 803 8390, [email protected], www.danfoss.co.za
© Technews Publishing (Pty) Ltd | All Rights Reserved
printer friendly version