To help smooth out the process of specifying and ordering AC drives and related ancillaries, Rockwell Automation has introduced a configured drives service designed to fulfil the needs of a wide variety of industrial applications, saving customers time and effort. The options are designed to add functionality or features, in line with the demands of the end application.
“Although there is still room for an off-the-shelf product offering, we believe that we are able to match the needs of our customers more closely with the configured drives service. This service provides customers with peace of mind, as they can rest assured that all chosen components and options will work together in harmony,” says Adrian van Wyk, business manager components, Rockwell Automation.
This configured drive approach allows OEMs or end user engineers to choose a base drive package and then enhance it with numerous options in line with the needs of the application. The beauty of this approach is that many of the combinations offered in the configuration process are already installed and working in unison in industrial applications across the world, thus removing the headaches associated with a normal mix-and-match approach.
The ‘starter package’ includes a basic configured drive, input fusing, RFI filter and enclosure. Options are designed to add functionality or features, in line with the demands of the end application. These options can include power features such as circuit breakers, isolators, input, output and bypass contactors and line reactors.
There are various control and communications choices available, which include control interfaces (analogue and digital) and serial communications (such as DeviceNet and ControlNet). The operator interfaces that can be utilised include HMIs, door-mounted devices and meters, while motor interface options include encoders, resolvers, thermistors, RTDs, cooling blowers and space heaters.
All packages are supplied in cabinets, with either IP21 or IP54 ratings, and are supplied complete with control circuit transformer and cooling fans appropriate for the frame size. All configured drives are assembled and tested in accordance with ISO9001 and comply with the relevant EEC directives.
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