Drives speed machine production

An ABB Automation Tech (LV Products) product story

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Aug 1, 2008

ABB's ACS350 general machinery drives are easy for distributors to pre-configure before delivery, helping high-volume OEMs to streamline the commissioning process.

ABB's ACS350 general machinery drives make it extremely easy for volume machine builders to increase average throughput time with an average two-second programming time per unit.

ABB has extended the ratings of the drives to 11kW at 240V and 22kW at 480V.

The units are RoHS-compliant, with coated boards and are suitable for a range of machinery applications in the food processing, material handling, textiles, printing, rubber and plastics, semiconductor, automotive and woodworking industries.

The new R4 frame units measure 181 x 169 x 260mm.

ABB's FlashDrop technology makes parameter selection and setting as easy as operating a TV remote control.

Important parameters can be downloaded and uploaded in less than three seconds into a "nonpowered" drive, using a handheld FlashDrop MFDT-01 unit.

Personal protective equipment is not necessary when programming the drive in a panel, since the drive or panel are not powered.

The unit can store up to 20 different machine parameter sets and, for extra convenience, each set can be named to clearly show the associated end user or application.

Parameter setting is accomplished without a power connection to the drive.

It is not even necessary to fully unpack the drive.

This also makes it easy for distributors to pre-configure drives before delivery and helps high-volume OEMs to streamline the commissioning process.

FlashDrop allows the menu structure to be customised.

Parameters can be set and hidden, changing the appearance of the menu for faster set up and configuration.

It also enables users to copy parameters readily between drives.

The parameters are uploaded into the FlashDrop unit and then downloaded into a second drive.

The FlashDrop unit can be connected to a PC for additional storage capacity and parameter sets also can be created or edited using the DrivePM (Parameter Manager) PC interface.

FlashDrop is quick and convenient to use and no specialised drive knowledge is required.

Sequence programming, a standard feature in ABB's general machinery drives, provides a straightforward way to create preset sequences of operations, without any drive options.

These PLC-like programs are sufficient for many basic applications in which the drive controls the motor, using signals from sensors and limit switches.

This helps to reduce external PLC capacity requirements, facilitating less complex motor control systems and lower costs.

Additional programming features include Speed Compensation Stop and Programmable Delayed Stop - ideal for material handling applications that require precise stopping, independent of process-speed variations.

The user interface of the new general machinery drives is designed to give users greater flexibility.

Only the control panel is needed for commissioning or troubleshooting and no panel is included with the drive as standard.

Users who require a panel can select between two types: basic and advanced.

Both are detachable, so an end-user could acquire a single panel to swap between a number of drives.

The new drives have an EMC filter and built-in brake chopper.

The drives are extremely compact and only the width of the drives increases with increasing power, which facilitates easy installation into cabinets, or stand-alone configurations.

Cable tunnels can be arranged in a straight run and all screw holes can be drilled in a line.

DIN-rail mounting is possible and the drives can be mounted side by side, without the need for air gaps.

When cabinet depth is very limited, the drives even can be mounted with one side to the back of the cabinet.

The drive housing provides IP20 protection.

The drives have two bipolar analogue and five digital inputs (of which one can be configured for a pulse train) and one analogue, one relay and one digital output.

The drives feature a totally new generation of Fieldbus, with small, enclosed, plug-in adapters offering high-speed communications.

The drives feature embedded Modbus RTU including several small, enclosed, plug-in Fieldbus adapters offering high-speed communications such as DeviceNet, Profibus-DP, CANopen and Ethernet IP / Modbus TCP.

Several additional options are available, including a potentiometer, a pulse encoder interface, cabinet panel mounting NEMA1, a NEMA 4X panel cover and programming software.

ABB's general machinery drives are available in single-phase (240V) rated up to 2kW; three-phase (240V) up to 1511kW and three-phase (480V) up to 22kW.