High-power drives suit heavy-duty applications

Baldor's MotiFlex e100 drives meet the demands of printing, papermaking, converting, textiles, plastics and steel production.

Baldor has extended its range of three-phase AC motor drives, compatible with the Ethernet-compatible Powerlink protocol.

It has released three higher power versions rated for continuous outputs from 21.5 to 33.5A.

The new drives extend the system building advantages of Powerlink to a much wider range of continuous and heavy-duty applications, including printing, papermaking, converting, textiles, plastics and steel production.

The MotiFlex e100 three-phase AC drive range now offers eight choices of power output from 1.5 to 33.5A.

The higher power versions provide the means to bring large AC induction motors into the Ethernet Powerlink control network, such as those used on the main axes of web processes.

Baldor's David Greensmith said "Powerlink offers a very versatile control platform that can improve performance substantially, while simultaneously simplifying the control architecture and reducing costs".

In addition to introducing the flexibility of high-speed Ethernet and TCP/IP connectivity into the higher power machine building sector, the drives' high degree of modularity, combined with novel design features, provide users with significant potential for saving costs.

MotiFlex e100 drives can be used in both centralised control and distributed 'intelligent drive' scenarios, with substantial savings in the electrical power components required.

Compatibility with the Ethernet Powerlink protocol provides great flexibility in electrical system building.

Each drive features an Ethernet hub, enabling systems to be built using a simple daisy-chain connection scheme.

The high-speed and deterministic Ethernet Powerlink network, operating at 100 Mbit/s, cuts cabling substantially and can greatly reduce the costs of building large multi-axis systems.

A single Baldor Ethernet Powerlink machine controller can manage systems with up to 16 interpolated axes.

In terms of core performance as an AC drive, a Baldor development team has been working for over three years on MotiFlex.

The resulting design incorporates a large range of features that allow high-power machinery builders to make savings and improve machine performance.

Each MotiFlex drive can operate independently, or as part of a shared DC bus system.

When operating in a shared DC bus system, power regenerated back into any drive during the deceleration phase of an axis may be used by the other axes, saving energy.

As each drive has a local capacitor bank, an external braking resistor is often not required - because the total capacitance of the system may be sufficient to store the energy without reaching the over-voltage limit.

Unlike traditional shared DC bus systems, Motiflex drive systems do not require a separate power supply unit.

Instead, the AC/DC convertor stage in each drive is capable of supplying power not only to itself, but also to a drive or combination of drives of the same total rating.

For many multi-axis applications, this will often mean that the highest-rated drive will be able to power the rest of the system.

For many multi-axis systems this approach results in the need for fewer electrical components and simpler system building, as only one set of contactors, fuses or MCBs, terminal blocks and one EMC filter is needed for the whole system.

Alternative approaches can require the same AC components for each drive, or the addition of separate power supplies and capacitor banks with fixed ratings that often mean they may be oversized.

The drive's control electronics can draw power from the main AC/DC power supply, or from a 24V DC linking system on the front panel.

Using the 24V DC supply ensures that the control and communications status are maintained if the system is used in an application subject to safety shut downs, where the mains supply is disconnected.

Configuration flexibility has been at the core of the design requirements.

Each drive incorporates a universal encoder input and built-in I/O.

A further two 'option card' slots provide an expansion capability that allows users to precisely configure the local attributes of the drive and/or provide an upgrade path.

Expansion options includes analogue and digital I/O, resolver feedback, encoder feedback and fieldbus interfaces including Profibus, Modbus and Devicenet.

The CANopen interface and the fieldbus expansion option provide great flexibility to employ the drive as a gateway for interfacing with other machine control systems such as PLCs.

A further expansion option for the drive is a plug-in machine controller compatible with Baldor's Mint motion language.

This option allows a MotiFlex e100 to be used as a stand-alone 'intelligent drive', providing a distributed motion solution that can cut hardware costs dramatically.

This low-cost Mint card is also Ethernet Powerlink compatible and will control up to three further daisy chained MotiFlex e100 drives, providing a low-cost automation solution for many common multi-axis requirements.

If more axes are required, Baldor's panel-mounting NextMove e100 controller provides a solution.

One additional feature of the drive's configuration flexibility stems from tools provided with the drive, in Baldor's configuration software, Mint Workbench.

Options include configuration wizards, auto-tuning software and anti-resonance filters that may be used for both rotary and linear servo and vector motors.

The Mint language's use of high-level English-like commands simplifies program writing and comprehension.

The software also comes with its own licence-free multi-tasking operating system and free Active X components for easy connectivity with PCs.

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