sparks
ELECTRICAL NEWS
october 2014
motor control centres and motor protection
20
WITH energy demand on the rise and the ever-
pressing need for industries to decrease their
global carbon footprint, a variable energyman-
agement solution has become paramount.
Schneider Electric, a specialist in energy
management, believes that a critical approach to
energy efficiency starts by better managingmo-
tors that control pump, fan and compressor.
“Research shows that thesemotors consume
70%of the energy required by industries and
infrastructures,”says Anton Kotze, general man-
ager for engineered speed drive sales at Schnei-
der Electric South Africa.“With Altivar variable
frequency drives fromSchneider Electric, you can
however achieve energy savings of up to 40%,
depending on the type of installation.”
The Altivar 1200mediumvoltage drive system,
whichwas introduced to the southern African
market at this year’s Xperience Efficiency event
held recently in Johannesburg, is designed to
maximise reliability, ease of use and performance,
and can be applied to three-phasemedium-
voltage asynchronousmotors (sensor/ sensorless
vector control mode) as well as synchronous
Compact MV drive system achieves 40% savings
motors (V/f mode).“With freely available low cost
lowvoltage IGBT (insulated gate bipolar transistor)
utilised in our multilevel technology, this drive can
be used in applications ranging fromsimple to
high precision applications,”says Kotze.
The core component of the Altivar 1200 is the
power cell, which is a single phase, two level out-
put switching device, supplied by one of the
18 to 54, 700V lowvoltagewindings of the inte-
gratedmulti-winding transformer.
“Themain advantage of this is that the switch-
ing elements are state-of-the-art lowvoltage
components. By putting these LV power cells in
series, we achieve our output voltage, ranging
from0 – 11 000V.The number of power cells de-
termines the output voltage. Every cell provides a
small step of motor voltage, resulting in a smooth
sinewaveform.With this 18 to 54 pulse phase
shifting technology on the secondary windings of
the transformer, we can eliminate harmonics on
the input of the drive.
“The power cells are located on the right section
of the drive and the transformer the left section of
the drive.The drive’s interface and control system
efficiency as well as in increased high efficien-
cy. Benefits include an easily understandable
multilevel architecture that can savemoney
when it comes tomaintenance – fewer spare
parts are needed because there is only one
power cell design for thewhole drive.This
results into a smooth output voltage because
each power cell provides only a small step of
the voltage.
The Altivar 1200 also includes an optimised
combined cabinet with front access, enabling
easy entry to the control and transformer
cabinet.“This not onlymakes the installation
andmaintenance operations easier, but also
saves about 30%on floor space,”comments
Kotze. As a certified IP31, IP41 and IP42 cabinet
– evenwith top cooling fans – the Altivar 1200
proposes high performance in the standard
execution, offering comfort and reliability with
its interlock system, large 10 inch HMI, neweasy
software configuration, internal lighting, uninter-
ruptible power supply (UPS) andmore.
Kotze emphasises that a total harmonics distor-
tion of current (THDI) of less than two percent is
obtained, thanks to themulti-level technology
that draws a clean sinusoidal waveform thus fulfill-
ingmajor standards.“The quality of the output
voltage creates no stress on themotor bearings,
windings and terminals, avoiding special and ex-
pensive dv/dt mitigation equipment for themo-
tor. Due to this output sinewave, the Altivar 1200
can run longmotor cables of two kilometres and
morewithout additional components.These ben-
efitsmake the ATV1200 the ideal retrofit drive for
oldmotors where insulation levels are unknown.
Added to this is thewell-arranged sharing of cool-
ing airflowmanaged by only themain cooling
fans,
thus avoiding bottom
transformer fans and cooling fans on the elec-
tronic compartments,”he says.
Also noteworthy is the product’s friendly and
easy-to-use interfacewith LCD touch-screen and
aWindows arrangement to guide the user to
the required result in just a few touches.“Control
features allow results to be available at the user’s
fingertips. It has a dedicatedmulti-level menu to
guide the user and comes standardwith different
access levels for service and commissioning en-
gineers, such as operator, manager and admin-
istrator.The software is also available inmultiple
languages and consistent with all other menus
within the Altivar ranges.”
The Altivar 1200 range covers kilowatt ratings
up to 16.2MVA and voltage ratings from2.4 kV to
11 kV.The range is applicable in all industries from
metals andmining to oil and gas to power, as well
as water andwastewater.
Enquiries: +27 11 254 6400
is installed in front of the drive to
provide an optimised footprint.
The transformer and cell section
can be separated for easy installa-
tion and transportation. Adequate
cooling fans on top of the panel
are supplied by additional second-
ary windings of the integrated
transformer.This avoids additional
auxiliary three-phase supplies for
the drive,”explains Kotze.
Schneider Electric offers this
transformer in a standard
THE older a manufacturing plant is, the more
difficult and costly it is to run efficiently,
therefore automating the plant can definitely
be beneficial. NewElec’s MA or NewCode
motor protection relays make it easy to
adjust the operations of an older plant for
maximumproductivity. The advantage in
automating an older plant can be found if the
motor protection and control relays used can
accommodate digital inputs that operate on
the same auxiliary supply voltage as the exist-
ing hard-wired plant. When this is possible,
automating such a plant would only require a
PLC of sufficient capacity tomeet the plant’s
demands.
No plant is ever too old to automate
By automating an existing plant, consider-
able savings can be made, and by converting
it tomodernmonitoringmethods, personnel
would be familiar with the existing equip-
ment. Training of operations personnel will be
kept to an absolute minimum as very little will
have been altered in the system.
Introducing the solution is very simple. The
NewElec MA or NewCode range of motor
protection and control relays may be used
to achieve this goal as both facilitate utilis-
ing the existing control voltage of the plant /
MCC (24 to 220 V ac or dc). All that is required
to achieve the desired automation is a minor
manipulation of the existing control circuit
layout and the
acquisition of a suitable
PLC. To achieve this end NewElec will also
render the necessary expertise. The existing
plant can be transformed into a modernised,
automated and well controlled operation.
Implementation is easy and there is no need
to wait for years to automate.
Enquiries: +27 12 327 1729
