Rugged drive can be mounted on or near motors

Published: 22 December, 2014

WEG has developed a rugged decentralised drive, designed to be mounted on a motor’s terminal box, or nearby. The IP66-protected MW500 inverter (based on WEG’s CFW500 VSD) is said to simplify commissioning, installation and start-ups, and to cut cabling and cabinet costs.

The drive can be used to operate asynchronous motors from 0.75–7.5kW and is available in three models for mains voltages from 380–400V, as well as a single-phase (200–240V) variant for motors up to 1.1kW. It can withstand 150% overloads for 60 seconds every ten minutes, and operate in temperatures up to 40°C if mounted on a wall, or 50°C on a motor.

The drive is available with a simple analogue potentiometer for speed control, or with a built-in HMI which can also be used remotely. PLC and PID functions are built in, along with an EMC filter. Three LEDs indicate the state of the motor.

Various functions can be added using plug-and-play expansion modules, including I/O and CANopen, DeviceNet and Profibus-DP communications. A memory card can transfer data from one drive to another.

WEG's rugged MW500 drive can be mounted on a motor

A free Windows-based software package, called SuperdriveG2, can be used to program, control and monitor the MW500.