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Power-saving VSDs are ‘the Swiss Army knife of drives’
Published:  08 January, 2015

Eaton claims that a new range of variable-speed drives, launched at the recent SPS IPC Drives show in Germany, will cut the power needed to drive a motor by 2–10% compared to other VSDs, without any additional optimisation. The PowerXL DG1 drives, covering ratings from 0.55–160kW in six sizes, incorporate “active power consumption optimisation” and “dynamic power management” functions.

They come with interfaces for Ethernet/IP, Modbus TCP and RTU, and Bacnet MS/TP. Plug-in cards are available for Profibus DP, CANopen, DeviceNet, ProfiNet and LonWorks, as well as Eaton’s own SmartWire-DT wiring and communication system. In addition, there are analogue and digital I/O and three relays. EMC filters and a DC link choke are standard.

Guido Kerzmann, head of Eaton’s drives and soft-starters product line, describes the new range as “the Swiss Army knife of drives”.

For many applications, the drives can be run out-of-the-box without extensive parameter setting, and there are only 14 standard parameters. An operator panel with a five-line LCD can be installed on the drive or remotely – on a cabinet door, for example. It has a membrane keyboard with two configurable keys and three status LEDs.

Eaton’s PowerXL DG1 drives can be run out-of-the-box

The drives offer a short-circuit current capability of 100kA, and overload withstand capacities of 110% for variable torques and 150% for constant torques. They are IP21-protected (or IP54 with a conversion kit).

There are function blocks for applications including multi-pump and fan control, as well as a real-time clock, and safety functions including STO. Eaton’s InControl software can be used to configure the drives, and for monitoring and data-logging.