TODAY'S TUTORIAL Bigger Isn’t Always Better By evaluating load requirements, users can select a drive fitted to the application without paying for power that will never be used. by Rhode Nelson Senior Product Speiblt, len Broaey Drives Busines, Rockwell Automation hat is itin our culture that makes us believe bigger is better? We drive trucks designed to carry a ton, yet, in reality, they only carry 20 Ibs. of golf clubs. We use toolsets rugged enough for a mechanie’s lifestyle, yet only use them once month, Today, it’s rare that we just buy what we need, and the same is commonly true when users select industrial drives. When engineers bought a drive in the early days of automation, they knew that it would be rugged enough to handle everything from “heavy duty” applications—where continuous-rated torque and momentary overload ability are needed—to “normal duty,” where full-load isnot required most of the time andl the need for over- load is very low or nonexistent. Engineers, how~ ‘ever, paid a premium for this “peace-of mind.” Tn today’s lean manufacturing environment, paying extra for more power than needed isa lux ury few can afford. But users who study their ap- plication and ask the right questions can get ideal application performance without paying for power they'll never use. Sizing a drive “Today's drives have normal-and heavy-duty rat- ings, allowing users to select the product that. ‘most closely fits the application need. Selection starts with knowing the load, or torque, requirements then choosing a drive with enough current to meet that need. Drives sup ply current to the motor, motor current pro- vides torque and torque moves loads, Loads all have varying torque demands and, conse- quently, varying drives solutions, To help with this decision, information used to select a motor can be applied to size the drive “Most loads can be broken into one of three cat- Sizing a Drive: A’Case in Point Dating lod eqitments wher selecting a dveisna { tocketstienge. You can easily obtain thainfommation neces sary calulate ter, Fo example 18 determine the cont ‘uous torque requirements ; vith conveyor aystem mov g ¥ ing raw or froth sti ine” toa processing plat, use the length of the conveyor, the rise ofthe conveyor tine and the weight of the rock/ore normally reset onthe cone vaya. The contnucds steam, of tock o the pronessing pant. determines the continuous cag of tis motdr needed to lortue equtemenis fora ‘hove conveyor. = rs sn gf Assine thatthe comers gael he ng and cantinugs requirements 30, ot i cone aa Int of tongue, Tis enuats ; 4 © wept ofthe ore noctaly on togtpical {Ong amp.” "NO MB NAT SY {ot Butengineers alsoneedto : Ingo fecomjor loa ot overated Forges ple, does the conveyor need tobe ancelorated to sneed hen Joaded, or ont whieh unloaded? How fast must the accelet ation be? What édltional temporary load is added whien a’? iw loa of rocks is dropned Gt th conveyor? Younendto- >< know-Rov much tog is equi to ls trouat that em poy cieloading caused byextra lod or acceleration.) For av" example, lot's say that whe exta material 8 dropped of the corweya, the load increase is only 5 percent {to.31.5 lb-ft. and 15 amps) nd fasts for lass tharr30 dor 5% conds: Since a norm duty. dive supnly 110 percenttorup to tminute(16:5ems pert table, this maylead tose Jecting tat product. But if we ada third fequiroment of 45 seconds ofaceleaton uae nad, and is elulted that the torque requirement 40 lof (188 percent at 19.8} thn it’cear that a hoayy-ady drive shoul be select mee oe s ‘PowerFlox wowa.k.com/stives/poweriex/pinain in 2-8 JOURNAL, WWvW.ABJOURNAL COM APRIL 2001,TODAY'S TUTORIAL © Selecting the Right Drive for the Job [Variable Torque] Load Type? fF- Constant Torque os —f Povounave data ‘on yourload? ABB. opean) Normal Duty Heavy Duty oes tho load ever ‘equire mare than Mitsubishi Wapanese) L Heavy Oury nal Unie (Legacy) none Heavy Duty 110% af the Fla above? Required Overload Amps: 1105 to 150% fsthis quirement for 3 seconds or ss? |}+———— ves a More than 1 minute 151% t-200% required seconds or less seconds to 1 minuto required 3 secondsto 1 minute 92 APRIL 2001 \WWW.A@JOURNAL.COM Cond Pee Cr AB JOURNA‘AB JOURNAL egories: variable torque, constant torque with no need for overload and constant torque with over~ load requirements. Almost al variable torque loads are either cen- trifugal fans or pumps. These make up nearly 70 percent of global motor applications. If the appli cation is variable torque, then it almost always re~ quires a normal-duty rated drive. These drives can supply rated torque and a small amount of overload (approximately 110 percent) for up to 1 minute, providing enough capacity for these types of load. If the application is constant torque—convey- ors, extruders, mixers, centrifuges—users need to define the overload requirements, They should determine the application’s continuous torque/amps, peak torque/amps and the length of time that peak torque is required. ‘This deter- mines whether a normal- or heavy-duty drive is required, For example, if a motor powering an application re- quires 10 amps for its full- load operation and the process is never overloaded, 2. 10-amp normal-duty drive will do the job without the need for overload capability. ‘The normal-duty drive rat | ing is based exclusively on | the continuous requirement. If, however, a constant torque application requires both continuous torque and the need to move occasional overload conditions, the nor mal-duty drive would not be the correct choice. For ex- ample, a material-handling conveyor can besized to.con- tinuously move its rated load, but it might also need | to quickly accelerate a full load from stop to running speed. The motor must pro- | duce more torque to handle this acceleration, and the drive must supply the neces- sary current for theentiresc- If this acceleration can be | TODAY'S TUTORIAL handled by the overload capability of a normal duty drive, for example, 150 percent overload for less than three seconds, a normal-duty drive is sufficient. If more than 150 percent current isre- quired or the acceleration is longer than three seconds, then a heavy-duty drive would be re~ quired. There might even be application require ments where the need for overload exceeds the ratings of even a heavy-duty rated drive. In this case, moving up to the next larger drive is usually the solution, Today's drives, such as the Allen-Bradley PowerFlex™ drive family, are designed to save _money and space by closely matching the applica- tion requirements. While heavy-duty, standard, NEMA-rated drives may handle numerous appli- cations, users can end up payinga premium for ex- a material and components that aren’t required. Remember bigger isn’t always better! Circle 610 WoNWABJOURNAL CoM APRIL 200193