AC drives simplify complexity.(alternate current)

From: Control Engineering | Date: November 1, 2005| Author: Bartos, Frank J. | Copyright information

They span the gamut of sizes from "micro drives" that virtually fit into your shirt pocket to large system drives and medium-voltage units. However, ac adjustable-speed drives have some attributes in common: increasingly capable control of ac induction motors, including torque control in some models, and inherent benefit of energy savings for many applications.

To gauge trends in this product sector, Control Engineering and Reed Research Group--both part of Reed Business...

Read all of this article with a FREE trial to HighBeam Research

Related newspaper, magazine, and journal articles from HighBeam Research

AC drives trend to efficient, modular designs.(related articles: drive product notices)
Control Engineering ; Whether you call them ac adjustable-speed drives (ASDsthe name preferred by most--or use other labels, such as variable-speed drives or variable-frequency drives, or/frequency converters as the international community prefers, ASDs excel at one key point: increasingly capable control of ac motors.
AC drives meet and exceed user demands. (Product Focus: AC Adjustable-Speed Drives).(Panel Discussion)(Statistical Data Included)
Control Engineering ; Simpler variable-torque applications continue to be the most common use for ac adjustable-speed drives, yet manufacturers are adding increasingly sophisticated capabilities and high-level functions to these products. Does this represent a supplier-side overkill or lack of user awareness of the
AC drives make strong advance in Europe.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
Control Engineering Europe ; Driven by technology advancements and a greater degree of simplicity ac drives penetrate more deeply into European industry. The European low power electric drives market, which includes all units with a power rating up to 75 kW, was valued at $1.09 billion in 2000. Total revenues for ac drives
Q&A: the nuances of drives: it's surprisingly easy to overlook some of the most important features technology has to offer. To get readers the data they need, this article takes a look at the inner workings of today's ac drives.(In focus: motion control)
Product Design & Development ; The advantage that can be reaped from using ac drives are too frequently ignored. That's the opinion of Rhode Nelson, who is the product manager of the AllenBradley Drives Business in Mequon, WI, and has worked with drives for 15 years. Although it is widely known that ac drives can reduce energy
Thinking inside the box: energy costs driving ac drive innovation; AC drives control the speed, torque, direction and resulting horsepower of ac induction motors. They're resulting ability to smooth machine startup and shutdown reduces electric power consumption and maintenance.(energy costs management)
Plant Engineering ; The types of ac drives used with ac induction motors are V/Hz, encoderless and flux vector. While there are many drives available for synchronous and servo motors, induction motors have the majority of applications. Sensorless vector control is the same as encoderless vector control, which better