Intelligent motor controls

The importance of intelligent motor control is readily recognised and encouraged by the Government. When the Climate Change Levy was introduced in 2001, variable speed drives were among the first five recognised pieces of capital expenditure, which were guaranteed to yield significant energy savings and therefore deemed tax exempt.

The Altivar range of variable speed drives from Schneider Electric’s Telemecanique brand offer such energy savings for almost every motor control requirement, available in standard or enclosed versions, with a variety of ingress protection and power ratings.

The drives make use of pre-programmed power curves, which guarantee energy efficient control of motors, pumps, fans and compressors. Furthermore, they feature an intelligent energy saving function, which can ensure that the drive supplies the motor with only the minimum power required at a specific time.

Various optional cards can be fitted to further enhance the functions of the Altivar drives. For example, the “Controller Inside” programmable card adds PLC-like functionality, whilst other cards add multi-pump control, extra communications options, such as Ethernet or Profibus, and additional input/output capacity.