"Theorycraft"

1.I am making sure I am not missing something, what is the latest and greatest way to control motors/vfds spread over 250 feet? There is approximately 30 or so motors over the length of 250 feet.

I am thinking Devicenet, but I want to know if I am missing other possibilities.

2.Controlling fans/pumps over the same area, most of it is a motor with a couple sensors nearby.

I am thinking the same thing Devicenet and Brad Power.Open to more experienced suggestions though.


version 17,,,intresting, I haven't even got to do much with v16

Whatever method you choose, a fieldbus is the way to go. If Devicenet works for you, go for it. I find modbus much more user friendly.

TM

I would use a bus that allows full access to the drive, reading and writing all parameters as well as controlling the drive. I would use ethernet (ModbusTCP).
Using this has allowed me to include lots of nice extra features, with little or no extra effort, for example
- the web pages from the drives are displayed within the scada system (full drive status using no tags)
- remote configuration
- FDR (faulty device replacement) the drive configuration is saved at regular intervals, and if the drive fails and is replaced the saved configuration is automatically downloaded to the drive.
- no restriction on the number of status points read from the drive

Check Yaskawa

You can try the Yaskawa software and networking and might be able to use the same drive for multiple motors.

thanks glad to know I was not off base in thinking drives hooked on Devicenet is the way to go.Which is pretty much what we did 5-6 years ago.