A/B 160 Series Drive Replacement (D-NET)

[OkiePC]

Hi Dick! Yes, I would like to use ABB. We had two ABB drives that no one knew about until about a year ago, when one of my former colleagues miswired the analog references to them and blew their input cards...we had PF700 on the shelf to replace them so they're gone now.

Those were trouble free for ten years, and the boss knows that, so we'll do some price comparisons and see what they want to do.

From A/B, I like the "Architecture Series", but the "Component Series" has had a poor track record here. Those names are quite fitting, actually. The Powerflex 700s seem to be as reliable as column posts (part of the architecture), while the 4s and 40s are some of the more frequently failed and replaced "components" of our operation.

 

[bkottaras]

Okie, if ABB is a choice, I would recommend the ACS355 rather than its bigger brother, the ACS550. The 355 is a nice compact drive with plenty of options and has a nice small footprint too. I would think you would have excellent support for them as well in your area. If not, you always have me! (blush)(grin)(grimace)

I 2nd the ACS355.
General machinery drive and I have a customer whos been using them for years for winders and such.
They come with macros and he's using the "Torque mode" a couple of key presses and you're up and running.
Bulletproof.
You'll also like their pricing.

And make sure that you get the 350 series that won't be discontinued in a few years.
I heard that the ACS355s are on their phasing out step.
Maybe Dick can share some more inside info with us!

 

[DickDV]

Actually, just the opposite. The 355's are brand new. Modified firmware plus Safe Torque Off Cat 3 Stop. It's the 350 that was phased out to make room for the 355. Same hardware and options but with the improvements listed above.

I didn't mention earlier but this little drive has external PID, sensorless vector, and flux vector capability built in too.

And, OkiePC, with that kind of volume, most distributors will throw in a free copy of DrivesWindowLite. That's the laptop software for programming and recording parameters via your laptop.

 

[OkiePC]

...The 355's are brand new. Modified firmware plus Safe Torque Off Cat 3 Stop...

...I didn't mention earlier but this little drive has external PID, sensorless vector, and flux vector capability built in too.

And, OkiePC, with that kind of volume, most distributors will throw in a free copy of DrivesWindowLite. That's the laptop software for programming and recording parameters via your laptop.

Awesome...these drives have encoder input cards on them? Or just the supporting firmware? I sure could use sensorless vector right now. The 160s don't do well at all with fast ramp rates at the low rpm range and I have two or three of them that need to stop much more crisply.

I doubt I would use the flux vector except perhaps on my sausage sealed case sort belt where it's rarely hosed down at night.

Can this software reach the drives for configuration via devicenet? Or must I connect to each drive serially?

Our volume would be a trickle and chunks over several years. I doubt the bean counters will allow me to do this all at once, we have some much more pressing needs for big capital projects.

Excellent feedback...Thanks!

 

[DickDV]

They come standard with sensorless capability but, for encoder feedback and flux vector, you will need to add a small encoder option module. I would expect the sensorless vector to take care of most of your applications. I use encoders very infrequently and then mostly when we need full torque at zero speed--I mean zero motionless! If a little back and forth twitching is acceptable, the sensorless system will do that.

I believe that you can reach right down into the software with DeviceNet but I don't know how to do it. The ABB district engineer that covers your area should be able to help with that.