[Source: Schneider Electric (UK)]

With the focus on digitisation and Industry 4.0, it is easy to overlook how motor control gear is changing. Chiefly because most industrial processes depend on electric motors.

Conveyors, pumps, compressors, agitators, and fans all need reliable motors and motor control gear. And most of these motors are asynchronous, due to their low cost, robustness, and ease of installation and maintenance.

Given their popularity, there is a wide range of protection, control, and management solutions available. But according to Schneider Electric, this creates two issues:

First, quick configuration of the right motor control solution in terms of cost, function, scope, and compliance become challenging. Motor control is not given priority, particularly for simple machines, and spending time to configure it is counterproductive.

Secondly, the breadth of solutions available can obscure trends in tailored solution design. For example, the move from motor control to motor management, the increased use of electronics, the flexibility of multi-functional products, and modular designs for multiple applications.

Digitisation is reshaping motor control gear

These trends are reshaping machine design. But their influence is negligible compared against that of the digitisation that is shaping the future of the market.

Smart technologies are gaining popularity across the industry, but traditional motor control and protection are falling behind. On standard DOL starters, there is little health/diagnostic data available to help integrate asynchronous motors into asset management tools. Such data is often found in solutions with soft starters or variable speed drives with fieldbus connectivity.

What this means is that there is a vast potential for digitising motor control and protection. Even if customers are not yet demanding it, the topic is fast gaining importance.

Digital technologies bring unprecedented visibility and responsiveness to asset management, both on-site and at remote locations.

Therefore, automation solutions designed today should consider future integration with new asset management strategies. In other words, the health data for asynchronous motors should be available without the need to rework the entire motor control solution.

Modular digital load management systems

Schneider Electric leads the way in making motor control adaptations and upgrades easier. Its design philosophy provides a complete scalable offer for motor protection and control for all stages of machine complexity. This extends to free digital design tools for helping machine builders to develop complete solutions tailored to their applications. These save time at every stage of the design process.

Integrating motor control gear into digital ecosystems

Modular digital load management systems spearhead the use of integrating motor control based DOL starters in digitised machines. They provide connectivity for transferring cyclic data from each motor to the edge control level for analytics and health monitoring.

With motor data in the digital ecosystem, its true value becomes clear by providing an IIoT-enabled architecture and platform. It integrates maintenance-related intelligent field devices and edge control with apps, analytics, and services within a cyber secure envelope. Making data from the machine level available in the cloud allows users to leverage it for better decision making.

Going digital with asynchronous motors

A new e-guide, “Efficient motor control solutions for smarter machines,” makes it easier for machine builders to take advantage of the latest motor control and protection solutions. It outlines three typical machine application settings and helps simplify the choice of the asynchronous motors protection and control technology by looking at it in terms of cost, functionality, modularity, and digitisation.

plify the choice of the asynchronous motors protection and control technology by looking at it in terms of cost, functionality, modularity, and digitisation.