Drives

An integral part of process control is the precise movement of material and machinery.  While the control system often contains the speed, tension, or position regulation and is capable of generating the PID control algorithm, the actual movement of the material or machinery is done by an electrical, pneumatic, or hydraulic system.

Electrical movement requires an AC, DC, servo, or stepping motor ranging from a few ounce inches of torque to thousands of horsepower.  Regardless of the size, each application requires good engineering design to precisely control the application.  The motor, electrical drive system, and the control application must work together to achieve the desired result.

IPACT has extensive drive system expertise and can furnish motors and power supplies to fit any drive system application.  We use the term drive system to differentiate from merely supplying motors and the motor power converters as these drive components are readily available from a number of electrical manufacturers.  A drive system consists of an engineered system of all the drive motors, power suppliers, regulators, and control automation tested and ready to be fully integrated into the customer’s process. 

Often this requires custom packaging of motor and field control powers systems, transformers, circuit breakers, M-contactors, dynamic braking resistors, isolators, instrumentation, and the control interface into a series of special cabinets designed to fit into a specific area.  This is especially important when a retrofit of older control is being done and it is desirable to install the new cabinets before the old control is decommissioned.

Process lines drives are often poorly designed because the application is over-simplified or not fully understood.  For example, bridle rolls in a process line function as tension multipliers and often do not contain sufficient control to allow them to react differently when operating in a motorizing or regenerating capacity.  Frequently the motors are adjusted to share load based on motor size rather than the desired tension profile across the bridle.  Material bending losses and inertia compensation designs are not adequate and line tensions fluctuate during line starting and stopping.  Roll slippage sometimes occurs and can impair product quality.  IPACT has extensive industry experience which gives us the ability to understand the application and design from a knowledge base, insuring that the drive system will perform properly under all conditions.

So if you are considering changing or modernizing your process drives, let us help insure that the drive system is properly designed and will fit with the application.  We will work with you to bring about the most cost effective solution.

Integrated Process Automation & Control Technologies