Benefits of universal peripherals

There is a real danger in the specification of inverters for use in heavy-duty applications. Fresh from the manufacturer, most drives — even ones with onboard brake choppers — are not rated sufficiently for the braking demand of the application. Here, John Mitchell of CP Automation, discusses the benefits of using a universal brake chopper that works with any inverter.

Non-specialist engineers face an extremely complex task when asked to choose the correct inverter, resistor and brake-chopper combination for a project.

To help counteract this problem, CP Automation recommends using an external brake chopper unit that simplifies the process of inverter selection. Where an inverter doesn’t feature a built-in brake chopper, the new CP Automation unit, manufactured to the highest standards, supplies that functionality. It’s a universal model that works with any inverter, from any manufacturer.

However, the fact that a product is universal doesn’t simplify the selection process by itself. You also need to ensure that you choose the right integration and maintenance partner, so you are not tied into a limited range of drives from a limited range of manufacturers.

A good maintenance partner will provide an honest view of whether you already have the correct resistor and, if you don’t, supply one as part of a package to help meet your specific objectives.

For instance, if the original inverter already has a brake chopper onboard it may be that the Ohmic value of the existing resistor doesn’t meet the criteria of the new one. This can lead to damage to the drive system and its environment and in worst-case scenarios, create health and safety problems.

CP Automation's universal unit is very flexible and extremely simple. The maintenance engineer simply connects two wires from the drive’s DC Bus and two wires from the resistor, and the system is up and running.

An additional benefit of the product’s universal nature is that, should you install a brake chopper and inverter package and the inverter then fails, the end user can simply install any drive, from any manufacturer. The brake chopper and resistor package doesn’t tie the user to certain equipment, as the equivalent bought direct from the drives manufacturer would.

This means manufacturers can bring a production line back to full service quicker than if the brake chopper and resistor package worked with only one inverter model.

It is also possible to re-deploy inverters in use on less critical equipment to mission critical applications without fear of incompatibly. CP Automation's brake chopper even finds applications in motion control drive solutions, where it is equally applicable due to the common DC bus.

A DC bus drive system configuration provides users with significant advantages including design flexibility, higher efficiency and inverter power sharing as well as cost savings. These are realised through reduced cabling and fewer components — such as resistors and thermal devices.

CP Automation routinely keeps extensive stocks of brake choppers in its warehouses, with the smallest unit being 11kW continuous, 33kW peak, and the largest being 100 kW continuous, 360kW peak and users can parallel up above this to create BC units greater than 1MW.

In the drives industry there is a genuine belief that all AC inverters are created equal. This situation is exacerbated by the fact that inverters are often bought as commodity items, much like control gear. But the reality is that, at least with regard to dynamic braking, this couldn’t be further from the truth.

The brake chopper size conundrum

Many drives manufacturers design and build their products with a seventh Insulated-Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT), in the form of a brake chopper, incorporated into the device. Here, John Mitchell, global business development manager of CP Automation, looks at the dangers of taking your IGBT for granted.

Manufacturers often include a brake chopper up to a certain size of inverter, but beyond that size, they will expect customers to use an external unit. However, to reduce the cost of the drive to the end user, the seventh IGBT isn’t necessarily rated to the full power rating of the drive itself.

Most inverter manufactures will argue that the cost benefit of not rating the IGBT to the full capacity of the drive is more than worth the loss of braking capacity. Furthermore, there is an argument that this is a legitimate design decision - manufacturers will claim that a very high percentage of end user applications don’t actually the full braking capacity.

In very light duty applications, such as emergency stop applications for instance, underrating the built in brake chopper wouldn’t be a problem. In fact, anything that is up to ten per cent duty will be very unlikely to suffer any kind of issue at all.

In contrast, any kind of application where the drive system has to stop and start regularly, such as an elevator or conveyor, needs to pay more attention to the brake chopper.

The real problem is not the manufacturer’s decision to install a low capacity IGBT but the decision not to make this information very clear in the manual and the accompanying documentation.

The key point in any application is that the mechanical stopping of the load is just as important as selecting the drive system.

For instance, a fifty-metre crane that lowers at half a metre per second will clearly take 100 seconds to lower fully. It may only do that twice a day, but when it does, it is operating at full capacity - not 30 per cent or 50 per cent. From a chopper and resistor point of view, that is a continuous period that the drive's onboard brake chopper couldn’t cope with.

The drive manufacturer might argue this only represents 20 per cent duty, but that’s where the application knowledge of the integrator or maintenance team becomes crucial. During the 100 seconds of descent, the application is dumping more and more energy and the resistors are getting hotter and hotter. It could be quite dangerous to attempt this kind of application with an inadequately sized internal seventh IGBT.

The bottom line is that brake choppers should be sized for the worst case, not the cumulative case. If you're worried you might be ignoring your drive applications, get in touch with your friendly automation maintenance and repair specialist today.

Online buying for automation and control engineers

~ CP Automation and Euroserv launch new Web sites with e-commerce functionality at their heart ~


Independent Service Company CP Automation has launched new, e-commerce enabled, industrial repair and field service web sites for itself and its sister company Euroserv.


The two new sites cover the two company’s twin areas of focus; the supply, repair and field service of industrial electronic boards, PLC's, AC drives,resistors, DC drives and inverters. Both CP Automation and Euroserv provide an independent supply chain fulfilling their clients MRO needs; simply choosing the most appropriate product from any manufacturer for each job.

As well as online buying, the sites feature a host of information on technologies ranging from regenerative braking, dynamic braking and energy efficiency to electronic and electrical repairs and maintenance.

The two Web sites went live early in 2011 and the company's managing director Tony Young believes they are a reflection of the transformed purchasing methods in British industry. "Engineer's buying habits have changed hugely in the last decade," explained Young. “It’s now not unusual for automation companies to receive component orders without ever having spoken with the person buying the equipment. This is a huge contrast with the way the automation industry did business in the past, when salesmen’s visits, posted catalogues and reams of printed datasheets were the norm.”

One of the most innovative products on the two new sites is RevCon, a system which returns the energy produced when a motor slows down to the grid. RevCon can use a feed-in tariff, similar to those found on domestic and semi commercial wind turbines and can be retrofitted to any inverter, irrespective of design or manufacturer, thanks to its versatile non-software driven installation protocol. Because many motors, in applications such as pumps, fans, elevation and conveying are required to brake constantly as the application slows down and stops, the potential for saving with the unit is huge.

CP Automation’s Web site can be found at www.cpaltd.net, while Euroserv’s equivalent is www.euroservltd.net.

Ends: 337 words

Editor’s note: If you want to stay constantly up to date on the latest news from CP Automation, paste the following link into your RSS reader http://cpa-pr.blogspot.com/atom.xml. If you don’t have an RSS reader, I can recommend the following free package Sharp Reader.

For further information contact:
Tony Young, CP Automation
Unit 8, Ashley Industrial Estate, Exmoor Avenue,
Scunthorpe, DN15 8NJ
Telephone: +44 (0)1724 851 515
Fax: +44 (0)1724 851516
www: www.cpaltd.net and www.euroservltd.net
e-mail: tony.young@cpaltd.net

Press enquiries: Richard Stone
Business Innovation Centre, Staffordshire Technology Park,
Beaconside, Stafford, Staffordshire, ST18 0AR
Telephone: +44 (0) 1785 225416
e-mail: richards@stonejunction.co.uk
www: www.stonejunction.co.uk
Blog: www.stone-junction.blogspot.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/RichieStone

About CP Automation: CP Automation is a specialist in the repair and replacement of automation equipment including electronic boards, PLCs and AC and DC drives. It was established to provide an independent maintenance service, without exclusive ties to any manufacturer. However, it does have strong relationships with the principal inverter, encoder, resistors and motor manufacturers.

Ref: CPA045/12/10

New sites mark change in engineer’s buying habits

~ CP Automation and Euroserv launch new web sites outlining repair and field service offerings ~

Sister companies CP Automation and Euroserv have launched new Web sites, which outline the two company’s supply, repair and field service offerings. The two sites, www.cpaltd.net and www.euroservltd.net, detail the wide range of drives, motors, resistors and associated peripherals both companies offer, as well as their rapid fault identification and component failure analysis systems.

“We’re delighted to get both new sites online,” explained Tony Young, a director of the two companies. “The way we buy products in industry is changing as more and more items become commoditised. The inverter market for instance is now increasingly price driven, as the technology becomes cheaper and is duplicated across other elements of an industrial control system. As a result, features such as online buying are now becoming useful to engineers at the coal face. It seems anachronistic to say this in the age of social networking, Web 2.0 and engineering applications such as collaborative online design. However, our industry has always been relationship and expertise led and this has meant that until recently few engineers have wanted to buy from a Web site.”

The two companies specialise in the sale, repair and maintenance of industrial electronic boards, PLC's, AC drives, resistors, DC drives, encoders and inverters. The product range extends from simple, general purpose drives to mission critical systems requiring uncompromising control, enhanced intelligence, and high-speed communications capability. Both companies are entirely independent of any single manufacturer, instead boasting relationships with a host of suppliers including Control Techniques, Cressall Resistors, Emerson Industrial Automation and Gefran. As a result, CP Automation and Euroserv are able to offer the best, un-biased advice on any industrial automation application.

Ends: 294 words

Editor’s note: If you want to stay constantly up to date on the latest news from CP Automation, paste the following link into your RSS reader http://cpa-pr.blogspot.com/atom.xml. If you don’t have an RSS reader, I can recommend the following free package Sharp Reader.

For further information contact:
Tony Young, CP Automation
Unit 8, Ashley Industrial Estate, Exmoor Avenue,
Scunthorpe, DN15 8NJ
Telephone: +44 (0)1724 851 515
Fax: +44 (0)1724 851516
www: http://www.cpaltd.net/ and http://www.euroserveltd.net/
e-mail: tony.young@cpaltd.net

Press enquiries: Richard Stone
Stone Junction, 33 Kirkdale,
Sydenham, London, SE26 4BT
Telephone: +44 (0) 20 8699 7743
Fax: +44 (0) 20 8699 7743
e-mail: richards@stonejunction.co.uk
www: http://www.stonejunction.co.uk/

About CP Automation: CP Automation is a specialist in the repair and replacement of automation equipment including electronic boards, PLCs and Ac and DC drives. It was established to provide an independent maintenance service, without exclusive ties to any manufacturer. However, it does have strong relationships with the principal inverter, encoder, resistors and motor manufacturers.

Ref: CPA019/04/09

Appointment calls for an end to ‘line robbing’

~ New CP Automation field sales specialist calls for firms to take a longer view on maintenance ~

Allyn Richardson, the latest addition to the CP Automation field sales team, has called on manufacturers to stop using parts from moth-balled production lines to patch up active ones during the recession. He believes that a longer term predictive maintenance or planned maintenance schedule will be more profitable over a sustained period.

Richardson, who has recently joined CP Automation sister company Euroserv from maintenance and cleaning equipment business Safety Clean, understands that, during lull periods, production lines need to be turned off. However, the former retained fire fighter argues that scavenging parts from these lines will only lead to greatly increased costs when a ramp up in production is required.

“The situation can be compared to an automobile enthusiast who owns two classic cars,” explained Richardson, who has also worked as a quality manager for Tyneside Safety Glass, which manufactures bullet proof windscreens amongst other products. “If you take parts from one car to ensure the other is roadworthy, the one you leave in the garage will develop further problems while it’s inactive.”

Richardson, who is married with two children, has nearly thirty years experience in industry and has seen two previous recessions come and go in that time. As well as his work for Safety Clean and Tyneside Safety Glass, he was also employed for nearly twenty years by extrusion business Hydro Aluminium. Here he introduced a saw blade management system that significantly reduced costs and resulted in Richardson being awarded a coveted group award for delivering customer satisfaction.

Since joining Euroserv Richardson has already won significant new business for the company, in particular an account with a large procurement agent for a group of engineering businesses. However, he plans to focus on developing relationships with end users in the long term, in order to provide better service and value for money. “Maintenance is a person to person business,” offered Richardson. “Working direct with the client, instead of via an intermediary, means you can contact the customer direct to ensure they are happy. That’s what it’s all about really.”

Ends: 362 words

Editor’s note: If you want to stay constantly up to date on the latest news from CP Automation, paste the following link into your RSS reader http://cpa-pr.blogspot.com/atom.xml. If you don’t have an RSS reader, I can recommend the following free package Sharp Reader.

For further information contact:
Tony Young, CP Automation
Unit 8, Ashley Industrial Estate, Exmoor Avenue,
Scunthorpe, DN15 8NJ
Telephone: +44 (0)1724 851 515
Fax: +44 (0)1724 851516
www: http://www.cpaltd.net/ and http://www.euroserveltd.net/
e-mail: tony.young@cpaltd.net

Press enquiries: Richard Stone
Stone Junction, 33 Kirkdale,
Sydenham, London, SE26 4BT
Telephone: +44 (0) 20 8699 7743
Fax: +44 (0) 20 8699 7743
e-mail: richards@stonejunction.co.uk
www: http://www.stonejunction.co.uk/

About CP Automation: CP Automation is a specialist in the repair and replacement of automation equipment including electronic boards, PLCs and Ac and DC drives. It was established to provide an independent maintenance service, without exclusive ties to any manufacturer. However, it does have strong relationships with the principal inverter, encoder, resistors and motor manufacturers.

Ref: CPA33/04/09

Automation firm appoints new sales expert

~ Passionate environmental campaigner also highlights the history of woman in automation ~

Field service and maintenance specialist CP Automation has appointed long standing industry expert Jennie Gordon to the role of product sales manager. The new position will encompass both the CP brand and sister company Euroserv. Gordon has been in the automation industry since 1989, a time when there were few women in this niche of the once male dominated engineering industry.

Before joining CP Automation, Gordon worked for Betech Systems, a UK distributor for Baldor. Gordon explains, “I first joined Betech in telesales. But I take pride in knowing all about the thing I’m selling, so in the evenings I used to read American electric motor manuals. After three months I was offered a job as an internal sales engineer and later I moved into external sales, where I spent twelve years. My last role was as corporate sales manager.” Gordon went on to work for Coulstock & Place Engineering, her last position before joining CP Automation.

Gordon believes that the biggest highlight of her career has been making men understand, at board and shop floor level, that women have valuable engineering expertise to offer. “When I first moved into the automation industry, I encountered untold opposition. At that point there simply wasn’t the quantity of female engineers that we have now. Today, most people think it’s unusual to encounter a female engineer of my age but that hostility has gone in most places.” Gordon also includes tripling turnover at Betech amongst the experiences that have stayed with her throughout her career.

When asked about the standards of the industry in which CP Automation operates, Gordon responded with a passionate argument in favour of improving UK Plc’s environmental credentials. “I’m a green person and I think we waste too much in industry. Every business should invest in high efficiency motors run by inverters that will save energy. If everybody changed their EFF2 motors over to EFF1 motors we would see a phenomenal decrease in energy used. The same applies to fitting automatic sensor lights as a standard part of lean manufacturing initiatives.”

Gordon’s hopes for her time at CP Automation are simply to increase sales, although with typical ambition she argues the potential for this increase is ‘exponential’. “The thing about CP Automation is that its young company, with real ideas, argues Gordon. “It provides its staff with the backing to carry on doing what they are good at; it wants to develop its employees and help them develop the company in turn.”

Gordon is a funk jazz fan, and has a broad ranging interest in other kinds of music. Despite originating from Lancashire, she lives in Halifax, West Yorkshire and holidays in England. She believes that even as a sales engineer who constantly travels the UK, there are still countless sights to be seen within the country, further reinforcing her green credentials.

Ends: 484 words

Editor’s note: If you want to stay constantly up to date on the latest news from CP Automation, paste the following link into your RSS reader http://cpa-pr.blogspot.com/atom.xml. If you don’t have an RSS reader, I can recommend the following free package Sharp Reader.

For further information contact:
Tony Young, CP Automation
Unit 8, Ashley Industrial Estate, Exmoor Avenue,
Scunthorpe, DN15 8NJ
Telephone: +44 (0)1724 851 515
Fax: +44 (0)1724 851516
www: http://www.cpaltd.net/ and http://www.euroserveltd.net/
e-mail: tony.young@cpaltd.net

Press enquiries: Richard Stone
Stone Junction, 33 Kirkdale,
Sydenham, London, SE26 4BT
Telephone: +44 (0) 20 8699 7743
Fax: +44 (0) 20 8699 7743
e-mail: richards@stonejunction.co.uk
www: http://www.stonejunction.co.uk/

About CP Automation: CP Automation is a specialist in the repair and replacement of automation equipment including electronic boards, PLCs and Ac and DC drives. It was established to provide an independent maintenance service, without exclusive ties to any manufacturer. However, it does have strong relationships with the principal inverter, encoder, resistors and motor manufacturers.

Ref: CPA014/02/08

Keep it simple without a keeper

~ CP Automation announces service and repair technique ~

Field service and maintenance specialist CP Automation has announced a service and repair technique for DC drives, attached to permanent magnet motors, that is set to make in-house re-setting of the serviced drive a thing of the past. The technique dispenses with the use of a ‘keeper’, which normally acts as a substitute for the armature in the servicing procedure. Instead, the company de-magnetises the motor before repair and then re-magnetises it afterwards to the correct setting.

The company utilises a set of specialist tools, including a magnetising cabinet, as well as intellectual property built up over decades in the drives industry to apply the new technique.

The reason that the settings on DC drives attached to motors that have been serviced or re-wound in their lifetime are often incorrect is that there is something unique to be borne in mind when repairing or servicing a DC permanent magnet motor. The standard philosophy within the rewind industry is to remove the armature and replace it with a ‘keeper’; to stop the levels of the magnets degrading. However, older magnets, and the material used to manufacture some newer magnets, will degrade while the armature is being removed and the keeper is being put in its place. The same applies when the armature is put back in after repair or service. The result is increased RPM and lost torque, which may mean the motor draws more current, costing money and creating a greater environmental impact.

If the CPA process isn’t used, an in-house engineer has to re-set the DC drive to cope with the changes to the motor. As a result, all the systems in the plant eventually become unique and cease to be interchangeable. The only solution is to de-magnetise the motor before repairing it and then re-magnetise it to the correct level afterwards, as CP Automation does. The company derives the calculation for this from the speed and EMF (Electro Motive Force) settings on the name plate of the motor.

“Plant managers want to swap equipment around in the event of a breakdown or maintenance issue,” explained Tony Young, a director of CP Automation. “However, they often find that the DC drives attached to permanent magnet motors on different production lines have different settings – making it hard to interchange things easily. Our solution means that that the settings will be exactly as specified on the name plate, meaning they can be swapped around easily.”

Ends: 413 words

Editor’s note: If you want to stay constantly up to date on the latest news from CP Automation, paste the following link into your RSS reader http://cpa-pr.blogspot.com/atom.xml. If you don’t have an RSS reader, I can recommend the following free package Sharp Reader.

For further information contact:
Tony Young, CP Automation
Unit 8, Ashley Industrial Estate, Exmoor Avenue,
Scunthorpe, DN15 8NJ
Telephone: +44 (0)1724 851 515
Fax: +44 (0)1724 851516
www: http://www.cpaltd.net/ and http://www.euroserveltd.net/
e-mail: tony.young@cpaltd.net

Press enquiries: Richard Stone
Stone Junction, 33 Kirkdale,
Sydenham, London, SE26 4BT
Telephone: +44 (0) 20 8699 7743
Fax: +44 (0) 20 8699 7743
e-mail: richards@stonejunction.co.uk
www: http://www.stonejunction.co.uk/

About CP Automation: CP Automation is a specialist in the repair and replacement of automation equipment including electronic boards, PLCs and Ac and DC drives. It was established to provide an independent maintenance service, without exclusive ties to any manufacturer. However, it does have strong relationships with the principal inverter, encoder, resistors and motor manufacturers.

Ref: CPA011/01/08

Service and repair specialist launches independent motor business

~ CP Automation opens Tyne & Wear based sister company ~

Field service and maintenance specialist, CP Automation has opened a new business specifically to handle the repair and sales of specialist motors, notably AC and DC servos. Called Euroserv, the new business will also deal with associated products such as inverters, resistors and encoders. The Tyne & Wear based business has already established client relationships with companies including Nissan, Rolls Royce and SIEMENS.

The new business is a source of mechanical expertise, which complements CP Automation’s existing in-depth understanding of electronic boards, PLCs (Programmable Logic Controllers) and AC and DC drives. The business was deliberately located in the North East in order to be close to customers and to tap into the expertise of key senior appointments in the area. On an ongoing basis the management team feels that the region offers the correct mix of available skills to allow for expansion of the business. Opening Euroserv entailed the creation of two new jobs in the local area as well as the deployment of some existing CP Automation staff.

“We opened this business to deal with the repair or economical replacement of motors from an independent standpoint,” explained Tony Young, a director of both CP Automation and Euroserv. “Too many maintenance and repair services focus on a single manufacturer. From an improvement perspective, this defeats the object. The best fit for any application may not always be the original piece of equipment that was chosen.”

The services offered by Euroserv include Megger testing of power output and input stages using a unique range of techniques for voltage leakage and short circuit testing. The company also offers V-I testing on all power devices for open circuit and temperature failures. Another service is the replacement of all power section, low voltage, high frequency electrolytic capacitors with 105C high performance low ESR units. Motors are also cleaned to negate the effects of dust contamination. Another option would be load, functionality and soak testing on an appropriate motor in industrial machine simulated conditions for extended periods of time.

Repair and replacement projects have already been completed on AC servo motors, DC servo motors, geared servo motors, AC brushless servo motors, AC spindle motors, router motors, standard motors, high frequency AC motors, DC shunt motors, printed circuit motors, tachogenerators and all types of resolver.

Ends: 398 words

Editor’s note: If you want to stay constantly up to date on the latest news from CP Automation, paste the following link into your RSS reader http://cpa-pr.blogspot.com/atom.xml. If you don’t have an RSS reader, I can recommend the following free package Sharp Reader.

For further information contact:
Tony Young, CP Automation
Unit 8, Ashley Industrial Estate, Exmoor Avenue,
Scunthorpe, DN15 8NJ
Telephone: +44 (0)1724 851 515
Fax: +44 (0)1724 851516
www: http://www.cpaltd.net/ and http://www.euroserveltd.net/
e-mail: tony.young@cpaltd.net

Press enquiries: Richard Stone
Stone Junction, 33 Kirkdale,
Sydenham, London, SE26 4BT
Telephone: +44 (0) 20 8699 7743
Fax: +44 (0) 20 8699 7743
e-mail: richards@stonejunction.co.uk
www: http://www.stonejunction.co.uk/

About CP Automation: CP Automation is a specialist in the repair and replacement of automation equipment including electronic boards, PLCs and Ac and DC drives. It was established to provide an independent maintenance service, without exclusive ties to any manufacturer. However, it does have strong relationships with the principal inverter, encoder, resistors and motor manufacturers.

Ref: CPA001/05/07

CP Automation and Euroserv advertising

This advert is used to promote Euroserv in the electrical, industrial, maintenance and elevation trade press.

This advert is used to promote CP Automation in the electrical, industrial, maintenance and elevation trade press.

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