The first ever drive system incorporating Direct Torque Control (DTC) inverters on a common DC bus has been launched by ABB.  The ACS 600 MultiDrive uses DTC to give excellent performance with or without pulse encoder on demanding applications, such as rollers and conveyors in the paper and metals industries. This ensures consistent product quality in demanding processes and dramatically reduces waste, according to ABB.

With a common DC bus system, only one DC rectifier is needed for several inverters, rather than one rectifier per inverter as in single drives. Each inverter section independently controls the speed of a motor. This uses 25% less space than equivalent single drives, less cabling and gives higher energy efficiency. Costs are saved, for example, by direct motor to motor braking . Thus, less energy is taken from the electricity supply.
Any DTC inverter section, from 2.2kW to 4 300kW, can be included in the ACS 600 MultiDrive. Inverter sections can be added to the DC bus after installation to accommodate plant expansions, which is said to be easier and less costly than adding an entire drive.
Users of ABB's DTC drives have reported substantial capital cost reductions as in many applications encoders are no longer needed. "We expect remarkable savings to be obtained by MultiDrive users", comments Panu Rahikka, Sales Manager.

Reduced costs
The drive system reduces process operation costs by using the same software as the ACS 600 drives family. Users familiar with the ACS 600 standard drives, will recognise the MultiDrive's set-up and operation, which helps reduce commissioning time and training costs.
Reliability is higher than for other DC bus systems as the fast response of DTC means that the inverter sections are virtually tripless under heavy loads. ABB's drive system can start in all motor electromagnetic and mechanical states due to a "Flying start" feature. For example, if a fan is windmilling, the MultiDrive can start instantaneously, unlike other drives which need to wait for the fan to stop spinning, claims ABB.

Control Interface
Control of the drive system can be either through the ACS 600 standard software linked to a control panel or via a PC for simple applications such as pumping. For more complex applications such as paper machines, an application controller is built-in, which has all the hardware and software facilities for the specific application. One controller can control up to 12 inverter sections and for large systems, several application controllers can be linked by fieldbuses.

For further information please contact:
ABB Industry Oy
Drives / System AC Division
Panu Rahikka, Sales Manager
PO Box 184
FIN-00381 Helsinki, Finland
Tel: +358 10 222 000
Fax: +358 10 222 2681
http://www.abb.com/vsd

ABB Industry (Pty) Ltd
David V. Sheldon
P.O. Box 11494
1457 Randhart, South Africa
Tel: +27 11 567 5340
Fax: +27 11 9080 2061
http://www.abb.com/vsd

ABB S.R.O.
Vladimir Lexa
Vinohradska 184
13052 Prague 3, Czech Republic
Tel: +420 2 6713 2387
Fax: +420 2 6713 2384
http://www.abb.com/vsd

S.A. ABB N.V.
Nadine Meesen
Hoge Wei 27
1930 Zaventem
Tel: +32 2 718 66 72
Fax +32 2 718 64 40
http://www.abb.com/vsd

ABB Industria
Fausto Belotti
Viale Edison 50
20099 Sesto San Giovanni, Milano
Tel: +39 2 2623 2732
Fax: +39 2 2623 2979
http://www.abb.com/vsd

ABB Systemen B.V.
Postbus 2714
3000 CS Rotterdam
Marten Meesweg 5
3068 AV Rotterdam
Hans Damen
Tel.: +31 10 407 8262
Fax: +31 10 407 8433
http://www.abb.com/vsd

ABB Industrie AG
Fachpressestelle I-PI
Max Berner
Postfach
5401 Baden
Tel: 056 486 88 32
Fax: 056 486 73 32
E-Mail: industrie.ag@chind.mail.abb.com
Internet: http://www.abb.ch/industrie

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