Sprint Electric unveils range of digital DC drives for heavy industry applications

The DC drives of Sprint Electric’s PLX range are available as two quadrant or regenerative four quadrant types. All models ranging from 650 to 2250 Amps (980 KW/1320 HP) are offered with two AC busbar position options: Either top entry or bottom entry. This means that for retrofit installations the two options make it easier to use the existing cabling and will save the cost of adding more expensive copper cabling; In new designs, the engineer has the choice of wiring options, which can save money and space when designing new control panels. This increased drive range is available as high voltage (690V AC) or standard voltage (480V AC) models. A 690V AC supply allows the use of 750V DC armature motors. Compared to the standard voltage this provides an increase in shaft power, up to 1500 KW/2000 HP for the 2250A model. That is 50 percent more power delivered without an increased cable size.

The PLX has an extensive range of software functions and fieldbus communications options such as Profibus, DeviceNet, CC-Link, EtherNet/IP, Modbus and CANopen. The Ethernet-based drive.web control system includes graphical configuration tools that provide diagnostics and configurability of all drives on the network, either locally or remotely via the Internet. The graphical tools allow the full configuration of the drives, provide service diagnostics, full documentation and an operator interface for local control. The drive.web control technology is cost-effective in systems of any size and complexity, without the need for a PLC or supervisory computer.

Sprint Electric offers a wide range of DC motor control, with over 150 models covering both 1 phase and 3 phase, regenerative and non-regenerative DC motor applications, together with field controllers and digital slip ring motor controllers. Sprint Electric’s full range of products include analogue and digital DC drives from 12 up to 2250 Amps. Whether in retrofits or original equipment, DC drives from Sprint Electric are being used in many different applications including metal processing, the pulp and paper industry, rubber and plastic processing, lifting equipment, food processing, leisure industries and many more.