Rockwell Automation: Leading Innovation in Industrial Automation with PowerFlex® Drives

Rockwell Automation stands at the forefront as the industrial landscape continues to evolve, driving innovation with its PowerFlex® drives. The company's commitment aims to enhance productivity through integrated control and information systems. This article delves into the key features and technological advancements of PowerFlex® drives, highlighting how they cater to modern industry demands.

With around 29,000 employees and fiscal 2023 sales of approximately $9 billion, Rockwell Automation operates in over 100 countries. The company emphasizes above-market growth, productivity, and intellectual capital to create value for its stakeholders. Its global support infrastructure includes remote support centers across major regions, ensuring high customer satisfaction and rapid response times.

Versatile PowerFlex® Drive Series: Tailored Solutions for Every Application

1. PowerFlex 753 & 755: The PowerFlex 753 & 755 series offers a range from 1 to 1800 Hp / 0.75 to 1400 kW, featuring speed, torque, and position control, with an XT option for Frame 8 & 9, a 6-pulse drive, and FORCE Technology.
2. PowerFlex 755TS: The PowerFlex 755TS provides a range from 1 to 400 Hp / 0.75 to 270 kW, featuring speed, torque, and position control, an XT option, CIP Security, a 6-pulse drive, and TotalFORCE Technology.
3. PowerFlex 755TL/TR: The PowerFlex 755TL/TR offers a range from 10 to 6000 Hp / 7.5 to 4500 kW, featuring speed, torque, and position control, XT standard, a liquid-cooled option, regeneration and low harmonic capabilities, and TotalFORCE Technology.
4. PowerFlex 755TM: The PowerFlex 755TM covers a range of 250 to 6000 Hp / 160 to 4500 kW (AC) and 70 to 4800 kW (DC). It features speed, torque, position control, the XT standard, a common bus drive system, AFE or 6-pulse supply, non-regenerative bus supply, and TotalFORCE Technology.

Maximize Motor Performance with PowerFlex® Drives Featuring TotalFORCE® Technology

PowerFlex® Drives with TotalFORCE® Technology offer total control over your motors with optimized velocity and torque control for multiple motor types and adaptive control capabilities. They provide total visibility into the health of drive components, maximizing uptime with scheduled maintenance tailored to your usage and environment. Additionally, they deliver total command over your drives through a unified platform, featuring the same control architecture and network interface for both Low-Voltage and Medium-Voltage drives, resulting in a simplified user experience.

Comprehensive Medium Voltage Drive Portfolio: Advanced Integration and Versatile Cooling Options

The Medium Voltage Drive Portfolio for the Powerflex 6000T features premier integration with the Studio 5000 Environment, a simple power structure, safe torque-off and arc-resistant design, and virtually unlimited cable lengths. It includes air-cooled models ranging from 200 to 8000 Hp / 150 to 6000 kW, liquid-cooled models from 1250 to 9000 Hp / 930 to 6700 kW, and ratings of 2.3, 3.3, 4.16, 6.6, and 11 kV, with configurations including direct-to-drive, AFE rectifier, and 18, 36, and 54-pulse rectifiers.

Key Features of PowerFlex® Drives

1. Low Harmonic Compliance

The PowerFlex series meets and complies with the IEEE 519 Low Harmonic Standard through its built-in AFE or transformer, ensuring minimal harmonic distortion in electrical systems.

IEEE 519 is a standard that addresses harmonic distortion limits in electrical power systems, aiming to reduce interference and maintain power quality by setting limits on the levels of harmonic currents and voltages that can be present.

2. Power Loss Ride-Through

The PowerFlex 755T is certified SEMI F47 to withstand voltage sag power quality events and is equipped with a Power Loss ride-through feature, allowing the drive to continue operating during short-term power losses.

SEMI F47 is a standard developed by the Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI) organization, specifying the equipment's requirements to handle voltage sags and dips in semiconductor manufacturing environments. It aims to ensure that equipment can tolerate brief interruptions in power without malfunctioning or causing damage, thus maintaining reliability and reducing downtime.

3. AI-Enabled

PowerFlex can be equipped with additional machine learning AI algorithms to detect anomalies in assets such as pumps, fans, and motors.

4. Extra Tough Corrosion Protection

The PF755T is the first standard VSD in the world to utilize extra protection for corrosive gas environments, providing the highest GX/CX level of corrosive protection for your device.

5. Predictive Maintenance

Using Rockwell's patented technology, PowerFlex can predict its component lifetime, ensuring high availability and efficiency through advanced predictive maintenance.

6. High Serviceability Design

PowerFlex is designed for high serviceability. Its modular design allows for easy maintenance and reduces mean time to repair (MTTR).

7. Adaptive Control

1. Adaptive Tuning: These features ensure that adaptive tuning helps increase machine reliability and performance by monitoring drive performance characteristics and adapting them as necessary. It also automatically suppresses potentially harmful resonance and vibration conditions and can indicate machine wear over time.
2. Load Observer: Load Observer helps reduce startup time by reducing the effort needed for tuning and automatically monitors and compensates for load changes. It also compensates for normal machine wear and provides consistent dynamic behaviour.
3. Bus Observer: This increases reliability by reducing resonance probability and accounting for dynamic DC bus conditions. It also reduces the startup time needed for tuning and automatically monitors and compensates for line changes.

8. Automatic Device Configuration (ADC)

The PF755T includes all the premier integration features of the previous family, including Automatic Device Configuration (ADC), which ensures plug-and-play replacement in VSD systems.

Integration with FactoryTalk® Analytics™ GuardianAI™

Combining FactoryTalk® Analytics™ GuardianAI™ software with PowerFlex 755TL, TR, and TM VFDs provides an unprecedented view into the health of your plant assets. This integration continuously monitors variable frequency drives (VFDs) and plant assets, alerting you to potential issues before they become critical.

This predictive maintenance approach provides actionable insights that can reduce risk, optimize maintenance plans, and ensure more reliable application operation. By identifying problems early, you gain valuable time to plan and act, avoiding costly downtime and unplanned repairs.

Maintenance Planning Challenges

1. Reactive Approach
   • A reactive approach involves running equipment to failure and only performing maintenance when a problem occurs. This leads to unexpected equipment failures, expensive repairs, unplanned downtime, and lost production during extended downtime events.
2. Proactive Approach
   • A proactive approach involves regular, scheduled maintenance based on time intervals or equipment manufacturer recommendations. This can lead to unnecessary, frequent planned downtimes, an increased need for maintenance resources, and potentially expensive asset maintenance or replacements.

Analyzing Data at the Source

• Edge Deployment: In edge deployment scenarios, the edge manager plays a crucial role in coordinating manual container deployment to ensure that applications run efficiently on edge devices
• Edge Analytics: Using Edge Analytics, FactoryTalk Analytics Guardian AI processes data locally and deploys on a VM or edge device to provide real-time asset monitoring and anomaly detection. It generates anomaly warning tags to alert operators of potential issues.
• Control Layer: The control layer integrates the HMI (Human-Machine Interface) to provide operators with an intuitive interface for monitoring and controlling industrial processes
• Drives/Monitoring: The PowerFlex series (755, 755T, 6000T) is essential for drives and monitoring, offering advanced control and diagnostics to enhance the performance and reliability of industrial systems.
• Example Assets: In industrial settings, pumps, fans/blowers, and motors are critical components that require regular monitoring and maintenance to ensure optimal performance.

Advantages of FactoryTalk® Analytics™ GuardianAI™ for Predictive Maintenance

1. Use Existing Drives as Sensors: Use existing devices to gain more insights from your equipment data.
2. No Data Science Expertise Required: No data science expertise is required; empower your OT professionals with easy-to-use machine learning tools.
3. Advance from Anomaly Detection to Anomaly Identification: Advance from anomaly detection to anomaly identification by minimizing investigation time with contextual information about the type of failure likely to occur.
4. Analyze at the Edge: Analyze at the edge to provide near real-time predictions without the need for cloud infrastructure overhead.

Transforming Industrial Maintenance: Integrating FactoryTalk® Analytics™ GuardianAI™ with PowerFlex® Drives

Integrating FactoryTalk® Analytics™ GuardianAI™ with PowerFlex® 755T-Series Variable Frequency Drives (VFDs) marks a transformative leap in industrial automation and maintenance. This advanced solution facilitates a shift from traditional reactive and scheduled maintenance approaches to a sophisticated predictive maintenance model. It enhances operational reliability and efficiency by offering continuous monitoring, real-time alerts, and actionable insights.

The synergy between advanced analytics and robust VFD technology mitigates risks, optimizes maintenance strategies, and ensures maximum uptime and performance. As industrial automation evolves, this innovative approach will be pivotal in shaping the future of industrial maintenance, driving operational excellence, and achieving sustained success.

Contact Us To Know More About The Integration of FactoryTalk® Analytics™ GuardianAI™ with PowerFlex® Drives For Predictive Maintenance