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Next-generation drives offer 3ms scan times

10 December, 2013

Mitsubishi Electric has previewed its next generation of general-purpose VSDs (variable speed drives) at the SPS IPC Drives show in Germany. The company also showed a new 690V addition to its earlier FR-A700 series.

The new Mitsubishi FR-A800 inverters, which will go sale during the first half of 2014, incorporate faster processors for improved control performance and response rates. They will cover an extended output range from 750W to 1MW and will be able to drive both standard asynchronous motors and IPM/SPM permanent magnet motors.

The auto-tuning inverters will provide sensorless vector control up to 400Hz, and an overload capability of 250% during start-up. Minimum terminal scan times of less than 3ms will guarantee quick response times, while speed rise times of less than 80ms will help to boost performance and improve productivity.

“The FR-A800 series comes with numerous protective, safety and overload functions, high-quality temperature-resistant capacitors, continuously-lubricated, encapsulated cooling fans and double-coated control and circuit boards,” says Oliver Endres, Mitsubishi’s European inverter product manager. “Integrated maintenance timers indicate component fatigue. All of these features increase the equipment availability by providing predictive and condition-based maintenance functionalities.”

There are three expansion slots for option and communications cards, and the drives will support 11 networks including CC-Link, SSCNET, Profibus-DP, Profinet, Ethernet/IP, EtherCat, LONworks and Modbus RTU. They will incorporate functional safety up to PLe / SIL3 and four overload functions. Also built in are soft-PLC and absolute positioning functions.

USB host and device functions will offer user-friendly programming and parameterisation, as well as datalogging. The drives can store parameters before and after an incident for subsequent troubleshooting. A built-in operator panel with a text display and real-time clock allows intuitive operation, and the new drives will integrate with Mitsubishi’s iQ Works programming environment.

They are backwards-compatible with the earlier FR-A700 series, allowing parameters to be copied and components to be replaced easily and safely. To match response times of machines using the earlier drives, the FR-A800’s I/O signals can be delayed.

Mitsubishi's new FR-A800 drives incorporate faster processors

Initially the new drives will be available with IP20 protection, with IP54 versions planned for the end of 2014.

Mitsubishi also used the SPS show to launch a 690V addition to its FR-A700 inverter family. There are two models of the FR-A770 inverters with motor-rated capacities of 355kW and 560kW, and overload capacities of 150% for 60s. They are aimed at tasks requiring high speed and torque quality.

The 690V drives use sensorless vector control for speed and torque control in open-loop applications, as well as for positioning in closed-loop applications. They can be used with servo drives, while plug-and-play integration in positioning systems can be achieved via SSCNET III. The inverters can also be used as leading-axis drives. Integrated PLC functions allow direct access to the drive parameters and can control and monitor plant autonomously, if required.

Mitsubishi says it has already sold more than 18 million drives worldwide.




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