Wear-free solid-state starter is ‘1,000 times faster’
8 November 2024 
Siemens Smart Infrastructure has announced its first fully electronic motor starter which, it says, offers short-circuit protection that is 1,000 times faster than conventional devices such as circuit breakers or fuses, and is almost wear-free. This ensures optimal protection for motors as well as other loads and the applications in which they are used.
The compact Simatic ET 200SP e-Starter requires minimal space in control cabinets, and is expected to be attractive to sectors such as food & beverage and intralogistics, where high-efficiency motors are used in demanding applications such as driving conveyors or pumps. Malfunctions and failures in these applications can quickly lead to considerable damage and costs. The electronic motor starters will not only switch motors reliably, but also protect them against overloads and short circuits. It can be used anywhere in the world.
The starter uses SiC Mosfets (silicon carbide metal-oxide semiconductor field-effect transistors) for ultra-fast, wear-free switching.
Conventional feeders with short-circuit protection devices have relatively slow response times. When a short circuit occurs, they often need to be replaced. By contrast, the e-Starter detects short circuits extremely quickly and switches off in less than 4µs, making it around 1,000 times faster. It offers unlimited short-circuit shutdowns and does not need to be replaced after being tripped, increasing availability and cutting storage costs for replacement parts.
High inrush currents are typical for high-efficiency motors – for example, those in energy efficiency classes IE3 and IE4 – and this can lead to unintended trips of protection devices. The phase-optimised switching and “Smart Start” capabilities of the new starter neutralise the inrush currents, reducing starting currents and therefore the electrical load on the grid during start-up. In addition, the torque surges that occur during a direct start are much smaller, reducing mechanical wear. This means that less maintenance is needed.
“Our fully electronic e-Starter is a real innovation that offers many benefits over traditional electromechanical or hybrid motor starters,” says Andreas Matthé, CEO of Electrical Products at Siemens Smart Infrastructure. “We developed it in close consultation with potential users. That is why it responds to their challenges exactly as needed. It makes demanding motors and applications more available, durable, and user-friendly than ever before.
“Siemens is the first manufacturer with a fully electronic starter that is completely integrated into ET 200SP and TIA Portal and specifically addresses two challenges in the industrial sector – applications prone to short circuits, and high current peaks when starting high-efficiency motors,” he adds.
The e-starter will typically be used in areas where short circuits occur frequently. In the food industry, for example, the high-pressure fluids used to deep-clean conveyor systems can cause short circuits on worn cables between starters and motors that move the conveyor belts, resulting in costly downtime. The new starter detects short-circuit currents extremely quickly and switches them off immediately, preventing the potentially damaging currents from occurring in the first place
Once the cause of the short circuit has been eliminated, the device is immediately ready to be switched on again. Procuring spare parts or replacing devices – as has previously often been needed after short circuits – is no longer required.
The e-Starters integrate with Siemens’ Totally Integrated Automation (TIA) platform. Detailed system diagnostics are possible without needing any programming. Project planning, parameterisation and commissioning are simplified using the large amounts of data available when using Simatic Step 7 in TIA Portal. Automatic re-parameterisation makes it easy to replace devices during operation (hot swapping).
The starter has been designed to be sustainable, operating efficiently and minimising the use of materials, thus earning it Siemens’ EcoTech label. In addition to using recycled materials, the e-starter promises longer, more efficient service lives.
