The mining industry is challenging, and ABB operates accordingly to the highest standard of occupational health and safety excellence and remains constantly vigilant in carrying out its duty of care. ABB’s combined efforts and commitment allows it to achieve a continuing improvement in its safety record. The machines and equipment used in mining must provide reliable, safe and efficient operation in hot, humid and dusty environments. ABB’s low voltage AC drives and high efficiency motors are designed to meet motor-driven application challenges found in the most hostile locations. Together with extensive mining experience and a wide portfolio of life cycle services, ABB is well positioned to tackle the industry’s most demanding situations. Recent years have seen a significant increase in the level of automation and, in particular, the use of low voltage AC drives within the mining industry. Automation leads to less man power and increased safety in production, while optimizing the process and making control easier, faster and more efficient.

Replacing traditional control with variable-speed drives Low voltage AC drives are primarily used to adjust the speed and/or torque of standard AC motors. AC drives, together with induction motors, replace DC and slip-ring motors along with their control systems. AC drives also replace the need for starters, cascade drives, hydraulic speed control, mechanical gears, fan inlet vane control, fan damper control and many other techniques of regulating the speed of electric motors used throughout the mining industry. From surface to underground mining, there are hundreds of motor-driven applications that benefit from the speed and/or torque control offered by ABB drives for mining equipment. The ever stricter targets to improve productivity and reduce energy costs are often the main reasons for selecting drives. The following benefits of ABB drives for mining equipment can be attained using ABB low voltage AC drives. Constant changing of environmental regulations are forcing mining companies to find more energy-efficient and environmentally friendlier drilling techniques. The varying soil quality also requires a drill motor that is able to adjust its speed continuously. Low voltage AC drives help meet these challenges.

The drive controls the drill motor speed, ensuring the correct drilling impact is achieved for the particular soil quality. Because the motor speed is raised or lowered depending on the type of soil, the energy use is considerably reduced compared to that of hydraulic or pneumatic drilling systems. Environmental impact is lower by avoiding hydraulic liquids or compressed-air. Below are the benefits of using variable frequency drives for mining equipment:

• High uptime
• Unrivalled energy efficiency
• Extended machinery lifetime
• Lower investment, installation, operational and maintenance costs
• Improved safety and comfortable working environment Whether pumps, fans, conveyors, compressors, drills, crushers or excavators

The mining industry is a big energy user and as such is a major contributor to the emission of greenhouse gases. Replacing fixed speed motors with ABB drives for mining equipment can significantly reduce the energy consumed and the greenhouse gas emissions generated. ABB has the expertise and tools, such as its energy appraisal, to quickly identify which motor-driven applications can benefit. A replacement drive scheme is available for upgrading older, inefficient drives for new, space saving and highly efficient versions. Following an assessment of a plant, ABB helps select a replacement drive with improved efficiency and features relevant to the application.

Expertise – Variable Frequency Drives For Mining Equipment

ABB variable frequency drives for mining equipment are designed from a wealth of knowledge and expertise on all aspects of drive systems throughout the mining sector. ABB has dedicated experts who understand motor-driven mining applications and can offer the quickest route to a profitable solution, without forgetting personnel safety and environmental responsibility. Leading technology in design and production For over 100 years, ABB has consistently invested a large proportion of its turnover in research and development, working closely with some of the world’s leading universities and institutions. The result is the most advanced range of low voltage AC drives in the market, designed to meet the specific needs of various mining applications. This has also led to several patents for leading edge technology within ABB drives. This cooperation contributes to the safety of ABB’s products and personal safety of mining equipment users. ABB can exploit the latest component technology when designing its drive products. This results in improved quality of ABB variable frequency drives for mining equipment and in enhanced component quality. ABB’s drive manufacturing facilities are equipped with the most modern assembly lines using the latest production techniques and advanced software.

Access to authoritative technical advice ABB constantly monitors all legislation, regulations, directives and standards, not only ensuring that its products comply but by offering sound advice to customers. ABB’s expertise extends throughout mining operations and their entire electrical installation. ABB’s engineers can advise on the correct selection, dimensioning, installation, operation and maintenance of drives, motors, transformers, relays, switches, contactors through to transducers and meters. Advice is available on long cabling, weak networks, protection functions, harmonics, EMC, power factor correction, mounting options and air flow requirements. Using harmonic filters on ABB variable frequency drives for mining equipment will eliminate the severe plant disruptions caused by harmonic disturbances in electrical equipment. ABB offers proven ways to assess your vulnerability to harmonic problems and your need for filters. Throughout mining, the consumption of inductive reactive power is significant. Reactive power compensation equipment offered by ABB helps minimize the amount of reactive power. In many applications there is a need to interface the drives with external systems. ABB has the expertise in all high performance communication protocols including PROFIBUS DP, Devicenet, CANopen and Modbus fieldbus.

To learn more about ABB variable frequency drives for mining equipment, or for ABB drive repair and ABB drive replacement quotes, contact Precision Electric, Inc.

Today, VFD machine safety technology is making the previously-complicated job of implementing a machine safety system much easier. Recent technical advances make safer operation less complex, while at the same time offering new potential for productivity. New developments in drive-based functional safety contribute to greater overall protection of people, machines and ecosystems. The aim is to help make VFD machine safety, and especially drive-based functional safety, easier for machine safety professionals.

In any industrial process it is critically important that when something goes wrong, the machinery is quickly and safely brought to a safe state, which usually means stopped. Once stopped it must not start unexpectedly. Depending on the application and its work cycles, machines may also need to operate at reduced speed during specific times. Any malfunction in machine control can result in hazardous situations leading to serious injury, or even death, with disastrous effects for the company, its people and its image. Ultimately, machine builders and system integrators have the responsibility for ensuring that any product or machine they supply is safe. It must be designed by following safety principles and must comply with relevant directives, standards and national laws. The machine’s end user has responsibility extending through the entire lifecycle of an industrial system. It is thus vitally important that safety planning is included from the very start of any machine design process. This way safety becomes a natural, functional part of the machinery and not an afterthought.

Drive-Based / VFD Machine Safety

Drive-based functional safety simplifies the task because drive safety functions are certified and integrated into the drive system. Safety is important in industrial applications involving motors, drives and programmable logic controllers. VFD machine safety is achieved by identifying and reducing risks to an acceptable level. Risk reduction is done by an inherently safe design and by applying risk-reducing protection measures. When done correctly, these measures can be flexible, reliable and easy-to-use. They also bring solid economic benefits such as increased productivity and uptime, without generating additional risks. The job of implementing a VFD machine safety system is today easier thanks to three main factors:

First, modern electronics enable safety functions to be directly integrated into a drive’s safety logic, so functional safety is a standard feature of the drive. Second, legislation has kept pace with these advancements, with new
standards that define the requirements and provides guidelines for implementing machinery safety. Third, engineering companies such as ABB have developed a wide range of safety devices and solutions that are easy to integrate in industrial applications for improved safety, uptime and functionality.

These three factors have enabled VFD machine safety solutions that can be more effective in preventing accidents, less costly to implement, easier to adapt and more reliable than previous hardwired electromechanical systems. Electromechanical safety systems are the result and can now be replaced with electronic safety functions. Built directly into the drive’s safety logic, the safety functions work seamlessly, side-by-side with the drive´s normal control functions.

Drives control movements such as motor speed and torque in industrial applications like conveyors and cranes. As levels, complexity and modularity of industrial automation increase, drive-based functional safety is fast becoming an important part of overall safety design for industrial processes. When sensing a hazardous situation a drive-based functional safety system can react in several ways. It might, for example, initiate an emergency stop based on user input. Or if it detects an out of control situation such as system overspeed, it can stop a process in a controlled and orderly way.

In larger systems with several drives, control of the overall safety system can be done using a safety PLC, which activates drive-based safety functions when required in the whole system. Functional safety can be easily achieved with safety devices that are, themselves, already certified to the most relevant functional safety standards. ABB drives include many certified safety functions either as standard, or are offered as options. ABB has put great emphasis on building safety functionality into its drives. ABB offers cost-efficient safety solutions with their drives, PLCs, and a full range of safety relays and contactors, emergency stop switches and other safety devices. Depending on the needed machinery safety, ABB VFD machine safety solutions can range from one drive to an entire system of drives. Compared to the traditional safety solution, integrated drive-based functional safety includes the same functionality but it is simply built into the drive. The most basic functionality level is the STO circuit inside the drive which can safely disable the drive’s power stage, thus eliminating any need for a motor contactor.

ABB’s offering of low voltage AC drives with STO as a standard feature are included on the following ABB products: ACS880, ACS580, ACS850, ACS355, ACQ810, ACSM1 and MicroFlex e150.  The ACS800 drives have ABB STO (safe torque option) built-in as an optional feature.

Summary – VFD Machine Safety

The industrial environment is full of moving machine parts which can cause hazardous situations and lead to severe and often permanent injuries. The role of functional VFD machine safety is to protect people, property and ecosystems from often preventable accidents. It is therefore the ultimate responsibility of device suppliers, machine builders and system integrators to ensure that the products they deliver are safe.Safety for machines is achieved by complying with relevant safety directives and standards. In the EU, the EHSR which machine builders must comply with are defined in the Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC and the harmonized standards under this directive. For machine builders outside of EU the IEC/ISO versions of the EU’s harmonized standards provide the necessary requirements and guidance.

Drives have been used for decades in many industrial applications. Where safety in automation systems once required many external add-on devices, the ever-increasing levels of automation employed in industry combined with the electronic technical capability of many modern drives and safety PLCs, mean drive systems now contribute greatly to the overall safety of a system. Today, new and improved safety solutions and standards enable VFD machine safety to become an integrated part of drive functionality. Drive-based functional safety means providing drive-based motion control that protects people, property and ecosystems. ABB drives offer many features that can help the safety designers achieve the required level of safety, in a cost-effective way.

For ABB VFD Repair or Replacement Quotes, Contact Precision Electric, Inc. To learn more about VFD machine safety or for more information about ABB drives, please visit the ABB Website.