What are the benefits of a motor starter with Safe Torque Off?

 


Drive-based security has been accessible for about 20 years. Today, it is frequent to specify inverter drives and servo drives with vital protection features such as Safe Torque Off (STO) and Safely Limited Speed (SLS). In contrast, security features have now no stronger motor starters in identical ways. Recently, however, the alternative press and social media have been carrying bulletins about the new Wieland podis MS 5HP motor starter with STO. I’ve been in contact with Wieland’s protection professional in the UK, Kevan Cowley, to check out what are the advantages of a motor starter with Safe Torque Off?


First of all, motor starters with imperative protection features are no longer new. For example, there is the Schneider Electric TeSys Hybrid motor starter with secure torque off, the Siemens SIRIUS 3RM1 fail-safe motor starter, and the Phoenix Contact hybrid motor starters. These have been on the market for a few years. But Wieland’s product differs from these in a few necessary ways:


IP65 safety makes it appropriate for mounting without delay on the desktop besides an enclosure;

AS-i Fieldbus connectivity simplifies the transmission of repute and diagnostic records to the desktop controller and HMI; and

the energy ranking is 0.25 kW to four kW, so one starter can be used with many distinct motors.

Where would you use a motor starter with Safe Torque Off?

Typical purposes for a motor starter with Safe Torque Off consist of conveyors and baggage coping with systems. Others are end-of-line packaging tools and equipment with constant-speed motors wanting a diploma of decentralized control. Note that IP65 safety and AS-i compatibility make the Wieland product higher applicable to these purposes than motor starters with decreased ingress safety scores and no Fieldbus connectivity.


However, test first how a whole lot power you may want to retail by way of the usage of a variable-speed power (VSD). Energy costs these days are so a lot greater than they have been 12 months ago. As a result, the ROI (return on investment) for a VSD ought to be higher than you think. Could you keep power by controlling motor speeds to suit various load demands?


What are the blessings of a motor starter with Safe Torque Off?

Don’t suppose of the podis MS 5HP as a motor starter with Safe Torque Off. Instead, suppose it as a decentralized motor starter that you can mount on the laptop and manipulate remotely. Consequently, you want much less cupboard house and you can limit the quantity of wiring. This affords the desktop builder or machine integrator with financial savings in phrases of time and copper. Importantly, the STO characteristic allows the managed machine to energy down the motor to a secure circumstance remotely.


Of course, the starter desires IP65 ingress safety for mounting on the machine. Also, manipulating the STO feature remotely, it requires a committed STO sign cable. To entire the package, an easy communications protocol sends fame and diagnostic facts to the laptop controller and HMI. Wieland selected AS-Interface for this.


To maximize the financial savings in copper, the motor starters can be linked to an energy bus. However, the genuine advantages will rely on the bodily sketch of the desktop and motors. Wieland recommends its IP65 podis CON 5G6 flat power bus and connector gadget due to the fact of the time and financial savings when making connections. If preferred, you ought to use a one-of-a-kind strength bus system.


Whichever energy bus you use, cables hyperlink the bus to the starters, then in addition cables join the starters to the motors.


Power and control

You can recognize the workable financial savings in planning time, wiring time, and electrical cable if you reflect on the consideration of the traditional strategy for wiring motors. Typically, you would install the motor starters and contactors in a manipulated cabinet. Then you have to run energy cabling to all the motors. If there are loads of motors, you should have a number of electricity cables exiting the manage cupboard and walking in parallel for enormous distances in cumbersome cable trays.


However, there are different cables to consider, no longer simply power. Remember that every podis MS 5HP wants separate connections for the AS-i Fieldbus and STO input. And notice that you can't use the AS-Interface Safety at Work protocol to transmit STO alerts over the AS-I Fieldbus. Consequently, you need to take into account the want for an extra quantity of each Fieldbus and STO sign wiring. Also, you have to take care to keep away from interference from the strength cabling. But Wieland says the financial savings due to simplified planning, faster wiring (especially if the usage of the podis CON bus) and much less energy cabling outweigh the extra prices related to the higher-specification starters and energy bus.


Zoning, safety, and diagnostics

For complicated conveyor structures that unfold over an extraordinarily massive area, decentralized motor starters provide the attainable for without difficulty enforcing zoning in the safety-related management system. This can assist to maximise the usual availability of the conveyor system.


Other advantages presented by means of the podis MS 5HP are the crucial safety towards overload, overtemperature, underload, zero modern limits, segment failure, and asymmetry. Motor temperature can be calculated or, alternatively, detected by the usage of a motor’s temperature sensor or a ThermoClick bimetallic switch. You can join both of the latter two to one of the starter’s digital enter ports. The starter can procedure the sensor indicators or the AS-i Fieldbus can ship the sensor alerts to the computing device controller.


Thanks to the AS-i link, higher excellent popularity facts and diagnostics can assist to limit downtime in the match of unplanned stoppages. And when the STO characteristic is activated, the motor starter stays powered up, so repute and diagnostic statistics is nevertheless on hand over the AS-i Fieldbus.


Quicker response, smaller footprint

With a response time of ≤250 ms, the podis MS 5HP gives an addition key advantage, as Kevan Cowley explains: “The STO feature has a lot shorter switching time than the electromechanical aspects used for traditional solutions. Therefore, the distance between, for example, the mild grids and the computing device can be shorter, which outcomes in the discount of area required.”


Motor starter specification – would it swimsuit your application?

Taking the designated factors from above and including some more, right here is a precis of the Wieland podis MS 5HP specification:


motor starter with secure torque off (STO) for Stop Category 0 (EN 60204-1), SIL three (IEC 61508-1/2/3 and IEC 62061), and PL e (EN ISO 13849-1) when used with a dual-channel security relay or equivalent;

CE and UL marked (and UKCA marked from January 2023);

response time ≤250 ms;

ingress safety ranking of IP65 and NEMA 12 for mounting at once on equipment besides an enclosure;

suitable for use with three-phase electric motors rated from 0.25 kW to four kW (0.33 HP to 5 HP) and 0.8 A to 8.5 A;

a motor can run in both directions;

AS interface three Fieldbus connectivity;

dedicated port for safety-rated STO signal;

integrated 24 V DC furnish for powering digital I/O (two inputs and one output);

front panel LEDs for fame and diagnostics;

DIP switches for parameterization (changes do now not take impact till mains voltage has been disconnected and reconnected);

motor start/stop can be managed by means of the AS-i Fieldbus or a digital input;

output for controlling motor brake (not safety-rated);

front panel controls for a jog, forward/reverse, and deactivating sensors (mode determination blanketed via key switch);

disconnect change can be secured with up to three padlocks (complies with USA preferred UL 508);

front panel QR code presents get right of entry to the online configurator device and product manual; and

overall dimensions (H x W x D) 299 x 178 x 147 mm.

Conclusion

For the proper applications, Wieland’s new podis MS 5HP with STO provides financial savings for desktop builders and gadget integrators. End customers can gain from expanded availability thanks to multiplied reputation and diagnostic data, collectively with faster restarts after stoppages. To maximize the benefits, the computer – or family of conveyors – has to be appropriate for use with an energy bus, and the managed device need to take delivery of repute and diagnostic information over the AS-i Fieldbus. Finally, you need to fulfill yourself that fixed-speed motors with high-specification starters will be greater low-budget in the lengthy run than VSDs controlling motor speeds to keep energy. 

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