Rockwell Automation Expands TotalFORCE Capabilities and Power Range for PowerFlex 755T Drives

Rockwell Automation announced the release of expanded power ranges and capabilities of TotalFORCE technology for its Allen-Bradley PowerFlex 755T AC drives.  The drives now offer an expanded power range, helping to support applications from 10 to 6,000 horsepower (7.5 to 4,500 kW) to improve productivity and reduce their lifecycle costs.  The expansion brings harmonic mitigation, regeneration and common bus-system configurations to a wider range of higher-demand applications.

Enhancements to the patented TotalFORCE technology include more powerful adaptive control capabilities, which allow the drives to monitor machine characteristics that can change over time and automatically compensate for the changes that occur.  An adaptive tuning feature uses up to four automatic tracking notch filters to block resonance and vibration that can impact quality, waste energy and prematurely wear out a machine.

In addition, predictive maintenance features provide real-time information about the health of the drives.  By monitoring operational characteristics, such as temperature, voltage and current, the drives are able to calculate the remaining life of critical components and notify users. This enables actions to be taken to help prevent unplanned downtime.

The PowerFlex 755T variable-frequency drives were previously designed for 160 to 3,000 horsepower applications.  The expanded power range makes PowerFlex drives better suited for large power applications, such as pumps and fans requiring harmonic mitigation, and regenerative applications requiring anti-sway functionality, such as cranes and hoists.

The offering includes:

• PowerFlex 755TL drives: The PowerFlex 755TL drives use active front-end technology and an internal harmonic filter to help reduce harmonic distortion. The drives are now available from 10 to 1,800 Hp (7.5 to 1,400 kW). 
• PowerFlex 755TR drives: Ranging from 10 to 6,000 Hp (7.5 to 4,500 kW), the PowerFlex 755TR drives include both regenerative and harmonic mitigation solutions. The drives help to reduce energy consumption and costs by delivering energy back to the incoming supply, resulting in a more energy-efficient solution. 
• PowerFlex 755TM drives system: This allows users to build the system that best suits their needs for regeneration and coordination of multiple motors in common bus configurations. To better optimize their system requirements and meet power-consumption needs, users can select from a series of predesigned modules with a range from 250 to 6,000 Hp (160 to 4,500 kW) for motor side inverters and a range of 70 to 4800 kW for regenerative bus supplies.

Other new capabilities include an integrated safety module that delivers several advanced safety functions on an EtherNet/IP network, an anti-sway feature that helps lifting applications achieve greater stability and permanent magnet motor control for increased energy savings.

Combined, these new TotalFORCE technology capabilities help to reduce time to commission, better optimize performance, and enable more simplified maintenance and serviceability throughout the full lifecycle of PowerFlex 755T drives for a broader range of applications.