Products

Safe protection for the next generation of motors with new igus material

The trend for variable frequency drives (VFDs) is moving towards more compact drives with the same or higher power and extremely high switching accuracies of the frequency converters.

As a result, when selecting the cable the user not only has to pay attention to the right combination of number of cores and cross-sections, but also to the electrical specifications of the cable.

That is why igus has now developed a material that meets the new challenges for its latest generation of motor and servo cables. In the test, it was able to withstand a bend radius of 7.2 x d over 45 million strokes.

From small to large: the trend in motor technology is towards ever more compact VFD motors with the same or a higher performance level than their predecessors.

Smaller, plastic-insulated round power connectors such as the M16 or M18 are being used more and more for the new motor designs to be able to exploit their full advantages.

The more compact design of the motors, can result in higher temperatures within the system, compared to larger ranges of the same motors.

The result is that the cable heats up via the connector contacts. Although there are no consequences for the motor and the connected components in the short term, serious problems might occur in the long term.

If the insulation material of the cable does not withstand the elevated temperatures in the long term, short circuits can occur inside the cable and in the vicinity of the connectors, which in the worst case can lead to fires.

Therefore, the insulation material plays a new central role in the selection of the correct servo and motor cables.

After a five-year development and testing period, Treotham now offers a solution to prevent insulation and consequential damage to the compact motors, in the form of a new insulation material for the igus chainflex VFD motor and servo cables.

Due to the expertise in the area of new high-performance polymers, the motion plastics specialist has been able to develop a new material that successfully passed the comprehensive laboratory and practical tests.

For example, in test 5034, the CF29 servo cable with a bend radius of 7.2 x d withstood over 45 million strokes. The new material – in contrast to other common materials – meets the increased thermal requirements of the latest motor generations.

This makes igus the only supplier in the global market to offer long-term tested ranges of VFD motor and servo cables for continuous use in energy chains, which meet the specific thermal and electrical requirements of the latest converter generations.

Leave a Reply

Send this to a friend