May 4, 2009 — Schneider Electric announced the Altivar 12 product, a new variable speed AC drive that delivers flexibility, performance and energy efficiency in a compact, easy-to-use design. It also comes with other key features that make it superior to other drives in its class, including: 1. Exceptional starting and stopping motor performance, which eliminates the need to oversize the drive or add dynamic braking in most applications2. An intuitive user interface more common on high-end drives simplifies programming and reduces start-up time3. A new generation of components that are designed to provide a 10-year service life or more even under less-than-ideal operating conditions (based on MTBF data)4.
A small, attractively designed product exterior that is suitable for consumer machines
Making Machines More Competitive
With its small format and nearly 150 application-specific advanced functions, it can easily outperform other drives in its category as well as many higher-end drives that may be oversized for the applications they control. The Altivar 12 drive features a new generation of components that are designed for a 10-year service life under normal operating conditions. This design can handle a wide range of power disturbances, enabling it to continue running despite minor transient voltage sags and surges, promoting impressive system reliability. Conformal coating in key areas also protects circuit boards from dust, moisture and other airborne contaminants, which allows the drive to withstand harsh environments.Setup and usability are also dramatically easier.
Installation requires only a screwdriver, and the rotary adjustment and navigation button provides intuitive fingertip access to the drive’s programming. An optional unique configuration console further allows OEMs and panel builders to configure the drive in its original packaging with the power off, saving time and money normally spent on manually entering parameters.
Adaptable
The Altivar 12 drive provides excellent speed and torque control and rapid detection of motor current peaks. This is vital for applications that require good motor control despite machine load changes. The catch-on-the-fly feature improves responsiveness and system reliability. Installations that are suited to the strengths of the Altivar 12 drive include:
- Mixed-use retail and residential buildings (heating, cooling, ventilation, pumping and circulation)
- Food industry (kitchen ventilation hoods, bagging machines, wrapping equipment, bakers’ kneading machines, mixers, grinders, greenhouses ventilation, etc.)
- Special machines (car washes, conveyors, packaging)
- Medical and health sector (medical beds, fitness machines)
- Cord and plug machines (woodworking machines, surface polishing and cleaning machines, swimming pool or irrigation pumps, hydromassage bathtubs)
- Retrofit of traditional controls (reversing applications, two-speed motors, DC motors, mechanical drives)
