RICHMOND, VA (November 8, 2004) — Conversations with process control professionals and manufacturing automation engineers—as well as a number of market analyses—indicate reliability of automation control panels is a critical requirement in industrial settings today. Continued operation of an automation control panel is essential to both process control and manufacturing automation in order to ensure uninterrupted operations. In most instances an overload condition—or even worse a complete short-circuit occurrence in one of the loads fed by a regulated, switched DC power supply in an automation control panel—will typically force the DC power supply to initiate a self-shutdown routine. When this happens, the circuits that are fed off that power supply will lose power, potentially creating an entire control panel shutdown situation. In a typical automation control panel, on average over fifteen different circuits are continuously fed by a single switched, regulated DC power supply. The more circuits feeding off one of these power supplies, the more points of potential failure present, leading to possible loss of revenue because of plant standstills, and time-consuming and expensive troubleshooting procedures.Weidmuller’s WAVEGuard Electronic Fusing System dramatically enhances the reliability of an automation control panel’s power supplies and of the entire control panel by preventing one such failure from affecting the entire panel. Weidmuller’s WAVEGuard Electronic Fuses are used by locating them in between a switched, regulated DC power supply and each of the loads in a control panel. These electronic fuses constantly monitor the current delivered to their assigned load, and when an excessive current flow is detected, they cut off the load’s circuit within microseconds. The electronic fuse will isolate the failing circuit before the DC power supply initiates a self-shutdown routine, therefore ensuring continued delivery of power to the rest of the circuits in the automation control panel.“The beauty of Weidmuller’s WAVEGuard Electronic Fusing System is that when a load failure condition happens, not only will the electronic fuse prevent the entire process or machines dependent on the control panel from going down, but it will also isolate the specific failure and indicate which circuit has failed for quick problem resolution,” explained Francisco M. Tacoa, Marketing Manager for Weidmuller’s Electronics product line. “The reality is, we may have the most reliable switched DC power supply in the world, with the best MTBF possible used in our automation control panels. However, unless we use an electronic fusing system to protect them from critical load failures, we are effectively exposing the entire automation control panel to complete loss-of-power situations. With Weidmuller electronic fuses, if we wire all the fuses to a control room, we can initiate remote troubleshooting as soon as a failure occurs. Technicians will know exactly where the failure is located, so they won’t have to go through over fifteen load circuits to locate the problem.” As a result, troubleshooting time is cut by more than half, which in turn reduces technician expense and loss of revenue in the shop floor. And each WAVEGuard electronic fuse can be rearmed either remotely or locally, saving additional time and expense.The WAVEGuard Electronic Fusing System is based upon a semiconductor switching device, which not only will switch very quickly in the event of a load failure, but will also allow high current peaks to flow to the load for a very short time, thus eliminating nuisance tripping situations, which can happen if inductive or capacitive loads, such as lamps or DC motors are started, are fed off of a DC power supply. Weidmuller’s WAVEGuard Electronic Fusing System is available now in 1.6, 3.15, 6.3, and 8 Amp current ratings to cover the most common current applications today. List price is $64.00 each.W Interconnections, Inc. is the exclusive master distributor in the U.S. for Weidmuller branded products for Germany-based Weidmuller Interface GmbH and Company—a leading supplier of control panel Electronics, such as power supplies, diode modules, signal conditioners, over-voltage protectors, Field bus connectivity solutions, and relays. Weidmuller has approximately 3,400 employees worldwide, with 70 sales organizations or offices in more than 60 countries. For more information, contact:Marketing Communications Manager - Weidmuller821 Southlake BoulevardRichmond, Virginia 23236 Phone (800) 849-9343Fax (804) 794-0252 Email [email protected]Website: www.weidmuller.com
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