www.engineeringnews.co.nz 23 of inactivity. Once in hibernate mode, the drive’s power consumption is reduced, but when the drive needs to move again, it must wake. Not all applications are able to use sleep mode. • The interconnection of DC buses of drives that are mounted near each other is another method of conserving energy. Normally, when a load with high inertia and/or high speed needs to be decelerated rapidly (like when moving downward, with gravity), the motor is made to act like a generator and increases the drive’s main DC bus. Often, the regenerated energy is excessive and is then dissipated in a large external resistor. But this energy can be saved and utilised by other drives by feeding it into a common DC bus shared by other drives. This will reduce the current drawn from the mains supply. EN063 Another recent innovation has been the use of monitoring software packages, like Omron’s eSaver. This software tool can be freely obtained from the web and simulates power consumption by estimating energy saving for one (or more) drives. Duty cycles can be entered, along with electricity tariffs, including offpeak etc. Once savings have been calculated, investment payback times can be determined. Green technology is much more than just reducing energy footprints. As all electrical equipment will eventually be replaced and deposited as landfill, it’s important that thought be given to biodegradability. The sheer volume of pollution caused by electronic waste, and the toxic run off it creates, is now a major concern globally. To this end, the RoHS (restriction of hazardous substances) directive was adopted by the EU in February 2003. It’s now law and is being enforced by each of the member states and other countries. It means all electrical products sold are required to comply with RoHS, which guarantees acceptable concentrations of restricted substances such as heavy metals such as lead (Pb), mercury (Hg), cadium (Cd), and others. Green technology is much more than just reducing energy footprints. As all electrical equipment will eventually be replaced and deposited as landfill, it’s important that thought be given to biodegradability.
EN jun16-LR
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