Beating the supply chain blues

One of the biggest, and unexpected, disruptions to automation and control equipment users today is undoubtably supply chain. The global shortage of raw materials and electronic components is impacting many projects in many industries, says FUJI Electric.

“The lead-time on industrial control products is being extended, with dates that are seen as acceptable to so many companies in the OEM, machine builders and control system manufacturers arena. As such, they are searching the market for available solutions.”

As a drive manufacturer, the story for FUJI Electric is a little different, it adds, “and could be a saviour to those companies seeking a VFD for their equipment. From first contact, you will learn that FUJI is, somehow, unique with its multi-purpose FRENIC-Ace variable speed drive, because they are also the developer and manufacturer of the IGBTs used inside its Variable Frequency Drives and, as such, product availability is improved and inventory available at the FUJI warehouse in central Europe”.

Key features of FRENIC-Ace

The company outlines the key features of the FRENIC-Ace (VFD). First, it is intended for general-purpose applications, yet has many outstanding benefits, it states, such as customisable logic (max. 200 steps) and, for safety-critical applications, the device has STO (Safety Torque Off), which is compliant to EN/ISO13849-1, SIL3, cat.3 and meets the highest safety level – Performance Level e (PLe)”.

Then, looking at communications, as standard the FRENIC-Ace includes CANOpen & Modbus RTU, with other protocols available, using option cards such as Ethernet/IP, ProfitNet-RT, DeviceNet & EtherCAT. “As such, the adoption of a FUJI VFD into your application can be achieved.”

The wide range of output capacities from 01.kW to 315kW can meet the demands for many applications, says FUJI Electric. “Also, the over capability feature allows the drive to deliver 150% for 1 minute or 200% for 0.5 seconds.”

Dedicated expansion cards

Extra features are also provided through dedicated expansion cards, with digital and analogue I/O interface cards for the connection of sensors or other components; 5V and 12/15V Encoder (PG) interface cards for external control; and “superior human interface options through cards providing a remote multi-function touch panel or a remote touch panel with RJ45”.

The drive solution comes with a 3-year warranty, as standard, and a 10-year life cycle.