Name: Hybrid AC Drive performs in low-cost servo position cycler

The customer wanted to replace an expensive Brushless DC (BLDC) Servo drive used in a cycling positioning application with a Variable Frequency Drive (VFD) which was Ready to Use, "Out-of-the-Box" without any additional programming.

Overview: A large number of medical sample containers need material injected into them for testing purposes. The customer's machine injects material into a row of sample containers, then advances to a new row of sample containers and repeats the injection process.

Application Benefit: By using a 3-phase induction motor with a Variable Frequency Drive, the system cost is much lower than with a servo BLDC system.

The customer's product: The customer's product is a system for injecting a large number of sample containers.

The customer's present solution: The customer was using a costly BLDC servo system for controlling the positioning of the injection cycle. The customer's request was to cycle an induction motor with the same cycle-time throughput as the servo system.

KB installed the customer's motor in the KB's engineering lab and obtained motor parameter measurements during simulated machine cycle operation.

KB's capabilities for solving the problem: It's the KBVF Variable Frequency Hybrid Drive series. This series incorporates the powerful, third-generation, micro-controller that is programmable for custom OEM applications using software that has proprietary motor monitoring capabilities. KB's engineering staff has a reputation of working directly with customer applications to reach satisfactory solutions.

The KB solution: The objective was to repeatedly stop the motor shaft in 1 revolution. The KBVF software was customized based on advanced algorithms for injection braking. Injection braking timing, phase, and amplitude profile were tuned to repeatedly stop the customer's ½ hp and 1 hp motors in the required 64 milliseconds.

The results: Using the KBVF-23D and KBVF-24D Hybrid AC Drives with custom algorithms, the cycle performance was achieved.

Customer's strategic advantage: The customer got exactly what he wanted - no more, no less - with major cost reduction, simplified replacement, and a major advantage over his competitors, Ready to Use, "Out-of-the-Box" without any additional programming.

A Win-Win solution for both the customer and KB.