Electricity and Control May 2024

DRIVES, MOTORS + SWITCHGEAR : PRODUCTS + SERVICES

30 years of growth serving Cape Town and beyond

Starting out in 1994 to serve the metropolitan area of Cape Town with a range of low voltage electric motors, WEG Africa’s Cape Town branch has grown in size and the range of products and solutions it offers. Testament to this is that it has again outgrown its prem ises and, last year, relocated to larger, well-equipped facilities in Richmond Business Park. This enables it to enhance its services to customers. Branch Manager Marthinus Greeff says, “30 years ago, the branch was established with three staff mem bers – the manager, an administrative assistant, and a storeman. Our dedication to customers soon put us on a growth path, which has continued to this day. The experi enced staff complement at Richmond Park now numbers 35 people.” Another sign of success is the geographical area that the branch now covers – from Cape Town northwards as far as Upington and eastwards to the town of George. And it reaches a wider range of industrial sectors. These include the mining, cement, petrochemical, water and wastewater sectors as well as building, food processing, materials handling and heating, ventilation and air condi tioning. Greeff highlights the agricultural sector as a new field of development, where the branch serves farmers who are keen to use more renewable energy. “Perhaps the most exciting aspect of our growth over the years is that we have become a solutions provider to our customers – more than simply a supplier of products. Hence, we can also assist customers in reducing their carbon footprint and energy costs.” WEG Africa’s comprehensive product range covers low voltage electric motors from 0.18 kW to 500 kW. These are available in energy efficiency categories from IE1 to IE4. The branch also provides high voltage electric motors up to 11 kV and 6 000 kW – for demanding appli cations such as mill motors in mining operations. “We expanded into variable speed drives (VSDs) quite The integrated ASI8100 stepper motor drive from Beckhoff’s range of compact drive technology products (up to 48 V dc) combines a stepper motor, stepper motor output stage, and fieldbus connection in a space-saving design. As an EtherCAT ‘secondary’, it can be placed directly on the machine without a control cabinet or upstream I/O level, allowing for compact, control cabinet free machines. The series covers all motion requirements for step per motors in the power range up to 250 W. Drive mon itoring is indicated by integrated status LEDs. With the integrated travel path control, simple function blocks for motion applications are already pre-integrated. The standardised M8 (for EtherCAT) and M12 (L-coded, for power) connectors also provide cost-effective, industri

early on and offer low voltage VSDs from 0.18 kW to 500 kW, and medium voltage VSDs from 1 MW upwards, in 3.3/6.6 kV and 11 kV,” Greeff says. Additionally, a decade ago the branch opened an Electrical

WEG Africa’s new Cape Town premises reflect how the branch has grown as has its range of solutions and services.

Panel Division. This facility manufactures solutions using the wide range of WEG components, and enclosures that are electrical type tested or non-type tested. “We can also supply starters, VSD boxes and mo tor control centres (MCCs) – all custom-made to the required specifications,” Greeff adds. “Our motor work shop facilities allow us to conduct various motor modifi cations including fitment of space heaters and tempera ture monitoring devices such as thermostats, thermistors and Pt-100 (RTD) temperature detectors as well as the fitment of special bearings, where required by the cus tomer’s application, ensuring we deliver a high standard of quality in all our solutions.” This in-house capability reduces lead times and opti mises cost effectiveness for the customer, he points out. The branch also has its own in-house repair facility for WEG drives and soft starters, staffed by three dedicated technicians. “This enables us to do all the repairs locally, without needing to send products to our head office in Johannes burg,” he says. “And it gives customers the benefit of fast and efficient turnaround times.” Greeff notes too that customers value the training that WEG Africa offers, as a service and at no cost, and the new premises accommodate a bigger training room. “With our technology advancing constantly, and our range of solutions growing, there is always considerable demand for us to train our customers’ employees.”

For more information visit: www.weg.net

Compact stepper motor drives for control cabinet-free machines

ally compatible connection tech nology. The two additional I/Os allow drive-related functions, such as the detection of end positions or the latching of positions, to be executed efficiently.

The series starts with NEMA 17 drives (42 mm), available in two stack lengths with a 0.29 Nm or 0.8 Nm holding torque. This is followed by four NEMA 23 devic es (56 mm) with holding torques of 0.75 Nm, 1.4 Nm, 2.35 Nm, and 2.5 Nm. Pre-assembled cables and in frastructure components, such as IP67 distribution box modules, are available as accessories.

As compact, fully functional

motion units, the ASI8100 stepper motor drives support the control cabinet free machine concept.

For more information visit: www.beckhoff.com

MAY 2024 Electricity + Control

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