MechChem Africa December 2019/January 2020

Decades of innovation driving WEG product efficiency

Africa has embraced the innovation that drives WEG products and services, with customers seeing value in constant technological improvement. Siegfried Kreutzfeld, CEO of the South African based Zest WEG Group, explains that WEG is quick to introduce its new products into the African market, sometimes even before launching elsewhere in the world.

“ W e pride ourselves on the significant investment we, as WEG, make in re- search and development,” says Siegfried Kreutzfeld, CEO of the South African based ZestWEGGroup, “About 2.6% of our net revenue is ploughed back into continuous product improvement and new development. This keeps us at the cutting edge of technology,” he adds. The result of this intense commitment to innovation is that 43.7%of all WEG products sold in 2018 were launched in the past five years. Another indicator is that Brazil-based WEG Group holds 174 patents that are used on its products. Significantly, this has placed WEG among the thousand most innovative companies in the world, ranked by The Global Innovation 1000 of 2014. This world ranking evaluates the total R&D investments of each company, including the strategy, purpose and success of these investments.

“More than 35 years ago, we led the way in South Africa by introducing reliable high performance motors into the mining sec- tor,” Kreutzfeld says. “Today, we have a solid market share on the continent based on the trust we have built with our customers. This

The WEG CFW 11 variable speed drive along with the WEG IE3-rated energy-efficient motor are

examples of innovative new products that can significantly reduce electricity consumption.

relationship makes it easier to introduce and test newWEG technolo- gies in Africa.” While continuously improving its products, WEG also closely moni- tors how they perform in the field, he notes. “An indicator of the confi- dence we have in WEG technology is that we provide a five year war- ranty on WEG motors. This is uniqueon the con- tinent and difficult for competitors to match.”

The WEG Motor Scan monitors motor data that can be accessed by App and IoT platforms.

The IEC61800-9 standard and VSD-driven motor efficiency With electricmotors consuming almost 70% of industry’s energy, companies are always looking for better motor efficiencies. For many years, motor efficiency has been well defined; however, when driven by a variable speeddrive (VSD), theVSDefficiency and its effect on the total efficiency of the VSD and the motor has not been well understood. Choosing the correct product combina- tion can also be more difficult as manufac- turers’ data is not always easily comparable. This is where the international IEC61800-9 standard comes to the rescue, according to global motor and VSDmanufacturer WEG. TheIEC61800-9standard–basedheavily on the previous EN 50598 standard – gives manufacturers a clear framework for grad- ing a completemotor system. End-users can compare the overall efficiency of amanufac- turer’s products, irrespective of design and component selection. The IEC61800-9 standard uses the Extended Product (EP) approach. This considers the efficiency of the whole motor system, which is comprised of themotor, the basic drivemodule (BDM), and the complete drive module (CDM). Together, these make up thepower drives system(PDS), whichalso includes any switchgear and controls. This terminology sounds confusing but is just a technical way to say the net ef- ficiency depends on the efficiencies of the Switchgear+VSD+Motor. The efficiency levels are defined by considering eight dif- ferent operating points, covering low to high speeds and torques. Users can easily compare application loadand speed require- ments to themotor systemat defined speed and torque points. The EP approach employs a semi-analyt- ical model to calculate the efficiency of each of the components at the operating points

of the driven equipment. The calculations are also based on tested and verified values. This results in themost efficient component selection for the application. Using this standard, the user may be as- sured that: • The motor complies with the defined motor efficiency levels of IE1, IE2, IE3, IE4 or IE5. • The VSD complies with VSD efficiency IE0, IE1 or IE2. • Themanufacturer’smotor andVSDused in combinationwill meet or exceed a sys- temenergystandardofIES0,IES1orIES2. Using this EP approach, the European Commission expects the increasing use of more efficient systems to help achieve its targets for carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) reduction. In line with these efforts, WEG VSDs and IE2motors in combinationachieve IES2. And significantly, WEG’s VSDs and IE3 efficient

16 ¦ MechChem Africa • December 2019-January 2020