Decentralized Intelligence for the 4.0 Factory

Decentralized inverter drive technologies by Nord Drivesystems may be adapted to any application. They may be easily and flexibly integrated within the automation plant, and they reduce design costs

by Vittoria Ascari

In a future where production will be more and more scalable, flexible and autonomous, many advantages may be offered by decentralized inverters: they allow to save space in the control panels, they reduce the costs of cables and wiring, they simplify maintenance and therefore increase the overall efficiency of the drive system. By means of a wide range of modular products for decentralized drive electronics, Nord Drivesystems can satisfy practically any request. Drive components have a power range which reaches 22 kW, and an integrated PLC as a standard, to allow a high level of plug-in capacity. They may be freely configured to adapt them to any situation. Nord decentralized drive technology may be integrated in any automation architecture, and it significantly decreases design costs of plants.

Suitable for integration within an Industry 4.0 architecture
Connected through a network, autonomous and scalable, Nord drive units comply with the conditions necessary for integration within an Industry 4.0 architecture. The PLC integrated in the inverters may reduce the load on the higher level control system and carry out independent control operations. It is therefore possible to design plants with autonomous production groups and islands. The freely programmable PLC processes data from sensors and actuators and may initiate control sequences, as well as communicating the drive and application data to a control centre, to components in a network or to a storage on the cloud. This allows continuous monitoring of conditions, forming the base for predictive maintenance and the optimal dimensioning of the plants.

“Flexibility” is the keyword
Nordac link is the flexible drive control for decentralized installation, available as an inverters (up to 7.5 kW) or motor drives (up to 3 kW). It also provides what is needed for fast commissioning and simplicity of use and maintenance. Using Nordac link, all connections are carried out using simple plug connectors. As well as high plug-in capacity, integrated maintenance and manual functioning selectors ensure user-friendliness.