The new software enables early warning of unusual operating conditions that could lead to the premature failure of a drive with the corresponding components. This service is particularly suitable for drives that are used in critical areas. For example, in the oil and gas, metal, water and waste water and pulp and paper industries - because it is precisely here that it is crucial to prevent unplanned and costly system downtimes.

The condition-based maintenance service continuously monitors the key components of variable-speed drives, including fans, semiconductors and capacitors. Thermal, voltage and current sensors record data on the ambient temperature and load fluctuations of the components. In addition, the impact on the service life of the systems is calculated on a daily basis. Cloud-based algorithms and statistical analyses are used to determine the stress on the components and calculate their remaining service life.

Preventive maintenance
If a failure is predicted before the next scheduled maintenance, the maintenance manager can initiate measures to prevent an unplanned shutdown. In some cases, the new service may also reveal that the drive components are subject to less stress than usual and their service life is therefore longer than expected. In this case, the regular preventive maintenance intervals can be extended in order to achieve higher productivity and cost reductions.

"Condition-based maintenance provides precise data for efficient and targeted maintenance programs," says Tobias Schmidt, Product Manager Digitalization Motion, ABB Automation Products. "This quality is made possible by continuous data acquisition, which allows detailed conclusions to be drawn about the life cycle of drives. Our cloud-based approach facilitates and accelerates the analyses so that the planned maintenance activities are based on actual requirements."

Condition-based maintenance was subjected to a practical test at a major customer in the steel processing industry. The IGBT component of a drive in the rolling mill was under heavy strain. The analysis of the service life revealed that the component had reached the end of its useful life. However, it was not replaced. Four months later, it failed. After the component was replaced, a new analysis was carried out as part of condition-based maintenance. This showed that the newly installed IGBT should be replaced every five years in cyclical applications of this type to prevent unexpected failure.

As a first step, ABB's condition-based maintenance service is available for air-cooled drives from the ACS800 and ACS880 series. The accuracy of the predicted remaining service life depends on the specific application. In many cases, however, the failure of drive components can be predicted one or even two years in advance. as