For many years now, experts in the field of electronics have been predicting the demise of DC drives.  Due to all the benefits offered by AC drives, which include reduced maintenance and cheaper motors, they might just be right. 

While there is no denying that AC drives are gaining more ground on the popularity front, particularly for the OEM market and for new installations in paper mills, steel mills, cranes and in many more areas, statistics gathered throughout the world seem to suggest the contrary.  Fact is that the sale of DC drives is in fact holding up very well.

The simple reason for this is the massive existing installed base of DC drives around the world.  When a company’s plant is suddenly suffering breakdowns or struggling to meet required tolerances or simply too slow, management are left with big decision making – either rip it all out and start again or look at some or other upgrade option.  DC motors are both efficient and robust and offer years of quality service, while providing adequate performance for all but the most demanding of applications.  Retaining an existing DC motor and only upgrading the DC drive makes good environmental sense.  From a commercial perspective, it provides an opportunity to enhance the overall system performance and reliability while also minimising the risk to production and capital investment.

Some companies reported that DC drive sales have proved to be steady and even expanding slightly in certain world markets.  A good example of this is Europe, where there is a large installed DC base that dates back several decades.  It thus represents good opportunities for older outdated devices to be replaced with newer ones that provide more functionality and less maintenance.  Even though this market is not going away, it does represent a totally different market with a different set of dynamics compared with AC.

It is true that the world recession had a negative effect on this, as it did on all industries.  However, this could end up boosting the DC market at the expense of AC as companies struggle financially.  Despite the effects of the credit crunch, the DC market has a good chance of continuing at a healthy level.  It is inevitable that DC drives will eventually decline in the long term, but it would be extremely difficult to predict when this will eventually take place.

Types of DC Drives offered by EP Normand

 

The following types of DC Drives are offered by EP Normand:

• DC590P;
• DC512C;
• DC514C; and
• DC506/7/8.