NORD Expands Functional Safety Features for Decentralized NORDAC ON VFDs
NORD DRIVESYSTEMS introduces expanded motion safety functions to its NORDAC ON VFDs, offering integrated fail-safe controls, PROFIsafe or FSoE (Functional Safety over EtherCAT) connectivity, and reduced wiring for modern automated production.
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Functional safety protects people, machines, and the environment in the event of technical malfunctions, minimizing risks and ensuring systems react in a controlled, safe manner. NORD DRIVESYSTEMS recently extended functional safety features for their latest product family of decentralized variable frequency drives, NORDAC ON, furthering their applicability in automation systems.
Made for Modern Production Environments
Decentralized NORDAC ON variable frequency drives are characterized by a compact design and full Plug-and-Play functionality that significantly reduces wiring efforts and provides a maintenance-friendly, cost-effective solution for modern automated production environments. These drives include an on-board PLC for drive-related functions and can process data from connected sensors and actuators, initiate control sequences, and communicate drive and application data to the control center, networked components, or to cloud storage. NORDAC ON variable frequency drives are available for a power range of 0.5 to 5.0 hp.
Safe Control
NORDAC ON variable frequency drives combined with proven NORD gear motors create a powerful, efficient, and consistently safe drive system configured for your application. In addition to Safe Torque Off (STO) and Safe Stop 1 (SS1), the safe motion functions Safe Limited Space (SLS), Safe Maximum Speed (SMS), and Safe Speed Monitor (SSM) are now also available for fail-safe control of rotary movement. The VFDs now not only feature safe standstill functions but also enable safe control of drive speeds for demanding safety applications. The safe digital inputs and outputs of the NORDAC ON can additionally be used to incorporate fail-safe peripheral components or functions, enabling the connection of options such as emergency stop buttons, safety door switches, and photoelectric sensors. Two safe one-channel digital inputs can be combined into one safe two-channel digital input, and two safe outputs can be combined into one safe two-channel output.
In automated production, drive electronics with integrated safety functions enable safe control and monitoring of all motion sequences, making them increasingly important in drive systems. NORD integrates many safety functions directly into the variable frequency drive, often eliminating the need for an additional encoder. Their solutions can additionally be easily incorporated into fail-safe applications within an existing Industrial Ethernet network via PROFIsafe or FSoE, creating a future-proof solution while reducing installation effort and cabling.
