What Are Industrial Motor Controls for Electric Motors?

Industrial motor controls for electric motors are important for many reasons, the main one being that electric motors consume a lot of power, which is a large chunk of an industrial operation’s energy costs for the year. Every bit of power you can conserve results in significant savings. Through this end, machine automation was developed for electric motors so they get the most benefit out from the exact amount of power needed to operate them.

What Are Industrial Motor Controls Used for?

Machine automation controls are used by almost any large industrial function that works with industrial electric motors. Just a few examples of these include:

• Industrial presses (including printing presses)
• Winders and Unwinders
• Precision cutting machines
• Forming machines
• Drawplates

Industrial Motor Control Components

Here are some of the automation control system components used with industrial electric motors:

Power Distribution Components

Probably the single largest function of machine automation controls is managing the power distribution for the equipment in a particular area or at a company. These functions are designed to run various motors and drives to handle basic industrial operations such as running fans to keep equipment cool during operation, or even managing the indoor temperature at the plant. There are many areas and zones within an industrial operation that need to be managed and they are almost always handled using automation controls.

When considering machine automation controls you need to look at what your power requirements are, and what electric motor solution will work best for your situation. There are many different options available such as:

• Manual motor starters
• Motor contactors and starters with overload protection
• Variable Frequency Drives
• Soft starters

Safety Systems

Safety systems are also critical because of how much power is being pumped into these systems. There needs to be both overcurrent (short circuit) and overload protection as well as brown-out protection. But the system must also be designed to safely stop the movement of water (in the case of industrial pump equipment) and the equipment itself from moving to protect both the equipment and the people who use it. These systems are as unique as the equipment they support. Some of these measures include fuses, circuit breakers, ground fault protection, emergency stop systems, motor starters with overload protection devices installed, and much more.

Programmable Controllers

This is what most people think of when they think of machine automation controls. These programmable automation controllers can be anything from a panel on the control system itself to a PC application. These can be customized and configured for your specific needs and location, and be programmed to respond to various situations and conditions. They also need to display operational info in order to keep the plant running smoothly.

Looking for Industrial Motor Controls for Your Electric Motor?

Turn to Tekwell Services. Our new panel shop provides us with the tools and materials to put together suitable machine automated controls for your electric motor or industrial pump.  Give us a call (toll-free) at 1-888-984-4668 or fill out our quick solution form to reach out to one of our automated control experts today.