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| PowerFlex 70/700 |
Reflecting back on a recent training program I taught on AC Drives there was an interesting issues and interaction with the class.
Situation:
This was a group that had previous experience with Allen-Bradley 1336+ AC Drives and they were transitioning to the Allen-Bradley PowerFlex 700 series.
Maintenance personnel understood the importance of backing up 1336 drive parameters to the HIM, so that if a drive goes bad the drive parameters can easily be restored from the HIM. They have carried that knowledge over to the PowerFlex drive series and are backing up drive parameters to the HIM.
Problem: Maintenance personnel find that after replacing a bad PowerFlex drive and restoring parameters from the HIM, it still will not function correctly. An Engineer/Specialist often needs to be called in to rectify the problem. This results in increased downtime, expense and headache.
Cause: The parameters in the communications module are still at factory defaults and therefore there is no communication between the PowerFlex Drive and the rest of the system.
With the installation of the new AC Drives there were new communication features that were not present with the old 1336 installation.
Solution: Maintenance personnel need to back up and restore not only drive parameters; they need to back up and restore the communications module parameters as well.
Before the class: The information on the communication settings was not in the course material. Nor were we aware of the issue. During class, as part of the discussion one of the students introduced the subject.
After Class: We added the information on the communication settings to the current course material. We also added a hands-on exercise in which the students save and restore the communications settings as well as the parameter settings.
Conclusion: The importance of communication between the plant personnel and the training provider is critical in meeting the specific needs of the audience. We always suggest that the instructor talks with the training department and some of the participants in advance to insure that the customer’s specific needs are addressed.
Mike Wilson
INTELLECT CONTROLS GROUP, INC
Instructor/Controls Engineer
