n NEWS February 2024 www.drivesncontrols.com 6 THE ASSOCIATION OF Electrical and Mechanical Trades (AEMT) is working with the British Standards Institute (BSI) and Innovate UK’s Driving the Electric Revolution Challenge, to develop an AI-powered tool to help repairers ensure that they repair hazardous area motors to the correct standard. The tool, which is being developed with funding from Innovate UK, will allow engineers working on rotating electrical machines to clarify technical issues through a simple chatbot-style interface. The BS EN and IEC 60079 series of standards govern, among other things, the repair, overhaul, reclamation, installation, maintenance, inspection, design, testing and marking of equipment for use in explosive atmospheres. Navigating and interpreting these complex standards can be timeconsuming and error-prone. In addition, the standards are reviewed and updated periodically, and it can be a challenge to ensure the right standard is being applied to suit the age of the equipment being repaired. The new tool aims to simplify the interpretation of, and compliance with, these standards while reducing the potential for errors. Users will be able to ask questions about repairs they are working on and will be oered technical guidance and information to ensure compliance and safety. The chat-based interface draws on large language model (LLM) technology, which allows for further detail or clarication where needed. It is expected to be particularly valuable when interpreting a range of cross-referenced documents, where identifying the pertinent parts of various standards is not straightforward. By understanding the year in which the hazardous area equipment was certied (which can be established from the rst two digits of its certicate number), the chatbot will establish which version of the relevant standard applies. For example, the dimensions relating to ame paths in the 2000 version of the Ex d standard BS EN 50018, dier from those in the 2004 version, IEC 60079-1. However, where the latter – which covers the repair, overhaul, and reclamation of equipment for use in explosive atmospheres – is concerned, the chatbot will only give information from the latest version. This is because repair procedures improve over the dierent versions released. For example, a go-no-go test, which helps to check for damaged threads, was introduced in the latest (2019) edition, but is not referred to in the 2015 version of the same standard. The tool will initially cover ten versions of four dierent BS EN hazardous area standards. It is due to be tested by AEMT members and rolled out from the second quarter of 2024. AI tool will make it easier to apply hazardous area standards p The Scottish engineering services provider Edwin James Group has bought Burton-onTrent-based Automated Control Solutions Holdings and its subsidiaries Automated Control Solutions and ACS Electrical Engineering (together trading as ACS), for an undisclosed sum. The deal will enhance the Glasgowbased Group’s digitalisation oering, expanding its systems integration and OT automation capacity. All of ACS’ sta will stay, including its leaders, who will work with Edwin James’ CEO Christopher Kehoe and EJ Peak Technology executive director Michael Thomas to integrate the businesses. pEasyfairs is buying European Trade & Exhibition Services (Etes), which organises the annual Southern Manufacturing & Electronics exhibition. The 2024 event, which takes place at the Farnborough International Exhibition Centre this month, will be run by Etes, but Easyfairs will take over after that. The details of the transaction have not been revealed. Until now, Southern Manufacturing & Electronics has been run as a family business, led by founders Phil Valentine and Jo Valentine, who will remain involved as consultants. p The machine vision market for quality control applications in manufacturing is facing a period of signicant evolution due to the growing presence of AI as an enabling technology, according to a new report from ABI Research. It says that this will fuel growth in the market, which it predicts will expand from $2.3bn in 2023 to reach $7.2bn by 2028. www.abiresearch.com pBob Squirrell, who was chairman of the Probus Group – PI UK – for more than 29 years, from its formation in 1993 until 2022, has died at his home in Cyprus. In a tribute, the group said: “Bob was an inspiration to us all, he was a valued friend, leader, a driving force and will be missed. Bob was a devoted evangelist for Probus and Pronet and without his dedication to PI UK we would not be the successful group we are today.” NEWS BRIEFS GROWTH IN THE GLOBAL market for low-voltage AC motors market slowed from 16.4% in 2022 to 4.2% in 2023, and will fall back even further in 2024, according to a report by Interact Analysis. It expects worldwide revenues to reach almost $16.6bn this year, with average sales prices for motors increasing by 1.2%. The 2023 slowdown followed two years of double-digit growth, fuelled by record price increases. Interact expects that 2024 will see a slight contraction of the market and increasing price competition, resulting in average sales prices worldwide falling by –2.4%. However, it expects growth to resume in 2025, and says by 2028 the market will return to historically normal growth. Some 65.3m LV AC motors were shipped last year – a rise of 2.9% on 2022. ABB remains the biggest seller of LV AC motors. In 2023, it added Siemens’ Nema motor business to its portfolio, increasing its value by around $75m. Siemens, meanwhile, has split its large motors business o into a new company called Innomotics. Interact thinks that the Japanese motor-maker Nidec expanded in 2023 after a lacklustre 2022, and predicts that the Chinese supplier Wolong will see its share grow as the Chinese market outpaces other regions into 2024. Revenue growth was ¦at in the EMEA region last year and it was the only part of the world where unit shipments are thought to have fallen in 2023, as manufacturing nations such as France, Germany, Italy, and the UK continued to struggle. “We are seeing increasing consolidation of the supplier base in the LV AC motor market, particularly in the US,” says Interact Analysis research manager, Blake Gri§n. “For example, following an increase in its market share of 1.7% during 2021, WEG is expected to continue growing its stake further following its acquisition of Regal Rexnord’s industrial motors business in late 2023.” The AI-powered tool will help to ensure that hazardous area motors are being repaired to the correct standard AC motor sales set to fall further
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