TECHNOLOGY n 23 www.drivesncontrols.com March 2025 INFINITUM, THE US MANUFACTURER of air-core electric motors, has unveiled a heavy-duty motor with a built in variable-speed drive (VSD) for demanding HVAC fan and pump applications, which it claims is up to 25% more e cient, as well as being 50% lighter and 60% shorter, than conventional motor-and-drive combinations. The Aircore Heavy Duty motors, available in ratings from 3.73– 11.2kW, are said to cut energy consumption, emissions, noise and waste, while delivering high power densities and good reliability. They can produce 10–30Nm of torque. Like other Innitum motors, the new motor replaces the copperwound iron stator found in conventional motors with a lightweight PCB (printed circuit board) stator, said to be ten times more reliable. It uses 66% less copper and no iron, and is much quieter in operation. Innitum is manufacturing the motors in a sustainable factory in Austin, Texas, using components that can be re-manufactured and re-used so that they remain in service and don’t need to disposed of in landll. “Our new Aircore Heavy Duty brings our award-winning motor system design to the world’s highest-emitting HVAC fan and pump applications – including those that are increasingly used to cool data centres handling AI workloads,” says Innitum’s founder and CEO, Ben Schuler. “Our talented team has once again raised the bar for e ciency, serviceability and reliability to power the world with less energy, material and waste.” A rugged exterior protects the motor against dust, dirt and water, and it can be used in harsh outdoor or wet environments, maintaining its high e ciency over a wide range of operating points. There is a choice of bearings, Nema MG1 shafts and frame sizes. As well as HVAC applications, the motors can also be used to power vertical-inline pumps, and CDUs (coolant distribution units) in data centres. Other claimed benets of the new motors are that: n Customers can specify a motor to meet an application's precise power and speed requirements, thus reducing the power needed per motor, and freeing up a site’s electrical infrastructure for other uses. n The motors support a choice of communications protocols, including Modbus RTU, BACnet MSTP and analogue. n Built-in electronics and control software allow users to congure and ne-tune the motors’ operational parameters, while monitoring their performance, carbon emissions, energy consumption, heat and vibration. n The motors’ modular design makes repairs quick and simple. n A compact form factor optimises space, reduces the need for wiring, and facilitates direct mounting to pump applications, increasing e ciencies by 10-15%, according to Innitum. https://goin nitum.com Heavy-duty PCB-stator HVAC motor is ‘25% more efficient’ SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC has been granted a patent covering the use of articial intelligence (AI) to help identify potential hazards and protective measures in industrial processes. The technique analyses the hazards automatically or semi-automatically, and validates the protection mechanisms. This patent is a part of a Schneider strategic initiative that is using AI to enhance functional safety. It can simulate various hazards, and then attempt to avoid dangerous conditions using a hazard analysis tool to generate protective measures. The method establishes communications between the hazard analysis tool and process simulation tools. It can determine safety requirements for a process and use them to generate PLC safety programs. Schneider says the patented technique has the potential to identify potential hazards and appropriate safeguards. Safety management can then use real-time industrial data to revalidate Hazop (hazard and operability) studies to avoid the hazards and potentially save lives. “We are the rst to push this boundary of automating the hazard process analysis with articial intelligence,” says Chris Stogner, Schneider Electric’s senior director of o¢er management. “Bringing AI to functional safety has the potential to create a more rigorous and robust Hazop study, generating more combinations of scenarios and deviations then what was humanly possible before.” Work for the patent has been done by Schneider’s EcoStruxure Triconex Safety team. The company has three other pending patents covering the use of AI in functional safety. Schneider says there is a growing interest in combining human ingenuity in functional safety analysis with strategic implementation of re-enforced learning to avoid hazardous scenarios in industrial automation. www.se.com Schneider patents the use of AI to reduce industrial hazards In nitum says that its new heavy-duty aircore motors are up to 25% more ecient than conventional motors and drives
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjQ0NzM=