Drives&Controls & BACK TO BASICS n SPONSORED BY Tackling the scourge of counterfeits Counterfeit drive components are a growing problem and the parts are becoming more convincing. ABB’s Andy Pearson explores the world of fake drive parts, and how users can protect themselves from their potential dangers. Counterfeit spare parts are nothing new, but in the age of ecommerce they are a growing problem in the UK. They’ve also become more sophisticated, to the point that I’m wary of revealing too much in this column about how we detect and prevent them at ABB, because the counterfeiters could use that information to develop better fakes. The photo above shows a fake IGBT. At first glance, it is almost indistinguishable from the real thing. Customers order what they think are genuine products in good faith, and because the fakes are getting better and better, they may not realise that there is anything amiss until it’s too late. The most commonly faked drive component are IGBTs, but we’ve seen fake fans, control boards, interface boards, and even entire drives. The risks are very serious. Every single ABB drive is put through rigorous testing to guarantee performance levels and – crucially – safety. This includes heat testing, simulated age tests, stress testing and load testing – in many cases to destruction. Counterfeit drives and/or parts have not been through this process. You might get lucky, or it might fail within a week. Without the testing and guaranteed quality you get from genuine parts, you don’t know. The use of any non-genuine parts immediately invalidates a drive’s warranty. The bigger risk however is that the component itself could fail suddenly and catastrophically. These are high-powered devices, often installed in critical applications, so if a drive fails prematurely or without any warning, this can have serious implications for both productivity and safety. There are several ways to spot a fake. The serial number is often the biggest giveaway – all of ABB’s products and components are traceable, so if the serial number suggests the wrong country of origin, the wrong series, or other number combinations don’t follow the right logic, we can tell immediately . Spelling mistakes on the packaging, or other inconsistencies, are another giveaway. If you suspect anything is amiss about your drive or components, contact ABB immediately and we will be able to tell you quickly if it’s genuine or not. The number one rule when it comes to identifying counterfeits is a truism across many walks of life: if it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is. If you see parts for sale on the Internet from drop-shippers or auction sites, then I strongly advise you to avoid them. The only guaranteed source for genuine ABB spares is either from us directly, or from a Value Provider. A fake IGBT board: they are often difficult to tell apart from genuine items Tech up, cost down. It’s our job. motion plastics® Make a difference: Reliable cable management for robots Triflex® R:
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