Platform for the food and beverage industry
As the market leader in low-voltage frequency converters, Yaskawa boasts a wealth of experience and knowledge in its own ranks. This was the basis for the development of the GA700 series. Because of its durable design, flexibility and ease of use, it will also do well in the food industry. Bintz Technics is responsible for the distribution of Yaskawa products in Belgium and Luxembourg.
Text Valérie Couplez | Image Bintz Technics and Yaskawa
The GA 700 series received its launch in 2017. Since then, these AC drives have found their way into the heart of more and more machines and their users. Also in the food industry. Erik van Diel (business unit manager DMC and director of Yaskawa Benelux BV): "Yaskawa is proud to have a large installed base in this sector worldwide. This is only possible by speaking the language of food processing companies and their application. We believe that the GA 700 series can meet the needs of these companies. This series owes this primarily to its durable design. We guarantee maintenance-free operation for ten years. So you have nothing to worry about. In addition, it has a number of clever functions that enable it to save additional energy in partial load operation up to 6%. Even for permanent magnet motors, additional savings are thus possible."
The second pillar on which the series is built is ease of use. "The Yaskawa engineers have provided the GA 700 frequency regulators with artificial intelligence, so to speak. That makes them immediately suitable for 95% of the applications. Any adjustments that are still needed then, the autotune function can automatically take care of them. So it will automatically learn and adapt to the engine in question. By the way, the connection can be done very easily, due to the good accessibility of the terminal." To program the GA 700 variable speed drives, the user has several options. "This can be done via the terminal, but Yaskawa also provides a free app for tablet or smartphone for parameterization via Bluetooth. Does it have to be a little more elaborate? Then it can be done via software on PC or laptop." The fact that Yaskawa is active worldwide for support and thus also has labels for each region may certainly also be mentioned here.
Different applications in a food environment, require different solutions. Or do they? "The GA 700 series is designed as a 'general purpose control platform.' In other words, the same hardware lends itself to a very wide range of applications. It is with the software that the difference can be made per machine or application. That's the flexibility that machine builders and end users are looking for today." The series covers a range from 0.55 kW to 355 kW and can match induction motors as well as permanent magnet motors (SM or IM) or synchronous reluctance motors. "And that's pretty special, to be able to control these three types with one controller," he said.
The features of the GA 700 may already speak for themselves, but Yaskawa is convinced that support also deserves full attention. "We therefore choose to work with local partners, such as Bintz Technics, where engineers with expertise can help customers further with a solution tailored to their needs. Our components are also always available for field testing.
You surely know them, the paper cups in which you get your coffee. Machine factory Michael Hörauf designs and manufactures machines for paper cups with a capacity of 180 cups per minute. The vital heart of this machine is the "cupshaper" that presses the cups into the right shape. It has a diameter of 1 m and 180 tacts per minute, three times per second a complete cycle of acceleration, normal operation at top speed and deceleration. With the use of a YASKAWA variable speed drive, we managed to achieve a reliable and precise solution for this highly dynamic, demanding application. Dynamics and accuracy that you would normally only expect from servo systems.
