Remote Monitoring for Low-Voltage Drives

Ever since Ethernet connectivity became a more common feature on automation devices, remote monitoring of those devices—either internally or via a third party—has grown exponentially. While most early applications of remote monitoring were handled by staff engineers to avoid unnecessary trips to the device site, the growing reliance of manufacturers on equipment suppliers for service and support throughout the equipment lifecycle has led to a boom in remote monitoring by OEMs.

One of the more recent entries into this field is ABB’s Low-Voltage (LV) Drives Performance Service, enabled via ABB ServicePort. According the company, its LV Drives Performance Service is a monitoring and diagnostic service that tracks the health and performance of low-voltage drives. To improve drives’ availability, the service automatically collects and analyzes data such as motor current, motor temperature, speed error and DC voltage and calculates configurable key performance indicators (KPIs) that measure electrical, temperature and motion drive characteristics for specified time periods, allowing both users and ABB service people to identify and address issues.

In addition to using the data to evaluate trends that may indicate issues with the LV drives, Tarun Mathur, ABB’s global service product manager, says the drives’ data can be “stored and retrieved later to analyze and improve performance.”

ABB ServicePort is a remote-enabled service delivery platform that allows users to “view, scan and track KPIs that impact equipment and process performance,” Mathur says. “Deployed at the user’s location, ServicePort provides customers and ABB service experts local or remote access to views of KPIs, diagnostics and data to improve availability, process efficiency and product quality, while reducing risk, raw material and energy costs.”

Other services offered by ABB through its ServicePort offering include: Cyber Security; Control Loop Performance; Harmony Distributed Control System; Mine Hoist; Quality Control Systems; and System 800xA. All are available as a subscription service hosted by ServicePort or as independent, manual services.