Drives and Controls World News

German project investigates motor recycling techniques

The German government is funding a project, led by Siemens, to develop techniques for recycling electric motors. In particular, the More (MOtor REcycling) project will focus on techniques for recycling rare-earth materials used in permanent magnets.

ABB buys Thomas & Betts for $3.9bn to boost LV business

ABB is buying the North American low-voltage products manufacturer Thomas & Betts for around $3.9bn. It is ABB’s biggest deal since buying Baldor Electric last year for $4.2bn.

MV MCC market recovery has been `painfully slow`

The recovery of the global market for medium-voltage motor control centres (MCCs) has been “painfully slow” according to a new market analysis. IMS Research reports that sales of these products declined heavily in 2009 as a result of the global recession, and recovered slowly to climb above the $140m mark in 2010, when more than 5,300 vertical sections or “columns” were shipped.

GE renames Converteam and targets $30bn market

GE Energy is renaming the Converteam business, which is acquired last year for $3.2bn, as Power Conversion. It plans to use the business to build its presence in the expanding energy efficiency, electrification and automation sector, which is worth $30bn and is growing faster than global GDP.

SKF combines industrial OEM and end-user operations

SKF has revamped the way it serves the industrial market, combining its sales and services operations to OEMs and end-users by industry. It has replaced its former industrial and service divisions by two new businesses called Industrial Market, Strategic Industries and the Industrial Market, Regional Sales and Service. The two businesses will be responsible for sales, business development and engineering, and will manage the complete lifecycle of customers’ assets..

Industrial PCs face competition from ARM-based products

Embedded box industrial PCs (IPCs) are likely to face increasing competition from rugged products based on ARM processors, predicts a new market report. According to IMS Research, Intel’s Atom processors have opened up a market for lower-performance, lower-power IPCs and suppliers that previously focused on x86 IPCs are now looking to ARM-based products to develop this trend. At the recent SPS/IPC/Drives show in Germany, Kontron, Adlink and Congatec announced ARM-based control products.

PLC market recovers three years sooner than expected

Despite negative factors such as the continuing economic problems in the Euro-zone, global sales of PLCs will continue to grow this year, predicts the market analyst IMS Research. It says that emerging markets such as Brazil and India, which already account for half of global PLC sales, will be the main driving force for growth, while other important PLC markets, such as Germany, France, China and the US, are still performing well.

`Significant` investment delivers a new generation of drives

Parker SSD has made a "significant" investment to develop its first all-new ranges of drives for several years. At the recent SPS/IPC/Drives show in Germany, it unveiled the first range in the new generation. Called the AC30, it is aimed at fan, pump and general-purpose industrial applications and can control permanent magnet servomotors as well as AC induction motors. A further range, targeting machine control applications, is due in late 2012.

Motors portfolio gets a new name

Siemens has unveiled a new branding for its motor products. At the recent SPS/IPC/Drives show in Germany, Ralf-Michael Franke, CEO of Siemens Drive Technologies, announced that, in future, all of its motors will be sold under the Simotics brand. This will bring them in line with the company’s inverters, which carry the Sinamics name, and its control products, which use the Simatic, Simotion and Sinumerik brands.

January News in Brief

♦ Mitsubishi Electric has acquired the Indian PLC and HMI manufacturer, the Messung Group, for an undisclosed sum. The deal will allow Mitsubishi to accelerate its penetration of the Indian market with the aim of achieving sales worth ¥15bn (£125m) by 2016. Messung, which employs 400 people, has been a Mitsubishi partner for 15 years.

♦ Kinetek, the US designer and manufacturer of motors and controls, has established a business to design and develop AC and other brushless motor products for manufacture around the world. It says the move is to meet a customer demand for alternative suppliers as the motors market consolidates. In 2010, Kinetek bought GE Energy’s commercial refrigeration motors products business.

♦ Teco Middle East has opened the first manufacturing plant for medium- and high-voltage motors in the Middle East. The 34,000m² plant, in Damman, Saudi Arabia, will produce up to 600 motors per year in ratings from 150–10,000kW. It includes an HV testing facility suitable for motors up to 22MW. Teco ME is a joint venture between Taiwan’s Teco Electric and Machinery and Saudi Arabia’s Al Quraishi Electrical Services, Shoaibi Group and Al Ashjaea.

♦ Siemens is buying RuggedCom, a Canadian supplier of Ethernet communications and networking products for harsh industrial environments, for C$382m (£242m). The move will expand Siemens’ industrial router and switcher portfolio and give it improved access to the North American and Asia-Pacific markets. RuggedCom employs 360 people and has annual revenues worth about $94m (£60m).

♦ Linear Technology Corporation has acquired another US company, Dust Networks, which specialises in low-power wireless sensor network technology. Dust Networks’ radio and software technology is said to complement Linear’s strengths in industrial instrumentation, power management and energy harvesting technology. Dust Networks’ customers include GE and Emerson.