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Rockwell Automation: Solid-state motor controller

Rockwell Automation’s Allen-Bradley SMC-50 smart motor controller provides a more economical alternative to drives and more advanced control than across-the-line starters, and includes a newly-designed three-phase, fully solid-state, silicon-controlled rectifier (SCR) power structure.

Pw 51082 Smc50 Family Front 1 Lgprod

Designed for customer flexibility, the SMC-50 controller combines advanced monitoring and protection features, multiple start and stop options, and expandable control inputs and outputs. These features help users increase efficiency, reduce downtime, and improve control. 

Rated at 200V-690V AC and with software from 90 to 520 amps, the SMC-50 controller is suitable for controlling motor speed and torque in a range of normal-duty applications.  The SMC-50’s design improves voltage output to maximize efficiency of motor starts and stops. For application scalability, it features nine standard starting modes, six stopping modes, and several slow-speed functions. In traditional starting mode, for example, if the SMC-50 controller senses that the motor has reached full speed before completing the selected ramp time, it will automatically switch to providing full voltage to the motor. The patented linear-acceleration starting mode offers a low starting current profile per start, consistent acceleration time, and enhanced control over both torque and speed. Regardless of the starting mode chosen, the SMC-50 controller stores the actual motor start time and peak current value to assist in setup and process optimization.

The SMC-50 smart motor controller using the Allen‑Bradley smart motor braking feature engineered with automatic zero-speed shut-off, quickly stops a motor without the need for additional hardware or feedback devices.

To further protect motor assets and decrease downtime, the SMC-50 controller utilizes advanced power monitoring and diagnostics. This results in highly scalable user-configurable faults and alarms, including motor overload protection, over/under voltage, stall protection, over/under power, jam detection, over/under current, excessive starts, current and voltage imbalance, power frequency protection, power factor protection, and preventative maintenance faults and alarms. The SMC-50 also provides energy saver, motor winding heater, and the snapshot and event log features, which capture fault, alarm, and operational history.

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