Hannover, April 26, 2016 - NORD Drivesystems showcased drives with advanced condition monitoring capabilities that support predictive maintenance at this year's Hannover Messe exhibition. NORD employs frequency inverters with an integrated PLC to monitor the complete drive system, evaluate sensor data, and assess the system state by means of intelligent algorithms. An industrial gear unit demonstrates the condition monitoring approach based on sensors and dedicated evaluation technology. Vibration and oil sensors provide crucial live data about the wear and tear. Vibration analysis then enables conclusions about the state of the bearings as well as the gearing, and oil analysis can help determine when the lubricant needs changing.

As the "virtual sensing" model demonstrates, predictive maintenance is also possible without external sensors and the accompanying higher costs: in this showcase, the inverter assembles the drive system's process data and calculates the maintenance time using an algorithm that also incorporates product data and application know-how acquired through decades of experience. The functionality is based on the fieldbus-independent reference architecture for condition monitoring in factory automation defined by the German Engineering Federation in technical rule VDMA 24582. In order to represent the real drive state as closely as possible, NORD has thoroughly verified calculated values against true laboratory measurements to further optimize the algorithm. These software diagnostics are a particularly efficient solution which is also suitable for small drive sizes. Customers achieve a longer product life, enhanced availability, and lower maintenance costs with this new inverter function.

NORD Drivesystems develops, produces and sells drive technologies with around 3.200 employees, and is one of the international leaders in the industry. In addition to standard drives, NORD supplies application-specific concepts and solutions, even for special applications, for example with energy-saving drives or explosion-protected systems. Gross sales amounted to approx. EUR 540 mn in the 2015 business year. The company founded in 1965 now has over 36 subsidiaries worldwide. The closely meshed sales and service network ensures optimum availability for short delivery times and customer-oriented services. NORD produces a wide variety of drive units for torques from 10 to 200,000 Nm, electric motors with powers from 0.12 kW to 1,000 kW as well as the necessary power electronics in the form of frequency inverters and servo controllers. Inverter solutions are available for classical installations in the switch cabinet and for decentralised and fully integrated drive units.