THIRD GENERATION DRIVE CONTROLLER REDUCES POWER CONSUMPTION BY 60 PERCENT

Kadant AES, a division of Kadant Inc. (NYSE:KAI), introduces the UNiGY® PhD™ system, a significant advance in pump control technology for high-pressure hydraulic power systems. The UNiGY PhD (Pump-modeling hydraulic Drive) dramatically improves energy efficiency, process control, and system availability of hydraulic power systems used in a variety of industries, including forging, plastic injection molding, and tube bending.

An elegantly simple solution, the exclusive and patented UNiGY system employs intelligent pump-control software to produce the precise flow rates and pressures demanded by the application, and no more. The UNiGY system continually senses demand and energizes the pump only as required, significantly lowering energy consumption, waste heat generation, and noise. The UNiGY PhD employs a third generation torque regulating drive controller powered by a 100 megahertz digital signal processor (DSP) for faster response time and precise pump control. Utilizing the powerful DSP, UNiGY PhD can incorporate a broader range of hydraulic application tuning parameters and compensate in real time for non-linear conditions like fluid compression, pump slip, fluctuating flow resistance, and windage, as well as viscous and coulomb losses. As a result, the UNiGY PhD can produce desired motion profiles with significantly higher precision than a system employing pressure compensated hydraulic pumps feeding servo-valves.

For processes where hydraulic demand is intermittent, UNiGY technology can significantly extend hydraulic system component life, depending on the application. The system achieves this by slowing or stopping the pump when reduced flow is required, and by using feed-forward torque control algorithms to eliminate pressure spikes, resulting in fewer hose bursts, fewer leaks, and fewer unscheduled plant outages. The UNiGY system can be easily retrofitted into existing systems and incorporated into new installations. UNiGY technology reduces hydraulic system complexity by eliminating the need for pressure compensated pumps, as well as oil cooling circuits, dump valves, servo valves, and associated amplifier cards.www.kadantunigy.com