Press Release

In many areas the requirements towards servo amplifiers and frequency converters are so specific that they cannot be met by standard techniques and customized solutions are needed. Supply deficits mainly exist especially with regard to quantities up to only a few thousand units per year, the required engineering expertise and the corresponding production capacities. SIEB & MEYER fills this gap with powerful, application-oriented solutions with specific functions and designs.

Each One an Expert

The kind of selected system depends on the intended field of application. Traditionally, servo amplifiers were used for positioning applications, while frequency converters were used for purely speed-variable movements. Thanks to more and more powerful processor techniques and increased requirements toward functions and dynamics, however, today's frequency converters virtually have the same characteristics as servo amplifiers that are considered to be of higher quality. That means: In a large field both device types have grown together.

Nevertheless, there is a need for both device types to exist in parallel: Special applications need specific features with different requirements toward hardware and software and control.

Servo amplifiers offer highly dynamic control characteristics and meet the high demands toward processor performance and fast signal processing. Furthermore, highly accurate positioning tasks require interfaces for high resolution measuring systems. Another feature of servo amplifiers is their integrated PLC functionality, allowing realization of decentralized drive solutions.

The application field of conventional frequency converters, however, only requires speed-variable operation of asynchronous motors with a rotating field frequency of about 400 Hz and without sensor control. This allows reducing the processor performance and the hardware (for example by reducing the number of interfaces) as well as system costs. The rotating field frequency and specific motor characteristics of high speed electric motor drives, however, require adapted hardware and control solutions. When used in classic device topologies with fix intermediate voltage the generally very low-inductive motors need high switching frequencies of the output stages, which in turn requires the use of power semiconductors and pulse operation. Alternatively, device topologies with controlled intermediate circuit and PAM modulation or controlled sinus filters are also used.