Why is motor drive a key technology for industrial enterprises to achieve carbon neutrality

    Electric motor refers to an electromagnetic device that converts or transmits electrical energy based on the law of electromagnetic induction. From the definition, it can be seen that motors are driven by electricity, and as reflected in the above data, motors are the single largest type of device in the world in terms of electricity consumption.

     The above data has already mentioned that motor power consumption accounts for a high proportion of global industrial power consumption, and the situation is similar in China. Statistical data shows that China‘s electric motors consume 69% of the total electricity consumption in society and 75% of industrial electricity annually. The main reason for this situation is the insufficient penetration rate of green motors in China. According to the "Motor Energy Efficiency Improvement Plan 2018", the penetration rate of high-efficiency motors in China in 2018 was only 3%. Referring to data from the China Federation of Industrial Economics, this key indicator is still less than 10%. The 2022 Industrial Energy Efficiency Improvement Plan requires that the proportion of newly added high-efficiency motors should reach over 70% by 2025.

    If high-efficiency motors can be popularized, it will be of great significance for achieving the goal of "carbon neutrality". According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics of China, thermal power generation accounted for 71.13% of the total power generation in 2021. Globally, in 2021, fossil energy power generation accounted for 62% of the total electricity generation worldwide. From this perspective, motors indirectly lead to an increase in global carbon dioxide content. Improving motor energy efficiency will significantly reduce energy demand and reduce global carbon dioxide emissions.

    If you want to improve the energy efficiency level of the motor, you can first consider from the perspective of motor adaptation. For example, permanent magnet synchronous motors are more suitable for application scenarios with frequent load changes and frequent no-load situations, such as lathes, machine tools, and wire drawing equipment, which can achieve good energy-saving effects.

    From the perspective of motor design, it is also possible to reduce losses and improve heat dissipation by improving relevant designs. The losses of general motors mainly include the following types - iron core losses, stator/rotor copper losses, wind wear losses, and stray losses, and each link has room for continuous improvement. For example, motors using copper windings can significantly reduce the winding of copper wires by increasing their diameter, thereby reducing losses and reducing heat dissipation.

    In order to reduce the energy consumption of motors, manufacturers will also develop energy-saving technologies, and variable frequency speed regulation is a typical energy-saving technology. During the operation of traditional motors, when the load is significantly reduced or unloaded, the input power does not change, but the output power changes, which wastes a large amount of electrical energy. By adopting frequency conversion technology, the energy efficiency of the motor can be significantly improved. According to data from relevant motor manufacturers, frequency conversion technology can generally save 10% -50% of electricity.

    In addition, a more intelligent and precise motor control system can also help improve motor energy efficiency. Motor control emphasizes "one rise and one drop", where "one rise" refers to improving the efficiency of motor FOC (field oriented control) control algorithms, and "one drop" refers to reducing power device losses and motor losses. At present, a combination of deep learning and artificial intelligence algorithms has been widely used in motor FOC control algorithms, which can continuously optimize the efficiency of the motor, improve the accuracy of control positions, and reduce unnecessary current losses.

    Finally, let‘s talk about our "protagonist" today - electric motor drive. After observing the solutions of major original factories, it is not difficult to find that "motor control and drive" are currently a fusion concept, which is actually easy to understand because motor control is a "decision-making system" and strongly related to control algorithms, while motor drive is an "execution system". The latter receives the control signal of the former, then rotates the motor to a specific angle and sends it to a specific position. The motor drive has a dedicated driver and supporting drive circuit. To improve the energy efficiency of the motor from this point, we need to start from the following aspects.

    For motor drivers, drivers with low conduction and switching losses can help designers significantly reduce system losses, and the frequency conversion of motor drives is also a major trend. For example, in the drive of AC motors, electronic speed control and higher drive energy efficiency can also be achieved by replacing single speed control with variable frequency drives. In terms of supporting circuits, specially optimized circuit structures can often achieve good energy-saving effects. For example, in the use of bridge circuits in motor drive circuits, we further take automobile motor drive as an example. Here, the drive system is actually an inverter, and multiple half bridge circuits are often used in the inverter circuit to improve system efficiency. Another important direction is to increase the input voltage value of the motor, which can greatly reduce the loss of the motor during the constant power period. However, this trend also puts higher requirements on the motor drive protection circuit, requiring higher performance protection components.

     By using the above methods, the energy consumption of the motor can be significantly reduced, which has enormous empowering value for achieving the goal of "carbon neutrality". Next, let‘s take a look at how the components sold on the Mao Ze Electronic website can play an important role in some specific aspects.