OKI Electric Cable Develops Small Micro-Surge Suppressor For Inverter-Fed Motors
OKI Electric Cable, together with Tokyo Metropolitan University, announced that they have succeeded in developing a new method (patent pending) to suppress micro-surge, an over-voltage noise that occurs instantaneously caused by inverter switching signals. OKI Electric Cable’s new method employs a surge suppression cable and a newly developed energy regeneration module. These new technologies enabled the company to develop what it describes as the world’s first ultra small micro-surge suppressor, the eco Surge™ µ.
"We are very excited about this revolutionary method that enabled us to make the micro-surge suppressor ultra small. The surge suppression wire technology and the energy regeneration module, which includes a delay circuit and a rectifier circuit, are based on OKI Electric Cable’s advanced technology for designing noise-resistant cables, and on the studies of Professor Toshihisa Shimizu at Tokyo Metropolitan University," said Takashi Hattori, President of OKI Electric Cable. "We believe we can apply this method not only to surge suppressors but also as to other noise countermeasures."
According to the company, compared to the conventional method, which employs electric filters, this new suppressor reduces power consumption to a minimum (lower than one-thirtieth), and size to less than one-eightieth with 15KW power motors. In addition, more than 90% of the micro-surge noise can be suppressed. Sales of eco Surge µ are planned to start in July 2009 worldwide.
OKI Electric Cable states that it has developed a surge suppressor based on surge suppression cable and energy regeneration technology which was significantly smaller in size than conventional filters. To reduce the size even more, the company jointly developed this new suppressor with Tokyo Metropolitan University. By efficiently returning only the surge energy to the inverter input, the two groups claim they have succeeded in developing a surge suppression method with minimal (less than one-thirtieth compared to conventional filters) power consumption for suppression.
This new method does not require high-power-rated capacitors or coils. The eco Surge µ consumes less power to suppress surges, thus less heat is generated. By adjusting the delay-circuit constants of the energy regeneration module, more than 90% of the micro-surge noise can be suppressed and reused as power.
The eco Surge µ can be placed in areas where conventionally it could not due to limited space in the switchboard. In addition, it can be used in a wide range of applications such as energy savings for inverter-fed motors.
