A 30-year-old Mitsubishi Electric drive finally hangs up its spurs

Issues:

When DSC partner Lawrence Electrical Group visited a leading pump manufacturer in Gloucestershire to repair a fault on a CNC machine, the team soon realised this wasn’t a routine drive replacement.

They discovered a 30-year-old Mitsubishi Electric Z220 drive.  The Z220 was the first digital drive produced in the world so a true vintage.  This 1980s classic has clearly demonstrated Mitsubishi Electric products are built to last. In this instance however, it was time to hang up its spurs.

Solution:

Lawrence Electrical set to work:

• The Z220 was replaced with an FR-A820 drive
• The Z220 had an option card that allowed speed to be controlled from the PLC with BCD code – this was replaced with a FR-A8AX e-kit
• Installation and programming was straightforward due to the Z220 parameters being located on identical parameter numbers to the latest drives

Outcome:

The next visit is booked for some time in 2060!