When you’re choosing your braking method for your machines, you probably have one outcome in mind: Slow the machine to a stop. Correct and safe operation of machines is a must, and it goes without saying that how you brake a machine correlates with how safe the machine is to operate. In this post, we’ll be comparing three braking methods.
Braking Methods Compared
DC Injection Braking
As a way to stop an induction motor, DC injection braking is a safe, reliable method to slow a machine motor to a stop without the use of friction. Instead, DC injection braking utilizes direct current to reverse the inertia created inside a motor.
DC injection braking offers many benefits like improved machine safety operation, quicker stopping speeds, and less maintenance on the machines.
Dynamic Braking
A braking method used in partnership with regenerative braking, dynamic braking allows for the voltage connected across a dynamic braking resistor to bleed off energy when the bus voltage gets too high and reaches unsafe levels. Overall, this system prevents unsafe bus voltage levels, which make for unsafe machine operation. As one of many portions, dynamic braking is an effective method, but it adds complexities to your machine that can be a cause for more maintenance down the road.
Regenerative Braking
This braking method regenerates energy back into the DC bus capacitors. Significant friction loads or small inertia loads can be stopped quickly with this braking method. In most cases, a high-inertia load using regenerative braking will result in overvoltage conditions for the capacitors. This leads to various braking and machine issues down the road, and this is the reason regenerative braking is paired with dynamic braking.
Coast-To-Stop
As the name implies, this braking method allows the inertia of the motor to coast to a stop. It’s a standard option for most drives. The motor is disconnected from the drive and will coast-to-stop at the rate determined by the friction load of the machine. This results in high-inertia loads taking a long time to slow to a stop, which produces undesirable production times.
Why Choose DC Injection Braking?
First, DC injection braking does not add additional frictional features to your motor. It simply adds a reverse inertia to slow and stop your motor’s drive. Second, DC injection braking can slow a motor drive to a stop quickly in a safe manner. Unlike dynamic braking, DC injection braking offers stopping power without the wear and tear of friction-based parts. Finally, DC injection braking is safe to operate since it does not add more moving parts to the machine, but it adds immense stopping power.
Ambitech: 50-Plus Years Of Maximum Motor Stopping Power
As the experts in the industry, Ambitech has provided thousands of applications with electronic motor brakes to improve production, decrease safety hazards, and increase the functionality of a given motor. DC injection braking is a great option for induction motors and machine applications. Electronic motor brakes can replace mechanical motor brakes. Ready to make the switch to DC Injection? Contact Ambitech today!
