Carrier Corporation And ABB Sign Corporate Supply Agreement
New ABB drives for HVAC, the ACH550 series, utilized on OEM's rooftop and air handling units
New Berlin, WI -- Carrier Corporation and ABB Inc. have signed a corporate supply agreement, which became effective in May, 2004. ABB Inc., Automation Technologies, Low-Voltage Drives, is providing the company's new line of variable frequency drives for HVAC, the ACH550 series, as part of the agreement.
Carrier, a leading North American OEM and industry supplier of HVAC equipment, is utilizing the drives as a critical component in its Weather Series Rooftops and Aero? air-handling product lines.
"The drives met our strict performance criteria and our quality assurance requirements, which were key to making this agreement happen, " said Bruce Burdon, director of Product Management and Marketing for Carrier's North America Commercial Division. "The drives already are being utilized in our commercial products, and the customer response has been extremely positive," he said.
arriage of Technology Delivers Easy Installation, Start Up -- "It is an honor to be part of this arrangement -- and it marries together the technology of two of the strongest suppliers to the HVAC industry, " said Jeff Miller, HVAC sales manager for ABB Inc., Low-Voltage Drives. "End users gain the most, because the features and ease-of-use benefits make equipment installation and start up faster than ever," he said.
Software developed by ABB for the drives that Carrier purchases asks commission technicians a short list of qualifying questions. Based on the answer, the drive self-sets the parameters in seconds - and proceeds to the start mode almost instantaneously. "That kind of built-in macro can relieve the engineer from setting numerous parameters, one-by-one," Miller noted.
Cell Phone Keypad and Reduced Harmonics at Partial Load -- "The ACH550 drives that Carrier now offers features a user-friendly control keypad, modelled after a cell-phone design, and utilizes full language (rather than codes)," said Ron Ball, national accounts manager for ABB, Low-Voltage Drives. New-to-market features that the ACH550 pioneers include Maintenance, Diagnostics and Programming Assistants, along with Help Screens and a Help key, he said. The drive offers sophisticated technology made simple -- out-of-sight-and-mind, 24/7 constancy that gives users peace of mind from knowing these drives provide multiple modes of motor control and wide flexibility across the full range of HVAC applications.
ABB's patent-pending Swinging Choke design, built into the drive, is uniquely able to reduce harmonics at both full and partial loads, for a total harmonic reduction of up to 30%, compared to traditional reactor designs; and up to 64%, compared to drives with no reactors (estimates are based on a power system impedance of 1%).
Carrier Corporation, headquartered in Farmington, Connecticut, is the world's largest company providing heating, air conditioning and refrigeration solutions, with operations in 172 countries. It is part of United Technologies Corporation (NYSE:UTX), a Hartford, Connecticut-based provider of a broad range of high-technology products and support services to the aerospace and building systems industries.
ABB Inc., Low-Voltage Drives, is the #1 drives supplier to the U.S. HVAC market, and has connected tens of thousands of drives to building automation systems. In the USA, ABB, New Berlin, Wisconsin, supplies a complete line of energy-efficient electric drives and motors to HVAC and commercial customers through an integrated channel of sales representatives and distributors. Products manufactured include AC and DC variable speed drives from fractional to 500 horsepower. HVAC single-motor drive applications include exhaust fans, fume hoods, re-circulation pumps, condenser fans; multiple-motor applications include multi-cell cooling towers, paralleled chilled water, and booster pump systems (http://www.abb-drives.com). For information on the new ACH550 drives, specifically, see http://abb-drives.info/ach550/
ABB (www.abb.us) is a leader in power and automation technologies that enable utility and industry customers to improve performance while lowering environmental impact. The ABB Group of companies operates in around 100 countries and employs about 115,000 people. The company's U.S. operations employ about 9,000 in manufacturing and other facilities in 40 states.
Source: ABB