Chuang An Ruikong uses drive and control solutions to tackle the operation and maintenance challenges of industrial equipment.

Chueun Control was launched in 2020, targeting the industrial automation and intelligent manufacturing sectors, providing frequency conversion drive, energy processing and digital operation and maintenance solutions for industrial equipment. The project has formed a product system including low-voltage frequency converters, four-quadrant frequency converters, energy feedback units, high-voltage variable-frequency speed regulation systems and Chueun Smart Cloud platform, no external financing has been disclosed at present, and the project is mainly promoted with self-owned funds.

The upgrading of industrial equipment is not only to replace the original frequency converters with new products with higher performance. In actual production, problems such as mismatching of model selection and load, large differences in control performance requirements under different working conditions, scattered fault information and equipment maintenance relying on on-site personnel will all affect the operation and maintenance efficiency of equipment.

Chueun, an industrial drive and control brand under Changsha Chuang'an Electric Co., Ltd., tries to solve the problems of industrial equipment in control, energy management and operation and maintenance through frequency conversion drive, industry application adaptation and digital operation and maintenance. The project was officially launched in 2020, and is currently positioned in the electrical transmission subdivision under the industrial automation and intelligent manufacturing track, while extending to the direction of industrial equipment interconnection and digital operation and maintenance.

According to the project party, Chueun Control has not disclosed external financing at the current stage, and the project is mainly promoted with self-owned funds.

Industrial Equipment Operation and Maintenance Demand Shifts from Standalone Control to System Management

The project direction of Chueun Control comes from the on-site experience of the Chuang'an Electric team in industrial frequency conversion drive and automation projects. In the process of project service, the team found that the problem faced by industrial customers is often not that there are no frequency converters in the market, but that there are obvious differences in equipment load, production process and on-site environment, and standard products cannot directly cover all working conditions.

Taking fans, water pumps, conveying and packaging equipment as examples, customers usually pay attention to speed regulation control, operation stability and use cost; hoisting, crane, lifting and elevating equipment will generate regenerative energy during the descending, decelerating and braking process, which requires consideration of braking and energy processing; high-power equipment in mining, metallurgy, cement, electric power and municipal industries also involves high-voltage, high-power motor speed regulation and system reliability and other issues. Sites with high dust, humidity, oil stain and water vapor will put forward additional requirements for the structural protection and environmental adaptability of frequency converters.

Equipment maintenance is also a concern for industrial customers. Some stock equipment lacks interconnection capability, and operation data, parameter records and fault information are scattered in different equipment and control systems. After a fault occurs, maintenance personnel usually need to go to the site to check the fault code, operation parameters and line status. For factories with widely distributed equipment and long inspection distance, this method will increase the time for fault judgment and personnel coordination.

Such demands push industrial drive and control products to extend from single-motor speed regulation to equipment status management. What customers need is not only to make the motor run at the set speed, but also to make the product adapt to the specific load and provide support for subsequent fault query, parameter management and equipment maintenance.

Build Product System of Drive Control and Digital Operation and Maintenance

Focusing on different equipment and working conditions, Chueun Control has formed a product system consisting of low-voltage frequency converters, energy processing products, high-voltage variable-frequency speed regulation systems and digital platforms.

In the field of general industrial equipment, CA100 economical frequency converter is mainly used in applications such as fans, water pumps, woodworking, textile, packaging and logistics conveying; CA600Ultra high-performance vector frequency converter and CA700 high-performance general-purpose vector frequency converter can be used for equipment with high requirements on control performance, dynamic response and expansion capability. Aiming at complex environments such as dust, humidity, oil stain and water vapor, Chueun Control has also developed CA700IP65 high-protection frequency converter.

The frequency converter controls the speed and operation state of the AC motor by adjusting the output frequency and voltage. The vector control technology improves the control capability of the equipment in the process of low-speed operation, load change and dynamic adjustment by controlling the motor current. The specific control effect is still related to motor parameters, load characteristics, commissioning settings and on-site working conditions.

In scenarios requiring frequent braking such as hoisting, crane and lifting, Chueun Control has deployed CL200 four-quadrant frequency converter and CL100 series energy feedback units. The related products are used to process the regenerative energy generated during the descending, decelerating and braking process of equipment, and support the coordination among motor drive, braking and energy processing. Whether the energy feedback scheme can bring obvious energy-saving effect depends on the equipment operation frequency, load change, braking cycle and system configuration, and cannot be judged only according to the product type.

Aiming at high-voltage and high-power motor applications, Chueun Control has launched CAG6000 series intelligent high-voltage variable-frequency speed regulation system, which is mainly used for fans, water pumps, compressors, conveying and lifting equipment in mining, metallurgy, cement, electric power, chemical industry and municipal industries.

In addition to hardware, Chueun Control has simultaneously built the Chueun Smart Cloud platform. The platform connects the frequency converter and the cloud system through the DTU communication module, and provides mini-program on mobile phone and management tools on web page. According to equipment model, communication configuration, user authority and on-site network conditions, the platform can support functions such as equipment status viewing, operation data management, historical trend query, fault alarm and equipment management.

Chueun Smart Cloud cannot replace all on-site maintenance work, and its main function is to help managers obtain equipment status and fault information in advance, and provide basis for problem judgment and maintenance arrangement. For application scenarios with interconnection conditions and scattered equipment distribution, this method can reduce some unnecessary on-site inspections.

Promote Scenario-based Implementation Based on Hardware Sales

Chueun Control's current business model is based on the sales of drive and control hardware, and provides model selection, parameter configuration, control logic adaptation and digital operation and maintenance support according to customer equipment and working conditions. The target users of the project mainly include industrial equipment manufacturers, end manufacturing enterprises, automation system integrators and equipment operation and maintenance service providers.

Equipment manufacturers pay attention to the adaptation capability between products and the whole machine control system, delivery stability and subsequent technical support; end manufacturing enterprises pay more attention to stock equipment transformation, operation maintenance and energy consumption management; system integrators need product portfolios that can cover different loads and communication modes. Targeting these customers, Chueun Control mainly carries out market reach through channels such as industrial project docking, industry partners, equipment supporting cooperation and technical content dissemination.

From the perspective of market demand, the automation configuration of new equipment in manufacturing enterprises and the frequency conversion transformation of stock equipment constitute the main application foundation of industrial drive and control products. With the increasing demand for equipment interconnection and centralized management, the coordination among frequency converters, communication modules and operation and maintenance platforms has also formed a new service space. However, the delivery cycle of industrial projects, customer verification process and industry differences are relatively obvious, whether the products can be applied on a large scale still depends on reliability, cost, on-site adaptation and service capability.

At the current stage, Chueun Control has extended from a single frequency conversion drive product to low-voltage drive, energy processing, high-voltage speed regulation and digital operation and maintenance, and has entered the stage of product implementation and continuous optimization. According to the application feedback sorted out by the project party, customers pay more attention to the matching degree between products and actual working conditions, the efficiency of fault information acquisition and the convenience of remotely viewing equipment status. Based on these feedbacks, Chueun Control is improving the preset parameter schemes for different industries, simplifying the communication configuration process, and adjusting the data display and equipment management functions on the platform side.

The main problem in the promotion of the project is the balance between standardized products and differentiated working conditions. The equipment structure, control logic and production process of industrial customers are different. If each project is deeply customized, the delivery cost and cycle will increase accordingly; if only unified configuration is provided, the control requirements of some complex loads may not be met. The current method adopted by Chueun Control is to adapt to the specific site through parameter configuration, control logic and industry schemes on the basis of standardized product platform.

The Chuang'an Electric team has long been involved in industrial frequency conversion drive and automation projects, but the project party has not disclosed quantitative operating data such as core member resumes, number of customers, revenue scale and repurchase rate at present. Chueun Control said: "The value of industrial equipment is not only to be able to operate, but also to run stably under real working conditions, and to be easy to manage and maintain."

In the next stage, Chueun Control plans to continue to improve the coordination capability among drive control, energy management and Chueun Smart Cloud platform, and accumulate product parameters and application schemes around different industrial scenarios. For industrial projects that are mainly promoted with self-owned funds, whether replicable industry schemes can be formed and the project verification cycle can be shortened will become the key for the project to expand the market coverage.