Danfoss VLT Compact Starter
 MCD 200

Think petite… think cute… think… a Kylie Minogue amongst drives.  The MCD 200 is indeed a compact drive and a great starter solution, whilst retaining the reliability and durability you expect from a Danfoss drive.

Technology, of course, continues to evolve and develop at an incredible rate.  New and extensive developments have come along in areas such as bypass design, as well as semiconductor control algorithms.  Danfoss has been able to incorporate these developments into their new drives, and thereby benefit from these new technologies.  For instance there is now no requirement for bypass contactors or for additional ventilation.  This means heat dissipation can tend to be very low in these new drives which, in turn, means that these new soft starters can be extremely compact.  Panel space is thereby kept at a bare minimum and additionally, installation is also simplified.

Performance

But don’t let appearances deceive you.  The Compact Starter 200 still packs a might punch, offering a power range between 7.5 and 110 kW.

Soft Starter Technology

So, the Starter 200 indeed benefits from this compact design but still contains plenty of fabulous features.  Within its Tardis-like dimensions, the drive contains software used for sizing, monitoring and control.  There are add on modules for both serial communication and remote operation, and power loss is kept to a minimum by an internal bypass system.

Choose from current limit ramp soft start or voltage ramps and there are current ratings for both normal and heavy starting, with versions for between 200 and 575V AC.  The Compact Starter 200 also comes with motor protection built into the drive.

Options

Those interested can choose from one of two versions of the drive.  The more basic version is the MCD 201, which offers timed voltage ramps.  For something a little more fancy, you can further tweak the engine under the hood, with the more advanced version, the MCD 202.  This souped-up version provides for current limit soft start, and also motor protection and timed voltage ramp down.

Accessories

Although compact in its basic form, the compact 200 comes with a variety of optional extras, if you need to customise it further.  If you plan to use the drive for panel installation, for instance, you can choose a Remote Operator module.  This will allow both motor performance monitoring, and remote control.  In addition, other add-on modules provide serial communication to the likes of ModBus, Profibus and DeviceNet.