I recently had the opportunity to spend a few days at Yaskawa America’s North American headquarters to sit in on an A1000 Application Programming class. As a YaskawaSolution and Service Provider PLUS, many DMC engineers have extensive application programming experience using Yaskawa’s inverter drives in the industrial workspace. In addition to being a Yaskawa Solution and Service Provider, we have frequently worked closely with Yaskawa’s software development team to aid in firmware and PC tool development. But being relatively new to DMC, it was a great opportunity for me to get a more in depth look at Yaskawa’s latest line of inverter drives.

If you’re not familiar, Yaskawa’s new A1000 variable frequency drive maintains all the abilities of the F7 and G5, but adds even higher levels of performance and several new features – including permanent magnet motor control. The A1000 offers a wide range of power options (from 200-600 V, ¾-250 HP), several different control types, and a variety of communication options that make it an excellent option for both general purpose and high performance industrial applications.

The training course I participated in was designed to teach technicians and engineers the basics needed to incorporate an A1000 VFD into an application. Most of the time was spent doing hands-on programming of the drive for real-world applications such as fans, conveyors, mixers, and winders. By the end of three days I walked away feeling confident I could set a drive up for nearly any application. The capabilities of this drive are really impressive. And with the programming tools Yaskawa provides, setting one up, even for complicated applications, is simple.

Now I’m just looking forward for a chance to put one into action!