The Royal Danish Theatre has occupied the heart of Copenhagen for centuries and recently upgraded to a new control system featuring Sprint Electric DC drives to extend the lives of the existing motors, keeping replacement costs down. The Swedish stage design and technology company Visual Act retained most of the original motors and mechanics while providing a much-needed facelift to the stage.

Few industries are experiencing change quite as fast as the packaging arena. Lighter-weight containers are being introduced to reduce costs and energy use, packaging is being redesigned to attract consumer attention and manufacturers are using fewer materials in an effort to address environmental concerns.

In this paper, Edward Hage, founder of specAmotor.com, an online motor calculation and selection tool, focuses on the overheating of electric motors. Presented here is a calculation method with which the temperature and heat development of a direct current (DC) motor and a brushless motor can be predicted accurately.

Can direct drive technology improve your bottom line? Manufacturers relying upon drive systems in their production process have long sought ways to improve gearbox efficiency. While a gearbox-driven system has been the mainstay for manufacturers, it has also been, among other things, the source of frequent breakdowns, expensive line stoppages and increasingly costly maintenance.

The federal government estimates that manufacturing uses about one third of the energy consumed in the U.S., so manufacturing companies can play an important role in building a sustainable future.

Th e total U.S. electric motor base exceeds 100 million motors and consumes more than 50% of all electricity generated in the country. Small motors—fractional horsepower to 20-hp—comprise 99% of the motor population but consume only 25% of all generated electricity (Refs. 1,3,10,14).