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Market overview

Increasing energy consumption and focus on energy-efficient systems, developments in production and manufacturing industries, increase in infrastructural activities, and investments for technological advancements are the factors driving the market.

Because of advancements in component technology and manufacturing techniques, dc drives can now perform better and with greater reliability, while staying cost-effective and simple to use.

A DC drive is a mechanism that controls the speed of a DC motor by supplying power to the motor. A DC drive converts alternating current (AC) to direct current (DC) to operate a DC motor. To obtain a half-cycle of DC output from a single-phase AC input, most DC drives use a pair of thyristors (also known as SCRs).

An SCR is a three-terminal device that allows current to flow in only one direction and is made up of an anode, a cathode, and a gate. SCRs have an on/off switch built into them, and their switching is regulated by biassing conditions and the gate input terminal. The average power produced during the load may be adjusted by altering the SCR's ON periods.

Working Principle - A direct current motor's speed is proportional to its armature voltage and inversely proportional to its field current. Furthermore, the armature current is proportional to the torque of the motor. As a result, altering the applied voltage affects the motor's speed.  However, the rated voltage can be increased. If a speed larger than the initial speed is necessary, the motor's field current must be lowered.

DC drives are widely employed in a variety of various applications, including elevators, paper-producing machines, cranes and hoists, winders, crushers, and so on.

Advantages of DC drive:

• High starting torque
• Easy installation
• Controlling speed across a wide range (both above and below the rated speed)
• Quick starting, stopping, reversing, and acceleration
• Accurate step-less speed with continuous torque and a linear speed-torque curve

One of the reasons for dc drives' cheap cost and durability is their simplicity of design. An ac drive contains two conversion stages, one from ac to dc and one from dc to ac; a dc drive converts once via a regulated rectifier bridge. The dc drive has a high efficiency since it only uses one stage of conversion. Because the complexity of vector control is not done, the control logic has less work to do, and simpler techniques are employed. Less control logic leads to fewer parameters to adjust, making commissioning easier as compared to ac.

Types of DC drives based on configurations

1. Non-Regenerative – Non-regenerative DC drives, commonly known as single-quadrant drives, have a single rotational direction and no built-in braking. Stopping the motor is accomplished by removing the voltage and allowing the motor to coast to a halt. Non-regenerative drives are commonly employed to power higher load loads, where the load serves as a natural solid brake.

1. Regenerative - Regenerative control allows a motor to function as a generator while in operation. During the braking phase, energy is regenerated (regenerative braking), and the energy output is delivered to an electrical load. A regenerative braking system recovers energy by slowly reducing the engine and recycling it. The reversal of current in the motor causes the spinning of the load to slow down, resulting in braking action.

Market developments and trends 

• DC drives in Asia, Australia, and Europe are in demand due to the growing construction and mining markets. Residential construction activity is expanding in emerging nations like China and India, resulting in a significant demand for DC drives.
• The oil and gas industry uses pipelines to transport petroleum products from refineries to demand areas and crude oil from sources to inland refineries. Due to the increase in activities in oil and gas industries globally, the demand for DC drives is increasing. The United Kingdom, Germany, Italy and Norway are the key European countries investing in the production and development of oil and gas to lessen their reliance on other nations, which benefits the DC drive industry.
• Increasing investments for the development of the manufacturing and processing industries are seeing a rise in the demand for DC drives globally.
• Growing demand for dc drives in the power sector is due to an increase in load and distribution for infrastructural development.

Opportunities

• When replacing an old or failing dc drive, simply changing the drive to a modern dc drive allows the use of the existing motor and connections. It is even feasible to update an existing dc drive-in very high-power dc system without totally replacing it. The motor/generator combo is a particularly appealing retrofit option. M/G sets were widely used to control groups of dc motors. The M/G set method was rather intricate, time-consuming to maintain, and inefficient. It is easy to replace an M/G set system with dc drives, and the existing drive motors may be retained. Aside from removing high-maintenance and often outdated equipment, replacing an M/G set with dc drives results in energy savings. Manufacturers may provide a digital "front end" that can drive the current SCR bridges, providing all of the benefits of a modern drive at a very low price, and they can also seek the M/G set system market to offer DC drives.
• Users of DC drives prefer the opportunity to update a digital drive's software and firmware. Manufacturers can give frequent upgrades to assist consumers in taking advantage of the digital technology that delivers greater precision. Tension control, material winders, and PID control can be done much more elegantly, with parameters enabling fine-tuning.
• To attain a level of commonality with other current equipment, manufacturers might move to update control architecture such as 32-bit CPUs and Fieldbus communications. This places the DC drive on par with other technologies, allowing it to be readily interfaced with PLCs, HMIs, and process controllers.

Blackridge Research's global DC Drives Market report provides insights into the current global and regional market demand environment and prognosis.

The study offers a thorough examination of the many factors that impact the global DC drives market growth. The study also comprehensively analyses the global DC drives market by segmenting it based on geography (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Middle-East and Africa, and South America).

The report also discusses current, and future market possibilities, market trends, advancements, and the effect of geopolitics on the global DC drives market, essential developments, regions, and segments poised for the fastest-growth, competitive landscape. Further, the global DC drives market size and demand forecast, growth rates will also be provided in the report.