Customer application 26 February 2020
Bringing Everything into Line

Motor Manufacturer VEM Revolutionizes the Terminal Box: Using TOPJOB^® S from WAGO to Transform a Bolted Terminal Board into a Pluggable Connection System

From Wernigerode, they have gone out into the world to revolutionize junction boxes. The motor designers at VEM use the new TOPJOB^® S Rail-Mount Terminal Blocks with push-buttons from WAGO. While this may not appear spectacular at first glance, it has the potential to make the installation of motors faster and safer. The “VEMoCONTACT” also improves ergonomics in the workplace – primarily for maintenance and service personnel.

“There has never been a connection like this for standard and specialized motors,” notes Andreas Rudolph, hard-pressed to contain his enthusiasm. A designer of low-voltage motors at VEM, he developed the connection – causing a bit of a revolution in installation. Instead of the standard bolted terminal board, with up to six bolts for a star connection or triangle connection for three-phase asynchronous motors, VEM is now using space-saving rail-mount terminal blocks from WAGO. The initial motivation to pursue this path was, according to Andreas Rudolph, the expansion of the TOPJOB® S Rail-Mount Terminal Blocks to include variants with push-buttons and levers. The clamping point can be opened with any hand tool – eliminating the need for specialized equipment. The conductor can be contacted without connecting a cable lug or otherwise preparing it. The orange push-buttons on the rail-mount terminal blocks make handling more convenient, safer and faster.

There has never been a connection like this for standard and specialized motors.

Andreas Rudolph, designer in Motor Development at VEM

Having the Guts to Try Something New

To understand this innovation in a wider context, Andreas Rudolph tells a story about a friend who works as an electrician at a large company in the Harz mountains. “During the annual overhaul, 20 motors that drive horizontally-overlapping conveyor belts, had to be switched out in one production area.” In practice, this means working on 20 motors in a vertical plane, and also 20 terminal boxes on the same plane. Once the cover is removed and the first conductors are detached, his electrician friend then has to deal with screws, nuts and washers. By using rail-mount terminal blocks from WAGO, we have made the entire process easier, faster and safer.” He is both surprised and also proud, because “before us, no motor manufacturer had the guts to bring this type of connection convenience into series production.”

The push-button variants of the new rail-mount terminal blocks from WAGO’s TOPJOB^® S portfolio can be used for rated cross-sections from 0.14 to 25 mm². The Push-in CAGE CLAMP^® technology clears the way for connecting fine-stranded conductors without ferrules. In Andreas Rudolph’s opinion, this feature provides additional benefits during the installation of VEM motors. “I just have to strip the fine-stranded conductors, push them in, and I’m done.” This ease especially noteworthy in applications in the Ex protection areas. In conventional connection technology using bolted terminal boards, cable lugs have to be crimped to the conductor ends. These then have to be firmly screwed down, using nuts, which in turn have to be secured against counter-rotation using a spring device. The whole process becomes extremely complicated in the Ex area. In addition, tools matching the motor size must always be at hand.

Clampable Connections for the Chemical Industry

At this point, a brief glance suffices to show how much potential is contained in VEM’s new connection technology. The installation of explosion-proof motors is complex, “fiddly” and time-consuming. For the motor manufacturers based in Wernigerode, it was clear from the start of development that the new integrated connection system “VEMoCONTACT” would have to be able to offer all relevant approvals in order for the motors to be used in the sectors that VEM supplies. Andreas Rudolph recalls the complicated and expensive approval process in the Ex area in particular. VEM is currently the only manufacturer of explosion-proof motors with the alternative primary connection system. Other approvals relate to operations in the maritime sector, specifically on board ships. For these, approvals come from classification societies such as DNV-GL, Bureau Veritas and Lloyds Register of Shipping, as well as classification societies in North America and Russia, which qualify the VEM motors for use at sea.

For their part, the TOPJOB^® S Rail-Mount Terminal Blocks provide corresponding releases or approvals for Ex protection and in maritime use, which form the foundation for using modern clamping connection technology in the most demanding application areas. “The support from WAGO during this development project was also decisive – particularly the support during prototyping,” recalls Rudolph happily. Today, VEM can connect motors with outputs in the 4 to 45 kW range, or conductor cross-sections from 0.14 to 25 mm⊃2 using the rail-mount terminal block system. For everything above 25 mm⊃2, there are high-voltage modules from the WAGO 285 Series, which also have Ex approvals. Currently in the testing phase: A size-315 500 kW motor with WAGO rail-mount terminal blocks and connection cross-sections of 185 mm⊃2. “The bigger the motors get, the more complex they are to connect,” says the designer. At these cross-sections, neither ferrules nor cable lugs can be crimped by hand. This requires a powerful hydraulic tool for crimping: in Rudolph’s opinion, “a massive expense. A faster and safer alternative was long overdue.”

By using rail-mount terminal blocks from WAGO, we have made the entire thing easier, faster and safer.

Andreas Rudolph, designer in Motor Development at VEM

In light of the advantages of VEMoCONTACT outlined above, the designer pauses to marvel at the occasional skepticism on the part of users about rail-mount terminal blocks in junction boxes. Screw connections are apparently still more trusted in terms of operational safety than vibration-proof, maintenance-free spring connection technology. “In the case of screw connections, high vibrations and shock loads are a problem, because that can loosen the nuts. That doesn’t happen with rail-mount terminal blocks with spring connection technology.” The WAGO TOPJOB^® S Rail-Mount Terminal Blocks have a load capacity of 100g, which is far beyond the acceleration forces that a terminal box on a motor normally has to be able to withstand. “We achieve 15g with our ocean motors in shipping – which doesn’t sound like much, but is actually quite a lot.”

Summary

The list of benefits of the new connection technology for motors with VEMoCONTACT reads like a recipe for saving time. All switching options can be implemented conveniently; the modules can be marked easily; the box itself has a tidy appearance. In addition, the primary and auxiliary motor connections are arranged clearly next to one another on the DIN rail. The modular design of the TOPJOB® S clears the way for easily meeting satisfying different connection specifications using various arrangements of rail-mount terminal blocks. The terminal box becomes functionally scalable, and, because of the compact size of the rail-mount terminal blocks, it offers plenty of space for linking additional functions related to the motor.

Author: Thorsten Sienk, independent technical editor, Bodenwerder, www.sienk.de

Product Overview

Item no.: 2200-1201

2-conductor through terminal block ; with push-button ; 1 mm² ; with test port ; ...

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Item no.: 2200-1301

3-conductor through terminal block ; with push-button ; 1 mm² ; with test port ; ...

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Item no.: 2200-1401

4-conductor through terminal block ; with push-button ; 1 mm² ; with test port ; ...

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Item no.: 2200-1207

2-conductor ground terminal block ; with push-button ; 1 mm² ; with test port ; side ...

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Item no.: 285-1163

2-conductor through terminal block ; 185 mm² ; suitable for Ex e II applications ; ...

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Item no.: 285-1189

2-conductor through terminal block ; 185 mm² ; suitable for Ex e II applications ; ...

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Always Have the Right Solution

Push Performance to the Top Easily with TOPJOB^® S Rail-Mount Terminal Blocks

In various industrial applications and modern building installations, WAGO’s wide and versatile range of rail-mount terminal blocks provides more than just reliable electrical connections.

Rail-Mount Terminal Blocks with Levers, Push-Buttons, Operating Slots

WAGO Rail-Mount Through Terminal Blocks are available in three different actuation variants: lever, push-button and operating slot – the right rail-mount terminal block for every application.

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Customer application 26 February 2020 Bringing Everything into Line