The company said its M102 unit, part of its Intelligent Switchgear System family of products, was designed to meet unique requirements of the water and mining industries.
"The M102 is easy to operate, connects easily to any control system and is fully type tested to Australian standards," ABB said.
"It uses standard communication cables, can be programmed both remotely and via the control system and is also suitable as part of a retrofit solution."
There are two options of protocols used for interfacing with the upper level control system – the Modbus RTU and Profibus DP. According to ABB, redundant ports provided in the M102 relay with Modbus RTU protocol make it possible to build up the stable redundancy communication network.
"In addition, the M102 is able to continuously collect and relay data without interrupting processes, providing timely and accurate protection by giving fault alarm and protection trip to safeguard motors and ensure a smooth production process," the supplier said.
"ABB has a fully trained team in Australia to provide local service to remote mining sites," said Mark Davenport, ABB's training manager on the M102 product.
"Our people have experience at field level and we have a local installed base in both the mining and water treatment industries."
Motor protection relays are designed to protect electrical equipment against thermal overload, motor stall, phase failure, phase unbalance, no load, overload, earth fault, motor overheat, focusing on providing a comprehensive and dedicated protection for motors. Thermal overload protection keeps track of and calculates the thermal capacity of the motor in operation to protect the motor against overheating, which may shorten the service life of the motor or damage it.
In addition, the thermal memory function of the thermal overload protection is particularly important when frequent starting is required.
ABB says the M102 unit simulates the thermal conditions in all operating states of the motor to maximise the use of the motor on the premise of safe operation.
