Indramat was a major motion control company in the 20th century. It was acquired by Rexroth to supply electrical industrial motion control systems to go along with its hydraulic systems. Rexroth is now part of Bosch Rexroth. Indramat produced servo drives which were perfect for high-precision positioning and speed control applications. In fact, those drives were so good that you can still find them in many facilities. That doesn’t mean that the personnel know what to do with Indramat fault codes.
Often, these drives have been performing perfectly for so long that when they finally need service, they are older than most of the people on the floor. Typically, none of the engineers in the facility has ever had a chance to troubleshoot an Indramat drive. They might never have seen one. When one finally breaks, they track it down to a closed cabinet and marvel at it. They don’t know where to look for the Indramat drive fault codes or how to read them if they find one.
The job of the Indramat drive
Motion control systems are sometimes called drive and control systems. The motion controller is the brains of the operation. It receives instructions from a higher-level system (like a PLC) and calculates the desired movement for the motor. This could involve precise positioning, maintaining a specific speed, or following a complex trajectory.
The motor is the brawn.
The drive takes the low-power control signals from the motion controller and translates them into high-power electrical signals. This amplified power is what actually drives the motor and allows it to generate the necessary torque and speed to achieve the desired motion.
In essence, the drive bridges the gap between the brains (controller) and the brawn (motor) of a motion control system. It ensures that the motor receives the necessary power to execute the precise movements dictated by the controller.
The Indramat drive fault codes
Even though Indramat drives are amazingly reliable, they sometimes have problems. That’s when you’ll see a fault code. The fault code is code for the specific fault that’s causing problems for the drive.
Classic Indramat codes consist of a string of four items: one letter followed by three numbers. There are A, C, D, and E codes. And then there are F codes, the fault codes. From F207 (Camshaft Invalid) to F895 (4Khz Signal Error), they tell you — if you’re in the know — what the probably cause of your problem is. The later Indradrive fault codes have one letter and four numbers. They have the same job.
Armed with the drive fault code, you can check the appropriate troubleshooting manual and see a neat list of the most likely problems, starting with the most probable reason and moving on from there.
If you don’t have a manual, you can request one from us. Just tell us the name (such as DDS02.1-W100) of the drive you need help with.
If the manual doesn’t solve your problem, give us a call at (479) 422-0390. We can provide factory repair and reman with the fastest possible turnaround.