Energy-efficient motor control

Better energy efficiency makes your businesses more successful

In almost all highly industrialized regions of the world, energy efficiency has become a key topic of interest for governments. Directives have been set for the reduction of carbon footprint and energy consumption in almost all areas of your life. In many countries, clear targets have been defined and are enforced by rules or additional energy taxes. This is a challenge for industry, but at the same time a huge opportunity as sustainably engineered products are already outgrowing less energy-efficient alternatives.

Energy usage statistics of electrical motors

In industrial production, electric motors count for 2/3 of overall energy costs and their energy consumption represents more than 95% of lifetime costs. Just these two numbers show the huge potential electric motors and the control devices around it have to improve energy efficiency. The European ErP directive has set out the first milestones for the path of the industry to more sustainable production.

ErP Directive infographic

Successfully implementing the ErP Directive

The third stage of the ecodesign directive (Energy related Product, ErP) gives a clear guideline for the use of IE2, IE3 and IE4 motors. It also places new requirements on the use of motor starters and drives from 0 to 375 kW. For detailed information, download our white paper.

Learn more in our white paper

Energy efficient motors - a new challenge for switchgear

Energy efficient motors are characterized not only by significantly improved efficiency, but also by lower internal resistance. As a result, their inrush currents can reach magnitudes of 14 x IN. This means that the contact mechanism in contactors may wear out very quickly and that nuisance tripping of motor protective devices can become a problem when used with these types of motors. In our whitepaper, we discuss how to run energy-efficient motors safely and reliably.

More information in our white paper

Eaton's energy efficiency podcast

Here’s what some of the experts at Eaton have to say about embracing energy efficiency today - to seize a world of opportunity tomorrow.

Listen to the podcast

How our customers build energy-efficient machines

To be able to easily switch between the required process speeds, we need variable frequency drives with maximum flexibility in terms of speed. The Eaton PowerXL DG1 fulfills these requirements perfectly.

Dieter Seibert, Technical Manager at Dinova GmbH

To minimize the risk of production downtime and to guarantee a quick response in the event of a fault, paint manufacturer Dinova replaced the variable frequency drives in its mixers with an Eaton solution. The compact PowerXL DG1 drive with integrated motor protection relay minimizes fault sources, prevents mechanical resonance from affecting the mixing element and reduces energy loss in the motor by dynamically keeping the voltage/frequency curve at a minimum.

Read this customer success story

When the International Institute for Product Safety, I²PS, in Bonn replaced a slip ring motor with an asynchronous one, they also wanted to improve the energy efficiency of the complete system. They decided to choose an electronic drive unit consisting of a frequency converter and regenerative braking unit. The solution from Eaton provides better energy efficiency combined with easier usability.

Read our customer success story

When looking for the right solution to reduce energy efficiency for an air filter system, LS Automation decided to use Eaton's motor starters and drives to integrate energy-efficient motors easily.

Read the customer success story

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Products to increase the energy efficiency of your electrical drive system

Choose between motor starters for energy efficient motors, compact speed starters and highly efficient variable frequency drives.

Motorstarter MSC - View our selection tool

Power XL DE1 Variable speed starter - watch our video

PowerXL DA1 variable frequency drive

PowerXL DG1 variable frequency drive

Learn more

IIoT and cloud solutions

How to improve performance on machines, e.g. with predictive maintenance

Smart wiring solutions

Connecting smart devices and collecting data with intelligent wiring systems

Digital circuit protection

Improving uptime and efficiency with digital circuit breakers and RCD

Meeting UL/CSA standards

How to design the electrical circuits for machines that are exported to North America

Machine operation

Explore new ways of creating man machine interfaces that make machine operation more efficient

Machine control

Smart and cost effective machine controller for low to mid complex applications

Hydraulic operations

Designing high performance and highly efficient hydraulic applications

Service and support

Contact our service team or partners and get access to engineering documentation and tools
MOEM services

Eaton is an intelligent power management company dedicated to improving the quality of life and protecting the environment for people everywhere. We are guided by our commitment to do business right, to operate sustainably and to help our customers manage power ─ today and well into the future. By capitalizing on the global growth trends of electrification and digitalization, we’re accelerating the planet’s transition to renewable energy and helping to solve the world’s most urgent power management challenges.