In what is seen as a pioneering step, a remote witnessed factory acceptance test, or FAT, was successfully conducted on a range of medium voltage variable speed drives (MV VSDs) in a Zest WEG factory in Brazil.

The company explains that restrictions on international travel led the company to find creative solutions on how to complete the FAT, which was the final step in the manufacturing process before the equipment could be shipped to site.

This order comprised two 7 MW 3 300 V WEG MVW01 VSDs for the ball and semiautonomous grinding (SAG) mill drive application and two 1.2 MW 3 300 V WEG MVW01 VSDs for the high pressure grinding (HPGR) mill application. Both applications required non-standard features, namely frozen charge protection software on the ball and SAG mill application and a master & follower configuration on the HPGR mill application.

Under normal circumstances, the tests would require the customer to travel to the factory to  witness and sign off a range of detailed test and equipment requirements. As travel from South Africa to Brazil was not possible, the witness test was conducted using Web-based communication software. This allowed the participation of Zest WEG experts, the engineering contractor and the end-user, all from the safety of their homes in Johannesburg, communicating with five testing technicians in the factory in Brazil, explains the company.

Using a high-definition camera and Web-based communication software, the factory technicians guided the contractor and end-user through each element of the FAT, real-time visual images of the test results and equipment on the factory floor.

The company notes that this pioneering step is likely to influence the way that tests are conducted in future, stating that it has shown that testing can be done remotely and to the same standards, but with significant savings in time and costs.