ABB has introduced a range of compact drives covering power capacities from 0.37kW to 7.5kW. Aimed directly at the OEM and panel building markets, these new DIN-rail mounting 'General Machinery' drives may be small in size but they pack a lot of functionality, offer a choice of options to suit specific user needs, and have been designed for the easiest possible integration into new machine build or retrofit projects.ABB says it has only a 4.5% share of this market at present, but hopes its new General Machinery drive products will capture the imagination of machine builders serving many different industries, thanks to keen pricing, the use of technologies that permit smaller overall dimensions and greater packing densities, plus innovative programming and program upload facilities.All drives, regardless of power, have the same height and depth, with only the width varying between sizes, allowing easy side-by-side mounting. No additional space is needed for air circulation, and for limited depth cabinets, the drives can even be mounted with one side to the back of the cabinet.While ABB has managed to keep size and cost down by concentrating on the core needs of the general machinery market with this new range of products, a number of options are available to meet more specific requirements. These include a new generation of fieldbus adapters, two different types of removable keypad and potentiometer speed control. And despite their small size, all drives have an EMC filter and brake chopper built in as standard.The drives can be programmed directly from the optional keypad or via ABB's Drive Window Lite software, which is provided free with the drive. Once the parameters have been established, they can be uploaded to a drive in seconds using ABB's FlashDrop technology. This is particularly useful for OEMs producing large numbers of machines, whose drives would otherwise require individual programming.Another useful option is sequence programming for drives that control the motor based on signals derived from sensors or limit switches. This internal programming resource can avoid the need for an external PLC, resulting in lower cost and reduced system complexity.