Variable-Speed Drive Sales Will Exceed 25 Billion US Dollars

According to the latest report released by Technavio, the global variable speed drive market will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 8% by 2020 and its market value will reach 25.3 billion by 2020. The analysis suggests that the reason for this booming market is due to the optimization of production processes and the need of reducing operating costs by monitoring energy consumption.

The report divides the global drive market into three main segments: AC drives, DC drives and servo drives. The report also pointed out that the exchange-driven market accounted for the dominant position in 2015, accounting for more than 84% of total revenue. In the forecast period, AC-driven dominance will continue.

In terms of the application, pump control generally use AC drive. AC drives can reduce energy consumption in high capital and infrastructure spending industries such as metals and mining, oil and gas, cement, paper, power, wind, sewage and shipping.

The advantages of using variable speed drives include energy savings in fan and pump applications; better process control and system regulation; better acceleration or deceleration of equipment and less maintenance costs. In addition, the variable speed drive also has power factor compensation and safety acceleration to prevent overload current and emergency bypass function.

"The demand for industrial automation is one of the key drivers for the global market increasing of variable speed drives," said Anju Ajaykumar, principal analyst for tools and components at Technavio. "Manufacturers are increasingly adopting automation to improve quality, safety, productivity and operations "In addition, automation will help them to increase market competitiveness and reduce costs."