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Customer application 26 February 2020

Bringing Everything into Line

Motor Manufacturer VEM Revolutionizes the Terminal Box: Using TOPJOB^® S from WAGO to Transform a Bolted Terminal Board into a Pluggable Connection System

From Wernigerode, they have gone out into the world to revolutionize junction boxes. The motor designers at VEM use the new TOPJOB^® S Rail-Mount Terminal Blocks with push-buttons from WAGO. While this may not appear spectacular at first glance, it has the potential to make the installation of motors faster and safer. The “VEMoCONTACT” also improves ergonomics in the workplace – primarily for maintenance and service personnel.

“There has never been a connection like this for standard and specialized motors,” notes Andreas Rudolph, hard-pressed to contain his enthusiasm. A designer of low-voltage motors at VEM, he developed the connection – causing a bit of a revolution in installation. Instead of the standard bolted terminal board, with up to six bolts for a star connection or triangle connection for three-phase asynchronous motors, VEM is now using space-saving rail-mount terminal blocks from WAGO. The initial motivation to pursue this path was, according to Andreas Rudolph, the expansion of the TOPJOB® S Rail-Mount Terminal Blocks to include variants with push-buttons and levers. The clamping point can be opened with any hand tool – eliminating the need for specialized equipment. The conductor can be contacted without connecting a cable lug or otherwise preparing it. The orange push-buttons on the rail-mount terminal blocks make handling more convenient, safer and faster.

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Having the Guts to Try Something New

To understand this innovation in a wider context, Andreas Rudolph tells a story about a friend who works as an electrician at a large company in the Harz mountains. “During the annual overhaul, 20 motors that drive horizontally-overlapping conveyor belts, had to be switched out in one production area.” In practice, this means working on 20 motors in a vertical plane, and also 20 terminal boxes on the same plane. Once the cover is removed and the first conductors are detached, his electrician friend then has to deal with screws, nuts and washers. By using rail-mount terminal blocks from WAGO, we have made the entire process easier, faster and safer.” He is both surprised and also proud, because “before us, no motor manufacturer had the guts to bring this type of connection convenience into series production.”

The push-button variants of the new rail-mount terminal blocks from WAGO’s TOPJOB^® S portfolio can be used for rated cross-sections from 0.14 to 25 mm². The Push-in CAGE CLAMP^® technology clears the way for connecting fine-stranded conductors without ferrules. In Andreas Rudolph’s opinion, this feature provides additional benefits during the installation of VEM motors. “I just have to strip the fine-stranded conductors, push them in, and I’m done.” This ease especially noteworthy in applications in the Ex protection areas. In conventional connection technology using bolted terminal boards, cable lugs have to be crimped to the conductor ends. These then have to be firmly screwed down, using nuts, which in turn have to be secured against counter-rotation using a spring device. The whole process becomes extremely complicated in the Ex area. In addition, tools matching the motor size must always be at hand.