As end users demand more technologically advanced features, the North American microprocessor-based motor protection market will experience positive growth, according to a new report released Monday from Frost & Sullivan.
Motor protection devices (MPDs) protect motors from failure, preventing financial and production loss, damage to equipment, and/or safety of personnel.
The MPD market had revenues of $210 million in 2005 and is estimated to reach $239.8 million in 2012, as reported in Frost & Sullivan's North American Motor Protection Markets analysis.
Microprocessor-based motor protection devices are becoming more widely accepted due to their high degree of functionality and communication capabilities, notes Frost & Sullivan Research Analyst Shana Bayer. End users want these features in order to guarantee that their motors are properly and efficiently protected.
Within the North American MPD market, electromechanical motor protection devices, which have been in use for more than 100 years, are showing a decline in growth. Most of the electromechanical MPDs are sold for replacement purposes and very few are sold for new applications, still they have the largest installed base in the total market.
Solid-state motor protection devices are hardly used at all anymore, leaving room for a positive growth in the microprocessor-based motor protection device market.
Although end users are demanding more high-quality technology functionality from their MPDs, they also want these features at lower prices, and this is causing MPD manufacturers to look for cost-effective strategies to produce reliable devices without increasing the price.
"The electromechanical motor protection market is experiencing a decline in the market shares due to the fact that they lack functionality as well as communication capabilities, and the price is increasing because of the growing raw material cost," explains Bayer. "There are still a few end users who are reluctant to try the new technology, and continue using electromechanical MPDs because they are more familiar with them and feel secure about how they work."
