Western Mine Electrical Association

November 20,2008
Rob Marnell
Gary Sorenson
AC vs. DC Motor Application
y AC and DC Motors Require a Rotating Magnetic
Field and a fixed magnetic field to Produce Torque
and Rotation
y DC Motors have the fixed field on the Motor Frame
and the rotating field is created by brushes switching
the field around the armature as the armature turns.
y AC Synchronous Motors have the fixed field on the
rotor and the rotating field occurs in the stator with
the AC current in the stator windings.
AC vs. DC Motor
y DC Motor y The North and South
Poles attract each other
Torque Field Flux
Producing y Produces a torque on
Force North
the armature
So
ut
h
y Armature turns which
puts new commutator
ort h segments under
N
brushes and “rotates”
the magnetic field inside
South armature so more
Armature
torque can be produced
Flux
AC Motor
B1 (S)
(N) y 3-Phase AC Current
S))

Varies the A, B, C Field

C1
Noour
(N

S
th h
ourt
A1

(
N
S
Strength
S))
N
N
Soourth

Soourth
N

Soo
N
C2

urt
)
(SN)
h th
Noour
S
(
SN))

A2

B2 (S)
(N)
Generic AC PWM Inverter
FRONT-END INVERTER

SCR GTO IGBT

Diodes, SCR’s, GTO’s,

SCR’s
IGBT’s
IGBT’s
AC Drives In Excavators
y Started With Smaller Applications
y Shovels
y Small Draglines
y Swing Motion Only (700 HP/Motor)
y Why not on large draglines?
1969 Brute Force Rules
y 1969 Corvette LS5 427ci 435HP
y Big Muskie Rules the Strip Mine
1980’s
y 1981 Corvette L81 350ci
180HP
y 1981 First 395B AC shovel
with Force Commutated
SCR AC drives
y 1983 Corvette? Why bother?
Production was suspended.
y 1983 680W AC Dragline
Introduced
y Other Highlights of the
1980’s
y 10% Unemployment in 1982
y 14% Inflation
y 20% Mortgage Interest rates
y AIDS Epidemic recognized
by CDC in 1981
Force Commutated SCR
Drive
y Hailed as the End of DC brushes and commutation
y SCR Characteristics
y 0.7 Volts on gate turns on SCR
y Current flows until device is “reverse biased”
y On an AC drive application, device must be switched
off and on multiple times per cycle with a DC bus as
the supply
y How?
Forced Commutation
Advantages and Disadvantages
of Force Commutated SCR
Drive
Advantages Disadvantages
y No brushes to change y Extremely complex analog
regulator
y No/poor regeneration. Used a
chopper and resistor to burn off
regeneration energy. (About 10%
Energy penalty)
y Commutating capacitors failed.
y Fuse hungry
y Power Factor not good enough
for a large Dragline
y Line Harmonics
y Slow SCR switching speeds
resulted in poor AC waveforms
delivered to motors
y Motor Encoders Required
1990’s
y 1990 Corvette ZR-1 350ci 375HP (Now that’s
progress)
y 1990 395BII and 495B Drives with GTO Thyristors
y 1993 2570WS with AC Swing using GTO Thyristors
GTO Thyristor AC Drive
y Solved the problems associated with SCR drive.
y Regenerative Rectifier
y No Commutating Capacitors
y Inverters used fewer fuses
y GTO Hardware overview
y Gate off Current is proportional to device current and
measured in amps.
GTO THYRISTOR
y Basically an SCR that 20-150 Amps
can turn on AND off. Gate Current in
a 20 ga wire?
y Gate Turn Off current is How does that
high and equal to work?
device current.
y High current gate
drivers have lots of
failures
GTO’s Regenerating
Rectifier
y Basically a 4-Quadrant SCR drive similar to what is
found on a static DC drive.
y Required sufficient AC voltage to prevent fuse loss.
y The result was balancing between poor power factor
and blowing regen rectifier fuses with undesirable
compromises either way
GTO Drives
Advantages Disadvantages
y Still no Brushes y Regen Rectifier blows a lot
y Regeneration saves of fuses
electricity y Power factor even worse
than earlier Generation
y Digital Regulator reduced Drives. Could not be used
complexity for large draglines alone
y No Commutating Capacitors y GTO Drivers fail. GTO Gate
y Inverter Faults Usually Don’t requires tremendous amount
blow Fuses of switching current.
y Line Harmonics
y Motor Encoders Required
2000’s
y 2001 Corvette Z06 385
HP
y 2001 IGBT Drives
Introduced on
Excavators
y 2008 Corvette Z06 505
HP
y 2008 680W brought into
21st century with IGBT
retrofit
IGBT IGBT SCR
y Insulated Gate Bipolar
Transistor
y First Devices in late
1980’s and early 1990’s
were slow and
troublesome.
y One problem was latch-up Insulated Gate
where the internal SCR
would not turn off.
y Insulated Gate= low
switching current and
isolates power from
control section
IGBT Drives
Advantages Disadvantages
y Still No Brushes y High switching frequency
y Don’t Blow Fuses can create new harmonics
y Power Factor Problems
issues if filters are not
Improved applied
y Motor Encoders required
y Efficiency
y Low Gate Current Solved
Driver Problems
y High Switching Frequency
Solves One Harmonics
Issue
Power Factor Volts

Amps

y P=V*I Cosine(Θ)
y Θ= phase angle
between voltage and Leading Power
current waveform Phase Factor
angle
y If current follows voltage
wave form then lagging Volts

power factor. (voltage Amps

sag)
y If current is ahead of
voltage waveform then
leading power factor. Phase
angle
Lagging Power
(voltage boost) Factor
How to control power factor
y Synchronous Motor Excitation on MG set
y Fixed Capacitors found on induction motors
y Switched Capacitors
y Synchronous Capacitors (DCS Voltage Stabilization)
y Stepless Reactive Power Compensator
y Active IGBT Front End
Synchronous Motor Power
Factor
Advantages Disadvantages
y Free if you already have the y Really expensive if you don’t
MG set have the MG set already
y No Harmonics y Rotating equipment and
associated maintenance
Fixed Capacitors
Advantages
y Work great on fixed speed
induction motors
y Do not create harmonics
Disadvantages
y Varying loads require
varying amounts of
capacitance.
y Susceptible to damage from
harmonics. Higher
frequencies create higher
currents in capacitor.
Switched Capacitors
Advantages Disadvantages
y Can compensate for variable y Add complexity with SCR
loads switching
y VARS are added and
removed in large “chunks”
resulting in alternating over
or under compensation as
you step through the RPC
y Fairly high capacitor,
inductor, fuse, and
SCR/diode usage
Stepless RPC
Advantages Disadvantages
y Better at matching VAR y Added Complexity
needs from the load y Particularly on Force
Commutated SCR drive on
Marion 301
y Large Inductor used to
cancel out fixed capacitors.
y Inductor heats when the
machine as at idle
IGBT Active Front End
IGBT Front End
y Switching characteristics of
IGBT’s allow extraction of
current “leading” the voltage
wave form
SCR Front End
y SCR’s Must turn on at the
“back end” of the sine wave
resulting in lagging power
factor
Active Front End
Advantages
y Inherent Regeneration
y Power Factor Can be
controlled leading and
lagging
y Common parts with inverters
y Low harmonics (3,5,7,9,11th
) filtered
Disadvantages
y High Frequency Harmonics
y Function of the switching
frequency.
y 2kHz = 33rd harmonic
y 3.6 kHz = 60th harmonic
y Harmonics SHOULD be
y Risk of trail cable resonance
otherwise
Why Upgrade? (Is it worth risking my job?)
MG Sets AC Drives
y New Kid on the Block
y Safe bet since the beginning y No Brushes
of time
y No Neutrals
y Brushes y No Commutators
y Commutation Issues y Potential of Greater Dynamic
y Speed/Torque Limits Range with proper motor selection
y Efficiency = 82 % y Efficiency 92%
y Noise y Liquid Cooling can Greatly reduce
noise
y Training Investment
y Expensive on an Existing DC
y 25+Year Life machine
y Every motor will require its own
drive and encoder
The Case for AC drives
y Brushes (wrong reason but some benefit)
y Efficiency (easy to evaluate the benefit) May improve
if green house gas limits are imposed.
y Supply Frequency (50-60 Hz Conversion)
y Noise (MSHA limits)
y Opportunity to drop noise levels by 20 dB (one set of ear plugs)

y Power Factor- finally enables dragline application

y Maintenance Costs (Torsional Oscillations)
y Performance Opportunity
Requirements
y Simplicity
y Common parts
y Modular design
y 20 Year Life (How will you know? Look at engineering)
y At best, past products were replaced on a 10 year cycle (not
acceptable)
y 175,000 hours Design life
y Capacitor Selection
y Properly Derated for Application
y Cabinet Design for Excavator Duty

y Cost
y Initial Cost of Motors and Drives
y Operational Costs (efficiency)
y Maintenance Costs (brushes etc.)
Vulcan 680W Dragline
y First Totally AC IGBT Dragline in North America
Cab upgrade
Original cab Updated cab
Regulator upgrade
Original regulator IGBT regulator
Inverter Upgrade
Original SCR inverter IGBT transistor module
680W IGBT One-Line
Diagram
Are You Ready?
y In 2006 the Z06 Corvette finally delivered more
power than the most powerful Corvette offered in
1969
y Have modern drives eclipsed the offerings delivered
in 1969? Probably…in about 2006.
y Could they be applied to Big Muskie?
y I will let you know in 20 years
680W Dragline Upgrade
Drive Skid Active Front End
680W Dragline Upgrade
Inverters Assembled Drive Skid
680W Dragline Upgrade
Hoist Motor Rewind Motor Stator
680W Dragline
Inverters Test Inverter Testing
680W Dragline Upgrade
Inverter Testing More Testing
680W Dragline Upgrade
Operators Cab
680W Dragline Upgrade
Collector Rings Before Collector Rings After
680W Dragline Upgrade
Control Room Hoist and Drag Motors
680W Dragline Upgrade
Regulator Interface Swing Regulator Interface Hoist/Drag
680W Dragline Original
Back of Regulator