COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING,PUNE

INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS & ELECTRICAL DRIVES

LABORATORY

Experiment No.:-4

Name of the Experiment: - To study induction motor speed control by variable

frequency AC drive.

Roll No.:-

Date of Performance:- / /

Date of Assessment:- / /

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Industrial Electronics & Electrical Drives Laboratory Journal, Electrical Engineering Department, College of Engineering, Pune
Industrial Electronics & Electrical Drives Laboratory Journal, Electrical Engineering Department, College of Engineering, Pune
 Experiment No.: 4

Aim:
To study induction motor speed control by variable frequency AC drive.

Theory:

4.1 Electrical Drive Introduction:

Motion control is required in large number of industrial and domestic applications like
transportation, rolling mills, textile mills, pumps, fans, robots etc. System employed for motion
control is called as drives. There are two major classes of drives i)AC drives and ii) DC drives.
Nowadays AC drives are preferred over DC.
This is because
1. They are simpler to construct, they require no mechanical contacts to work (such as brushes)
and they are lighter than DC motors for equivalent power.
2. AC drives can be microprocessor controlled to a fine degree and can regenerate current down
to almost a stop whereas DC regeneration fades quickly at low speeds.
3. They are more robust and easier to maintain than DC drives.
Drives employing electrical motors are known as electrical drives. Following fig 6.1 is the block
diagram of AC drive.

Fig.4.1: Block diagram of an electrical drive.

1) Load: It is usually machinery designed to accomplish a given task. e.g. fans, pumps, robots,
train etc.
2) Motor: AC or DC motor is selected according to load requirements.
3) Power Module: It is one of the most important block of the system.
It performs the following the functions:

Industrial Electronics & Electrical Drives Laboratory Journal, Electrical Engineering Department, College of Engineering, Pune
 i. Modulates the flow of power from the source to the motor in such a manner that motor is
imparted from system torque characteristics required by load.
ii. During transient operations such as starting, braking and speed reversal, it reconstructs
source and motor current within permissible limits.
iii. Converts electrical energy of the source in the form suitable to the motor.
iv. Select the mode of operation of motor i.e. motoring or braking.

4.2 Types of power Modules/Converters:

1) AC to DC Converter: If the source is AC and motor is DC one, such converter is called as a
rectifier. It could be single or three phase depending upon the AC source.
2) DC to DC Converter: They are called as choppers and are used to convert fixed DC into
variable DC voltage.
3) DC to AC converter/Inverter: These are very important and are used in a variable
frequency, variable voltage AC drive. First, input AC voltage is converted into DC with the
help of rectifier. Then the inverter is used to obtain variable voltage and frequency from the
DC linked voltage.
4) Cycloconverter: These are used to convert fixed frequency fixed voltage AC supply. There
is no need to convert into DC first.
5) Sensing unit: Some drives are sensors to measure the instantaneous speed and / or terminal
voltages and current. To measure the speed either contact type sensors like tacho generators
are used. Now a day’s Hall Effect sensors are used widely.
6) Control unit: The control unit consists of firing circuits which employ linear and digital
integrated circuits and transistors. And now a day DSPs, PLCs, Microcontrollers are used.
The output of sensing unit is fed to the control unit. They then take appropriate decision
acceleration to the program written and send the firing signals to power module.
7) Sources: Sources can be AC or DC depending on the applications. Generally single phase or
three phase AC supply is used, as it is easily available.

4.3 Variable frequency drive:

A variable-frequency drive (VFD) is a system for controlling the rotational speed of an
alternating current (AC) electric motor by controlling the frequency of the electrical power
supplied to the motor. A variable frequency drive is a specific type of adjustable-speed drive.
Variable-frequency drives are also known as adjustable-frequency drives (AFD), variable-speed
drives (VSD), AC drives, micro drives or inverter drives. Since the voltage is varied along with
frequency, these are sometimes also called VVVF (variable voltage variable frequency) drives.
Variable-frequency drives are widely used. In ventilation systems for large buildings,
variable-frequency motors on fans save energy by allowing the volume of air moved to match
the system demand. They are also used on pumps, elevator, conveyor and machine tool drives.
Figure5.2 shows a circuit diagram of typical variable frequency drive. Circuit has three
section. The first section shows the rectifier section, where a three-pulse diode bridge rectifier
changes the three phase AC voltage to pulsating DC voltage. The second section is the filter
section where the pulsating DC voltage is smoothed to pure DC voltage. The third section is the
transistor switching section which produces the three-phase AC voltage at the desired frequency.

Industrial Electronics & Electrical Drives Laboratory Journal, Electrical Engineering Department, College of Engineering, Pune
 Fig.4.2 internal circuit diagram of VFD

4. 4 VFD system:

Fig.4.3VFD system

A variable frequency drive system generally consists of an AC motor, a controller and an

operator interface.

Industrial Electronics & Electrical Drives Laboratory Journal, Electrical Engineering Department, College of Engineering, Pune
4.4.1 VFD motor

The motor used in a VFD system is usually a three-phaseinduction motor. Some types of
single-phase motors can be used, but three-phase motors are usually preferred. Various types of
synchronous motors offer advantages in some situations, but induction motors are suitable for
most purposes and are generally the most economical choice. Motors that are designed for fixed-
speed operation are often used. Certain enhancements to the standard motor designs offer higher
reliability and better VFD performance.

4.4.2 VFD controller:

Variable frequency drive controllers are solid state electronic power conversion devices.
The usual design first converts AC input power to DC intermediate power using a rectifier or
converter bridge. The rectifier is usually a three-phase, full-wave diode bridge. The DC
intermediate power is then converted to quasi-sinusoidal AC power using an inverter switching
circuit. The inverter circuit is probably the most important section of the VFD, changing DC
energy into three channels of AC energy that can be used by an AC motor. These units provide
improved power factor, less harmonic distortion, and low sensitivity to the incoming phase
sequencing than older phase controlled converter VFD's. Since incoming power is converted to
DC, many units will accept single-phase as well as three-phase input power (acting as a phase
converter as well as a speed controller); however the unit must be derated when using single
phase input as only part of the rectifier bridge is carrying the connected load.
AC motor characteristics require the applied voltage to be proportionally adjusted
whenever the frequency is changed in order to deliver the rated torque. For example, if a motor is
designed to operate at 460 volts at 60 Hz, the applied voltage must be reduced to 230 volts when
the frequency is reduced to 30 Hz.
An embedded microprocessor governs the overall operation of the VFD controller. The
main microprocessor programming is in firmware that is inaccessible to the VFD user. However,
some degree of configuration programming and parameter adjustment is usually provided so that
the user can customize the VFD controller to suit specific motor and driven equipment
requirements.

4.4.3 VFD operator interface:

The operator interface provides a means for an operator to start and stop the motor and
adjust the operating speed. Additional operator control functions might include reversing and
switching between manual speed adjustment and automatic control from an external process
control signal. The operator interface often includes an alphanumeric display and/or indication
lights and meters to provide information about the operation of the drive. An operator interface
keypad and display unit is often provided on the front of the VFD controller. The keypad display
can often be cable-connected and mounted a short distance from the VFD controller. Most are
also provided with input and output (I/O) terminals for connecting pushbuttons, switches and
other operator interface devices or control signals. A serial communications port is also often
available to allow the VFD to be configured, adjusted, monitored and controlled using a
computer.

Industrial Electronics & Electrical Drives Laboratory Journal, Electrical Engineering Department, College of Engineering, Pune
4.5 VFD operation:
When an induction motor is connected to a full voltage supply, it draws several times (up
to about 6 times) its rated current. As the load accelerates, the available torque usually drops a
little and then rises to a peak while the current remains very high until the motor approaches full
speed.
By contrast, when a VFD starts a motor, it initially applies a low frequency and voltage to
the motor. The starting frequency is typically 2 Hz or less. Thus starting at such a low frequency
avoids the high inrush current that occurs when a motor is started by simply applying the utility
(mains) voltage by turning on a switch. After the start of the VFD, the applied frequency and
voltage are increased at a controlled rate or ramped up to accelerate the load without drawing
excessive current. This starting method typically allows a motor to develop 150% of its rated
torque while the VFD is drawing less than 50% of its rated current from the mains in the low
speed range. A VFD can be adjusted to produce a steady 150% starting torque from standstill
right up to full speed. Note, however, that cooling of the motor is usually not good in the low
speed range. Thus running at low speeds even with rated torque for long periods is not possible
due to overheating of the motor. If continuous operation with high torque is required in low
speeds an external fan is needed. .
In principle, the current on the motor side is in direct proportion of the torque that is
generated and the voltage on the motor is in direct proportion of the actual speed, while on the
network side, the voltage is constant, thus the current on line side is in direct proportion of the
power drawn by the motor.
With a VFD, the stopping sequence is just the opposite as the starting sequence. The
frequency and voltage applied to the motor are ramped down at a controlled rate. When the
frequency approaches zero, the motor is shut off. A small amount of braking torque is available
to help decelerate the load a little faster than it would stop if the motor were simply switched off
and allowed to coast. Additional braking torque can be obtained by adding a braking circuit
(resistor controlled by a transistor) to dissipate the braking energy. With 4-quadrants rectifiers
(active-front-end), the VFD is able to break the load by applying a reverse torque and reverting
the energy back to the network.

4.6 Applications of VFD:

Variable speed drives are used for two main reasons:

 to improve the efficiency of motor-driven equipment by matching speed to changing load

requirements; or
 To allow accurate and continuous process control over a wide range of speeds.

Motor-driven centrifugal pumps, fans and blowers offer the most dramatic energy-saving
opportunities. Many of these operate for extended periods at reduced load with flow restricted or
throttled. In these centrifugal machines, energy consumption is proportional to the cube of the
flow rate. Even small reductions in speed and flow can result in significant energy savings. In
these applications, significant energy and cost savings can be achieved by reducing the operating
speed when the process flow requirements are lower.

Industrial Electronics & Electrical Drives Laboratory Journal, Electrical Engineering Department, College of Engineering, Pune
In some applications, such as conveyers, machine tools and other production-line equipment, the
benefits of accurate speed control are the primary consideration. VFDs can increase productivity,
improve product quality and process control, and reduce maintenance and downtime. Decreasing
cost and increasing reliability of power semiconductor electronics are reasons that VFDs are
increasingly selected over DC motors or other adjustable speed drives for process speed control
applications.

4.7 Advantages of variable frequency drives:

a) power saving
b) low motor starting current
c) reduction of thermal and mechanical stresses on motors and belts during starts
d) simple installation
e) high power factor
f) lower KVA

Observation Table:-

SR. No. Frequency ( Hz) Speed (R.P.M.)

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11

Industrial Electronics & Electrical Drives Laboratory Journal, Electrical Engineering Department, College of Engineering, Pune