ABB Industry Oy APPLICATION NOTE 3AFE

Component AC Installation Instruction 00017989.DOC

Dept. Project Status Date Author Status Revision Page

ACS140 14.Feb 2000 VANHANEN JUSSI APPROVED/KAREINEN MATTI

B 1/4

CompAC Common DC Bus

Introduction

Voltage source inverters use a DC link between the output of the diode bridge rectifier and the
input to the inverter section. The DC link also includes the capacitors which further smooth the
resultant DC voltage and provide a low impedance source of energy.

CompAC Common DC Bus is a system configuration in which individual DC buses of several

ACS100, ACS140 and ACS400 drives are tied together to form a common DC bus structure. This
configuration provides a path for power flow between drives at the DC bus level. It is intended for
application on small systems that require simultaneous motoring (power sinking) of some sections
and regenerating (power sourcing) of other sections. An example is a simple wind / unwind
system.

Total system losses under steady state conditions are normally such that motoring power required
is more than the regenerative power available. Therefore, the Common DC Bus configuration
typically allows steady state system operation with the common DC chopper inactive. A common
DC chopper is, nonetheless, required for those periods of system operation when regenerative
power exceeds motoring power (e.g. when the entire system is rapidly decelerated). The
configuration dramatically improves overall system efficiency as compared to configurations that
require braking choppers to absorb all regenerative energy. In addition it usually results in
reduced size requirements for the braking chopper and the braking resistor.

Another intended use for the CompAC Common DC Bus is to provide a configuration that requires
only one common braking chopper to absorb power from multiple related drives. In applications
of this type the ability of the common DC bus to pass power between drives is secondary in
importance. Of primary consequence is the configuration’s capability to absorb power from
multiple drives with a single braking chopper. This is normally a significantly more cost effective
approach then the alternative of supplying individual braking choppers and resistors for each
drive. The required braking energy should be calculated by an application engineer and the
braking chopper and the resistor are selected according to the ACS-BRK Brake Units
Installation and Start-up Guide.

Scope

The Common DC Bus configuration may be applied to all CompAC drives (ACS100/140/400).
This guideline covers only CompAC drives. This is not intended to cover other types or models of
PWM drives or a mixture of ACS100, ACS140 and ACS400 drives with other types or models of
PWM drives.

General Restrictions

The following general restrictions apply to all configurations:

1. All drives must be fed from a common AC feed.

2. Some case all the drives with common DC bus may trip to earthfault if there occurs earthfault
somewhere in the system.
3. The application must be such that abnormal shutdowns will not result in a personnel safety or
equipment hazard condition. The application engineer is responsible for this determination.
4. The maximum number of the drives is five.
ABB Industry Oy APPLICATION NOTE 3AFE
Component AC Installation Instruction 00017989.DOC
Dept. Project Status Date Author Status Revision Page

ACS140 14.Feb 2000 VANHANEN JUSSI APPROVED/KAREINEN MATTI

B 2/4

5. Only the same size inverters and one size bigger or smaller can be connected together. Also
check following tables for more configuration info. Some configurations are not allowed
because of incompatible charging circuit.
6. Use DC contactor to separate drive from common DC bus system.

Do not ever connect 200V and 400V drive’s DC busses together.

Configurations

Multiple configurations are possible for implementing Common Bus DC. The chosen
configuration depends on drive quantity, braking chopper provisions, frame size, and desired
operational characteristics.
Table1. Connection matrix for ACS100 and ACS140 240V 1 phase

Frame size ACS100 ACS100 ACS140 ACS140

frame A,B frame C,D frame A,B frame C,D
ACS100 YES NO YES NO
frame A,B
ACS100 NO YES NO YES
frame C,D
ACS140 YES NO YES NO
frame A,B
ACS140 NO YES NO YES
frame C,D

Table2. Connection matrix for ACS100 and ACS140 240V 3 phase

Frame size ACS100 ACS100 ACS140 ACS140

frame A,B frame C,D frame A,B frame C,D
ACS100 YES NO YES NO
frame A,B
ACS100 NO YES NO YES
frame C,D
ACS140 YES NO YES NO
frame A,B
ACS140 NO YES NO YES
frame C,D

Table3. Connection matrix for ACS 140 380 - 480 V 3 phase

Frame size ACS140 ACS140 ACS140

frame B frame C frame D
ACS140 YES YES YES
frame B
ACS140 YES YES YES
frame C
ACS140 YES YES YES
frame D

ACS400 only one size bigger can be connected together with smaller one. This is because different
voltage drops in DC-chokes.

NOTE! Do not connect ACS140 to ACS400!

Connection examples
ABB Industry Oy APPLICATION NOTE 3AFE
Component AC Installation Instruction 00017989.DOC
Dept. Project Status Date Author Status Revision Page

ACS140 14.Feb 2000 VANHANEN JUSSI APPROVED/KAREINEN MATTI

B 3/4

27 27

- + - +

Circuit A

Picture A. Two drives connected together.

27 27 27

R
- + - + - +

K11 K21 Kn1

K12 K22 Kn2

Circuit I

Picture I. Three drives and brake unit. Note also DC contactors in DC bus if some drives are
needed to separate from the system. See also Brake Unit manual.
ABB Industry Oy APPLICATION NOTE 3AFE
Component AC Installation Instruction 00017989.DOC
Dept. Project Status Date Author Status Revision Page

ACS140 14.Feb 2000 VANHANEN JUSSI APPROVED/KAREINEN MATTI

B 4/4