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Cooling
Avoid overheated variable frequency drives with adequate ventilation.
Heat Loss from a Variable Frequency Drive
An amount of the power transferred through a variable frequency drive to the motor is lost as
heat. The heat loss from a drive can be expressed as
where
ηd = variable-frequency drive efficiency
where
ηd = variable-frequency drive efficiency
To calculate maximum heat loss - the maximum power transmission through the variable-
frequency drive must be used.
It is common that the heat loss from a frequency drive is in the range 2 - 6% of the KVA rating.
The mass flow of air needed for transporting heat from the variable-frequency drive can be
expressed as
cp = specific heat of air (kJ/kg oC) (1.005 kJ/kg oC standard air)
Combined with (1), the mass flow (2) can be expressed as:
The volume flow can be calculated by multiplying (2b) with the specific volume or inverted
density:
where
= 2.5 kW
The mass of cooling cooling air through the cabinet when the maximum ambient operating
temperature for the frequency drive is 40 oC and outside temperature of the cabinet is 20 oC can
be calculated with eq. 2 as
mair = (2.5 kW) / (1.005 kJ/kg oC) ((40 oC) - (20 oC))
= 0.125 kg/s
The volume and density of air depends on the temperature of the air. The density of air
at 20oC is 1.205 kg/m3 and 1.127 kg/m3 at 40 oC.
The volume flow at the inlet (20 oC):
= 0.104 m3/s
= 375 m3/h
= 0.111 m3/s
= 400 m3/h
When you’re building a panel containing Variable Frequency Drives (VFDs), it’s easy to
underestimate their contribution toward the electrical enclosure’s heat load. Part of the
problem arises from the paucity of information supplied by manufacturers who don’t always
publish power dissipation or efficiency information in brochures.
VFDs generate a significant amount of heat and unless the heat is removed through the use
of enclosure cooling, the drives can overheat and trip, causing plant outages. Here is a
simple guide to calculate the heat dissipation requirements for VFDs.
Drive Efficiency
The efficiency of most VFDs is between 93 to 98 percent and the balance of the energy is
lost as heat. The power dissipated is calculated by subtracting the efficiency from 100
percent and multiplying the result by the power consumption of the drive. The heat loss of a
95 percent efficient, 100 horsepower drive can be estimated as 5 percent of 100
horsepower which equals 5 horsepower or 3729 watts.
In order to make this calculation, it’s essential to obtain the VFD drive efficiency at the
design load from the equipment supplier.
Allow For Other Losses
Take into account the thermal losses of ancillary equipment such as DC reactors, phase
shifting transformers, power supplies and switch gear. Unless these are insignificant, their
losses must be added to the total heat load. The losses from a transformer could be another
4 percent of power consumption.
If the drive uses braking resistors and is frequently stopped and started, the power
dissipated by the braking resistor should also be taken into account.