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Motor Starter Feeding a VFD

11/01/2011 8:42 PM

I need to cost effictivly control a 480V/150A circuit that feeds an ingersoll rand 75hp compressor. I am fairly confident that a motor starter ahead of the VFD will cause a long list of problems.

Any other solutions. I was thinking about using a lighting contactor?

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#1

Re: Motor Starter Feeding a VFD

11/01/2011 9:47 PM

Why have a starter at all? The right VFD can handle all the usual starter functions.

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#2

Re: Motor Starter Feeding a VFD

11/02/2011 12:32 AM

As I understand your situation in the other forum you posted this in (too coincidental that it is a 75HP IR compressor on a VFD), you are having troubles with the VFD tripping out on UV when the incoming voltage dips too low and it requires manual reset, which causes lengthy downtime which costs more than the entire compressor.

Adding any kind of switching device ahead of the VFD will only serve to shift the problem to another area, namely the VFD failure. Repeated cycling of line power to a VFD stresses the DC bus smoothing capacitors, and/or a pre-charge resistor (if designed that way).

I was unaware that IR was making VFDs, and as it turns out they are not. This appears to be a brand-label of a Danfoss drive, likely a VLT because IR's Trane business unit brand labels that same VFD for HVAC applications. I have an older VLT 3500 manual here and although the fault codes don't go to 16, it does have an under voltage alarm separate from a UV trip. With that feature, you should be able to get some warning that would allow an orderly shutdown of the drive prior to the trip that has to be manually reset.

And by the way, on this older one it appears as though the requirement for manual reset itself is programmable, so you may be able to program it for automatic reset with a number of reset attempts.

Get some help from the IR people, this shouldn't be so difficult to work around but don't start throwing hardware at it that creates new problems until you have exhausted all other avenues.

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#3
In reply to #2

Re: Motor Starter Feeding a VFD

11/02/2011 10:48 AM

Thank you so much. I was thinking that but doing what I am told, and trying to provide the best/safest solution. Your input is worth its weight in gold.

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#4

Re: Motor Starter Feeding a VFD

11/03/2011 9:06 AM

I have used the contactor after the VFD to provide positive E-Stop control. (some customers don't trust the capabilities of the VFD and want a contactor to break the feed to the motor without shutting down the VFD) This way the VFD stays ready, but the motor can not run. Never had any issues with that arrangement. The VFD will throw a fault if the contactor opens while running, but that can easily be cleared.

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#5
In reply to #4

Re: Motor Starter Feeding a VFD

11/03/2011 11:30 AM

You are incrementally damaging the transistors when you do that. You will get away with it for a while, but you are hastening the demise of your VFD. If it is only an emergency function the risk may be legitimate, but it should never be done as a normal stop operation. What should be done is to have a circuit that immediately turns off the VFD output at the same time it drops out the isolation contact coil, so there is no power flow through the transistors by the time the arc in the contactor would take place.

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#6
In reply to #5

Re: Motor Starter Feeding a VFD

11/03/2011 11:47 AM

Maybe - but we have customers who have been doing this for years, so the damage must take a decade or so to show up.

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