Variable Frequency Drive Basics

Welcome to the third and final course in a series of three entitled VFD Configuring and Programming. VFD is the acronym for variable frequency drives which are used extensively in industry and manufacturing to control speeds of single and three-phase motors and servo motors. Historically, industry used DC motor and controls to control the speed of motors because all that was needed is varying the voltage to control the speed. The motors were bulky and had a lot more parts than its current day AC motors, so maintenance was very high. Also, plants had to have AC to DC conversion equipment which was also bulky and needed high maintenance. AC motors are much more efficient and require a lot less maintenance than its DC counterpart so cam the advent of AC drive whereby adjusting the frequency you can control the speeds of motors. It is a piece of equipment that consists of AC to DC converter where the DC voltage can be manipulated, converted back to AC with its new frequency and voltage output.

In this course we will cover: learning the parameters of the VFD and how to set them up for the desired voltage, frequency, torque, current, acceleration and deceleration speeds. You’ll learn how to control the VFD from the embedded key pad, from external switches, from the PLC, and monitor and control all of this with the Panelview 800 human machine interface (HMI).

The sections include an introduction, wiring the power components of the VFD, configuring the parameters of a VFD, wiring the VFD for two-wire control, wiring the VFD for three-wire control, introduction to analog configuration, Analog PLC programming, configuring an analog gauge on the HMI, analog configuring and wiring the VFD for 0 – 10 VDC, and configuring and wiring the VFD for 4 – 20 mA DC. I hope you enjoy the course.