home made VFD

Hello,

could anyone give me pointers or any circuit schematics from which i could build a VFD drive that would be capable of driving a 1kw induction motor.

i have an ABB VFD but would be interested in building one from components

regards
benny

IMHO, It isn't worth, do not waste your time, effort and money.

Some parts of a VSD are easy enough but some would be a problem. Converting an AC supply to DC and then using capacitors to smooth and store the DC is easy enough. Dealing with the high voltages on home made pcbs could prove a bit deadly. Designing a control system to chop the DC up in to a vague sine wave should be doable. The IGBT electronics that do the heavy lifting are standard components. I see real problems in making the controls that switch the IGBTs sophisticated enough to be anything like a modern VSD.

This is a big project and will not be doable without alot of knowlege in electronics, power electronics, embedded programming, the workings of electricity and 3 phases, and alot of time on your hands.
I don't think there is a "finished" open source VFD so you will probably have to build everything yourself.

Also this might not be the right forum for a project like this, you would be better of to search for a electronics forum instead of PLC forum.

I can't help but if you're doing this as a "wouldn't it be neat if..." side project then I say go for it! You'll definitely learn a lot in the process.

BryanG said:

I see real problems in making the controls that switch the IGBTs sophisticated enough to be anything like a modern VSD.

Click to expand...

Most of the drives work with frequencies upto max 16-20 kHz, so theoretically you could manage to control the IGBT's even from the output of an MP3 player via some interface.
But the autotunes, the math and physics in FVC are harder and will take more time, unless you have something ready

see elektor, or search for arduino and VFD for starters.
also have a look at brushless motors they also have a type of VFD in , but the voltage is lower (not as dangerous.