Single Phase Variable Speed Drive

MikeVT

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May 2008
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Holland, MI
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Repeat Question - Maybe to our UK friends, especially.

I need variable speed control of single phase blower motors, for an OEM I work for. I found a company called Invertek, that sells a product that looks like it would be just what I need. Has anybody heard of Invertek? Any experince with their products? Is there a US supplier - West Michigan?

Thanks,
Mike
 
Invertek is one of the few single phase drives available. Plenty of people make drives that accept single phase and put out 3 phase, but there are only 3 mfrs of VFDs that I know of for single phase MOTORS. One reason is, there is only a narrow range of TYPES of single phase motors that they will work on without damaging the motor and/or drive. They cannot be used on any type of capacitor start single phase motors, which only leaves Shaded Pole and PSC (Permanent Split Capacitor, because the cap is always in the circuit anyway). Shaded Pole motors can also be controlled with simple cheap voltage control, so it really leaves only PSC applications that can use them, and that is a relatively small market. That means the volume is low, so the price is higher than an equivalent 3 phase output version, which leads many of the remaining customers to just replace the single phase motors with 3 phase and get a more readily available drive.

All that said, there is nothing wrong with the Invertek drive, they make a decent product. You can buy that drive brand-labeled here in the U.S. From two companies; Bardac and Anacon. Google will find them both for you. The other two versions are small niche mfrs who cater to the HVAC business where people must put a VFD on bathroom **** fans so as to make sure they don't upset the air pressure balancing. Those other suppliers are not what I would consider an industrial grade product, yet tend to be more expensive than Bardac and Anacon.

If your blowers are not using PSC motors, you cannot use a VFD. You are better off replacing the motors with 3 phase, then get a good off the shelf VFD from one of the major players that will take in 230V single phase and put out 230V 3 phase.
 
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Repeat Question - Maybe to our UK friends, especially.

I need variable speed control of single phase blower motors, for an OEM I work for. I found a company called Invertek, that sells a product that looks like it would be just what I need. Has anybody heard of Invertek? Any experince with their products? Is there a US supplier - West Michigan?

Thanks,
Mike

Invertek makes drives for many companies like SEW etc. SEW LTE-B drives are made by Invertek (only 3p output drives).

USA distributors:

http://www.invertekdrives.com/contact/enquiries.aspx?distributorID=51
 
Last edited:
Thanks Jraef. That's the information I was looking for. I need to verify yet, that the fan motors are either PSC, or shaded pole. Basically, the OEM I referred to (that I work for) didn't get 3 phase units ordered in time. Too long of a lead time. Now he is asking if I can control 1 phase motors from an analog signal from a PLC. The Invertek drives, or a voltage controller, are about my only options.

Lack of planning on his part, now becomes creative engineering on my part. ;>) (n)

Mike
 
Repeat Question - Maybe to our UK friends, especially.

I need variable speed control of single phase blower motors, for an OEM I work for. I found a company called Invertek, that sells a product that looks like it would be just what I need. Has anybody heard of Invertek? Any experince with their products? Is there a US supplier - West Michigan?

Thanks,
Mike

Invertek is a trading company who provides variable speed drives. Except it, you can take a try of getting VFDs directly from its manufacturers as they have full technical support.
You can take a look at Veichi VFD drives.
 
Invertek is a trading company who provides variable speed drives. Except it, you can take a try of getting VFDs directly from its manufacturers as they have full technical support.
You can take a look at Veichi VFD drives.

Looks like just another cheap Chinese copy of Yaskawa and Fuji drives, they don't appear to be UL listed for use here in North America, and you, representing your company disguised as being "helpful", failed to even understand that the OP was not asking for any cheap VFD, but one that would operate a SINGLE PHASE motor. None of your drives would do that, so you were just basically trying to get free advertising.
 

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