Need some clarification on the PowerFlex 40 AC Drive

[kandymann]

Hey guys

I have a quick question about the PowerFlex 40 AC drive.

Using this link: http://literature.rockwellautomation.com/idc/groups/literature/documents/pp/22-pp001_-en-p.pdf

I am wanting to buy a VFD for simulation purposes. I am new into programming and I want to be able to play with controlling a motor via controller.

I was looking at the PF 40 Drive spec sheet and I saw where it says under 'Rating' that input voltage is 110V single-phase and it spits out 3-phase 230V??? How is this possible? Am I reading this corectly? If so, it would work for me bec I have a 3-phase 1HP Inverter Duty Motor in the shop that I could use. I am stumped on this bec I have never seen a rating like this. Yes, I am sorta new in the electrical field but I just want clarification on this topic.

Thanks guys for your help on this!

Kandy

 

[jdbeal]

That rating is correct. An AC motor drive takes in AC power converts it to DC power and finally "builds" AC power for the output in the way that it needs it to do what you are asking the motor to do. So you can have a 120V single phase input drive a 3 phase 230V output.

I keep one at home in my garage for those times I may want to run a 3 phase motor at home, the original idea was a variable speed whole house attic fan.

 

[bernie_carlton]

This particular type - 110VAC in, 230 VAC out - has a voltage doubler circuit. Most don't. It takes a lot of current on the 110VAC in lines to make a small amount of current out.

 

[kandymann]

Thanks Bernie and JBdeal

Great explanations here. It blows my mind. I honestly didnt know this was possible. Really cool to know this.

Thanks guys...I learn something every day here.

I love it

 

[Clay B.]

Only limitation on these types of drives is HP. I have only found them to go up to 3 horse power with a single phase input.

As Bernie stated these devices are current hogs so you may need to watch you feed circuit, you may not have enough power available with other devices on the same circuit.

 

[kandymann]

Only limitation on these types of drives is HP. I have only found them to go up to 3 horse power with a single phase input.

As Bernie stated these devices are current hogs so you may need to watch you feed circuit, you may not have enough power available with other devices on the same circuit.

Yeah I figured. I actually have a 240V AC Unit circuit in my office with nothing on it. This drive uses 240V input voltage also so I will go this route and should be ok. I will be using a 1HP motor for this particular application.

 

[Clay B.]

Yeah I figured. I actually have a 240V AC Unit circuit in my office with nothing on it. This drive uses 240V input voltage also so I will go this route and should be ok. I will be using a 1HP motor for this particular application.

That would be my suggestion. I bring this up because I have had several customers think you can just plug something like this into a wall socket and everything would be just rosey.

 

[kandymann]

That would be my suggestion. I bring this up because I have had several customers think you can just plug something like this into a wall socket and everything would be just rosey.

I can imagine

 

[DickDV]

Actually, a drive with a 120VAC input rating and a voltage doubler for 230VAC three phase output is intended for just that---plug it into a wall socket and everything should be just rosy. Since the average wall socket is 120V 15amp with a practical limit of 12amps, that would be 120 x 12 = 1440watts. That figures out to 1.93hp so it would be necessary to limit the drive output and motor rating to 1.5hp.

Within that limit, these little drives are perfect for simple, portable, and yes, pluggable equipment. A typical example would be exercise treadmills. A few have AC drive motors but this is more expensive than DC motors currently so DC is more common. And, as mentioned, they are often used for home-based machine shop equipment. You have to be careful here tho. Only one machine per drive and the start/stop control has to be thru the drive. These little units cannot deal with the inrush currents that would result from starting stationary motors across the output of a VFD running at 60hz.