RC of VFD

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Our POCOs use radio control to cycle irrigation equipment at times of peak demand. Originally they would open the control circuit of the pump panel, now they have a large contactor in the meter enclosure to open all power. Harder to bypass for those customers that were inclined to do so. These cycle Off/On once a day or less depending on the contract the customer has with the POCO. Do you see a problem with the VFD stopping in this manner? Start command of the VFD, in this instance, is delayed for a short time period after the power is reapplied. Same 200hp I have been referencing in other threads.
 

Jraef

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Generally not a problem if done occasionally, but doing it every day? Maybe. Whenever you power up a VFD, there is an associated inrush current that charges up the capacitors. To avoid damaging the rectifier components, they use what is called a "pre-charge" circuit. This is done in many different ways and often depends on the size. Small drives often use thermistors that are resistive when cool but drop to near zero resistance when they heat up a few seconds later. Some use a pre-charge resistor that is in series with the DC bus caps for a second or two, then shorted out of the circuit with a small contactor or a thermistor. Another method, frequently used on larger drives, is to use SCRs instead of diodes on the front end to ramp the DC voltage into the caps. If your drive uses a variant of the first two I described, powering it up every day can stress those resistive components and cause premature failure, i.e. the pre-charge resistor or thermistor cracks and burns out from thermal cycling stress and when it does, the caps fail shortly thereafter. But if your drive uses an SCR based rectifier, it may be fine. It's something you will have to ask of the Sq. D guys, although from the sounds of it, they are less than responsive. Good luck...

PS: a quick check of some service manuals I have on ATV66 and ATV71 Schneider drives indicates that they use the pre-charge resistor and contactor method. So I would be mildly concerned.
 
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Besoeker

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Generally not a problem if done occasionally, but doing it every day? Maybe. Whenever you power up a VFD, there is an associated inrush current that charges up the capacitors. To avoid damaging the rectifier components, they use what is called a "pre-charge" circuit. This is done in many different ways and often depends on the size. Small drives often use thermistors that are resistive when cool but drop to near zero resistance when they heat up a few seconds later. Some use a pre-charge resistor that is in series with the DC bus caps for a second or two, then shorted out of the circuit with a small contactor or a thermistor. Another method, frequently used on larger drives, is to use SCRs instead of diodes on the front end to ramp the DC voltage into the caps. If your drive uses a variant of the first two I described, powering it up every day can stress those resistive components and cause premature failure, i.e. the pre-charge resistor or thermistor cracks and burns out from thermal cycling stress and when it does, the caps fail shortly thereafter. But if your drive uses an SCR based rectifier, it may be fine. It's something you will have to ask of the Sq. D guys, although from the sounds of it, they are less than responsive. Good luck...

PS: a quick check of some service manuals I have on ATV66 and ATV71 Schneider drives indicates that they use the pre-charge resistor and contactor method. So I would be mildly concerned.

TBH, I wouldn't be greatly concerned about a couple of times a day. I wouldn't generally want to be disconnecting the supply to a VFD while it was running at full power but most are fairly tolerant of that these days. Our normal practice is to fit a contactor between the drive output and the motor. It is sequenced such that the drive cannot be enabled until the contactor is closed. and is disabled before the contactor opens.
 
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