Single Phase Motor on VFD?

This actually isn't a "parlor" question. Looks like I'll be installing a couple of ABB ACS580's to run a pair of single phase 2HP pumps, and not as an afterthought. That's what the customer had planned all along and we thought they were just mixed up and built them an across-the-line control cabinet.
 
I can understand how this can work with the wiring diagram that shows bypassing the centrifugal switch and the capacitor(s). The drive firmware just needs to know how to send the right signal out through each winding which most standard three phase drives don't have settings for doing that and is why they won't work with a single phase motor.

Franklin, Pentair, and probably other submersible pump manufacturers have had similar drives for some time now, but they load them with firmware specifically designed for running those kind of applications and not so much for general purpose use. Price wise they are pretty proud of those products when you compare them to the cost general purpose drives of similar output rating though.
 
ptonsparky said:
I hadn’t heard of it before, other than Franklin Pumps.
For the cost a typical VFD setup would seem to have been less expensive.
Maybe not, how did it compare?
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Really don't know. This is at a Dehy station for new gas wells. The pumps are for the glycol. Some techs have been doing the install and were just providing the control cabinet, designed and built by our company out west. The customer provided and installed the pumps and I guess wiring things up. Seems that is what they have done in the past. I'll probably just be mounting the VFDs, programming and commissioning. But who knows? Any difference in cost would be peanuts. Seems bizarre that they wouldn't just get 3-ph motors. We will probably eat the cost of the across the line starters. Again, peanuts.
 
Got thinking more about it and sent the following inquiry to ABB motors and drives:

"Can you please provide recommendations for running a single phase motor from a VFD? The motor is a Baldor 35E024G469C1, 2HP 110/220 volt. The VFD is a ACS580. The customer insists that they have done this before, and I understand that our engineer says the ACS580 is rated for it. As an electrician, I am dubious and so would appreciate any clarification. If this is done, can you provide any special parameters/controls that should be implemented?"
 
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