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The Internal Workings of an AC Drive



Drives are a kind of electrochemical systems that utilize an electric motor to control the processes of various mechanisms. Electric drives are usually made of both an electric motor and a speed control unit. The AC drive, in particular, has been used in wide applications such as in fans, conveyors, pumps, escalators, heavy equipment, vehicles, and more. It works by converting a fixed frequency and voltage into an adjustable frequency through an AC voltage source. Another function of this drive system is to control the torque, speed, power, and direction of the AC motor.



You might be confused about AC drive as it is also referred to as variable frequency drive or VFD or adjustable speed drive or ASD. It has been so popular across industrial applications because of the energy savings it provides and its simplicity compared to its DC counterpart. In addition, technological advancements have made the reliability and performance of the drive even higher and made its size and cost more appealing for variable speed applications. It operates simply through its three major components:



  • The Motor: this part of the AC drive is usually designed with squirrel cage induction. It’s what drives the device being operated by converting the electrical power to mechanical power that the machine uses.

  • The Inverter Section: this is also called the motor control section that controls the motor's speed by changing utility power into adjustable frequency power.

  • Operator Interface: this is where the operator of the machine or device takes control to command the motor to work as desired by using motor control inputs and outputs.



Through the interplay of those components of the AC drive, it has the ability to control almost every aspect of the application, no matter how complex it could be. The most advanced versions of this drive are equipped with a wide variety of parameters that are numerically controlled through a programmable controller or similar control system.

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