Electric Motors and Drives

Over the last few years, the electrotechnical components of pumping

installations have increasingly gained the interest of customers.
Often it is the electrotechnical equipment which decides on a products
success on the market. This development is expected to continue in
future, and customers will focus
more and more on the control
of process variables by means
of pump speed and the energy
saving going with it. Depending on the type of pump and
Dipl.-Ing. Bernd Khler
on the application, energy costs may account
Dipl.-Ing. Markus Kiele-Dunsche
Dipl.-Ing. Gerhard Berge
for about 80% of the life cycle costs.

Speed Control
Saves Energy

Why speed control?

Pumping systems are often designed for the maximum demand,
which, however, is seldom required.
Process-geared adjustments are often achieved with conventional control methods using throttle valves or
by-pass lines. Sometimes, this results
in very high energy losses. If, however, the pump is optimally matched
to the plant requirements by electronic speed adjustment, the motor
input power can be reduced considerably.
Positive side effects of reduced speed
are the decrease in wear and noise.
Different speeds may also become
necessary due to process conditions,
for example in heating or air-conditioning systems or in water supply
installations, if there are changes in
demand.

Pole pair number p

(by special pole-changing motors for
two up to four speeds at maximum)

Photo: Hyamaster SPS, KSB's

solution for speed control up
to 650 kW

Fig. 1: Methods of influencing the speed of an asynchronous motor

n= f (1-s)
p

Speed control of
asynchronous motors
Thanks to its robustness, no-maintenance design and low production
costs, the asynchronous motor has
become the "workhorse" among the
electric drives, even though continuous speed control cannot easily be
implemented.
Fig. 1 shows how the speed n of
an asynchronous motor can be influenced.

Slip s
(by voltage reduction via phase
angle control, rotor circuit resistors
in the slip ring rotor motor)
Frequency f
(by frequency inverter)

No. of
poles

Slip

Rotor

Frequency

Stator

Rotor

Cascade

Motor

resistance

connection

voltage

Electric Motors and Drives

Frequency inverter
Power electronics
Rectifier
Mains

Link

Inverter

3
3

Asynchronous
motor

Control electronics (open and closed loop)

Behaviour of the asynchronous motor run via

a frequency inverter

Fig. 2: Frequency inverter structure

The most simple technical solution
of speed control is the pole-changing asynchronous motor. It allows,
however, no more than four pre-set
speeds so that continuous process
control is not possible.
Today, motor voltage adjustment at
constant supply frequency is almost
exclusively effected by means of
electronic three-phase a.c. choppers.
The constant mains voltage supplied
to the terminals of the three-phase
a.c. chopper is reduced via a socalled phase angle control by triacs.
The speed can only be varied in a
very narrow range, and so the scope
for process control is also limited.
Because of the poor efficiency, this
method of adjustment should only
be used for powers below 1 kW.
The most comfortable speed control method is a frequency inverter,
which cannot only change the amplitude but also the frequency. The
asynchronous motor with frequency inverter has become a standard
solution for industrial drives and is
widely used today whenever flexible,
low loss speed control is required.

The use of frequency

inverters for pump control has the following
advantages:
- Infinitely variable speed adjustment
- Availability of higher speeds than
with direct mains operation
- Reactive power compensation is
not required

the respective power class. The

so-called constant-voltage d.c.-link
inverter has d.c. voltage in the link
with a capacitor as energy store.
If the power exceeds 200 kW, it is
recommendable for economic reasons to use the constant-current d.c.link inverter, which has a coil as energy store and thus generates direct
current in the link.

- Motor can be started with limited

rated current
- No star delta stages
- Noise reduction
- Reduction of wear
- High start-up / stopping frequency
possible
- PI controller already integrated
- Throttle controls are not required
- Energy savings
- Easy connection to bus systems
- Power range from 100 W to
several MW

Structure and function

of frequency inverters
Most frequency inverters work according to the same basic principle.
The frequency inverter converts the
a.c. components of the mains into
d.c. components and subsequently
"chops" them into a three-phase
system of variable frequency and
amplitude by means of electronic
power semiconductors.
The power section of a frequency inverter consists of the rectifier, a link
and the inverter, as is shown in Fig.
2. The rectifier in the mains rectifies
the alternating voltage of the mains.
The link decouples the rectifier and
the inverter and serves as energy
store. The inverter in the motor converts the d.c. components of the link
via electronic switches into a new
three-phase voltage system of variable frequency and voltage. An electronic control system monitors and
controls the power section.
There are two types of inverters.
Which type is chosen depends on

Most asynchronous motors are designed for a mains frequency of 50

Hz or 60 Hz. To operate such a
motor with a frequency inverter,
some particularities must be taken
into consideration:
1. Magnetization should remain at a
constant level.
2. The maximum current must not
exceed the rated current.
3. The permissible insulation voltage
must not be exceeded.
To observe the first rule, the U to f
ratio is kept constant so that the
motor is optimally utilized. If the
speed is to be changed by modifying the frequency of the electric supply mains, voltage must change too
in the way shown by the characteristic curves in Fig. 3. The voltage /
frequency ratio can, however, be
Triac: Bi-lateral triode thyristor
(functions like two antiparallelly
connected silicon controlled
rectifiers).

Reactive power compensation:

The reactive power generated by
the reactive current does not
contribute to the useful service
output. For this reason and to
relieve the electric generator it
is compensated by means of
capacitors in the immediate vicinity of inductive consumers.

Rated variable (voltage, current):

Variable specified by the manufacturer of an electric machine for
a set of defined operating conditions.

Electric Motors and Drives

U/Un
P/Pn 1

Constant
field range

dustrial power consumption in Germany. Pumping systems outnumber

other drive applications
by far. Half of the total
energy consumed by electric motors goes into
driving pumps.

Weakened
field range

f/fn

M/Mn 1
/n

Fig. 4 illustrates the

power saved in a pumping system with speed
control compared with
throttle control.

f/fn

Looking at the life cycle

costs of a 3 kW in-line
pump, for example, the
following data are found:
initial cost approx. DM 1,900, energy costs over 10 years approx.
DM 28,000. Depending on the load
profile, approx. DM 600 / kW of installed drive power can on average
be saved in annual energy costs. The
pay-off period for higher initial cost
is approx. 2.6 years.

Fig. 3: Characteristics of an asynchronous

motor operated via a frequency inverter
kept constant only until the motor
voltage has reached the mains voltage. If frequency is increased beyond this level, voltage must necessarily be kept constant at its peak
level. This means that the motor is
undermagnetized in the upper speed
range. It is then operated in the socalled "weakened field range.
Often, a U/f characteristic matched
to this special load characteristic is
used for the square pump torque.

Saving energy
Electric drive systems account for
approximately two thirds of in-

If only 30 % of the pumps deployed in industry in Germany were

equipped with speed control, the
energy saved would total 16 TWh
per annum. This corresponds to approx. DM 2.4 billion on the basis
of present industrial power prices
in Germany (source: report of the
German Central Association of Elec-

tronic Engineering and the Electronics Industry (ZVEI)).

State of the art

and outlook
Today, system integration is of special importance with regard to most
different aspects. Mechanical engineers, process engineers and drive
specialists must cooperate in the
planning and development of new
drive concepts which include all components and interfaces. New drive
concepts will lead to greater efficiency of the total system and thus save
costs.
Up to now, the term "drive" has always designated a motor supplied
via a frequency inverter. But drive
systems are normally used in complex processes in which a certain
task must be fulfilled under changing conditions. Fig. 5 shows a drive
system with the pertinent process.

Practical applications
At present, these functional units are
frequently physically separated. But
increasingly smaller electronic and
electrotechnical assemblies provide
more and more scope for integrating components, so that there is a
strong trend to combining different
assemblies in a single physical unit.

Fig. 4: Energy saved by speed control compared with throttle control

Throttle

Motor rating in kW

Frequency inverter
Saving

Flow rate in percent

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Electric Motors and Drives

Fig. 5 shows which assemblies are
integrated. As a consequence, the
complete process is reduced to three
elements, i.e. the technical process,
the process instrumentation and the
integral drive.
The drive consists of a conventional asynchronous motor which, however, is equipped with a frequency
inverter with integrated electronics.
This produces an integral speed-controlled drive system perfectly suited
to open- and closed-loop control.
This solution has the advantage that
all relevant functions (motor protection, control, etc.) are integrated
and that disturbing interferences of
the motor cable are reduced due
to the position of the frequency inverter immediately on the motor.
Further benefits for the customer
are the little space required and reduced wiring costs. In the next issue,

Fig. 5: Components of an integrated drive system in a process.

we will present the "Hya Drive,

the latest generation of KSB integral
motors.

Interference: Any electromagnetic

phenomenon which has a disturbing impact on the functioning of a
apparatus, a plant or a system.

Photo: Etaline Hya Drive

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