What Are the Advantages of Variable Speed Electric Motor？

The basic function of a variable speed drive (VSD) is to control the flow of energy from the mains to the process. Variable speed drives sit between the electrical supply and the motor. Power from the electrical supply goes into a drive and the drive then regulates the power that is fed to the motor.

Inside the drive the input power is run through a rectifier, that converts the incoming AC power to DC power. The DC power is fed into the capacitors inside the drive. This is done to smooth out the electrical waveform which provides the clean power supply for the next step. Power then flows from the capacitors to the inverter, that changes the DC power to the output AC power that goes to the motor.

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This step allows the drive to adjust the frequency and the voltage that fed into to the motor based on your current process demands. This means you run your AC motors at the speed or with the torque according to the demand needed. This is why you can save large amounts of money using the AC drives.

Besides saving energy, variable speed drives also help you reduce maintenance costs, waste and even ambient noise emissions. They are also a great way to help meet your environmental goals.

Nearly 70 percent of all industrial electrical energy use goes to powering electric motors. These motors are the workhorses of business, from pumps moving fluids to fans moving air to compressors, conveyors, and every type of machine that depends on rotational force to get its job done.

And it’s these motors that are the key to help you reduce your energy use and CO2 emissions, or even find more energy efficient solutions for your customers. Pumps, fans and compressors are often run at constant speed, with control of flow rate and destination being done by manual opening and closing of valves in the pipelines. This usually makes the startup process very labor intensive as starting a pumping station, for instance, could take one person up to an hour. The labor costs add up with personnel having to sometimes travel long distances to remote sites. In some facilities this process is automated but consumption of energy is poor.

There is a more energy efficient alternative. Running these applications with variable speed drives results in instant savings in energy consumption while it also brings long-term competitive advantages. Any process that is using electric motors can get important monetary savings and operational benefits with the use of variable speed drives. You might want to take a good look around your own operations and processes, no matter how big or small, to see where targeted use of variable speed drives can help you get fast financial payback and long-term competitive advantages.

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Why should you use a variable speed drive?

Electric motors play a very important role in our everyday businesses and lives. They move and run basically everything we need for business or pleasure.

All these motors run on electricity. In order to do their work of providing torque and speed, they need the corresponding amount of electric energy. All these motors consume electricity to provide torque or speed needed. If that torque or speed is too high or too low, mechanical controls will be used to slow down shift or control output. The result is inefficiency, with lots of wasted materials and energy. Motor’s speed should match exactly what is required by the process. Without the better way to control the speed, a lot of energy gets wasted and that’s not good for anyone’s business.

When using a variable speed drive, either torque or speed is controlled and we speak of “torque control” or “speed control”. When the variable speed drive operates in torque control mode, the speed is determined by the load. Likewise, when operated in speed control, the torque is determined by the load.

See how easy it is to match your drive with a motor

Lower-Cost, Variable-Speed Electric Motor Improves Energy Efficiency

In , the U.S. industrial, commercial, and residential sectors consumed ~13.5 quad of electricity, of which an estimated 7.8 quad (58%) was consumed by applications using electric motors in machinery; process cooling; and refrigeration, space heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning. As energy costs continue to rise, a critical task is reducing electricity consumption of induction motors using advanced power control technologies such as variable-speed drive. Because existing variable-speed motors cost at least four times as much as single-speed motors, they are currently used in only 5% of residential HVAC systems.

DynaMotors Inc., with the aid of a grant from DOE's Inventions and Innovation Program, developed a revolutionary low-cost, brushless, variable-speed motor technology that has solid-state switches on the rotating armature. These switches are optically controlled, thereby controlling motor torque and speed. The intended market was residential HVAC systems, but the technology can also be used in electric vehicles, aircraft, and factory automation. Existing HVAC systems use low-cost, low-efficiency, single-speed permanent split capacitor induction motors. These motors are cycled on and off as required by a thermostat. A variable-speed motor running continuously at a half speed uses 25% of the power to move the same amount of air. To achieve widespread market adoption in residential HVAC applications, the technology must be cost competitive with legacy equipment. DynaMotors addressed this issue and is selling its technology at 40%-50% less than existing variable-speed motors. Currently, Dynamotors' variable-speed drive motor is in the final stages of obtaining Underwriters’ Laboratory certification. A lower-cost version of the product, Comfortune™, has been introduced to compete in the residential HVAC market. The dynamotor is being applied to other industrial and commercial niche markets such as firefighting equipment.

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