Energy Saving Technique by

Using Inverter
Product Engineering Yaskawa
PT Indoserako Sejahtera
Main Circuit and Control Circuit of Inverter
AC DC
Voltage Voltage AC
Voltage
Current Current

Rectifier circuit
Smoothing circuit Inverter Current
or DC bus conversion
(diodes)
(capacitors) circuit
(IGBTs)

R
AC S
IM
power T
supply

FWD
Analog
run
REV run monitor Multi-function analog
output (output
Multi-
frequency, current,
function etc.)
Fault
input
output
Sequence
terminals

common

terminals
Digital

Output
Operator
Analog input
Input

(speed setting) Multi-function

contact output
(running, speed
Pulse train agree, etc.)
input
Serial communication Pulse train
input output
Advantages of Inverter Applications (1)
No. Advantage Technical Details Main Precautions
Can control speeds Number of revolutions changes Since a standard motor has
of the specified when squirrel-cage-type motor temperature rise that becomes
1 constant-speed terminal voltage and frequency greater at a low speed, torque
type motors. are changed. must be reduced according to
frequency.
Soft start/stop enabled. Accel/decel time can be set freely Set proper accel/decel time after
f from a low speed. performing load operation.
2 (0.01 to 6000 seconds).
t
Cushion Start Cushion Stop

Highly frequent Little motor heat generation Motor or inverter capacity frame
f
start/stop enabled. since smooth accel/decel is must be increased depending on
3 enabled with little current. the accel/decel capacity. Check
the accel/decel time and load J.
t

FWD/REV run enabled without Because of phase rotation When applying the inverter to an
main circuit contactor. Inverter changes by transistor, there are elevating unit, use a motor with a
FWD
Run RUN Command no moving parts like brake to hold mechanically for
4 FWD conventional contactors so that stand still.
Run
interlock operation can be
REV REV assured.
Run Run
Advantages of Inverter Applications (2)
N
Advantage Technical Details Main Precautions
o.
Can apply an electrical Since mechanical energy is converted Braking force is approx. 20%
brake. into electrical energy and absorbed in when only the inverter is used.
f the inverter at decel, the motor can Attaching a braking resistor
auto-matically provide braking force. (optional) externally can increase
5
DC current is applied to the motor the braking force.
around zero-speed so that it becomes Pay attention to the capacity of
t dynamic braking, to completely stop the the resistor.
Electrical motor.
Braking
Can control speeds of the Since the inverter drives squirrel-cage An explosionproof motor in
motor under adverse motors, it can be used easily for combination with an inverter is
6 atmosphere. explosionproof, waterproof, outdoor or subject to explosionproof
special types of motors. certification.

High-speed rotation enabled. Commercial power supply can provide The speed of a general-purpose
V
up to 3600 min-1 (2-pole at 60Hz) or motor cannot be increased by
3000 min-1 (2-pole, at 50Hz). simply increasing the frequency.
A general-purpose inverter can increase (It can be applied without being
7
frequency up to 400 Hz (12000 min-1) changed if frequency is approx.
while a high-frequency inverter can 120 Hz.)
increase it up to 3000 Hz (180000 min-1). Mechanical strength and
60Hz 120Hz 400Hz f dynamic balance must be
examined.
Advantages of Inverter Applications (3)
No. Advantage Technical Details Main Precautions
The speeds of more than one motor The inverter is a power supply unit The number of motor revolutions
can be controlled by one inverter. to the motor, therefore, as many differs depending on each motor
motors as the capacity allows can characteristics or load ratio even at
IM
be connected. the same frequency.
8 These motors do not have to be the (Among general-purpose motors,
IM
Inverter
same capacity. speed deviation of 2 to 3% can be
IM considered.)
Synchronous motors have the same
number of revolutions.
Power supply capacity can be small Large current (5 or 6 times larger Transformer capacity (kVA)
when the motor is started up. than the motor rating) does not = 1.5 × inverter output capacity
flow as with a commercial power
9 supply start.
Current can be limited to at most
100 to 150% by low-frequency
start.
Number of revolutions becomes Output freq. can be set regardless
10 constant regardless of power supply of power supply freq. 50/60Hz.
frequency.
Concept of Energy Saving

APPLICATION HOW DRIVES SAVE ENERGY

Flow rate and Replacing with motors of better efficiency
air flow quantity Collecting energy for excess facility capability (inverter
Fans, constant application)
blowers,
pumps Flow rate and
Recovering throttling loss of valves or dampers (inverter
air flow quantity
application)
variable
Using an inverter drive makes an overall more efficient
Speed variable application
Extruders, (Eddy-current coupling drive → Inverter drive)
conveyors
Speed constant Replacing with motors of better efficiency

Lifting machines such as Inverter power supply regenerative function collects the
cranes regenerative energy at lowering.

Unwinders Re-use regenerative energy created by the unwinder.

Descaling pumps Stores up energy for starting torque

 Energy saving technique by using inverter
Tehnik penghematan energi dengan inverter

1. Reduction of drive power by variable speed operation

Mengurangi daya pada saat pemakaian kecepatan yang variatif
Energy saving is realized by reducing the speed of fan, pump and blower drived at the
constant speed
Penghematan energi terjadi saat pengurangan kecepatan kipas, pompa dan blower dari
kecepatan konstan.
2. Reduction of drive power by ON-OFF control
Mengurangi daya awal dengan mengontrol ON-Off
Energy saving is realized by the reduction of the operation time. To put it concretely, it
applies a inverter to the start and stop of the motor.
Penghematan energy dilakukan dengan mengurangi pemakaian daya pada saat awal dan
akhir motor beroperasi.
3. High-efficiency operation by replacing drive system
Efisiensi tinggi dengan menggantikan sistem kontrol manual.
Energy saving is realized by substituting more high efficiency drive systems for the
conventional systems which are used in the extrusion machine, conveyor and so on.
Penghematan energi dengan efisiensi tinggi pada sistem kontrol untuk sistem biasa seperti
extrusion mesin, konveyor dan lain-lain.
 Energy saving technique by using inverter (2)
Tehnik penghematan energi dengan inverter

4. Higy-efficiency operation by optimizing applied voltage to motors

Energy saving is realized by adjusting the motor supply voltage for motor efficiency to
be maximized when the efficiency of the motor declines with the load change.

5. Regeneration of mechanical energy such as inertia, etc.

Energy saving is realized by putting back the regenerative energy to the power supply.
The regenerative energy occurs in frequent reversible operation of the machine tool
and descent of the elevator and crane .
Partial Load: Energy Saving

“At partial load” means operation at less than full load (rated air flow
quantity). With a commercial power supply, “at partial load” indicates
the status at which operation is performed when the air flow quantity is
reduced by damper.

There are mainly two types of dampers: a suction damper

provided at the fan inlet, and a discharge damper provided at the
fan outlet.

air flow
tunnel
Fan
Air outlet Air inlet

Discharg
e damper Suction
damper

Air flow quantity adjusted by

damper
Characteristic of Power Consumption for Air Flow Quantity

When using an inverter, power consumption is either greater or equivalent to the

inverter loss at 100% air flow quantity than when using damper control. However,
as soon as the air flow quantity is reduced, the power consumption is rapidly
reduced at inverter control.

100
Consumed power, shaft power

50
(%)

0
50 100
Air flow quantity (rotational speed)
(%)
Energy-saving Effect at Full Load
When installing a fan, the fan capacity written in the fan specifications usually
includes allowances for performance deterioration due to aging. In this case, the air
flow quantity is set to the required value by installing the fixed throttle for the air
tunnel. By removing this fixed throttle and setting so as to obtain required air flow
quantity by using rotational speed control, the power indicated in the shaded section
can be saved as well.
R1
HO R0
1.0 A1
(p.u.)
H2 A0 N 0
Air flow pressure H

A2 N2

Ho: Fan characteristics at rotational speed

No
H2: Fan characteristics at rotational speed
Q1 Q0N2
0 1.0 (p.u.)
Air flow quantity Q Rated air Rated air flow
flow quantity exceeded
quantity
Energy Saving by Power Regeneration of Mechanical Energy

How a load creates regeneration

When a crane is lowering a load or when winder is unwinding a load, the motor acts
like a generator, creating energy as the load pulls against the rotation of the motor.
This is considered the regenerative status.

When crane is Winder

lowering

Motor

Weight Motor Motor

W
Motor at rewinding
side
Regenerative Energy Processing by Braking Resistor
Regenerative energy flows into the inverter from the motor when the motor enters
into regenerative status. This regenerative energy increases the voltage in the DC
bus, and can trigger the overvoltage protection function (thus causing the drive to
stop). In order to prevent this, a braking unit and a braking resistor are added in
a general-purpose inverter drives to absorb regenerative energy and dissipate it as
heat.
Regenerative Energy
Processing in General- Thermal energy
purpose Inverter Drives
Diode converter IGBT inverter
section Braking
section
resistor
Regenerative
energy
DC bus bar
AC voltage
IM
power
supply

Braking unit
Using Regenerative Energy in an Inverter Drive

Inverters with a power supply regenerative function can return the regenerative
energy created by the motor using IGBTs for the converter section. This way, energy
that was previously dissipated into the braking resistor can now be re-used.

How regenerative energy is reused in an inverter

drive

IGBT converter IGBT inverter

section section

Regenerative
power

AC
IM
power
supply
Operation Pattern

100%
Speed
Hoistin
g
0
120.4% Lowering
Torque 91.7%
63%

0
54kW
41.4 kW 40.7%
69.4% 98.1%
Powe 28.4 kW
r
0
18.3kWEnergy
saving
31.2kW

44.1 kW
15 sec. 20 sec. 15 sec. 20 sec.

1.5 sec. 1.5 sec. 1.5 sec. 1.5 sec.

76 sec.
New Motor and Inverter Technologies

New motor technology

Motor loss must be reduced in order to improve the motor efficiency.
There are 4 types of motor loss: ① stator copper loss, ② rotor copper loss, ③ iron
loss, and ④ mechanical loss. Reducing these four types of loss improves motor
efficiency.

① Stator copper loss

② Rotor copper loss Better
Motor loss efficiency
③ Iron loss
④ Mechanical loss
Reduction
New Motor and Inverter Technologies (Continued)-
Motors called “high-efficiency motors” or “power-saving motors” are designed to minimize loss
types ① and ③. To reduce stator copper loss (①), increase the size of copper wire used in the
motor windings.
For ③, iron core material is upgraded to minimize the loss.
Unlike induction motors, synchronous motors use permanent magnets for the rotors, and
consequently have hardly any rotor copper loss. This makes synchronous motors capable of
even greater efficiency.

① Stator copper Increase the size of

loss copper wire.
② Rotor copper Apply permanent
loss magnets.
③ Iron loss Upgrade the iron core
material.
④ Mechanical Improve bearing and
loss cooling structure.
New Inverter Technology

The diagram below illustrates five steps that can be taken to improve motor control and
inverter drive performance: ① Reducing the loss generated in the inverter unit; ② and ③
concern circuitry and the control method used for high-efficiency performance; ④ covers
improvements to drive’s power supply side; ⑤ involves a new approach to power
conversion.
How to improve inverter Reducing
efficiency New power component losses
conversion
method
Drive section Improving
① Reducing loss output
voltage
② Improving PWM control
AC
power Motor
③ Improving inverter supply
output voltage
waveform
Improving Speed
④ Improving the drive’s sensor
input power
input power factor factor
Processing
⑤ New power Improving section
conversion PWM
method control
Reducing Inverter Component Loss
One way to improve inverter efficiency is to reduce loss from various components. The
circle graphs below show the amount of loss generated from each component in the
drive. About 10 years ago, the loss generated from IGBT (Insulated Gate Bipolar
Transistor) switching in the main circuit exceeded 60% of all loss. Recent improvements
in switching technology have now minimized loss from IGBTs down to 40%.

8.1% BEFORE NOW

1.0%
15.3% 22.0%
0.8% 8.6%
0.2% 12.4%
11.6%
5.3%

1.5%
1.1%
0.2% 43.6%
60.8% 7.6%

Rectifier diode IGBTs Smoothing capacitors ＭＣ Rectifier diode IGBTs Smoothing capacitor ＭＣ
Main circuit Discharge Control Main circuit Discharge Control power Others
Others fuse resistance supply
fuse resistance power supply

Improving the switching characteristics of the IGBT device has reduced the power
loss to the half of what it was 10 years ago. In addition to reducing power
consumption for the control power supply and control circuit, inverter efficiency is
9o% better than in the past.
Improvements with PWM Control
The high carrier frequency used in PWM (pulse width modulation) increases the
amount of IGBT switching loss. Yaskawa has created a 2-phase modulation method
to minimize this switching loss.
As shown below, the 2-phase modulation method stops switching when current is
large. This way, one of the 3 phases is always in the stopped status. Using this 2-
phase PWM control method can reduce the switching loss by approx. 30%.

High-efficiency PWM control: 2-phase modulation

Output voltage
Output current Output voltage Output current

Switching loss is not generated in the 2-

phase modulation method since IGBT
switching does not occur in this area. (b) 3-phase modulation
(a) 2-phase modulation

Employing 2-phase modulation can

reduce IBGT switching loss by
approximately 30%.
Improving the Output Voltage Waveform
Although high carrier PWM control makes the output current waveform very close to
sinusoidal, the actual voltage waveform created is still a group of square waves. The surge
voltage generated at rising and falling edges of this square waves causes trouble. A surge
suppression filter is normally attached between the inverter and the motor in order to
prevent the motor insulation from being damaged by surge voltage. This filter is called
RLC filter, and is is composed of a resistor, reactor, and a capacitor. A large filter is not
needed if the inverter and motor are close together. If they are far apart, however, a large
capacity filter is needed. For example, with the motor capacity of 75 kW, the filter
consumed power is 0.3 kW, 1.4 kW and 12.6 kW when the wiring length is 30 m, 100 m
and 300 m, respectively. As the distance gets longer, the required capacity is sharply
increased. Additionally, the size of the filter also becomes larger, it will be necessary to
examine where to install. To omit this filter, 3-level control inverters have been devised.
Using these inverters can solve the problem of ①. Furthermore, this control method can
reduce the remaining 3 failures (②, ③ and ④) at the same time.

Common Problems
① Motor insulation damaged by surge voltage
Solved with
② Peripheral devices malfunctioning due to
noise generated by the inverter 3-level
③ Earth leakage breaker malfunctioning due to
leakage current
control!
④ Motor bearings corroded by shaft current
What Is 3-Level Control?

Conventional Drives: 2-level

Varispeed G7: 3-level control
control
Ｐ Ｐ
A

control by 12
EB

control by 6
transistors

transistors
Voltage
Circui VPN ０
VPN FC

Voltage
t
config
u- D
ration
Ｎ Ｎ
U V W U V W

＋ ＋

Phase VPN /2

reduced to half of
VPN ０
voltage

conventional
fluctuation
Voltage
－

model
－

VPN VPN /2
Line
voltag
e

VPN : DC bus bar voltage = AC input

voltage × √２
Principle of 3-Level Control Method
In conventional 2-level control, 2 transistors are used for each phase, making a total of 6
transistors for 3 phases to switch DC bus bar voltage VPN. Phase voltage turns ON and OFF
depending on the size of VPN, and changes according to it. In the 3-level control, 4 transistors
are used per phase, for a total of 12 transistors for 3 phases. The illustrations below shows how
transistors switching works during one phase. In this figure, voltage P appears in phase U when
transistors A and B turn ON. Then O appears in phase U through diodes E and F when
transistors B and C turn ON. N appears when transistors C and D turn ON. It means that phase
U can take three states: P, N, and O. This is how 3-level control was named. While voltage
fluctuates between P and N in 2-level control, it fluctuates between P & O, and between O & N in
3-level control. Therefore, phase voltage turns ON and OFF depending on the size of VPN/2,
which is half of VPN during 2-level control. This creates an output waveform very close to a
perfect sine wave. Surge voltage is cut in half when voltage fluctuation becomes half, which
means that noise and leakage current is also cut in half, resulting in reduction of shaft current.

(a) Circuit configuration during for one phase (b) Switching patterns
(phase U appears below)
P A B C D Potential
A ＯＮ ＯＮ ＯＦＦ ＯＦＦ Level P
VP N
２ Motor ＯＦＦ ＯＦＦ ＯＮ ＯＮ Level N
E B
VP N Phase U ＯＦＦ ＯＮ ＯＮ ＯＦＦ Level O
O
F C P
VPN VPN
２ 2
O
D

N N
VPN : DC bus bar voltage
Comparison of Surge Voltage Waveform in 3-level Control Method
The following figures show the output voltage waveforms of 400 V class
inverter 2-level control and 3-level control, respectively. In the 2-level
control method, the peak value of the waveform is almost 1200 V, while it is
limited to 770 V in the 3-level control method. Since this value is lower than
the insulation voltage of the 400 V class motor, the existing motors can be
driven by an inverter without using surge suppression filters.

1200 V peak Suppression

effect 770 V peak

VPN VPN

0 0

(a) 2-level control surge voltage (b) 3-level control surge voltage
waveform waveform
 Comparison of Radiation Noise in 3-level Control Method
These graphs show noise levels. In the frequency bandwidth between 30
MHz and 300 MHz, the noise level is limited to 20 dB at the maximum. This
reduces the effects on surrounding peripheral devices caused by noise.

100 100

dBμV/m
80 80
dBμV/m

Level
Level

6 6
0 0
4 4
0 0
2 2
0 0
0 0
30 50 70 100 200 300 30 50 70 100 200 300
Frequency Frequency
(MHz) Max. 20 dB (MHz)
down
 Crushing the Competition with Energy Saving Drives for All Voltage Levels
The packaged combination of
drive and motor

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Varispeed G7 (3 kV, 6 kV, 11 kV) (3 kV, 6 kV) FSDrive-
LV1H