Information No.

: 4/6 e

Subject: The use of thermal motor protection devices arranged downstream from frequency converters/power inverters with pulsed voltage

Page: 2/3

The use of thermal motor protection devices downstream from frequency converters/power inverters with pulsed voltage influences this controlgear in such a way that an unintentional tripping of these devices may result. In the following, practical project planning information for these applications is given.

1. Influence of high-frequency currents on the thermal overload releases of circuitbreakers (3RV, 3VU) and overload relays (3RU, 3UA)
The thermal overload release of circuit-breakers and overload relays normally consists of a bimetal and a heating coil which is heated by motor current flowing through it . If the bimetal is deflected too much (motor current too high), the motor current will be switched off. This kind of release is calibrated with AC 50 Hz. This allows the trigger point for currents whose heat impact (rms value) is equal or similar to this calibration current to be in the desired standard range. This applies to alternating currents of 0 to 400 Hz and to direct currents. High-frequency currents such as are present downstream from converters additionally heat the bimetal. This is caused by the eddy currents induced by harmonics, on the one hand, and the skin effect in the heating coil on the other. Both effects result in a response of the overload release even with smaller currents (unintentional early tripping!). These impacts depend on the current frequency. The higher the frequency of the inverter and the smaller the setting range/rated current, the greater the reduction of the tripping current. To ensure that the tripping limits are within the standard range, the setting of the overload release must be corrected. The following table shows correction factors for the different setting ranges in relation to the pulse frequency of the converter. Setting range/ Rated current 3.2-50A 0.5-2.5A 0.32-0.4A 0.16-0.25A Example: Circuit-breakers with a setting range of 1.1-1.6 A downstream from a frequency converter with a pulse frequency of 8 kHz and an rms value of the motor current at nominal load: 1.2 A. Setting to: 1.2 A x 1.21 = 1.45 A 0 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 2 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 4 1.12 1.13 1.15 1.17 Pulse frequency [kHz] 6 1.16 1.17 1.21 1.24 8 1.18 1.21 1.25 1.28 10 1.19 1.24 1.29 1.33 12 1.21 1.26 1.33 1.38 14 1.22 1.28 1.35 1.42 16 1.23 1.29 1.37 1.46

Thus the influence of high-frequency currents is compensated. The tripping current is within the standard range.

Caution: As a result of the harmonics, the motor current rms value may be above the motors rated current. In this case, an unintentional tripping might occur despite the performed correction. As a remedy, the rms value of the motor current must be established at nominal load and used as a basic current for the correction described above. To establish these values, only those measuring instruments are suitable that can also represent the true rms value up to the occuring frequencies. Heat filament instruments, for example, are well suited for this. Although moving iron measuring instruments are basically rms meters, they are only suitable for frequencies up to 1 kHz and therefore cannot be used in most of the cases described above. Customary multimeters and clip-on ammeters are as a matter of principle not suitable for measuring in these cases.

Information No.: 4/6 e

Subject: The use of thermal motor protection devices arranged downstream from frequency converters/power inverters with pulsed voltage

Page: 3/3

2. Further influences that might result in unintentional tripping

2.1 Capacitive leakage currents Despite setting corrections, there may be unintentional trippings in individual stations. Extensive tests have shown that other effects may also occur in stations with pulsed voltages. These effects reduce the tripping current of the overload release or increase the current flowing through the release. An example from the workshop: Motors with 80 m cables are connected in the station that is fed by a power inverter with a pulse frequency of 3 kHz. An analysis of the real current flow shows a superimposition of the motor current with extremely highfrequency currents (up to 150 kHz) with a peak value of 1.5 A. The influence on the thermal overload release is even higher with these frequencies than described in Section 1. Furthermore, owing to the length of the cables and the high frequency, there are capacitive leakage currents in these stations. They increase the current which flows through the release and result in unintentional tripping.

In such cases where high-frequency currents of substantially more than 16 kHz occur and the procedure described in Section 1 does not lead to a positive result, the following can be done. During non-overload motor operation, the overload release must be set so high that it does not trip. After the motor has run in the full-load mode for approx. 1.5 h, the overload release must be reduced to the tripping limit and then this limit set value must be increased by 10 %. Thus the station impact is compensated for. The value which has thus been gained can also be used as a correction value for similar stations.

2.2 Speed control of motors with frequency converters controlled by voltage-frequency characteristics During the setting to a linear voltage-frequency characteristic and a continuous current increase (cf. e.g. operating manual for Micromaster Parameter P077 and P078), a speed reduction (< 50 Hz) and a constant load torque may result in an increase of the motor current. The reason for this is that the output voltage of the frequency converter is not decreased in the same relation as the output frequency for this setting. If there are unintentional trippings, and this cannot be compensated by a higher setting of the release (attention: motor overload!), minimizing the current raise or the change to a square voltage-frequency characteristic could help.

Gelscht: tripping