Variable Speed Drives and Motor Braking
Inertial loads, and/or those in processes requiring rapid deceleration, present special challenges for variable speed drives (VSDs) and the motors they control. As power is removed or frequency reduced at the VSD output, a load with high inertia will prevent its motor from slowing down as quickly as it would under light- or no-load conditions. In such cases, the motor will change from its normal operation as a current “consumer” and become a current generator, wherein the motor shaft’s mechanical movement produces a negative current flow before the motor’s flux degrades. During this process, called regeneration, the power flow is back-fed into the DC bus of the VSD. The rectifier bridge upstream of the DC bus blocks the flow of this current, and unless the drive is properly equipped the DC link risks over-heating and damage.
So how does a VSD compensate? There are several techniques used depending on process requirements, capital cost, and other factors. Of these, two of the more common are brake choppers and the use of rectifiers with regenerative diode bridges. Brake choppers are essentially switches which close when the DC bus voltage reaches a defined limit and divert the back-flowing […]