TD-000232 Alf Zeuner

How Does an Inverter (VFD) Work?

First of all the correct name is a “variable frequency

drive” or VFD for short. Part of their function is to
“inverter” DC voltage into AC voltage but that
confuses the device with many others that are also
“inverters”. This manual will use the correct name;
“VFD” throughout.

On the left are a couple typical looking VFD devices.

They are literally a “black box” (although some do
appear to be green).

These are “Emerson” VFDs, but there are many makes and models available on the market. They have
different specifications and features but all fundamentally work the same way: they convert AC
electricity to DC electricity and then back again to AC electricity!

Obviously simply converting AC to AC doesn’t sound very useful. The term VFD (variable frequency
drive) reveals the secret: it will convert the input frequency of 50 or 60 Hertz (cycles per second) into a
different output frequency, usually a higher frequency. The output frequency is variable, old VFDs
literally had knobs to dial up a frequency, now they are all programmed and frequency set remotely.
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High Speed Spindles

Why do we want to increase the frequency of AC electricity? There are many reasons but for CNC
router tables the primary reason is to make spindle motors go faster.

There is nothing particularly exotic about a high speed spindle, it functions pretty much exactly the same
as the one Nikola Tesla patented in 1887.

The inside of the motor is the magnet shown with the “N” (north) and “S” (south) poles. This is called
the “rotor” because it spins. The outside (called the stator because it doesn’t spin) has some coils which
are energized by the AC (Alternating Current) voltage shown at the bottom. As the voltage alternates
the coils are energized alternately as well. In the four step succession shown the magnet is attracted
and repelled by the coils forcing it to spin around.

Note that the rotor spins at the same speed as the alternating current alternates. In North America that
is 60 Hertz or cycles per second, in most of the rest of the world it is 50 Hertz. 60 cycles per second is
3600 cycles per minute so the motor will run at 3600 RPM (revolutions per minute).

The motor example above is a “2 pole” single phase

motor because it has two coils operated by one phase of
AC current. 4 pole motors are also common as
diagrammed on the left. In this case the rotor only spins
halfway around in one cycle so the motor RPM is half at
1800 RPM. At 50 Hertz it would be 1500 RPM.

There are also three phase motors that require three

phase power to operate. To the left is four pole three
phase motor. It has four poles of each of the A, B, and C
phases shown in the different colours. This motor
would also run at 1800 RPM when connected to three
phase power.
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So what happens if we double the frequency of the AC power to 120 Hertz? How fast will the motor go?

• Two pole motor: 120 Hertz x 60 seconds/min = 7200 RPM.

• Four pole motor: 120 x 60 / 2 = 3600 RPM.

Now you know why we need variable frequency drives. We increase the output frequency and the
motor runs faster! Generally high speed spindles are rated to 24,000 RPM. Divide this number by 60
and the output frequency required for a two pole spindle is therefore 400 Hertz. If you are using a four
pole spindle then the output frequency has to be 800 Hertz to achieve 24,000 RPM.

The interesting thing is that the “motor” part of a high speed spindle is
nothing special, it is the VFD that actually makes it go faster, nothing to
do with the motor. What is different are the bearings that enable it to
go so fast. Tesla’s old motor would have cooked itself in a few seconds
using steel bearings. Now they are all ceramic. New high speed
spindles also use rare earth magnets which are many times more
powerful than what was around in 1887.

How the VFD Works

There are three stages in a VFD. The left part converts (or rectifies) the three AC phases into DC voltage.
This voltage is filtered using a great big capacitor shown in the middle. This creates the DC bus and is
the second stage. The final stage is a computer controlled set of six transistor switches which, by
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sequencing the switching, turns it back into AC. Since the computer can rapidly control the switches it
can output any desired frequency and run the motor at any speed programmed.

That’s it. That is how a VFD works!

Warning!
The example shown is a VFD powered on a 480 volt AC supply. Note that the DC bus voltage is running
at something like 650 VDC. This is nasty. Don’t touch. VFDs are certainly well protected and have layers
of safety guards but none-the-less if you don’t know exactly what you are doing VFDs are dangerous.

Also the filter capacitors hold the voltage for a long time after power has been turned off. Always
wait at least 2 minutes after power is off before working on a VFD.

Dynamic Breaking
Normally when you are running a motor and you throw the off switch the motor’s momentum keeps it
turning for a while. If the motor has little or no load and the its bearings are really good it will spin for
many seconds even a few minutes.

The thing about high speed spindles is that they are much faster than ordinary motors and they have the
best bearings money can buy to ensure they don’t overheat. A high speed spindle will take many
minutes to stop spinning. Usually around 10 minutes before it has stopped.

The problem is the spindle free spinning on dead smooth bearings is dead silent. You cannot hear it at
all so can be dangerous.

Fortunately the VFD can also stop the spindle by simply decelerating it by steadily reducing the
frequency of the output switching and thereby “powering” it down to a stop. However, the spindle does
have a large rotating mass so it becomes a generator, the motor will start powering the inverter. The
output becomes the input to the DC bus. This will cause the voltage on the DC bus to rise.

Different VFDs engage the breaking resistor slightly differently but essentially the VFD detects the rise in
the DC bus voltage and starts dumping the extra power through a big resistor. The resistor gets hot as it
absorbs the energy from the decelerating spindle.
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The rate at which the spindle can be stopped depends on how much power the breaking resistor can
absorb. Heavy spindles decelerating quickly generate a lot of energy. Too much and it will cook the
resistor! Also note that each deceleration cycle will heat up the resistor. Repeating starts and stops on
the spindle will not allow the resistor to cool down before the next deceleration cycle. Poor heat sinking
will also cause the resistor to get too hot to be useful.

What Can Go Wrong?

VFDs are one of those black boxes that have scary voltages and really big dangerous looking wires
attached. They do need to be respected but they are pretty simple and not much goes wrong.

There are two things that VFDs do not like:

1. Too much voltage on the DC bus will cause the filter capacitors to explode. They are really quite
big and literally will explode and make a huge mess if it is allowed to happen.
2. Too much current on the output phases to the motor. Over current melts things into a messy
blob. It also has a tendency to start fires.

It is therefore clear that the VFD has a number of built in protections to prevent this from happening.
Explosions and fires are generally undesirable!

The DC bus can get over voltage if the voltage charging the filter capacitors gets too high. The obvious
reason is the supply voltage gets too high. This is actually more common than it should be. Power grids
fluctuate a lot. Most power utilities guarantee only to plus or minus 20%. 20% of 480 volts is nearly 100
volts over the nominal, so 580 volts. That will push the DC bus over 800 volts… Boom! Too high. The
VFD is not dumb, it will prevent an explosion and disconnect automatically from the power supply by
shorting down the input and blowing the input fuses. This is an import safety feature but if the over
voltage is chronic the VFD will be permanently damaged.

The other charging input is when the motor decelerates and the resistor fails or is not connected. Again
the DC bus will rapidly charge up and explode if nothing is done. The VFD detects the problem and
disconnects itself again, this time from the motor. The motor will now free spin but the VFD lives
another day. This problem is usually not fatal to the VFD. Fix the resistor and start the whole system up
again and it should be fine.

The third error is over current through the output to the motor. The VFD measures the output and if
the motor starts drawing too much current the VFD simply opens the output switches and disconnects
the motor. Over current is caused by too large of a spindle, over loading the spindle, or suffering a cable
or winding short circuit. Normally the VFD is fine, clear the problem and restart the VFD.

In summary pretty much the only thing that can ruin your VFD is too high line voltage. Unfortunately
this is a common problem so check your factory or shop power supply. If it is sketchy you need to install
over voltage and surge protection or you will be buying a lot of VFDs!
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VFD Settings
Every make and model of VFD has all kinds of settings. Some of them have hundreds of settings and
registers and weird codes. The programmers who made most of the software for these things are
probably electronic terrorists.

It is not the purpose of this manual to teach you how to program a particular VFD, that would be painful.
Fortunately AXYZ systems have automatic programmers built into the CNC machine controllers that
make the process much easier. This is discussed in other manuals.

However, all inverters have a few key settings that apply fairly universally to their use with high speed
spindles:

• Acceleration and deceleration. These can be programmed separately but are usually set to the
same number. Mostly they are programmed to about 1 second per 6000 RPM. This translates
to about 4 seconds to accelerate from 0 to 24,000 RPM. Same with deceleration. It can be
programmed to as little as 2 seconds but less than that will usually damage the spindle and
often the breaking resistor will fail. 4 to 6 seconds is safer.
• Motor voltage. This is the voltage rating of the motor. Mostly there are two rating in high
speed spindles, 220 volts which is considered low voltage and 380 which is high voltage.
• Motor current. This is also a motor rating. This will tell the VFD the maximum current the
motor is rated to. The VFD can then automatically detect if the motor is overloaded and can
shut it down before it burns itself up.
• Phase Angle. This is usually about 0.8 for most high speed spindles. This is a technical thing
that we will leave to motor gurus. The rest of us will just type in 0.8.
• Knee Voltage. This is actually a frequency. When the motor is running at low speed the voltage
needs to be reduced or the motor will draw too much current. The knee voltage is considered
the lowest speed the motor can run and be at full motor voltage. This is usually about 50% of
the full speed of the motor.

There are lots more settings but generally get these ones right and leave the rest at factory default and
the system should work fine.

VFD Ratings
VFDs are rated using two parameters:

1. The maximum output power. This determines the size of motor that the VFD can operate. This
rating is usually in horsepower and kilowatts. Typical VFD sizes used for high speed spindles
match the spindle power ratings and are 3 hp (2.2kW), 5 hp (4 kW), and 10 hp (8kW). When in
doubt the VFD should have a higher power rating than the motor.
2. Line or Supply Voltage. Generally VFDs are rated for 230 volt or 480 volt systems. The lower
one will work for any voltage between 208 and 230. The higher one from 380 to 480. There is
some scope for over voltage but VFDs will be destroyed by voltages that are too high.