Medium Voltage Variable Frequency Drives Acceptance Testing
APPLICATION EDGE VOLUME 1, ISSUE 8 MEDIUM VOLTAGE VARIABLE FREQUENCY DRIVES ACCEPTANCE TESTING It is the supplier’s responsibility to perform these MV VFDs are complex engineered systems that work in tests, record the test data, and issue a final test report concert with each other and auxiliary equipment that to the equipment purchaser. These tests are usually support it. witnessed by the end user, or their representative, at the equipment supplier’s facility or a third-party test stand and are executed before the final installation at Oftentimes, acceptance testing of VFDs is specified; the site. In limited cases, the equipment supplier will however, the terminology used in testing by vendors, perform the tests without anyone witnessing them. consultants, and operators can get intertwined, and end-user expectations can be misaligned with The testing requirements MUST be defined at the purchase- equipment vendors’ procedures and deliverables. order stage of the equipment procurement cycle and NOT after. This application edge series outlines what a factory Figure 1 shows a typical MV- motor and VFD-driven acceptance test is, the different kinds of testing system. In order to test this system, an end user can available for a VFD system, when a test should be make a selection from up to four types of testing selected, and recommendations for the type of test varying in breadth and scope as shown below. This to select. paper will focus only on VFD testing (blue highlight). Factory acceptance testing (FAT) – definition Types of VFD testing A factory acceptance test, commonly known as Considering the VFD by itself, there are seven variants acceptance testing, is a series of tests performed by of testing that can be done.
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