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146  Unidrive SPM User Guide
www.controltechniques.com                               Issue Number: 3
10.2      Maximum motor rated current
The maximum motor rated current allowed by the drive is greater than 
the maximum Heavy Duty current rating in Pr 11.32. The ratio between 
the Normal Duty rating and the Heavy Duty rating (Pr 11.32) varies 
between drive sizes. The values for the Normal and Heavy Duty rating 
can be found in section 3.2 Operating modes on page 17.
If the motor rated current (Pr 0.46) is set above the maximum Heavy 
Duty current rating (Pr 11.32), the current limits and the motor thermal 
protection scheme are modified (see section 10.3 Current limits  and 
section 10.4 Motor thermal protection , for more information).
10.3      Current limits
The default settings for the current limit parameters for Unidrive SPMA/D 
are: 
• 138.1% x motor rated current for open loop mode
• 165.7% x motor rated current for closed loop vector mode
• 150% x motor rated current for servo mode
There are three parameters which control the current limits:
• Motoring current limit: power flowing from the drive to the motor
• Regen current limit: power flowing from the motor to the drive
• Symmetrical current limit: current limit for both motoring and regen 
operation
The lowest of either the motoring and regen current limit, or the 
symmetrical current limit applies. 
The maximum setting of these parameters depends on the values of 
motor rated current, drive rated current and the power factor.
Increasing the motor rated current (Pr 0.46/5.07) above the Heavy Duty 
rating (default value), will automatically reduce the current limits in 
Pr 4.05 to Pr 4.07. If the motor rated current is then set to or below the 
Heavy Duty rating, the current limits will be left at their reduced values.
The drive can be oversized to permit a higher current limit setting to 
provide higher accelerating torque as required up to a maximum of 
1000%.
10.4      Motor thermal protection
The drive models the temperature of the motor using the motor rated 
current (Pr 5.07), the thermal time constant (Pr 4.15), whether low speed 
thermal protection mode has been enabled (Pr 4.25) and the actual 
current flowing at any point in time. Pr 4.19 gives the estimated motor 
temperature as a percentage of maximum temperature.
The temperature of the motor (Pr 4.19) as a percentage of maximum 
temperature, with a constant current magnitude of I, constant value of K 
and constant value of Motor rated current (Pr 5.07) after time t is given 
by:
Percentage motor temperature (Pr 4.19) = [I
2
 / (K x Motor rated 
current)
2
] (1 - e
-t/τ
) x 100%
This assumes that the maximum allowed motor temperature is produced 
by K x Motor rated current and that τ is the thermal time constant of the 
point in the motor that reaches its maximum allowed temperature first. τ 
is defined by Pr 4.15. If Pr 4.15 has a value between 0.0 and 1.0 the 
thermal time constant is taken as 1.0. 
The value of K is defined as shown in Figure 10-1 and Figure 10-2.
For both Heavy and Normal duty ratings, Pr 4.25 can be used to select 
two alternative protection characteristics.
Figure 10-1 Motor thermal protection (Heavy Duty)
If Pr 4.25 is 0 the characteristic is for a motor which can operate at rated 
current over the whole speed range. Induction motors with this type of 
characteristic normally have forced cooling. If Pr 4.25 is 1 the 
characteristic is intended for motors where the cooling effect of motor 
fan reduces with reduced motor speed below 50% of base speed/
frequency. The maximum value for K is 1.05, so that above the knee of 
the characteristics the motor can operate continuously up to 105% 
current.
Figure 10-2 Motor thermal protection (Normal Duty)
Both settings of Pr 4.25 are intended for motors where the cooling effect 
of the motor fan reduces with reduced motor speed, but with different 
speeds below which the cooling effect is reduced. If Pr 4.25 is 0 the 
characteristic is intended for motors where the cooling effect reduces 
with motor speed below 15% of base speed/frequency. If Pr 4.25 is 1 the 
characteristic is intended for motors where the cooling effect reduces 
with motor speed below 50% of base speed/frequency. The maximum 
value for K is 1.01, so that above the knee of the characteristics the 
motor can operate continuously up to 101% current.
When the estimated temperature in Pr 4.19 reaches 100% the drive 
takes some action depending on the setting of Pr 4.16. If Pr 4.16 is 0, the 
drive trips when Pr 4.19 reaches 100%. If Pr 4.16 is 1, the current limit is 
reduced to (K - 0.05) x 100% when Pr 4.19 reaches 100%. The current 
limit is set back to the user defined level when Pr 4.19 falls below 95%. 
The thermal model temperature accumulator is reset to zero at power-up 
and accumulates the temperature of the motor while the drive remains 
powered-up. If the rated current defined by Pr 5.07 is altered, the 
accumulator is reset to zero.
The default setting of the thermal time constant (Pr 4.15) is 89s for an 
induction motor (open loop and closed loop vector), which is equivalent 
to an overload of 150% for 60s from cold. The default value for a servo 
motor is 20s, which is equivalent to an overload of 175% for 9s from 
cold.
The time for the drive to trip from cold with constant motor current is 
given by:
T
trip
 = -(Pr 4.15) x ln(1 - (K x Pr 5.07 / Pr 4.01)
2
)
4.25
4.25
1.00
1.05
Base speed/
frequency
50% of base 
speed/frequency
K
4.25
4.25
1.00
1.01
Base speed/
frequency
50% of 
base speed/
frequency
15% of 
base speed/
frequency
K