LMVSeriesTechnicalInstructions
DocumentNo.LV5‐1000
SCCInc. Page3 Section5
Asmentionedabove,VFDsswitchmultipleIGBTsonandoffveryrapidlytogeneratea"modified"sine
waveonallthreephasesgoingtothemotor.Doingthishassometradeoffs,oneofwhichiselectrical
noise,orharmonics.Thisnoiseistypically"wireborne"insteadofairborne,andcancauseissueswith
electronicsinsomesituations.Thankfully,electricalnoiseassociatedwithVFDscanbe
mitigatedusing
properwiringtechniques(connectingshieldsandgroundscorrectly)andbytheproperapplicationof
linereactorsand/orloadreactorsforsomeapplications.Fordifficultapplications,EMCfiltersforthe
VFDarealsoavailable.
LineReactors
Linereactors,or"chokes",aretypicallyusedwhentheimped
anceontheinputsideofthedriveislow.
ImpedanceontheinputsideofthedriveistypicallylowwhenarelativelysmallVFDisbeingfedbya
relativelylargetransformer.Inthissituation,thesupplysideofthedriveis"s
tiff",meaningthatan
instantaneouscurrentdrawbythedrivewillbemet veryquicklybythelargetransformer(thinksquare
waveform),causingvoltageandcurrentdistortionsinthepowerdistributionsystemfeedi
ngthedrive.
Inthissituation,addingalinereactorwilladdreactancewhichopposesinstantaneouscurrentdrawand
"softens"theinputsideofthedrive.
Conversely,ifthetransformerfeedingthedriveisnotlargerelativetothedrive
,theimpedanceonthe
inputsideofthedriveishigherandthesystemis"softer".Inthissituation,aninstantaneouscurrent
drawbythedrivewillnotbemetasquickly,andtheresultingvoltageandcurrentdistortionsinthe
powerdistributionsystemfeedingthedrivewillbesm
aller.Anadditionallinereactorinthissituationis
notneeded.
Figure5‐1:LineReactorRecommendation‐VFD(HP)vsTransformer(kVA)