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AC Drives

Drives provide additional savings by reducing the speed of the motor and therefore the horsepower required to operate. Longer motor life, improved power factor, reduced noise and greater flexibility also contribute to lower operating cost.

VFD Features and Benefits:

  • Reduction in system energy losses
  • Savings pays for the installation cost
  • Additional rebate programs offered by utility companies
  • Lower mechanical wear & longer component life

  • Why is Energy Efficiency Important?

    Duty Cycle ChartDrives provide additional savings by reducing the speed of the motor and therefore the horsepower required to operate. Longer motor life, improved power factor, reduced noise and greater flexibility also contribute to lower operating cost.

    Fans and Pumps consume the same amount of energy as 30% of the automobiles driven in the United States.

    Building control systems have to be designed for the worst case scenario; to be able and either cool or heat a building on the hottest and coldest days of the year. Average systems however are not required to output at maximum level during normal operation.

    80% of the time pumps and fans operate at 60% of their full capacity.

    Why VFD Drives Make Sense

    • Federal mandates for energy efficiency.
    • Energy savings over the life of the system far outweigh initial system installation cost.
    • Reduced mechanical stresses on mechanical systems such as ducts due to lower pressure spikes as a result of the soft start capability with drives.
    • Motors and V-Belt stresses are also lower and therefore life of these components is increased.
    • Increased system uptime due to less maintenance.
    • Enhanced process control functions.
    • Audible Noise reduction.

    Affinity Laws in Action

    Affinity Laws ChartEnergy savings are possible because of the affinity laws that govern the operation of centrifugal pumps and fans. Compared with throttled valves and bypass systems, speed reduction provides significant energy savings at partial load. To reduce output from a pump or fan in a fixed speed application an Inlet Guide Vane for a Fan or a Pump Valve must be used. This can result in excessive energy consumption over using a variable speed drive.

    Running a fan / pump at 60% operating speed or volume requires only 22% input power.

    At 100 Hp, a variable speed drive operating a pump / fan at 60% speed will result in over $20,000 a year in energy savings when compared to running at 100% flow volume. This can pay for the installation of a drive in less than six months!

  • Baldor Drive Pump & Fan Energy Savings

    With built in energy efficiency features, Baldor drives provide costs savings over traditional damper control systems. By reducing output speed, drives can take advantage of the natural affinity laws associated with pumps and fans. By delivering only the horsepower required at the operational speed, significant savings are achieved over a traditional outlet damper or inlet valve mechanical control system.

    AC Drive Performance Benefits

    Beyond energy savings, variable speed drives can provide a wide range of benefits that increase the performance of the applications, reduce downtime and maintenance for the system.

    • PID Loop Control Modes - In centrifugal pump and fan applications, PID control is provided as a standard function, helping maintain a constant process control of pressure, flow and oil level. 
    • PID Sleep/Wake - The sleep/wake function disables and re-enables the drive automatically as demand dictates. This is helpful to eliminate unnecessary operation at idle speeds’ saving mechanical wear and tear plus energy. 
    • Flying Start - Many applications may have back-pressure causing a pump to spin backwards or updrafts in the ventilation shaft resulting in a fan rotating while the drive is idle. Flying start allows the drive to sense the motor rotation prior to producing torque and then start into the rotating load. 
    • Power Monitor - This feature displays both instantaneous and accumulated energy as they are being used by the system. 
    • Pre-Heat Function - By maintain residual heat in the motor, this function can help to eliminate condensation when the motor is not in use caused by damp conditions.

    Pump & Fan Drive Benefits

    The Baldor drives have been designed with energy savings and pump and fan drive control in mind. This drive comes standard with additional software features designed to improve system performance.

    • Automatic Energy Savings - Output is adjusted by the drive dynamically based on load conditions for optimized savings. Or in manual mode fine tuning based on the application can be achieved. 
    • Multi-Motor Control - When process demand requires increased flow or volume, the PID Loop can automatically bring on additional motors to handle the load. 
    • Drive Temperature Adaptation - With this feature, the drive alters the carrier frequency when the ambient temperature increases above normal, allowing continued operation under adverse conditions. 
    • Current Leakage Reduction - Many HVAC applications encounter damp conditions. Baldor drives use a multilevel PWM algorithm to reduce the amount of current leakage to ground and therefore the chance that the drive will trip.