by Tony » Sun Feb 18, 2007 6:27 pm
These VFDs are still very slowly coming down in price, and the performance and features provided is constantly getting better.
So a new one may not cost that much more than a very old one, and you will know there is not going to be anything wrong with it. Being able to get help, and having the proper instruction book is vital in setting it up. The software menus, and choices available, are complicated to understand and program correctly. That is why I preferred to buy a new unit myself rather than buy secondhand.
Your 7Hp motor can be run up to a much higher speed, and still supply the full 7Hp. It is just that the torque falls off in proportion to the extra speed. A much better way to do it than with a step up pulley. A maximum speed limit, and maximum amps load limit can be set in software, so it cannot run away from you and blow up. The rpm can automatically be set to ramp up with a gentle acceleration, so there is no sudden current inrush to blow fuses or trip circuit breakers. The motor can be sized right up to the full maximum capacity of the available power, without any danger of ever exceeding the maximum at turn on.
The only other thing is the aluminium bars fitted to the slots in the motor's rotor. At some very high rpm, the motors rotor will fly to bits, but twice rated rpm always seems to be safe, and probably a little bit more than that with some slight risk may be possible.
Just make sure your motor bearings are suitably rated. If the motor is fairly old, some new bearings may be a very good idea, and they are not expensive. For instance, with the 15Hp motor I have here, the original bearings fitted to the motor were rated for continuous operation at 5,600 Rpm. Mounting a big blower right onto the motor with some suitably rated bearings and a VFD, is a very neat way to solve a whole lot of problems.
Also known as the infamous "Warpspeed" on some other Forums.