Calculating energy consumption of motor systems with varying load using iso efficiency contours

Abstract

Increasing awareness of ecological problems forces machine manufacturers to design greener machines. This implies amongst other things the selection of the most efficient electric motor system for their specific application. On the other hand, machine building applications evolve more and more from constant speed and load characteristics to varying speed and load applications. Therefore, the motor system that is used evolves more and more from direct online (DOL) to motors fed by a variable speed drive (VSD). However, current efficiency standardization focuses on DOL applications, and can by consequence not offer assistance to the machine builder to select the most efficient motor-VSD combination for his particular varying load application. The goal of this paper is to present a methodology that allows to predict the energy consumption for a specific motor-VSD combination and a specific varying speed-load application, using the fairly new concept of iso efficiency contours. By comparing the predicted energy consumption for a number of selected combinations, the most efficient one is revealed.

Iso efficiency contours as a concept to characterize variable speed drive efficiency

“…Another interesting question in this context is whether efficiency maps can be used to predict the energy consumption of applications and if the quality of the estimation depends on how static or dynamic the load cycles are. The study of the energy consumption prediction for such trajectories of VSDs is described in [18].…”

“…The research described in this paper is a result of a fruitful collaboration [17,18] between three research institutes: FMTC, ELECTA and Howest. Special thanks goes out to Roland Reekmans for the practical realization of the test setup and his expertise during the measurement campaign.…”

Online Loss-Minimization-Based Adaptive Flux Observer for Direct Torque and Flux Control of PMSM Drive

“…Thus, the reported works on DTFC based PMSM drive fail to optimize the efficiency of the drive. As more than 50% of the electrical energy produced in the world is consumed by electric motors, the motor control techniques should be properly developed to optimize the efficiency of the motor drives for less energy consumption and saving the environment [17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28].…”

Iso efficiency contour measurement results for variable speed drives

“…Some initiatives however have been set up to support the standardization process for VSDs [6]. Therefore this paper reports on the initiative of three collaborating research institutes to give guidance to future standardization initiatives for VSD systems [12] [13]. A VSD can operate the motor in a wide operating range.…”