Adjustable speed drive systems for industrial applications

The adjustable speed drives reduce the energy loss over fixed speed drives leading to a significant amount of energy cost savings in various industry applications. Particularly, the demand for high-power adjustable speed drives in medium-voltage capacity are continuously growing in industries due to the increase in production demand, low operating cost, and economy of scale. Nevertheless, the development of medium-voltage drives involves various requirements and challenges on the line-side or grid-side (e.g., total harmonic distortion, power factor, LC resonance), motor-side (e.g., motor winding derating, dv/dt, common-mode voltage, LC resonance), and semiconductor devices (e.g., switching frequency, reliability, series connection). The power converters and control methods play a key role in addressing the medium-voltage adjustable speed drive challenges. In this chapter, the latest developments in medium-voltage drive technologies including applications, semiconductor devices, power converter topologies, and control methods are presented. Finally, the future trends of medium-voltage drives, and conclusions are summarized in this chapter.