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Variable‐Frequency Drives Streamline Emergency Applications
Author(s) -
McVay Robert
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
opflow
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1551-8701
pISSN - 0149-8029
DOI - 10.1002/j.1551-8701.2009.tb02333.x
Subject(s) - variable frequency drive , automotive engineering , generator (circuit theory) , variable (mathematics) , electronic speed control , centrifugal pump , energy (signal processing) , automatic frequency control , engineering , computer science , electrical engineering , mechanical engineering , power (physics) , mathematical analysis , statistics , physics , mathematics , quantum mechanics , impeller
This article discusses a variable‐frequency drive (VFD) generator that matches pump motor speed with flow or demand to save energy and reduce stress on rotating components. The article discusses how a VFD can control motor speed by changing the frequency that affects the pumping rate, along with affinity laws for centrifugal pumps, relationships between pump speed and frequency, starting a motor by using a VFD, energy savings, and special emergency applications. The article contains two insets, one that explains how VFDs control small generators and one that details how the city of Naples, Florida, constructed a mobile 15‐kW trailer‐mounted generator, a VFD, and a level transducer.