Western Mine Electrical Association November 20,2008 Rob Marnell Gary Sorenson

AC vs. DC Motor Application

AC and DC Motors Require a Rotating Magnetic Field and a fixed magnetic field to Produce Torque and Rotation DC Motors have the fixed field on the Motor Frame and the rotating field is created by brushes switching the field around the armature as the armature turns. AC Synchronous Motors have the fixed field on the rotor and the rotating field occurs in the stator with the AC current in the stator windings.

AC vs. DC Motor
DC Motor
Torque Producing Force

Field Flux North

h ut So th or N

South Armature Flux

The North and South Poles attract each other Produces a torque on the armature Armature turns which puts new commutator segments under brushes and rotates the magnetic field inside armature so more torque can be produced

AC Motor
B1 (S) (N)
(S) N) ( C1 C1 A1
S N ou or tth

3-Phase AC Current Varies the A, B, C Field Strength

B2 (S) (N)

A2

th Sou Nor

(N) S)

So No ut rh

S or Nouth

th Sou Nor

S N))

S or h Nouth

( ( C2 C2 N S))

Generic AC PWM Inverter

FRONT-END

INVERTER

SCR

GTO

IGBT

Diodes, SCRs IGBTs

SCRs, GTOs, IGBTs

AC Drives In Excavators
Started With Smaller Applications
Shovels Small Draglines Swing Motion Only (700 HP/Motor)

Why not on large draglines?

1969 Brute Force Rules

1969 Corvette LS5 427ci 435HP Big Muskie Rules the Strip Mine

1980s
1981 Corvette L81 350ci 180HP 1981 First 395B AC shovel with Force Commutated SCR AC drives 1983 Corvette? Why bother? Production was suspended. 1983 680W AC Dragline Introduced Other Highlights of the 1980s
10% Unemployment in 1982 14% Inflation 20% Mortgage Interest rates AIDS Epidemic recognized by CDC in 1981

Force Commutated SCR Drive

Hailed as the End of DC brushes and commutation SCR Characteristics
0.7 Volts on gate turns on SCR Current flows until device is reverse biased On an AC drive application, device must be switched off and on multiple times per cycle with a DC bus as the supply How?

Forced Commutation

Advantages and Disadvantages of Force Commutated SCR Drive

Advantages
No brushes to change

Disadvantages
Extremely complex analog regulator No/poor regeneration. Used a chopper and resistor to burn off regeneration energy. (About 10% Energy penalty) Commutating capacitors failed. Fuse hungry Power Factor not good enough for a large Dragline Line Harmonics Slow SCR switching speeds resulted in poor AC waveforms delivered to motors Motor Encoders Required

1990s
1990 Corvette ZR-1 350ci 375HP (Now thats progress) 1990 395BII and 495B Drives with GTO Thyristors 1993 2570WS with AC Swing using GTO Thyristors

GTO Thyristor AC Drive

Solved the problems associated with SCR drive.
Regenerative Rectifier No Commutating Capacitors Inverters used fewer fuses

GTO Hardware overview

Gate off Current is proportional to device current and measured in amps.

GTO THYRISTOR
Basically an SCR that can turn on AND off. Gate Turn Off current is high and equal to device current. High current gate drivers have lots of failures
20-150 Amps Gate Current in a 20 ga wire? How does that work?

GTOs Regenerating Rectifier

Basically a 4-Quadrant SCR drive similar to what is found on a static DC drive. Required sufficient AC voltage to prevent fuse loss. The result was balancing between poor power factor and blowing regen rectifier fuses with undesirable compromises either way

GTO Drives
Advantages
Still no Brushes Regeneration saves electricity Digital Regulator reduced complexity No Commutating Capacitors Inverter Faults Usually Dont blow Fuses

Disadvantages
Regen Rectifier blows a lot of fuses Power factor even worse than earlier Generation Drives. Could not be used for large draglines alone GTO Drivers fail. GTO Gate requires tremendous amount of switching current. Line Harmonics Motor Encoders Required

2000s
2001 Corvette Z06 385 HP 2001 IGBT Drives Introduced on Excavators 2008 Corvette Z06 505 HP 2008 680W brought into 21st century with IGBT retrofit

IGBT
Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor First Devices in late 1980s and early 1990s were slow and troublesome. One problem was latch-up where the internal SCR would not turn off. Insulated Gate= low switching current and isolates power from control section

IGBT

SCR

Insulated Gate

IGBT Drives
Advantages
Still No Brushes Dont Blow Fuses Power Factor Problems Improved Efficiency Low Gate Current Solved Driver Problems High Switching Frequency Solves One Harmonics Issue

Disadvantages
High switching frequency can create new harmonics issues if filters are not applied Motor Encoders required

Power Factor
P=V*I Cosine()
= phase angle between voltage and current waveform
Phase angle

Volts Amps

Leading Power Factor

Volts

If current follows voltage wave form then lagging power factor. (voltage sag) If current is ahead of voltage waveform then leading power factor. (voltage boost)

Amps

Phase angle

Lagging Power Factor

How to control power factor

Synchronous Motor Excitation on MG set Fixed Capacitors found on induction motors Switched Capacitors Synchronous Capacitors (DCS Voltage Stabilization) Stepless Reactive Power Compensator Active IGBT Front End

Synchronous Motor Power Factor

Advantages
Free if you already have the MG set No Harmonics

Disadvantages
Really expensive if you dont have the MG set already Rotating equipment and associated maintenance

Fixed Capacitors
Advantages
Work great on fixed speed induction motors Do not create harmonics

Disadvantages
Varying loads require varying amounts of capacitance. Susceptible to damage from harmonics. Higher frequencies create higher currents in capacitor.

Switched Capacitors
Advantages
Can compensate for variable loads

Disadvantages
Add complexity with SCR switching VARS are added and removed in large chunks resulting in alternating over or under compensation as you step through the RPC Fairly high capacitor, inductor, fuse, and SCR/diode usage

Stepless RPC
Advantages
Better at matching VAR needs from the load

Disadvantages
Added Complexity
Particularly on Force Commutated SCR drive on Marion 301

Large Inductor used to cancel out fixed capacitors.

Inductor heats when the machine as at idle

IGBT Active Front End

IGBT Front End
Switching characteristics of IGBTs allow extraction of current leading the voltage wave form

SCR Front End

SCRs Must turn on at the back end of the sine wave resulting in lagging power factor

Active Front End

Advantages
Inherent Regeneration Power Factor Can be controlled leading and lagging Common parts with inverters Low harmonics (3,5,7,9,11th )

Disadvantages
High Frequency Harmonics
Function of the switching frequency. 2kHz = 33rd harmonic 3.6 kHz = 60th harmonic

Harmonics SHOULD be filtered

Risk of trail cable resonance otherwise

Why Upgrade? (Is it worth risking my job?)

MG Sets
Safe bet since the beginning of time Brushes Commutation Issues Speed/Torque Limits Efficiency = 82 % Noise Training Investment 25+Year Life

AC Drives

New Kid on the Block No Brushes No Neutrals No Commutators Potential of Greater Dynamic Range with proper motor selection Efficiency 92% Liquid Cooling can Greatly reduce noise Expensive on an Existing DC machine Every motor will require its own drive and encoder

The Case for AC drives

Brushes (wrong reason but some benefit) Efficiency (easy to evaluate the benefit) May improve if green house gas limits are imposed. Supply Frequency (50-60 Hz Conversion) Noise (MSHA limits)
Opportunity to drop noise levels by 20 dB (one set of ear plugs)

Power Factor- finally enables dragline application Maintenance Costs (Torsional Oscillations) Performance Opportunity

Requirements
Simplicity Common parts Modular design 20 Year Life (How will you know? Look at engineering) At best, past products were replaced on a 10 year cycle (not acceptable) 175,000 hours Design life
Capacitor Selection Properly Derated for Application Cabinet Design for Excavator Duty

Cost Initial Cost of Motors and Drives Operational Costs (efficiency) Maintenance Costs (brushes etc.)

Vulcan 680W Dragline

First Totally AC IGBT Dragline in North America

Cab upgrade
Original cab Updated cab

Regulator upgrade
Original regulator IGBT regulator

Inverter Upgrade
Original SCR inverter IGBT transistor module

680W IGBT One-Line Diagram

Are You Ready?

In 2006 the Z06 Corvette finally delivered more power than the most powerful Corvette offered in 1969 Have modern drives eclipsed the offerings delivered in 1969? Probablyin about 2006.
Could they be applied to Big Muskie?

I will let you know in 20 years

680W Dragline Upgrade

Drive Skid Active Front End

680W Dragline Upgrade

Inverters Assembled Drive Skid

680W Dragline Upgrade

Hoist Motor Rewind Motor Stator

680W Dragline
Inverters Test Inverter Testing

680W Dragline Upgrade

Inverter Testing More Testing

680W Dragline Upgrade

Operators Cab

680W Dragline Upgrade

Collector Rings Before Collector Rings After

680W Dragline Upgrade

Control Room Hoist and Drag Motors

680W Dragline Upgrade

Regulator Interface Swing
Regulator Interface Hoist/Drag

680W Dragline Original

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