PROJECTS Vibration Analysis of Medium Voltage VFD
Medium voltage VFDs dedicated for offshore applications should withstand anticipated levels of vibrations during their operation. Mechanical design of these drives should be more robust compared to drives operating at typical industrial plants, where no vibrations are expected. Also correct vibrations isolator should be designed and implemented to reduce the level of vibrations transferred to the drive cabinet.
Mechanical design robustness and efficiency of designed vibrations isolator are typically verified during vibrations test. Unfortunately, vibration testing of Medium Voltage VFD is very expensive and time consuming – only few specialized test laboratories are suitable for testing of big and heavy medium voltage drives. Hence, it is crucial to avoid design errors at the early stages of drive development and this way reduce the number of required tests.
A2Z Consulting ltd. was involved in the design of Medium Voltage VFD for marine application. Within this activity, vibration isolator (damper) was designed and finite element analysis of drive was done. With the help of finite element analysis, the weak points of drive cabinet construction were found and the cabinet was modified accordingly. Also design of inner components of the drive was analyzed and optimized by means of finite element simulation.
The effectiveness of designed vibrations isolator and applicability of finite element simulations were proved by successful subsequent testing.