Endeavour Automation

  VFDs are are extremely susceptible to dust, debris, moisture, and overheating. If you are using a VFD in an area that is consistently taking in dust, debris, or moisture the operating life of your VFD will be shortened. In environments with high humidity, such as wastewater treatment plants, your VFD is at risk for circuit board corrosion from moisture being sucked into the cabinet through the cooling vents constantly. This, compounded by possible infrequent use, can enable moisture to build up without time for heat and ventilation to dry it out. To avoid issues caused by humidity, ensure that the operating environment and storage space for your VFD is clean and dry, and consider a dehumidifier to dry out the air (ensure the dehumidifier does not leak near any electronic equipment). For extreme humidity or wash-down environments a NEMA 4, 4X or 5 enclosures may be necessary. Another common cause of VFD failure due to environment is the clogging of cooling vents by airborne particles,

  Harmonics are currents or voltages with frequencies that are integer multiples of the fundamental power frequency, which in the U.S. is 60 Hertz. If the first fundamental frequency is 60 Hz, then the second is 120 Hz, and the third is 180 Hz. Here are a few examples of issues that might be related to harmonics. Flickering lights are a common symptom of a power quality issue. A potential source of flickering lights is machinery with rapid fluctuations in load current or voltage. These machines include large motors when they are starting up, machinery with cyclo-converters such as rolling mill drives and mine winders, as well as machines that use static frequency converters such as AC motors and electric arc furnaces. Overheated transformers and tripped breakers could be a sign of harmonic issues, which occur when non-linear loads that draw current in abrupt pulses, rather than in a smooth sinusoidal manner, cause harmonic currents to flow back into other parts of the power system. Tot