“A bunch of things are coming together.” That's how V Sukumar, a senior applications manager for Fairchild Semiconductor, begins a discussion of trends in motor control for the white-goods market.

Single- and three-phase alternating current (AC) motor speed can be controlled by controlling the frequency of the voltage coming to it. Motor speed has a lot to do with the capacity of refrigeration ...

Speed, torque, and horsepower are three inter-related parameters in motor control. The speed of a motor, measured in revolutions per minute (rpm), defines a motor's ability to spin at a rate per unit ...

Note: This specialization requires purchase of a hardware kit in order to apply your knowledge and skill with real world tools. The hardware will be used to complete the lab exercises across the four ...

The way we control the speed of fan motors or pump motors has tremendously changed in the past two decades with the introduction of variable-frequency drives (VFDs), aka variable-frequency controllers ...

Learn the terminology used to describe VFD internal operations and external interfaces — and you'll understand their application more thoroughly. Variable frequency drives (or VFDs) are widely used ...

It's easy to understand how variable-speed motor drives benefit pumps and blowers from the energy curves that depict their performance. It is interesting to look at figures from the Energy Information ...

Utility power plant generators are usually designed for a power factor (PF) of .8 to .9. If demand-side PF is lower than the designed PF, the generator current will rise above the equipment's rated ...

Motors account for at least half of the energy consumed in the U.S. Selecting the right control method for an application lets the motor run most efficiently while maximizing torque and overall ...

DC Motors were king in industry up until the late 1980s; These motors were popular because they were able to run to a variable speed setpoint, and they could run at full torque from stall to base ...