The design and application of a 7 MW synchronous machine variable speed drive

This paper briefly discusses the development of a new design and analysis program (SYNCHRO) for use with load commutated invertor (LCI) current source synchronous machine variable speed drives (VSDs). (SYNCHRODRIVE is Cegelec Project Ltd's product name for this type of drive.) The need for the new program arose out of a requirement for extensive testing and analysis on site. After development and successful use on site, development of SYNCHRO continued to allow its use in both the design and analysis of SYNCHRODRIVE power circuits. To date, SYNCHRO has been used successfully on a number of sites, and in the near future the commissioning of the first drive for which SYNCHRO was used from the tender stage will be completed. Development of SYNCHRO has continued to expand its functionality, and is still continuing. The next major step is to apply the lessons of SYNCHRO to the next generation of design tools, for the next generation of IGBT based VSDs.