High-Speed, Variable-Speed Drive System in Megawatt Power Range

In this article we present an industrial application of a high-speed, high-power, variable-speed drive system with a rated power of 2300 kW at 15,600 rpm. The drive is based upon economical and reliable components such as thyristor-controlled current source inverters and the rugged and maintenance-free squirrel cage induction machine. We could take advantage of many synergies with the standard load commutated drive technique with synchronous machines. The installation of a capacitive filter in parallel with the induction machine enables load commutation of the machine side converter and in addition yields sinusoidal machine voltages and currents in a limited upper speed range. Thus optimal overall efficiency of converter and induction machine is obtained.