The application of a medium voltage (4160 VAC) variable frequency drive on an underground mine belt conveyor system

High performance underground mine conveyor belts require special starting and operating characteristics. This paper is a summary of how a medium voltage (4160 VAC) variable frequency drive (VFD) was used to meet these requirements. The belt drive system consists of a mandated primary switch gear, drive rated transformer with controlled inductance, variable frequency drive, output switchgear and operational requirements. Items addressed are as follows: repackaging and reconfiguring of a commercial drive for an underground mine environment; harmonic cancellation in feeder circuits; basic control concepts; and special electrical safety requirements such as high resistance neutral grounding with sensitive ground fault tripping, belt slip, belt sequence, belt take-up requirements, etc. At the time of the writing of this paper the belt drive system has completed one year of successful and reliable operation.