IEEE Draft Recommended Practice for Testing Energy Efficiency of Adjustable Speed Drive Systems

Adjustable Speed drive (ASD) systems are ubiquitous in the electrical industry. Many manufacturers often compete for their share in this ever-increasing market. Lately, customers are becoming savvy and are eager to compare system efficiency and energy usage associated with various motor-drive systems to help them decide on an optimal motor-drive configuration for their applications. The aim of this recommended practice is to provide the industry with a universal method to assess the energy efficiency of motor and drive systems operating at varying load points, including operation beyond base speed and regenerative mode. Auxiliary components, different motor drive configurations, including multi-drive systems fed from a single power source are included in this recommendation. This standard offers an all-encompassing approach to system-wide energy efficiency evaluation. The methodology adopted here is based on energy measurements rather than power to help avoid snapshot results of system efficiency. This Recommendation is prepared by the subcommittee on Standards, under the jurisdiction of the Industrial Drives Committee (IDC) of the IEEE Industry Applications Society (IAS).