IGBT Failure in VFD

M

Thread Starter

M.S.Randhawa

Could you guide us as to what would be the most prominent reason for the IGBT failures in the VFDs and what could be the cheapest solution to be tried out for stopping the Failures?

We have had @ 7 drive failures and we are still in the dark. Even Siemens is not able to help us. These were Micromaster 430/440 VFDs.

Almost 4 Drives are installed in each panel, and we have 4 such panels. Other Panels have 1 or 2 Drives installed in each of them and we have 12 of these.

Thanking you, take care and God Bless.

M.S.Randhawa
 
1) Are the drives fitted with line reactors (chokes) on the line and/or load side?
2) How far away are the motors from the drives? The longer the cable length, the more potential for trouble.
3) Is inverter duty motor cable used between drive and motor (for instance, Belden 295xx series, among other brands)? Is grounding per manufacturer's specifications?
4) What kind of enclosure cooling (if any); what is the drive ambient temperature in the enclosure?
5) What is the line supply (delta or wye?, frequency? voltage?).
6) How are the drives protected (circuit breakers or fuses)? Are these protective devices sized correctly?
7) What is the nature of the mechanical load? Do you use short accel and decel times? Does the drive change output speed relatively slowly over time, or is it swinging speed up and down relatively often, and over a large range?
8) Are the failing drives heavily loaded?
9) Do you get any other types of drive faults (over and under voltage DC link, etc.) and/or performance issues as a matter of course, or do the drives and IGBTs just fail "out of the blue"?
10) Are the failed drives occurring randomly, or do the failed drives cluster around a particular motion axis?
11) What is your switching frequency? A lot of drives default to the 4 to 6 KHz range, and have higher switching frequencies (perhaps up to 20 KHz) as a user option. Higher frequencies tend to lessen motor noise, but at the expense of requiring power bridge derating. Higher switching rates yield more losses >>> higher temperatures.
12) Are you experiencing any unusual motor problems - mysteriously failed windings, or fluted bearing races caused by EDM? See
http://www.greenheck.com/technical/tech_detail.php?display=files/Product_guide/fa117_03
for info on EDM.
13) Do the drive failure reports point to single IGBT modules failing at a time, or two (or three) for each failure episode? Are their other associated failures (components failing on the DC bus supply?)

I don't have any experience with the Siemens Micromaster drive, and haven't had any noticable trending of IGBT power bridges failing in newer drive designs we do use, so can't give much advice (ask me about 25 year old, "six step" V/Hz drive designs using Darlingtons in the output bridge... these used to blow up on a whim). Generally, though, the things that will kill IGBTs are excessive heat, and excessive voltage (especially low duration, high impulse transients).

It is a good idea to use input chokes, and, with long drive-to-motor cable runs, load side chokes as well.
 
CCOMM pretty much covered it all...

One of the few things I can think of on top of the list is...

Is there output contactors on the drives that might be opening up while the drives are running. On a VFD this can cause havoc for IGBTs.

Then again the long list from CCOMM is probably your best starting place...
 
IGBTs have to be matched. V-Saturation. If paralleled and one IGBT is faster than the other, the faster switching IGBT will carry more load and build more heat and fail.

You may already know that, but I didn't see it in the previous reply. Good luck.
 
Hello M.S.

There is a wide range of quality and reliability when it comes to IGBT products. I cannot say why you are seeing a lot of failures. But perhaps a bad mfg run of the IGBT cores could be a potential root cause. In my experience, ABB makes the most reliable VFD's that we have used (fans, pump, conveyors, etc). Perhaps - looking at the IGBT source mfr between Siemens and others will reveal some clues.

Best,
Bill
 
P

paresh patel

Dear Mr Bill,

There are other VFDs which are more reliable where IGBT failure is almost nil. You may try AMTECH ELECTRONICS VFD where there is absolutely zero failure.

Paresh
 
B

bob peterson

> There are other VFDs which are more reliable where IGBT failure is almost nil. You may try AMTECH ELECTRONICS VFD where there is absolutely zero failure.

Zero failure is pretty impressive. Given that there are only a few companies actually making the IGBTs and all the VFD manufacturers have to use the IGBTs supplied by those manufacturers, how does one VFD supplier manage to get IGBTs that never fail?
 
H
IGBT failure mainly because of its igbt manufacturing defects and for that you should shift your igbt rating to next version i.e.if using 70A than shift it to 150A.
 
I've also experienced this.

Only one IGBT module connected with the blue phase of the module got burnt, the capacitors of the same phase also got damaged, & and the fuses at the input power supply also burnt away.

Any Idea about the root cause of this.
 
Ady... if component failure occurs on the same phase, then root-cause is usually related to a parameter (mechanical or electrical) significantly different than those found on the other two phase.

I suggest you start by providing supply-side and drive-side voltage and current measurements!

Regards, Phil Corso
 
if you have burnt components, you probably have either a power surge or loose screws on a fuse or bus bar internally to the drive.... igbt failure usually doesn't burn/melt components.
 
I

ifeanyi young

Please what is the cause of f004 fault in Abb drive,after I be reset,remove all wire connection

The drive has been powered by another source yet same problem,what is the fault,could IGBT input be faulty ,or bad resistor I.c ,or is control board faulty .pls or ideas
 
You are posting in a very old thread, you should have created a new one because many people will look at the first few responses and see how old it is, then not bother reading the rest of it.

Different versions of ABB drives will have different meanings for the fault codes, you didn't indicate WHICH model of ABB drive you have. But if it is a relatively new one, ACS/ACH 300/350/500/550 etc., Fault #4 is a Short Circuit indication. Generally that means there is something wrong on the load side of the drive and the drive is finding it better than your instruments can. Drives are good at that, because they are trying to prevent further damage to the drive itself; whatever is causing the short circuit has already happened.

So the things to check AGAIN (if you have not already) is for shorts, and check BETWEEN phases, not just to ground (earth). Often times people only check using a "megger" (megohmeter) from line to ground. But VFDs can cause the insulation of the motor windings themselves to break down and short, either from one phase to the other, or even just within the same phase, they short turn-to-turn. Either way, the circuit resistance / impedance is lower as a result and the higher rate of rise of the current in that part of the circuit is what the VFD is seeing and determining is a "short circuit", leading to the F004 fault. If you have a long distance between the drive and motor, this kind of damage can take place very quickly. If the distance is short, it may take longer or never happen.

Another thing to look for is cable moisture ingress. As cables get older, especially those used on the output of VFDs, microscopic holes start to develop in the insulation and if there is moisture present, it will cause a temporary short that the VFD sees. But at the same time, the heat evaporates that moisture and when you go to test it, it passes again.

There are many other potential circumstances to look at.
 
Top