DC to 4160 AC

Q

Thread Starter

qhogan1

As I am sure everyone always is, we are looking at ways to lower our daily operating costs. After searching for all the different things we can do, we decided on a solar array and battery bank.

Our electric loads can be very peaky, so this will help even all that out. The trouble is that we are trying to connect up to the 4160 bus to directly power our largest load first.

This has led me to find out people don't really produce inverters with that output. Since this would be powering a large motor, a transformer may prevent the motor from reaching breakaway torque.

Anyone run into something like this?
 
How large is the motor?
What is the capacity of your solar array?

To get to 4160VAC from an inverter directly from a DC source like Solar, the DC voltage would need to be somewhere in the range of 6,000VDC. I HIGHLY doubt that you have a 6kVDC solar array!

You will need to have a transformer, there is no way around that. Then you need to determine how that motor is going to be started; Across-the-Line (DOL) or Reduced Voltage starting or VFD? For A-T-L / DOL starting, the transformer, AND THE SOURCE kVA capacity will need to be at LEAST 3x the motor kW rating (as a general Rule of Thumb), so if you have a large motor, as 4160V motors usually are, then you will need a MASSIVELY large solar array.

So for example lets say your 4160V motor is 1,000HP, or 750kW. That means the transformer needs to be at least 2.25MVA and from a Solar Array standpoint about 3MW of capacity! Assuming average sunlight, that is approximately 700 km^2 of solar panels, roughly the size of Budapest, Hungary. This is the down side of a Solar PV system as a primary power source, it doesn't translate well to being able to supply large singular AC motor loads.
 
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