Parallelizable DC/AC Inverter powering a crane motor

In today’s dynamic industrial landscape, manufacturers constantly face unique challenges in meeting our customers’ evolving needs. One such predicament arose when a prominent crane manufacturer was tasked with delivering a cutting-edge solution to enable their customers’ cranes to operate autonomously over expansive work surfaces, free from the constraints of conventional electrical sockets.Join us in this succes story with Miguel Gonzalez – Sales Development Manager – as we explore how the DC/AC inverter ODX-6000 parallelizable emerged as the game-changing force behind this remarkable accomplishment.

 

Miguel, what was the customer’s goal?

The customer is a company that designs and manufactures all kinds of cranes for different sectors. They needed to design four mobile cranes that could lift up to three tons and that could allow them a work cycle of eight hours between loads.

What problems did they want to solve?

The main problem for the manufacturer was to give his customer a crane that could move over a large working surface and move autonomously without needing to be connected to an electrical socket.

What was the application for our product? Where was it installed or located?

In this project, the customer chose to use three units of DC/AC Inverter ODX-6000 connected in parallel to power the hoist motor. These parallelizable DC/AC inverters were installed on the crane inside a metal enclosure. 

The three parallel units of ODX-6000 have to convert the energy stored in the lithium battery bank to power the hoist motor. The crane is located in a specific area of a nuclear power plant, and its function is to lift a false floor that has to be washed and cleaned daily.

Why did they choose the Premium PSU customized solution?

The three ODX-6000 working in parallel was the only solution they found on the market that combined high power capacity with an industrial, robust, and reliable design. 

In the power electronics market, there are not many DC/AC inverters with 24Vdc input that can reach powers higher than 10kW, while our ODX-6000 can reach that power in addition to working in parallel.

How has Premium PSU’s solution impacted the customer’s objectives?

The Premium PSU solution made possible the viability of the project, but not only that.

When the crane lowers the three-ton weight to the ground, the weight of the load itself generates an excitation in the motor that causes the stored potential energy to be converted into electrical energy, going from the motor to the inverter instead of the other way around. In the middle of the inverter implementation process, this unexpected behavior was detected, which the different engineering teams were unable to detect during the specification. 

Based on this finding, the Premium PSU team found it necessary to incorporate braking resistors into the inverter system to prevent that energy from damaging the equipment. Once these resistors are implemented, the energy is “burned off” in the resistors and the inverters are protected.

Thanks to the dedication of Premium PSU’s engineering team, it was possible to solve this problem, not only by detecting exactly the root cause of the failure but also by being able to simulate in our facilities a system similar to that of the crane that allowed us to calculate and size the protections, so that the customer’s solution could work without a problem.