I am an electricain working on a project for a client. He purchased a tent washing machine which is nothing more than a large barrel full of water hooked up to a 5HP 3 phase motor via a direct drive.

The client only has single phase. I found a product by Teco called a fluxmaster 100 (http://www.tecowestinghouse.com/Manuals/FM100 Maintenance & Operations Manual.pdf) which will take care of his phase conversion (he's only single phase) and VFD needs.

The ideal situation would be to have start/stop/jog buttons. When start is pressed a cycle timer would begin (variable between say 15 and 120 minutes). The machine would slowly start (VFD) in forward...reach speed...run for say 5 minutes (again variable say between 1 and 15 minutes)...slow down to a stop...slow start in reverse...run for say 5 minutes...slow down to a stop...etc...until the cycle timer has timed out.

I am familiar with control circuits, but I have never had to build something like this. Does anyone either know how, or hopefully know of a product that may be on the market that can do this?

Lastly, I need a jog button for only one direction.

I appreciate any help any of you can offer.

 

Sorry to say this, but you have a problem right off the bat.

The Fluxmaster 100 is only rated for up to 3hp when driven by a single phase. You'll need 3-phase input to power a 5hp motor with that unit.

(Basic Specifications, Page 9, Top chart, see * footnote)

OK, I did some legwork for you. Went over to the Square D/Schneider website, and found the Aldvar line of variable frequency motor controls.

To me, looks like the Altvar 61 series has models that will do everything you need. It can be programmed to ramp the motor speed up and down, brake it, etc - just need to program the thing. These are the two models I found that might fit your needs the best:

ATV61HU55M3 (6) 4.0hp@200v 34.9A 1ph, 5.0hp@240v 29.9A 1ph
ATV61HU75M3 (6) 5.5hp@200v 47.3A 1ph, 7.5hp@240v 40.1A 1ph
(6) = needs line choke, current spec is peak draw.

I'm not an electrician, nor a Square D/Schneider sales engineer - I think you should give them a call, and find out if it will do the job for you. They may have other options that will be more economical or will work better.

I'd be interested to know how things go.

Links:
Altvar Panel AC Drives
http://www.us.telemecanique.com/pro...able_Frequency_Drives/Panel_Drives/index.html

Altivar 61 Technical Documentation
http://www.us.telemecanique.com/pro...ncy_Drives/Panel_Drives/ATV61/ATV61_Tech.html

Installation manual, 0.5-60hp
http://www.telemecanique.com/85256E54006445C3/all/11345DC097BCA32CC125708F001E5E58/$File/1760643.pdf
See the supplement to the installation manual as well; actually read it before the installation manual.

 

When I spoke with Teco they told me that to drive a 5HP motor I would need the model rated at 10HP...while feeding with only single phase...in order for it to work correctly.

The timing controls are my biggest problem.

Thanks for the input. I will take a look before placing an order.

 

I believe all of the timing controls you need are available in the models I mentioned - also, they can be controlled/monitored remotely using industry standard communications protocol.

I took a quick scan through the programming manual late last night. There is a PHr command; options are ABC or ACB. This provides you with a simple mechanism to reverse the rotation of the motor without changing connections, adding relays, etc.

There is a JOG function; you specify the frequency via JGF and delay via JGE for JOG operation.

12 ramp-up rates built in.

Lots of fault monitoring options. You decide what needs to be monitored.