What is a VFD control panel?
Sometimes your work space is dusty, dirty, wet, humid, corrosive, or hot. In those harsh environments, you cannot just mount your VFD exposed. You need a VFD Control panel – an enclosure that protects the VFD and other electric components.
What is a VFD control panel used for?
- Keeping all components in one panel
- Keeping dust, dirt, and weather out of electrical parts
- A complete motor control solution (bypass, harmonic filtering, etc.)
What is typically inside a VFD control panel?
There are many components you can put inside a VFD control panel. Here are some examples of what you might find:
- VFD – The main component of the motor control panel. The VFD inside will vary in voltage, horsepower, full load amps (FLA), and other specifications. Sometimes you may find redundant VFDs installed in case of a VFD failure.
- Line reactors – 3% or 5% to reduce harmonic distortion
- Harmonic filters – a more effective way to reduce harmonic distortion
- Circuit breaker – protects the electrical circuit from overload or short circuit
- Bypass – keeps the system running even if the VFD fails
- PLC – Programmable Logic Controller – for more advanced operations
- Modem – for communication purpose
- AC or other cooling units – keeps the panel at a certain temperature depending on surrounding environment
- Soft-starter – starts motor slowly but without speed control
- Surge protector – protects the system from voltage spikes
- Multiple motor overloads – an option for powering multiple motors off one VFD, typically used on fan walls
- Anti-condensation heater (available in NEMA 3R panels) – eliminates the buildup of dew inside the VFD panel
- Motor starters – for running motors across the line
To see the inside view of a VFD panel, read our article of “Inside a VFD panel” (coming soon!)
The enclosure of a control panel is rated for different resistance levels. The standard was created by National Electrical Manufactures Association (NEMA). Below are some common enclosure ratings:
- NEMA 1 – General purpose, for indoor use.
- NEMA 3R – Weather resistant, for outdoor use.
- NEMA 4 – Watertight, can be hosed down.
- NEMA 4X – Watertight, can be hosed down, and is also corrosion resistant.
MDI motor control panels
At VFDs.com, we have over 4,000 variations of motor control panels, manufactured by MDI that will get your job done. MDI currently manufactures 3 series of motor control panels: SV1, FF1, F3R; each has its unique advantages. The differences between SV1, FF1, and F3R are as followed:
|NEMA 1||NEMA 1||NEMA 3R|
|Slim 12” wide gray enclosure||Gray enclosure, size varies||White enclosure, outdoor rated, size varies|
|Up to 40 HP||Up to 800 HP||Up to 800 HP|
|Natural air ventilation||Filtered forced air ventilation||Filtered forced air ventilation|
|No filters||Pleated air filters||Washable poly filters|
|Line reactors available||Line reactors & harmonic filters available||Line reactors & harmonic filters available|
|Standard dial keypad||Advanced full numeric keypad||Advanced full numeric keypad|
Take a closer look at each series:
Call us 800-800-2261 to order your panel, starting at $2800:
Yin is a content producer at VFDs.com. With over a decade of graphic design, product photography, and business background, he helps creating visual designs, blog content, and educational videos.