Development of a 2 MW 20000 RPM induction motor drive

This paper describes the development and performance of the inverter for a 2 MW, 20000 RPM cage induction motor using capacitors to excite the motor over the operating range so that the drive behaves as a load commutated inverter. The motor is directly coupled to a centrifugal compressor and the shaft system runs on four magnetic bearings. The development of the motor, compressor, bearings and the inverter was jointly undertaken by four European companies and partly funded by a European Community research grant.