Performance evaluation of a large capacity VSD system for Oil and Gas industry

Reduction of energy consumption and CO₂ emissions are recognized as important environmental issues in today´s world. In addition, Oil and Gas companies are striving for ways to increase their capacity and maximize system uptime in order to meet the global energy demand. To realize these goals, Oil and Gas utilities are looking for electrical solutions as prime movers on their compressor trains. These solutions make use of large scale Variable Speed Drive (VSD) system such as voltage source inverter (VSI) with high power AC motor drive systems. Since large electrical drive systems are a relatively new technology with limited field data, the full load test of 30 MVA 5-level VSI system was carried out on a test stand to measure critical data necessary to evaluate system performances. This paper reports the results of motor combined test which illustrate the principle and mechanism of 5-level inverter system.