VFD Mounting

ddickey

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PM 935TS Mill. I bought the Hitachi WJ200 VFD.
If I have to use an enclosure I'll mount that on the wall and run power to the mill with controls there. That's going to be approximately 15'.
Ideas?
 
Make a backing plate and mount your VFD and switch on it together. That's how I did my lathe and Bridgeport.
 
Is it enclosed or open?
 
I've been running an open VFD on my Myford Super 7 for around 20 years, it's high enough and far enough from the chips that it's suffered no injuries ;-)
 
Based by the amount of grit, grinding and welding dust I find everywhere i'm not sure that is a good idea. That sure would make things less complicated though. I found and appropriately sized box on eBay i just bought for $20. We'll give that a go I guess. Some fuse blocks will also go in there. A power supply would be nice too for the DRO.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/HOFFMAN-A-161208LP-STEEL-WALL-MOUNT-ELECTRICAL-ENCLOSURE-16X12X8IN-D570068/382177193913?ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649
 
If the VFD is mounted inside a box, there has to be some provision for ventilation: the fan on the VFD has to be able to move air through the
heat sink. It looks as though the enclosure you linked is pretty much sealed. My VFD is wall mounted off to the side of the lathe where I can reach it, but out of the line of fire from oil and chips and it never
seems to get dirty at all. It seems to me that the home hobby environment is usually clean enough to do without an enclosure, whereas in industry,
VFD's get mounted in all sorts of environments where enclosures are needed. And, if you do enough grinding/sanding/welding close enough
to contaminate your VFD, you may be getting grit on your ways as well.
 
The Hoffman box is nice for controls and power supply, but it does not have ventilation for the DRO unless you cut out some holes.
 
This is what I did for my mill, it has a computer fan in the bottom pushing air in for ventilation, remote controls on front.
7E1E911F-74DA-40E2-BFA4-6E91BD89DF44.jpeg
Not the prettiest but works good.
 
An enclosure is often needed for additional connections, fusing, power disconnect and sometimes for a braking resistor (depending on the type). A fan cooling system may be needed, depending on the VFD efficiency/dissipation, cabinet material, volume/radiating surface area and operating conditions. My mill 3Hp VFD has a factory steel cabinet with no venting that is 12x22x8, the fan comes on when the VFD is running the machine motor/off when idle. I have seen sizing a VFD cabinet for no ventilation quoted something in the range of ~4sq in/W of dissipation for a sealed steel enclosure or ~1 sq ft/Hp, but there are other factors that need to be considered. It is a simple matter to cut a few holes in the cabinet and add a filter/fan to the VFD cabinet when using a smaller cabinet. The last 3Hp VFD mill system build I did, I used a 12x20x8 metal cabinet with no venting, anything smaller I would have added cooling vents/fan. IF adding a fan, then a plastic enclosure is a bit easier to cut holes in using a large hole saw or jig saw.

Non Ventilated Enclosure
Non ventilated enclosures rely on the heat being dissipated through the walls of the enclosure. The better heat conduction of the enclosure the more heat dissipated. For this reason metal enclosures are far better at dissipating heat than plastic enclosures.

The power that can be dissipated in a given exposed surface area is:
PESA = k x S x △T
PESA: Power dissipated from within the enclosure via exposed surface area in W (Watts)
k: Heat transfer coefficient [sheet metal ~ 5.5W/m2K, plastic ~ 3.5W/m2K ]
S: Corrected enclosure surface area of the enclosure, in m2 in accordance with IEC890.
△T: Temperature differential (inside enclosure - outside ambient), in °C

Due to the distance of the VFD cabinet to the machine, I would recommended shielded cables at least for the control inputs/speed and do not tie them to the motor cable.
 
Could run the motor cable through conduit.
Kind of rethinking as there is a nice large flat surface on the back of the mill. This would probably be the better idea I would think.
 
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