Adjustable-frequency ac winder

drive system
Michael L. Eikenberry and Kenneth D. Brink

The first US. installation of an ac-driven unwind backstand has operated

reliably since startup in late 1989.

In November 1988, the mill division of Green Bay -

Packaging ordered a fully digital ac sectional drive for 1. Totally enclosed ac motors in winder drive system
the rebuild of a paper machine and winder scheduled for
late 1989. The winder rebuild was the first U.S. instal-
lation of an ac-driven unwind backstand.
The ac drive was selected because
The ac-drive option was the most advanced drive-control
technology available.
Totally enclosed fan cooled (TEFC) and totally enclosed
air over (TEAO) ac induction motors offered a rugged
and reliable alternative to the dc motors used previously
for machine drive applications. These types of ac motors
do not require ductwork for cooling air.
Most troubleshooting and tune-up work is carried out
in the drive-control room through computer interface
devices.
The ac drive has additional advantages. For example,
the ac braking generator does not have the commutation
problems that plague dc drive motors (brush sparking in
a weak field). When stall tension is held at zero speed in
a dc drive, the commutator is heated unevenly, which could
lead to permanent damage (raised commutator bars). The commonly expressed as the difference per unit of
ac motor does not have this problem. In the dc drive, field synchronous speed.
flux control must be generated in the control system. This
is not necessary in the ac drive, since field flux control s = (nsyn
- n)/n,,
is already in the motor algorithm. Another important
advantage of the ac drives is improved power utilization. where
The ac system typically operates near unity power factor s = slip
and 95% efficiency. Figure 1 is a photograph of the ac
motors used to drive the winder. ns, = synchronous speed

n = rotor speed
Theory of ac-drive motors
In a squirrel-cage machine, when the slip is positive it
A term frequently used in ac-drive technology is “slip.” acts as a motor while at negative slip it acts as a generator.
Slip is defined as the difference in speed between the The waveforms for the stator field and the rotor field are
synchronous speed and the actual rotor speed (1).This is shown in Fig. 2. If the rotor field is lagging the stator
field, then the machine is motoring. Conversely, if the rotor
field is leading the stator field, then the machine is
generating.
~ ~~ ~

Eikenberry is manager of engineering in the Mill Divi-

sion of Green Bay Packaging Inc., P. 0. Box 19017, In terms of rotation and the magnetic field, if the rotor
Green Bay, Wis. 54307-9017. Brink is a project engineer is rotating more slowly than the magnetic field, the rotor
with Allen-Bradley/Stromberg, P. 0. Box 760, Mequon, is being pulled, and the machine is motoring. If the rotor
Wis. 53092-0760.
April 1991 Tappi Journal 183
 ’. Field and torque waveforms for ac motor Winder specifications

Positive Web speed 7500 ft/min

Machine balance speed 8000 ft/min
Web tension 3-10 pli
Web width 164 in.
Drum face 168 in.
Product Corrugating medium
Basis weight 26-40 lb/1000 ft2
Drum diameter 30 in.
Max. rewound roll diameter 60 in.
Max. unwind roll diameter 110 in.
Normal accelidecel time 90 s
Max. unwind E-stop time 35 s
Sitters 6 max.
Braking generator motor 350 hp
Drum motors 250 hp (each)
Rider roll motors 5 hp (each)

is going faster than the magnetic field, the rotor is being squared (speed). This is usually of little significance for
held back, and the machine is generating. Thus, for the braking generators, since the required overload is greatly
ac machine to go from motoring to generating, the reduced a t smaller diameters with low inertia.
frequency of the stator must be reduced. No current Computers have simplified the task of designing ac
reversal or dead band is involved, as is the case in a dc motors to meet the needs of variable-speed drives. With
machine. This is why ac motors provide such smooth the advent of high-speed digital microprocessor control,
operation in unwind applications. When the rotor is at the performance of an ac vector-controlled drive is
synchronous speed, the machine draws a minimum equivalent to or better than the dc drive, with a steady-
current. As the slip increases in either direction, the state speed accuracy of & 0.01%of top speed.
current begins to increase rapidly but smoothly without Scalar-controlled ac drives are commonly used in “stand
any discontinuity. alone”-type applications or for applications requiring less
The torque is proportional to the magnetic flux density accuracy. In scalar control, motor speed is controlled by
in the machine air gap. The torque of an adjustable-speed adjusting the supply frequency. The actual speed of the
ac motor is controlled by controlling the flux density over motor depends on the load, since the slip varies with load.
the operating frequency range. Flux density can be Most modern ac motors are designed to have a low slip,
controlled with vector control. The ac current (fundamen- and as a result there is not much speed change with load
tal) is a vector quantity with two components, a reactive variation (typical slip values are 1-3%).The performance
component and a real component. The reactive component of a drive with scalar control can be improved through
is used to produce the flux, while the real component a variety of techniques, such as output voltage boost a t
produces the torque or power required to overcome the low frequency, slip compensation (usually above 15%of
load. A digital tachometer is required for speed control synchronous speed), torque control (above 10%of synchro-
as well as computation of slip. Flux in our previous dc nous speed), and speed control with tachometer.
drive was controlled by separate shunt-field excitation. Scalar-controlled drives are the ac equivalent of a
Because the machine is a highly inductive load, the voltage-regulated de drive, while vector-controlled drives
impedance increases directly with applied frequency. If are analogous to the accurate speed-regulated digital dc
the machine is to be operated in a constant-torque mode, drive.
the voltage must be increased in proportion to the increase
in frequency to maintain a constant volts per hertz. This Winder specification
constant-torque mode is similar to a dc motor operating
below base speed (variable armature voltage). The winder selected for this installation was the Belwind
If the ac machine operates with a constant voltage while SF manufactured by the Beloit Corp. The winder was
the frequency is increased, the volts per hertz ratio is no constructed to meet the specifications listed in Table I.
longer constant. In this case, the air-gap flux decreases, Table I1 lists the winder drive data, including roll
as does the torque. This mode of operation is known as diameters, RDC (recommended drive capacity) power,
the weak-field mode, and the machine can produce motor and roll rpm, and other electrical motor data.
constant horsepower in this range. A word of caution is
in order concerning the breakdown torque in the constant-
horsepower range. As the flux is reduced, the breakdown
torque is reduced inversely proportional to the flux

184 April 1991 Tappi Journal

II. Winder drive data

I lndrive Reducer ac motor

Roll rPm Full-
diam., at 7500 ROC, Powec Gear Enclo- Voltage, load
Section in. ftlmin hP Ratio 7vpe hP rPm Frame sure V amps
-
Unwind* 110118 265/706 375 2.26 New 350 600/1597 HXUR1009H4 TEAD 575 540
Rear drum 30 955 250 ... Dir 250 955 HXUR 808K3 TEAD 575 370
Front drum 30 955 250 ... Dir 250 955 HXUR 808K3 TEAD 575 370
Rider roll rear 12.50 2293 5 1 Belt 5 2293 HXA 132SMA 4 83 E TEFC 460 13
Rider roll front 12.50 2293 5 1 Belt 5 2293 HXA 132SMA 4 83 E TEFC 460 13
Slitters (6 m a . ) ... ... ... ... 0.90 ... ... ... 460 ...
"Maximum roll diameter is 110 in. Diameter of starting core is 18 in. The paired values for indrive rpm and gear rpm correspond to these maximum and
minimum roll diameters.

Configuration of ac drive system Selection of line-supply equipment

Figure 3 is a one-line diagram of the winder drive system. The line-supply equipment is selected on the basis of the
The basic drive system comprises three major components. total drive requirements. The drive power requirements
were calculated using the TAPPI TIS 403-11 calculation
1. Line-supply equipment, which converts the three-phase sheets (2). Table 111 lists the power requirements. From
ac power into fixed-voltage de power these values, the worst-case motoring load would be 430
2. Three-phase inverter, which converts the de voltage to hp (321 kW), and regenerative load would be -1018 hp
variable-frequency ac voltage (-760 kW). The -1018 hp is for a 35-s emergency-stop (E-
3. Motor. stop) time from 7500 ft/min, a full reel at the unwind, and
a full set a t the drums.
The first component, the line-supply equipment, can be With today's high-speed winders, there is concern about
either a three-phase diode bridge or a three-phase stopping the drums at a high rate of deceleration. If the
regenerative SCR (silicon controlled rectifier) bridge deceleration rate is too high, it is possible to cause slippage
composed of 12 SCRs. The SCR bridge, also called a between the drums and the set on the drums. The resultant
thyristor braking unit (TBU), is used in the winder drive vibration can move the set up against the raised lowering
system, to accommodate the transfer of power back into table and damage the roll.
the power system that occurs at certain times during the On this ac drive, it is possible to set a power limit, a
machine cycle. The diode bridge is used in applications feature that is lacking on most de drives. Both ac and dc
where the power flow is always from the ac line into the drives have torque limits. By using a combination of power
drive system. This winder system has one SCR bridge and and torque limits, a two-rate ramp can be obtained to stop
one diode bridge. The line-supply equipment feeds a de the drives at an acceptable rate. Drives with these limits
bus. Included in this front-end equipment are an inductor will first decelerate in the power limit (power is
and a capacitor bank to provide filtering on the dc bus. proportional to speed) and then in the torque limit. The
The second component, the three-phase inverter, utilizes power limit is determined by the line-supply equipment,
either GTOs (gate turn-off thyristors) or GTRs (giant and the torque limit is determined by the inverter. Both
transistors) to supply a variable voltage and frequency to limits are set at the inverter. In the event of an E-stop,
the motor. The motor algorithm, speed/torque regulation, the condition of the web is not important, since the winder
and motor data reside at the inverter level. Pulse-width- must be stopped as soon as possible. The only noticeable
modulation inverters are used on this winder. The braking effect of the two-rate deceleration is that-under the worst-
generator and both drum drives are vector controlled, case situation (maximum speed, full rolls of paper)-the
while the rider rolls and slitter drive are scalar controlled. drums will take a little longer to stop than the braking
Winder master functions, operator interface (control and generator. This permits the use of a smaller power supply
monitoring), and diagnostics are done through the digital (in this case, less than the calculated 760-kW supply).
reference controller (DRC). The line supply is selected on the basis of the -760-kW
The drives are three-phase ac squirrel-cage induction decelerating load rather than the 321-kW accelerating
motors. All of the vector-controlled drives have load. The input power factor of the ac-drive system is
tachometers. approximately 0.98 over the full range of the winder speed

April 1991 Tappi Journal 185

 3. Winder drive system

iH

CBU = capacitor bank unit

Converter 8 Rectifier &
capacitor unit capacitor unit DAC = digital ac controller
575v 460V
DGC = digital graphic controller
DRC = digital reference controller
INV = inverter
LSU = line supply unit
5.75% z TBU thyristor braking unit
13.8kV primary 460/3/60 primary

111. Drive power requirements 4. Braking generator ac motor

I
Run power (sheet tension)
Braking generator -354 hp
Drums (both) 372 hp
Total 18 hp
Accel power
Braking generator -159 hp
Drums (both) 589 hp
Total 430 hp
Decel power
Braking generator -548 hp
Drums (both) 186 hp
Total -362hp
E-stop power
Braking generator -500 hp
Drums (both) -518 hp

I
I
Total -1018 hp

and load. Using this power factor, the -760-kW load application, a 540-kVA TBU was selected. This is 160 kVA
requires an ac input of -776 kVA. With a motor efficiency less than calculated for the worst-case E-stop condition.
of 95% (acting as a generator) and an inverter efficiency The selection was based on the use of a standard TBU.
of 95%,the actual supply requirement drops to -700 kVA. The only way to limit the amount of power returned to
During actual operation, the line supply equipment will the dc bus is to set limits a t each inverter. For this
handle less than -760 kW of power, as this value was application, the braking-generator power limits were set
conservatively calculated using a full parent roll as well a t 160%, while the winder drums were set a t 140%for
as a full set on the drums. Because this is a regenerative motoring and less than 100%for regeneration. The torque
186 April 1991 Tappi Journal
5. Unwind torquekpeed requirements at roll for maximum sheet
ation. Using the same selection criterion as used for the
tension braking generator, a 540-kVA inverter was selected. Both
drums are identical.
8000 Based on an economic analysis, 460-V GTR inverters
were selected for the rider-roll motors and slitters.

’380i -----
-x\
\
\
\
\
\
\
Drive motors
Braking generator
\
\
The build-down ratio for this winder is about 6 to 1, and
so the braking generator has a large speed range. Figure
. ..
\
\
\
4 is a photograph of the braking generator. During normal
\

.... winder operation, the operator slows down the winder at

the end of the parent reel to avoid “tailing out” at full web
‘x speed. This mode of operation can help to reduce the speed
range for the braking generator.
Core speed was limited at 892 rpm. The length of paper
that unwinds during a normal stop was calculated for a
0 265 892 1000
sheet of average caliper. This length was used to determine
SPEED, rpm
an unwind diameter, and the limit for core rpm was
determined from this diameter. The core torque require-
ments were used as the limit for core rpm. A speed reducer
is needed to increase the motor frequency at slow speeds.
The motor designer was given the information in Fig.
5 and asked to recommend the number of poles, motor
speed range, and a gear ratio (standard ratios were
recommended). The increased power needed during accelf
decel periods could be obtained by allowing short-term
overloads f o r the braking generator. The designer
recommended a 350-hp, 588-2016-rpm, 39-Hz, 8-pole,575-
V machine with the capability to withstand 160%overload
for 120 s. A gear ratio of 2.26 was selected so that the 588-
rpm motor would correspond to a roll speed of 265 rpm.
All of the ac motors used on this winder are totally
enclosed (no separate air is blown through the motor). The
limits (both directions) are set for 160% on the braking braking generator is cooled by a separate motor blowing
generator and 145% for the drums. When the winder is air over the outside of the machine. The blower motor is
E-stopped, all the drives initially regenerate within their mounted axially on the nondrive end. A tachometer is also
power limits. The limits cause the braking generator to mounted on the nondrive end. A totally enclosed motor
stop as soon as possible (linear ramp to zero speed), while cooled by air blown over the outside of the machine is
the drums begin to decelerate more slowly (in the power known as a TEA0 motor.
limit). These limits were chosen to meet the winder The braking generator was designed for a class F
manufacturer’s requirements. temperature rise, as well as normal features required for
For the two remaining drives, a small 180-kVA diode a paper machine environment. These basic features
bridge was selected for the supply equipment. This rating include cast-iron construction, special insulation, and
was chosen because of convenience rather than load treatment to resist corrosion. Resistance temperature
requirements, as it is much larger than required. devices (RTD) were also installed on this motor. On large
motors like this, an insulated bearing on the nondrive end
Drive inverters and an insulated tachometer coupling are standard
features as a precaution against possible bearing currents.
The calculated braking-generator requirements for run
power, acceleration power, deceleration power, and E-stop Drum motors
power were -354 hp, -159 hp, -548 hp, and -500 hp, The power and rpm requirements for the drums were
respectively, as seen in Table 111. The largest value was given to the motor designer. Ahead of this winder is an
-548 hp (408 kW). Using a 0.7 power factor, a motor ac-driven paper machine. The Beloit ENP press required
efficiency of 95%, and an inverter efficiency of 98%, the 500-hp, 1495-rpm motors. In order to reduce the number
actual
.. .. supply requirement is -544 kVA. of spare motors, the designer was asked if a common motor
Using application guidelines involving the motor could be used for both applications.
characteristics, an 870-kVA inverter was selected for the A 500-hp, 1495-rpm, 75-Hz, 6-pole, 575-V motor was
unwind drive. The next size smaller, 540 kVA, was too designed to meet both applications. These motors have all
small to supply the peak currents for this large machine. the features that were supplied on the braking generator.
The largest power requirement for any drum motor was
calculated to be 394 hp (294 kW) for front-drum acceler-
April 1991 Tappi Journal 187
 drive system was deemed ready. The paper machine was

1 *e Both motors are 5 hp, 4 pole, 460 V. These are TEFC

motors with shaft-mounted fans. The motors were
designed for a class F temperature rise, as well as normal
shut down two days later.
During the 25 days that followed, the old winder was
removed, its foundation was demolished, and a new
features required for a paper-machine environment. foundation was constructed. The mechanical and electrical
Bimetallic temperature switches were installed on these installation and preliminary checkout were completed,
motors instead of the RTDs used on the larger machines. and on November 6 the winder was ready for tune-up.
Winder startups can be troublesome, so we decided early
Operator interface and master control on to have some paper available to get the winder running
before the paper machine was ready. Because this was a
The drop-in control panel and color monitor provide the complete machine rebuild, including a new reel, the paper
operator with all the information needed to run the winder. run on the old machine could not be used for testing, since
The operator also can elect to run with roll density and the reel spools from that machine were not compatible with
tension control from the Beloit control equipment. All five the new equipment. The backstand of the new winder was
inverters communicate with the DRC, which is the winder modified so that it could accept reel spools used in our mill
master. The drive maintenance system is used for drive in Morrilton, Ark. Three 110-in.-diam. rolls of liner were
diagnostics. shipped to Green Bay, Wis., for use in the startup
operation.
Winder installation The startup of the new winder was almost trouble free.
All mechanical and electrical tune-up was completed using
Design work for the installation of the drive was completed two of the three 110-in. rolls. All of the product from these
by S. J. Baisch Associates Inc. during late spring of 1989. first two rolls was salable. The third roll, which was not
The winder drive system was delivered to the mill in June required for tuneup, was used for operator training.
1989. The mechanical and electrical installation was begun On November 16, the rebuilt paper machine began its
at that time, and the drive system was ready for the Allen- initial startup, and the winder was fully operational and
Bradley/Stromberg startup team in September 1989. ready for full production when the first paper came off
All the drive motors associated with the winder the machine.
installation were set on the floor alongside the old
operating winder, and temporary connections were made Performance
so that all initial tune-up work could be completed before
the shutdown was to take place. On October 11, the winder The winder was subjected to several performance tests,
with the results documented using actual brush recordings
of various machine operating parameters. Performance
data a r e available in the Proceedings of the 1990
Engineering Conference (3).
The paper machine ahead of the winder is running 20%
faster than before the shutdown, and new production
records have been set. To date, the winder has had no
trouble keeping up with the increased production.

Conclusion
A mill that produces corrugating medium installed a fully
ac winder drive system, including the first U S . installa-
tion of an ac-driven unwind backstand. Winder perfor-
mance has met or exceeded the mill’s expectations,
indicating that adjustable-speed ac drives can be applied
to production winders.0

Literature cited
1. Cochran, P. L., Polyphase Induction Motors, Marcel Dekker,
N.Y., 1989, p. 62.
2. Winder power requirements, TIS 403-11, TAPPI PRESS,
Atlanta, 1982.
3. Eikenberry, M. L., and Brink, K. D., 1990 Engineering
Conference Proceedings, TAPPI PRESS, Atlanta, p. 45.
Received for review June 15, 1990.
Accepted Nov. 7,1990.
Presented at the TAPPI 1990 Engineering Conference.