On 05/05/2021 10:37 AM, Paul Koning via cctalk wrote:
Incidentally, a way to get three phase power at a
frequency of your choice is to use a "variable frequency
drive". That's basically a high power solid state inverter
intended to drive three-phase motors with a chosen
frequency resulting in the RPM of your choice. Depending
on the model, those can go up to 120 Hz or so, or all the
way to somewhere around 400 Hz. I have a very cheap one at
home that runs on single phase 220 volt power, producing
up to 3 kW or so at anywhere up to 120 Hz. (Made by a
company named Teco, amusingly.) Most of these and
especially the larger ones want three phase mains input,
though I'm told that even for those you can typically just
connect them to single phase power (between two of the
three inputs, leaving the third unconnected) at reduced
power ratings. These devices are surprisingly cheap, in
particular they tend to be cheaper than "rotary phase
converters" which is how machine shops traditionally
produce three phase power when their mains is just single
phase. paul
Note that VFDs are designed to run motors exclusively. They
approximate a sine wave with pulse width modulated 400 V
pulses. DON'T EVER try to run electronic gear with a VFD, at
least without a massive smoothing filter to convert to a
true sine wave. With a motor, the winding inductance solves
the problem, and the coils see nice sine-wave currents.
Jon