Applications of Line and Load Reactors with

Variable Frequency Drives

by Tan Ma, Senior Electrical Engineer
KB Electronics
for more information, email: [email protected]
or visit www.kbelectronics.com

Reactors can protect motors, variable frequency drives (VFDs) and other sensitive electrical equipment and
increase their reliability and life span by absorbing the disturbances from the power line, preventing
overvoltage trips, improving total power factor, and reducing nuisance tripping. Reactors can also help
reduce the harmonics distortion of the power line by adding impedance to the utility grid.

AC to DC DC Bus Filter DC to AC
Inverter Capacitor Inverter

Line Transients ST1 ST3 ST5

Line Reactor Voltage Reflected Wave
ia
AC Input ib
Motor
ic
Transformer ST4 ST6 ST2
Harmonics Load Reactor

Figure 1: VFD and Motor System with Line and Load Reactors

I. What are Reactors? and transients. They also mitigate harmonic

currents being drawn by the VFD. When a reactor
Reactors are electro-magnetic devices, some-
is connected in series between the VFD and
times referred to as inductors, that are wired in
motors, it is referred to as a load reactor, which
series between electrical equipment in power
helps protect motors like an energy buffer.
systems. A reactor consists of a steel core which
is constructed of electrical grade steel laminations II. Benefits of Line Reactors
and copper wound coils that form a magnetic
Line reactors help protect VFDs from utility
field as current flows through it. This magnetic
power line disturbances that may cause un-
field limits the rate of change of the current, thus
expected tripping or damage to the VFDs. They
reducing harmonics and protecting the drive from
also help reduce the harmonics that the VFD
power system surges and transients.
generates back into the utility grid.
A reactor can be referred to as either a line reactor
Line reactors should be used in the following
or a load reactor, depending on where it’s
circumstances:
installed. As shown in Figure 1, when a reactor is
placed between the power system and the VFD, it 1. Where the input voltage from the power line
is referred to as a line reactor. Line reactors can may contain disturbances such as surges,
protect the entire VFD from power system surges spikes, transients, etc.

1
 2. Where harmonic distortion is a concern. parameters. The typical overvoltage magnitude is
Refer to IEEE-519 [1] Harmonic Control in between 1.2-1.6 p.u. with a ringing frequency of
Power Systems. 400-600 Hz. During the transient overvoltage
3. Where the supply line power capacity is event, the DC bus capacitor in the VFD attempts
much higher (10 times greater kVA rating) charging to the peak of the incoming transient
than the connected VFD system. line voltage, resulting in the VFD tripping off-
line – showing an overvoltage fault code or in
No line reactor
some cases even damaging the input diode front-
With 3% line reactor
end.
With 5% line reactor

Line reactors provide two main functions that

help minimize the effect of capacitor switching
transients on VFDs [2]: First, the line reactor
impedance provides a voltage drop that reduces
the DC bus voltage, thereby providing a greater
margin for overvoltage trip. Further, reactors
limit the magnitude and the rate of the surge
current charging the capacitor. The performance
of surge current limitation of a typical line reactor
Figure 2. Line Current with and without Line Reactor is shown in Figure 2. For most cases, 3%
Minimizing Nuisance Overvoltage Trips Due impedance line reactors based on the drive kVA
to Line Transients rating should be adequate to reduce power line
transient voltages.
Utilities use capacitor banks in their distribution
and transmission circuits primarily for voltage Reducing Input Line Current Harmonics
support and power factor correction. Energizing from VFDs
a capacitor bank creates a momentary short While VFDs provide great advantages in energy
circuit during which energy is absorbed from the savings and increased efficiency, they are the #1
line to charge the capacitor. This is manifested in cause of electrical power system pollution. The
the voltage waveform as a sudden drop in voltage input current waveform of VFDs with diode
with a subsequent ringing effect, the magnitude bridge rectifier is characterized by a two-pulse
and frequency of which depend on the system

250 Performance of a 100-kW VFD with and without a 3% Line Reactor

221

200
175
154
150 138 137 141
115
90 95
100
67 73
57
50 41
24
13 6
0 RMS Current Total Power Input (kVA) 5th Harmonic 7th Harmonic 11th 13th THD (%)
(A) Factor (A) (A) Harmonic (A) Harmonic (A)
(kW/kVA, %)

Without Reactor With 3% Line Reactor

Figure 3. Performance of a 100-kW VFD without and with a 3% Reactor

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current waveshape in each half cycle. Each pulse supply voltage causes high current on one of the
is related to the charging of the DC bus capacitor phases on the line side of the VFD. For VFDs that
to the peak incoming voltage. The result is a non- are connected close to a transformer allowing a
sinusoidal current flow with a total harmonic high available short-circuit current, the peak
distortion (THD) of typically 90-150% with a current may reach 200% to 250% of the rated line
harmonic content that is predominantly 5th, 7th, current, causing strip of the line-side overload
11th, and 13th harmonics as shown in Figure 3. protector (fuse, circuit breaker, etc.) during the
The application of a line reactor causes the sag. Application of line reactors reduces the
discontinuous current to become continuous. The available fault current at the drive terminals and
main reason is that with line reactors, the voltage minimizes the chance of overload protector
at the VFD terminals becomes flat-topped, and operation during un-symmetrical voltage sags.
the charging time for the DC bus capacitor
III. Benefits of Load Reactors
increases, thereby increasing the current pulse
width while decreasing its peak amplitude. The Load reactors (also called an output reactors) are
use of 5% impedance line reactors can eliminate installed after the VFD to protect the motor. They
about 65% of the current THD, which will help to can increase load inductance and reduce the effect
comply with the IEEE 519 Standard and reduce of reflected waves. If a load reactor is used at the
motor operating temperature and noise. output, it should be located as close to the VFD
as possible.
Improving VFD Power Factor and Reducing
Line Losses Reducing the Effect of Reflected Wave
VFDs typically have a poor power factor (0.6- Load reactors are used to protect the motor when
0.65). However, this does not mean that VFDs long wires between the VFD and motor are
have a high reactive power demand. VFDs do not required. The VFD generates a high frequency
have any reactive power demand as the reactive (such as 16 kHz) PWM output by turning on and
power is supplied from the DC bus capacitor. The off the switching components like MOSFETs and
high kVA demand from VFDs, which related to IGBTs. The output voltage rise time is short, and
poor factor is due to the harmonic content in the usually less than a few microseconds. These short
current waveshape. Reducing the harmonics rise times combined with long wires between the
either by a reactor or by an appropriate harmonic drive and motor can produce voltage reflections,
filter leads to an improvement of the power also called reflected waves [3], that have high
factor. As explained in the previous section, use peak voltages as shown in Figure 4. The resulting
of line reactors reduces the harmonic currents, voltage can exceed the motor’s peak voltage
which causes a reduction of total rms current and rating where insulation breakdown occurs.
the kVA demand of the drive. Since the line Generally, a load reactor should be used if the
reactor does not change the fundamental motor wiring extends over 100 ft., but this value
component of the current, the kW input required can vary depending on the motor. If a motor
remains the same, dictated by load requirements. meets the NEMA MG-1 Part 31 standard [4], it is
This means that the ratio of kW/kVA defined as possible to have as much as 300 ft of cabling
“power factor” will be improved. without a load reactor. If it does not meet the
standard, the maximum cable length should be
Minimizing Line-Side Overload Protector
100 ft. For any motor, if the distance is between
Trips During Unsymmetrical Voltage Sags
300 to 500 ft., a load reactor should be used. If
A large majority of faults in utility power systems the distance is over 500 ft. then a special type of
are single line-to-ground faults. During such filter called a dV/dt filter (low-pass filter) should
faults, the voltage at the drive terminals is highly be used.
unbalanced. This momentary unbalance in the

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 IV. Reactors Percent Impedance: 3% or
5%

Line and load reactors are classified by their

percent impedance (denoted as percent IZ or
%IZ), which is the voltage drop due to
impedance, at the rated current, expressed as a
percent of rated voltage. The most common line
reactors have either 3% or 5% impedance.
Reactors with 3% impedance are enough for most
solid-state applications in North America. They
absorb normal line spikes and motor current
(a) surges and can prevent most nuisance line
tripping of circuit protection devices. When
higher line disturbances are present, 5%
w/o load reactor
impedance reactors may be needed. If an
application is installed in a location outside North
America, or if IEEE 519 compliance is required,
a higher impedance reactor is generally
recommended. If the aim is to diminish noise
from the motor or to extend motor life, higher
with load reactor impedance reactors can be used to reduce
harmonics even further. This additional
performance typically comes at a higher cost than
3% impedance versions. When multiple motors
(b)
are controlled by a single drive, a single load
Figure 4 Switching Waveforms and Motor Load reactor can be placed between the VFD and the
Voltage with and without Load Reactor motors, simplifying the system layout and
reducing cost.
Increasing Load Inductance
Though using line and load reactors can protect
Applying a reactor at the output of a drive is the VFD systems, and increase the reliability and
sometimes necessary. If the motor has a “low robustness, users should be aware of some side-
leakage inductance” a reactor can help bring the effects such as adding cost and weight, requiring
total load inductance back up to a level that the space, generating heat and reducing efficiency.
drive can handle. In the days of the “Bipolar
transistor” drive, carrier frequencies rarely References
exceeded 1.5Khz. This meant that the transistor’s [1] IEEE 519-2014 - IEEE Recommended Practice
“on time” was much longer. This allowed current and Requirements for Harmonic Control in Electric
to ramp up higher, limited by the load or motor Power Systems
inductance. The result of a low inductance motor [2] When reliability counts: Reactors and filters for
was huge ripple current that sometimes ran into all industries and applications, Siemens
the current limit of the drive causing poor [3] Analysis of Reflected Wave Phenomenon on
performance or tripping. For the most part, the Wide Bandgap Device Switching Performance, A.
higher carrier frequencies and correspondingly Sathyanarayanan, 2017
lower ripple current of today’s IGBT (Isolated [4] NEMA Standard Publication MG 1-2016 Motors
and Generators, National Electrical Manufacturers
Gate Bipolar Transistor) drives have eliminated
Association
the need to add inductance to the load.