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My $45 homemade 10 HP phase converter is WORKING!!!

The amount of current that an induction motor draws depends on the amount of power being produced. A motor that has no load does not draw nearly as much current as one producing the horsepower listed on the nameplate. The neat thing is that if you put a little power into the motor it will draw even less current. More power in and the current drawn goes negative......That is the motor is generating electricity.

Note while an induction motor can be made to generate power when it is not hooked to the power grid, it requires some capacitors to do so and will not work well over a wide range of power out. But if one attaches another power source to the rotor and have single phase power connected to two of the wires, it will produce quality 3 phase power of 60 hz ( assuming 60 hz single phase power ). Can even be driven with a single phase electric motor, but must be driven at slightly over the synchronous speed ( 1800 rpm for a 4 pole motor ). So if doing this with a electric motor you need to belt drive and have one of the pulleys adjustable. Then measure the current drawn by the single phase motor and adjust the pulley ratio so that the current drawn by the single phase motor is within its rated nameplate current .

You can also use a induction motor driven with a gas engine to keep the rpms at a constant amount. This is used with the gasolene engines with variable compression ratio used to test octane of gasolene.

Dan

The Tagge's wrote:

Reply to
dcaster
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I'm still having a hard time with this one!

Reply to
Artemia Salina

"To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public." -- Theodore Roosevelt

Reply to
John Adams

That's great! I am sure that with your welding machines etc, you can build a much better looking enclosure than what I did.

i
Reply to
Ignoramus27279

"Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win great triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat." --Theodore Roosevelt

Reply to
Gunner

Me, too. I love curvy roads and am not happy with anything short of a 4-wheel drift around any curve. And I used to take my Corvair convertible and 2WD Scout "flying" on dirt roads with jumps.

Reply to
Larry Jaques

Kids are not allowed to play in, or around vehicles of any kind. They are not allowed to climb onto or into them, tip them off the stands, adjust any of the controls or switches, or play hide-and-seek behind them.

Until they have a drivers licence that is.

:^)

Jim

Reply to
jim rozen

My RPC went through several enclosure schemes before I was happy with it. This is a 2 HP RPC. I started out trying to build the whole thing inside of an old Heathkit DX-100 Ham Radio cabinet, thinking that keeping everything self-contained was a smart idea. It turned out to be too big a bulky for my tiny workshop. I finally found a smallish metal utility box, like the kind you might have on a desk to keep paperwork or keys and other odds and ends in. It was kind of cramped but I mounted all of the components for the RPC in it -- relays, balancing and start caps, start/run and on/off switches, and fuses. I bolted this guts box to a plank and using EMT connectors to run the wiring through I attached it to the idler motor (which was bolted to the plank as well). On top of this guts box I mounted two outlet boxes with a 4-wire twist lock outlet in each. This is 3-phase output. Rather than cutting the shaft off of the idler motor, I decided to make a shield for it out of aluminum wire mesh (stucco screen).

This arrangement has worked out great. Its much more compact and expandable in the future. The only thing I'd like to change is to replace the wooden plank with a frame made of welded angle stock and some rubber feet. I'll get around to that one day.

Reply to
Artemia Salina

Very interesting, and good food for thought.

I am building an enclosure right now:

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I am doing that with various junk wood pieces lying around. I did not want to use any more valuable materials. My objective is to make a compact enclosure on wheels, with top that I can use to put stuff on, like a mini cart of sorts. That way at least, it will not effectively take any space away from me.

i
Reply to
Ignoramus27279

Forgot to say, I am hoping to use my phase converter as a base for my Sears table saw. That way I will kill several birds with one stone, so to speak, I'll have a phase converter and a base for table saw. This way, the table saw will take up the minimum of space. I'll see how it works out.

i
Reply to
Ignoramus27279

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