Inverter 240v 50hz 1 phase into 415v 50hz 3 phase

Hi all,

Iam new to this 3 phase technology, & iam looking for some advice this inverter will be to run a manual lathe which has a 2 speed motor.

This is what the spec plate on the motor says:-

2 speed
1445rpm @ 3.7kw
&
705rpm @ 2.2kw



Is it possible to run this on a standard inverter?

You can run that motor off of a 240V VFD up to 58% speed, possibly a bit higher.

If you need to run at full speed/power you need a transformer or a VFD capable of increasing voltage.

Have you considered replacing the motor?

Since you are in the UK, there is a company there that sells a VFD that will take 240V single phase input and give you a 415V 3 phase output. They modify drives made by other companies by adding what's called a "voltage booster" circuit on the DC rectifier portion. The sell them here in the US too that boost to 480V from 240V, but they can't get UL listing on them so they have a difficult time. They only sell through eBay.
Great deals from Drives Direct Inverters LTD in DIGITAL-240-TO-415-INVERTERS- | eBay Shops

Or an older 415-in VFD with two banks of reservoir capacitors ("bus" capacitors)can be hacked pretty easily by moving the neutral to between the two banks and feeding live to two of the input phases - I'm pretty sure that's how drives direct do it (having looked inside...), they mod new VFDs so may have to get around "phase loss" sensing, which may (or may not) explain why they're damn expensive compared to the unmodified 415v-in version.

The hack does, of course, invalidate all approvals, warranty, probably causes ozone depletion and gerbil warming, but my ABB ACS301 has been quite happy - the other downside is eventually under-voltage alarms show up due to the bus capacitors aging faster due to higher peak currents, which is a Clue that it's time to replace 'em...

Dave H. (the other one)