Industrial Engineer · phase 10 of 16 · noun

Carrier Frequency

Rate at which inverter power devices switch, affecting audible noise, motor heating, cable effects, drive losses, and possible derating.

The Explain card

Plain English: The carrier frequency is how many times a second the inverter switches to build its PWM output. Typical values run from around 2 kilohertz up to 16 kilohertz.
Example: A drive at 4 kilohertz makes the motor whine at a pitch you can hear. Raised to 12 kilohertz the whine goes above hearing, and the drive runs warmer for it.
Why it matters: Higher carrier means a quieter motor and a smoother current, and it costs drive losses, derating, and more stress on long motor cables. It is a parameter, and the default is a compromise the drive maker chose without seeing your installation.
Hook: The pitch of the drive's hum, and the price of silence.

How the word is built, where it came from, and what it sits beside in memory.

In a sentence

During VFD commissioning, the technician set the carrier frequency according to the motor and cable specifications.

Why these words

carrier Anglo-French carier, to transport identifies the supporting electrical waveform or switching action
frequency Latin frequentia, recurrence or abundance names the rate associated with the carrier

Where it came from

Origin: an English engineering compound formed from carrier and frequency
Entered the language: 1910s
What changed: The phrase moved from radio terminology for a supporting wave into power electronics terminology for inverter switching.

How it is spelled

Pattern: carrier changes the final y of carry to i before the agent suffix -er
Pattern: frequency uses the noun ending -ency after frequent

Spelled like

Broken into chunks

What it sits beside

Same subject

Same shape

drive settings

frequency terms

Phase 10: VFD Electrical and Motor Fundamentals

The physics under the parameters: slip, torque, flux, and the relationship between frequency and voltage that every drive is really controlling.