Industrial Engineer · phase 12 of 16 · noun

Minimum / Maximum Frequency

Configured lower and upper limits applied to the commanded drive output frequency.

The Explain card

Plain English: Minimum and maximum frequency are the floor and the ceiling the drive applies to any reference. A reference below the minimum runs at the minimum, and one above the maximum is clipped.
Example: A pump is set for a 20 hertz minimum so it never runs dry at a trickle, and a 60 hertz maximum so it never overspeeds. A reference of 10 hertz runs it at 20.
Why it matters: These two numbers protect the motor and the machine from whatever the reference source gets wrong. A maximum left at the drive default of 400 hertz has sent more than one fan through its housing.
Hook: The fence around every reference.

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

In a sentence

During VFD commissioning, set Minimum Frequency to 10 Hz, then verify that the conveyor motor runs smoothly at the resulting low speed.

How it is built

Where it came from

Origin: Latin minimum, meaning "smallest thing," from minimus, "smallest"
Entered the language: 1640s
What changed: The Latin word for the smallest thing became an English noun for the least amount or value.

How it is spelled

Pattern: It retains the Latin-derived -imum ending found in several English superlative nouns.
Pattern: The spelling has one n and two m's: min-i-mum.
Breaks the pattern: The learned plural minima coexists with the regular English plural minimums.

Spelled like

Broken into chunks

What it sits beside

Same subject

Same shape

VFD commissioning parameters

Latin-derived superlative nouns

Phase 12: VFD Commands, References, and Stopping

Starting, referencing and stopping, including the several very different things a drive can mean by the word stop.