Industrial Engineer · phase 9 of 16 · noun
Motor Nameplate Voltage
Rated motor terminal voltage entered during commissioning so the drive can establish the proper voltage and flux limits.
The Explain card
- Plain English
- The nameplate voltage is the voltage the motor was designed to see at its base frequency. The drive uses it to decide how much voltage to apply at each frequency and where to stop raising it.
- Example
- A motor plate reads 460 volts at 60 hertz. Entered into the drive, that fixes the volts per hertz curve, so at 30 hertz the drive applies about 230 volts.
- Why it matters
- Enter 480 for a 460 volt motor and the drive over fluxes it slightly at every speed, warming it for no reason. Enter 230 for a 460 volt motor and it produces almost no torque while looking perfectly healthy.
- Hook
- The first number you type, and the one everything else leans on.
Word knowledge
How the word is built, where it came from, and what it sits beside in memory.
In a sentence
During VFD commissioning, the technician copies the Motor Nameplate Voltage value into the drive parameter before starting motor identification.
Why these words
- motor Latin motor, mover identifies the machine associated with the phrase
- nameplate English compound of name and plate points to the equipment identification plate carrying the data
- voltage volt plus the noun-forming suffix -age names the electrical quantity being referenced
Where it came from
- Origin
- English technical compound built from motor, nameplate, and voltage, with voltage named from the volt honoring Alessandro Volta
- Entered the language
- 20th century
- What changed
- Motor narrowed from a general mover to a machine, nameplate expanded to equipment data plates, and voltage became a standardized electrical quantity term.
How it is spelled
- Pattern
- motor keeps the common agent-noun ending -or
- Pattern
- nameplate is written as a closed compound
- Pattern
- voltage retains volt before the suffix -age
Spelled like
- generator
- actor
- baseplate
- faceplate
- amperage
- wattage
Broken into chunks
-
mot
- motion
- motive
-
name
- namely
- namesake
-
plate
- baseplate
- faceplate
-
volt
- voltmeter
- kilovolt
-
age
- amperage
- wattage
What it sits beside
Same subject
- motor nameplate current
- base frequency
- rated speed
- service factor
- motor identification
Same shape
- motor nameplate current
- motor nameplate frequency
- motor nameplate power
motor nameplate data
- rated current
- rated speed
- service factor
electrical quantities
- voltage
- current
- frequency
Where it sits in the deck
Phase 9: VFD Ratings, Sizing, and Motor Data
Nameplate arithmetic, where the currents, voltages and duty ratings decide whether a drive can actually run the motor you bolted it to.
