How To Store Inverters

Here at IDS, we carry £400k worth of new inverter stock. This is to support our customers whose production needs to be kept going 24/7. But what do we consider when storing inverters? Here are a few answers:

How to Store Inverters

1. Inverters need a cool, dry, dust free environment. They are power electronic devices and therefore don’t like heat or being contaminated with dust or especially water.
2. The storage area needs to be vibration free. If the semiconductors are subjected to continuous vibration, then their life is significantly reduced.
3. We periodically re-form the inverter’s internal capacitors. Over time, the insulation within the capacitors reduces in thickness and effectiveness. This can lead to premature capacitor failure. When a capacitor does fail, it can damage the inverter terminally! To prevent this, at IDS, we re-form our inverters’ capacitors with a custom variable dc voltage power supply. We apply a low dc voltage to the inverter for an hour, allowing the voltage to rise to its rated voltage over the next hour. This builds up the insulation thickness within the capacitors returning them to an ‘as new’ condition.

Re-Forming Capacitors

Do you have any inverters in storage? IDS can come to site and re-form their capacitors annually ensuring the inverters are ready to operate straight from the box.

Don’t Store Inverters?

For those that do not keep a stock of inverters, IDS are an ABB AVP, as such we carry ABB service and maintenance cases. Our engineers are on call 24 hours a day 7 days, with access to our new inverter stock and an extensive hire drive range, we can have your site up and running in no time. Simply call us on 0115 944 1036