The Chinese drives manufacturer Powtran has announced a 0.75kW single-phase inverter that will sell for US $75 for orders of 100 or more. The PI8600 inverter offers a choice of V/f or vector control for synchronous or permanent magnet motors.

The 220–240V DSP-based inverter provides output frequencies from 0–800Hz and offers an overload capacity of 150% of the rated current for 60s. Seven steps of speed control, and eight steps of acceleration control, are possible. Plug-in option cards can be used to tailor the inverter to specific applications.

There are 30 types of protection function built in. Other features include: six programmable output control terminals; an internal PID function for high-performance, closed-loop control; PID-regulated DC braking; a fault-logging function; remote keyboard control; automatic slip compensation; a temperature control function; RS-485 support; motor noise reduction; and the ability to restart after momentary power losses. The drives can operate in ambient temperatures from –10 to +45°C and at altitudes from 0–1,000m (or 4,000m with derating).