FGI high-voltage frequency converters safeguard the South-to-North Water Diversion Project

The South-to-North Water Diversion Project is a major national strategic infrastructure project. It optimizes water resource allocation and ensures water supply for people's daily needs. In this project, the multi-stage pumping stations of the Eastern Route play a critical role in ensuring safe water delivery. One key pumping station along the Eastern Route uses synchronous motor units. These units operate under high-load conditions for long periods. They carry important water transfer tasks. As a result, the station demands extremely high reliability from its core speed control equipment.

The pumping station originally used imported high-voltage variable frequency drives. After years of operation, a series of problems gradually emerged. The air-cooling system performed poorly in heat dissipation. Equipment failure rates increased each year. Spare parts became difficult to source. Operation and maintenance costs remained high. During hot summer months, the equipment frequently triggered overheat alarms. Operators had to reduce the load, which directly lowered water transfer efficiency. The lead time for imported spare parts could stretch to several months. If a core component failed, the pumping station might face long-term shutdowns. These issues severely impacted the station's water transfer capacity. They also directly threatened water diversion safety. Replacing the core equipment with a domestically developed solution became urgent.

FGI has over 30 years of experience in variable frequency technology. The company developed a water-cooled high-voltage variable frequency drive using its own R&D capabilities. This solution effectively resolved the problems mentioned above. FGI provided five sets of its domestically developed solution to replace the imported air-cooled equipment. This upgrade ensures independent control over the core equipment of this major water infrastructure project.

Water cooling technology innovation overcomes industry technical challenges

FGI designed the SVG series water-cooled high-voltage VFD solution specifically for the pump station. This solution tackles the harsh working environment and the various problems of the old equipment. Through technological innovation, we broke the monopoly of foreign manufacturers in this field. As a result, we significantly improved the equipment's performance and its ability to adapt to different conditions.

Closed-Loop Water Cooling Design Greatly Improves Operating Efficiency：We abandoned the traditional air-cooling method. Instead, we adopted a closed-loop pure water circulation cooling system. This system works with an indoor water cooling cabinet and an outdoor chiller unit. Water conducts and exchanges heat much better than air. This allows us to lower the temperature of power units by more than 15°C compared to the old equipment. This solution fundamentally solves the problem of equipment reducing load due to overheating or frequently triggering high-temperature alarms. It ensures the unit operates continuously at full load stably throughout the year. Additionally, the fully enclosed cabinet design completely isolates indoor air from outdoor air. This effectively prevents dust and moisture from entering the equipment. As a result, we reduce maintenance workload by 90%.

Non-Impact Bypass Switching Function Ensures Uninterrupted Operation：We adopted a "one-to-one" automatic bypass design. This design includes complete electrical and mechanical interlocking devices. Under normal operation, the equipment runs efficiently through variable frequency speed control. When the equipment requires maintenance or experiences a fault, it can switch seamlessly to the utility grid—either automatically or manually. The switching process causes no electrical surge and no shutdown. This firmly secures the continuous operation of water transfer tasks. It completely eliminates the risk of unplanned downtime.

Intelligent Digital Control Makes Operation and Maintenance More Efficient：The equipment features a high-speed DSP and FPGA full-digital control architecture. It uses a sensorless vector control algorithm. This provides precise speed control and smooth startup. The system also integrates a color touchscreen monitor, accurate fault prediction and alerts, and multiple protection functions. It supports various communication protocols. This allows seamless integration into the pump station's DCS centralized control system. The system enables remote monitoring and unattended operation. This greatly improves the efficiency of operation and maintenance work.

High Energy Efficiency and Low Loss Support Green and Low-Carbon Operations：The equipment outperforms relevant national standards in key performance indicators. These include rated load efficiency, input power factor, and harmonic content. This solution reduces equipment energy consumption and lowers operating costs. It also achieves green and low-carbon operation. This aligns with the national "dual carbon" development strategy.

Domestic substitution has yielded positive results, strengthening the safety defenses of engineering projects.

The 5 sets of water-cooled high-voltage frequency converters of FGI have maintained zero faults since they were put into operation. After undergoing long-term operation tests, the equipment conditions have been very stable, and all indicators have reached or exceeded the design standards.

1. Safety Upgrade

The new solution completely resolves the overheating and frequent faults that plagued the imported equipment. It fully supports the smooth execution of the South-to-North Water Diversion task. It also helps safeguard national water security.

2. Significant Cost Reduction

Domestic spare parts now provide ample supply. Technical response time can be as short as 24 hours. Maintenance costs drop by more than 60% compared to the imported equipment.

3. Far-Reaching Demonstration Value

This domestic replacement project breaks the monopoly of foreign brands in variable frequency equipment for major water infrastructure projects. It achieves independent control over core technology. It also sets a benchmark for equipment localization in strategic infrastructure sectors such as water conservancy and energy.

Upholding independent innovation and empowering strategic infrastructure

FGI has always adhered to the concept of independent innovation and has been deeply engaged in the research and development and manufacturing of power electronic equipment. With cutting-edge technologies, it has solved the "choking" problems of high-end equipment. The successful implementation of this South-to-North Water Diversion Project is an important milestone for domestic variable-frequency equipment to serve major national projects.

In the future, FGI will continue to focus on the demand for strategic infrastructure construction, continuously iterate water-cooled variable-frequency and intelligent control technologies, and provide higher-quality domestic solutions to safeguard national major projects and contribute to high-level self-reliance and strength in science and technology.