Variable frequency technology was developed to meet the demand for stepless speed regulation of AC motors. In the late 1950s, General Electric Company (GE) of the United States introduced the thyristor (silicon controlled rectifier, SCR), a power semiconductor component that provided an epoch-making basic hardware for variable frequency technology.
Entering the 1970s, due to the limitations of DC motor speed regulation, AC motors gained growing popularity. Driven by increasing market demand, the technology continued to evolve and mature. In 1971, the United States and Germany proposed vector control technology, which enabled the AC speed regulation performance of frequency converters to be comparable to that of DC speed regulation. In 1973, the United States put forward power electronics as a new technical discipline, with its largest application field being speed regulation and transmission systems. In 1979, Japan put the variable frequency speed regulation system adopting vector control into practical use, marking a new stage in the technological development.
By the 1980s, thanks to advances in power semiconductor switching devices and microelectronics technology, frequency converters achieved improved performance and reliability along with reduced production costs, paving the way for their widespread application.
Over decades, power electronic devices have evolved from the initial Silicon Controlled Rectifiers (SCRs) and Gate Turn-Off Thyristors (GTOs), through Bipolar Junction Transistors (BJTs), Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Field-Effect Transistors (MOSFETs), Static Induction Transistors (SITs), Static Induction Thyristors (SITHs), MOS-Gated Transistors (MGTs) and MOS-Controlled Thyristors (MCTs), to today’s Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistors (IGBTs) and High-Voltage Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistors (HVIGBTs). The upgrading of these devices has expanded the application fields of variable frequency drives (VFDs) and driven the rapid growth of the market scale.
Entering the 1980s, the global variable frequency drive (VFD) technology underwent an accelerated transformation. Mature VFD products were widely applied across various sectors of the national economy.
As China evolved into the world's factory, the rapid development of its manufacturing industry created an ever-expanding market space for VFD products. Yet to this day, the domestic VFD market can still be said to be dominated by foreign brands. Japanese, European and American brands account for 80% of the market share. In recent years, however, Taiwanese VFD brands have also achieved strong performance, while domestic brands as a whole remain in a relatively weak position.
Once lagging behind foreign counterparts by 10–15 years, domestic VFD brands have not only achieved significant technological breakthroughs through accelerated catch-up efforts in recent years, but also several manufacturers have aligned with international standards and gained considerable corporate competitiveness.
Domestic VFD producers such as ZONCN, INVT, Ambition and Zhiguang Electric have begun to capture an increasing share of the market by virtue of their price advantages. Nevertheless, it cannot be denied that the core factor determining the competitiveness of domestic VFDs still lies in their technological capabilities.
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