VLT®, VACON® or iC7? A guide to the Danfoss drive families
An overview of the Danfoss drive families – VLT®, VACON® 100 and NXP, and iC7 – and which applications each one is built for.
Danfoss sells drives under three main names: VLT®, VACON® and the newer iC7 series. All of them are frequency converters that control the speed of AC motors, but each family is tuned for different applications. The power ranges below refer to the variants available in our catalogue.
VLT® drives
| Series | Built for | Power in our catalogue |
|---|---|---|
| VLT® HVAC Drive FC 102 | Fans, pumps and compressors in buildings | 1.1–1400 kW |
| VLT® AQUA Drive FC 202 | Water and wastewater pumps and blowers | 0.25–1000 kW |
| VLT® Refrigeration Drive FC 103 | Compressors, condenser fans and pumps in refrigeration | 1.1–800 kW |
| VLT® AutomationDrive FC 302 | Demanding industrial automation and motion | 0.25–1200 kW |
| VLT® AutomationDrive FC 301 | General industrial automation | 0.25–75 kW |
| VLT® Midi Drive FC 280 | Compact machine building | 0.37–22 kW |
| VLT® HVAC Basic Drive FC 101 | Cost-effective HVAC fans and pumps | 0.25–90 kW |
Pick FC 102, FC 202 or FC 103 when the application is clearly HVAC, water or refrigeration. Their software includes application-specific functions for those loads. Choose FC 302 when you need high overload, precise speed or position control, or advanced safety options.
VACON® drives
- VACON® 100 INDUSTRIAL and VACON® 100 FLOW – wall-mounted and cabinet drives from 0.55 to 800 kW. INDUSTRIAL is for machinery and process lines; FLOW is for pumps and fans.
- VACON® 20 – a compact drive for simple machines, up to 18.5 kW.
- VACON® NXP – a modular high-power platform with air-cooled and liquid-cooled variants, common DC bus inverters, active front ends and grid converters, up to several megawatts.
iC7 series
The iC7 series is Danfoss’ newest generation of drives. iC7-Automation frequency converters cover 0.37–710 kW in our catalogue. The iC7-Hybrid and iC7-Marine system modules serve energy storage, grid and marine applications.
Decentral and enclosed drives
For distributed installations close to the motor, see the Decentral Drives such as the VLT® Decentral Drive FCD 302 (IP66). For a complete cabinet with input devices and filters built in, see Enclosed Drives.
Which one should I choose?
Start from the application, then the power and voltage, then the options you need. Read our 7-step drive selection checklist, or send us the motor data and we’ll recommend a model.
