An inverter drive that does not just save energy, but injects any surplus safely into the mains or shares it with other connected drives to reduce energy costs.

In operation inverter drives maintain continuous control of the connected motor.  To achieve this they both drive a motor that is moving a load, and shed excess energy when the load is driving the motor such as during braking or retardation.  In a standard inverter drive the input section includes a diode bridge that only permits electricity to flow in one direction so dissipation of the excess energy is normally via braking resistors in the form of heat.

However in a regenerative inverter drive an additional unit is installed that allows a reverse flow of power through the input section that enables the drive to shed the excess kinetic energy by converting it into electricity and injecting it safely into the mains or sharing it with other drives by connecting them together.

One example of a regenerative inverter drive is the Mitsubishi Electric FRA-741