Hey Owen,
no, your VFD is obviously a model that you can attach on one phase OR on three-phase. But 220 V three-phase is not common in Europe. What is common is 400 V three-phase, or 230 V single-phase. What I say is, when you want to suck the same power from a single phase line, you will suck more ampères as if you would suck the power over three phases, and the wire size and fuse size will be different too. The wire sizes and the fuse do not depend on power, but on current. That’s why if you suck the same power (in kVA) from one phase, you will need more current (in ampères), and thus thicker wires and a larger fuse, than if you would suck the same power from three phases.
Correct, the AB022 is for 220 V one-phase input (common in Europe), the A2022 is for 220 V three-phase input (e.g. U.S. industrial three-phase), and the A4022 is for 400 V three-phase input (also common in Europe).
In North America, three-phase electricity is uncommon in residential areas (there you usually find split-phase electricity with 120 and 240 V), but three-phase exists in industrial areas. In Europe, three-phase electricity is ubiquitous. Note that the single-phase voltage is always √3 × three-phase voltage, e.g. √3 × 400 V = 230 V (Europe) or e.g. √3 × 208 V = 120 V (U.S. industrial areas)
That are no stupid questions. I wll be happy if I can help.
PS: Depending on your country, there may be different plugs and sockets in use. But the IEC 60309 plugs and sockets (often called “CEE”) are a standard for currents over 16 A or multiphase electricity.
This is the wall outlet I use, 230 V one phase, rated for 32 A:
– Source: RalfZ, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Image 1: A Blue P+N+E 6h / 32 A CEE wall outlet
What is sometimes confusing to newcomers is that a VFD input can run on one phase OR three phases on its input, but at its output, it creates always three phases. But those output phases have nothing to do with the input phases.
A VFD works → this way.