The variable frequency drives today play an important role in industrial drives application. Set-up of frequency converter parameters, selecting the optimal working cycle and testing after maintenance or repair can be impossible or complicated in a field conditions. Therefore, a test bench that allows perform these operations in the laboratory could significantly reduce the testing costs and installation time. The paper describes design of the DC motor based test bench that emulates a real mechanical load for performing tests of variable frequency drive. After verification of system work in simulation software real hardware with the test bench control system was designed; the working principle of the bench and applied components is described in the paper. SCADA system was implemented to visualize the parameters of the test bench. The developed test bench could be used to test the variable frequency converter or test it at different load conditions. The experimental results are shown in the paper. The implemented measurement system allows to evaluate efficiency of different control algorithms. The example of industrial load emulation is shown in the paper.