AC 3 phase induction motors

The polyphase induction motor is self starting. Its speed falls to a small extent with load ( as does a D.C. shunt wound motor) It has two main parts, the stator which is similar to a stationary armature of an alternator, and the rotor, mounted on bearings within the stator.

Stator
This is provided with three sets of windings energised separately by the individual phases of a three phase supply, giving a rotating magnetic field, constant in magnitude and rotating at the same angular frequency as that of the supply voltage. Squirrel cage rotor

Rotor- There are no electrical or other connections made to the rotor which is built up of soft iron laminations fixed to the shaft and slotted to receive conductors.

The squirrel cage rotor has a single stout copper conductor bedded into slots, these conductors being short circuited by heavy copper rings at both ends. A similar electrical type has windings on the rotor which are short circuited but are not in the form of a squirrel cage. Current flowing in the squirrel cage rotor conductors is an induced current and cannot be controlled. When it is necessary to vary the rotor current a three phase wound rotor is used and the connections to the windings are brought out to slip rings across which variable resistance's are connected and can reduce starting current, improve starting torque and control speed.

Principal of operation
If a conductor set at right angles to a magnetic fields moves across the flux from left to right, the direction of the induced voltage will be out of the paper, by lenz's law. If this conductor is part of a complete circuit, them a current will flow in the direction of this voltage, and there will be a force on the conductor tending to urge it from right to left.

The same relative motion of field and conductor is obtained if the conductor is stationary and the field moved form right to left. If a current is switched on in the stator setting up a rotating field then electromotive forces are set up in the rotor. The resulting rotor currents give rise to a force in the conductors tending to move the rotor in the same direction as the stator field motion. The speed of the rotor can never equal the speed of the stator rotating field as there must always be relative motion between the conductors and the rotating field. The greater the difference between the stator rotating field speed and the rotor speed the greater the relative speed of conductors and field, and the greater the force on each conductor with more torque exerted on the whole.

Slip = Field speed - Rotor Speed/ Field speed The greater the slip the greater the torque exerted. Light load slip is about 2%, full load slip is about 4 to 5%.

Torque and slip

Consider the frequency of the stator fields relative to each conductor. When the rotor is at reat this equals the alternation of the supply. If lightly loaded the slip is small, say only one or two cycles per second. Resistance of a squirrel cage rotor as a rule will be very small and its inductance high. Its reactance will thus be large at the frequency of the supply and much less when it is running (induced reactance depends upon frequency). XL XL L = Inductance [ H ] = = 2 Inductive p f L resistance

The power factor of the rotor will be low at starting and its torque small. P.F. of 0.2 to 0.4 on starting. If the resistance of the conductors was increased, the starting power factor is increased.

As the frequency difference between the rotating field and the rotating conductors reduces so the Inductive resistance component reduces and so the power factor increases improving efficiency and reducing current draw.

Wound rotor
If the resistance of the conductors was increased, the starting power factor is increased. There are tow possible methods for attaining this. The first is to have a rotor squirrel cage made of a suitable high resistance material say bronze rather than copper, a second method is to use a wire wound rotor with the ends of the windings brought out via slip rings and attached to high resistance's. However at working speeds more slip is needed for a given torque. So what is gained in starting is lost in steady running. When a large starting torque is essential a Wound Rotor may be used, with external variable resistances which can be cut out as the rotor speed increases. A less expensive solution is a dual squirrel cage rotor

Note:It is the resistance in the closed circuit which determines the current in the circuit induced by the rotating field

Comparisons of cage and slip ring rotors

Squirrel cage Advantages Cheaper and more robust Slightly higher efficiency and power factor Explosion proof, since abscence of slip rings and brushes eliminates risk of sparking Virtually constant speed machine Disadvantages High starting current ( 5 to 8 times F.L.) Low starting torque Wound rotor with slip rings Advantages

High starting torquw Lower starting current Speed can be varied if required

Disadvantages cost Danger from sparking

For small squirrel cage motors direct on line starting with starter current of about 5 x full load . With larger squirrel cage where the torque increases as speed of load increases ( fans, bow thrusters, etc.) reduced voltage starting may be obtained with star delta or auto transformer starters. In modern marine practices the wound rotor with slip rings is seldom found. To obtain high starting torque with starting currents of about 3.5 x full load the induction motor rotor is provided with two cages. a. AN outer cage in shallow slots with high resistance ( bronze) b. An inner cage in deeper slots of low resistance (copper) On starting the inner cage is very reactive with low torque and little current (See graph above).The outer cage has high torque with most of the rotor current when starting. During running most of the current is in the inner cage of low resistance as at small slip the inductive reactance is low. These two cage induction motors may be started direct on line and are widely used in marine practice.

Skewed conductors (windings)

Magnetic hum Two possible sources of magnetic hum , commonly heard in transformers, are Attraction and repulsion alternately of laminations Magnetic striction i.e. when the poles in a bar are aligned the bar has a tendency to expand.

Synchronous motors
Advantages The ease with which the power factor can be controlled. An overexcited synchronous motor with a leading power factor can be operated in parallel with induction motors having a lagging power factor to improve the overall power factor of the supply system The speed is constant and independent of the load. This characteristic is mainly of use when the motor is required to drive another alternator to generate a supply at a frequency, as in frequency changers Uses-A.C. electric propulsion schemes but generally not for auxiliary purposes. Disadvantages Cost per h.p. is greater than induction motors D.C. supply is necessary for the rotor excitation. This is usually provided by a small D.C. generator carried on an extension of the shaft. Some arrangement must be provided for starting and synchronising the motor. Two possible methods are by pony motor, or by incorporating a wound rotor induction windings which may be opened when up to speed and a D.C. voltage applied

Graph of induction motors showing effect of increasing the ratio of resistance to inductance.

Full load occurs at around 40 % torque. It can be seen that varying the resistance will change the degree of slip and hence speed. For R = 2X the motor is not self starting as it never reaches full starting torque. It will also be expensive to run due to the high heat losses through the resistance's.

At reduced load the power factor is much reduced. Because of this it is very inefficient to place an oversized motor on a load, or to have several motors only partly loaded.

The effects of frequency and voltage change on an induction motor.

Effects of voltage change
At constant voltage if frequency is increased from 50Hz to 60Hz there is an increased Inductive resistance XL. As stator flux is reduced this effects the starting torque increasing starting current demand. Higher speed increases power output. If a centrifugal pump or fan the power increase is proportional to the speed cubed ( [60 / 50]3 = 1.728) giving a 73% increase in power demand. At constant voltage if the frequency is decreased from 60Hz to 50Hz the stator flux is increased but the speed is reduced by a 83%. Unless the load is reduced the machine will run hotter than normal. Starters and contactors could be adversely affected. A 440v 60Hz system supplied from a 415v 50Hz shore supply runs at 83% speed, slightly hotter but should run without damage.

Effects of frequency change

At constant frequency if voltage is reduced this has little effect on speed (less than 5%) but increased current for same power. Torque is proportional to the square of the voltage therefore there is a corresponding and greater drop in available starting torque, this leads to longer run up times and the possibility of stalling.

As induction motors very really run at full load, a large voltage reduction would be required to cause a damaging current. At constant frequency if voltage is increased gives a stronger stator flux depending on slot design and original flux density this could increase stator iron losses sufficiently to cause overheating.

Squirrel cage

wound rotor