STARTING PERFORMANCE CHARACTERISTICS OF INDUCTION MOTOR DRIVING CENTRIFUGAL PUMP

E.H.T. El-Shirbeeny
Electric Power Research Laboratory Abu Dhabi Water & Electricity Authority .P. O. Box 72419, Abu Dhabi, U. A. E Email: Eshirbeeny@pcwes.gov.ae Abstract In this paper, an analysis is presented for studying the electrical starting performance characteristics of a three phase induction motor driving a centrifugal pump. A simulation model is formulated and the motor variables are evaluated during the motor starting period. The dynamic characteristics of the motor-pump unit are studied under different hydraulic loading conditions. The influence of the system parameters on the motor starting performance is also investigated to identify a suitable system design configuration for optimum motor starting performance. has been made for certain type of loads such as that for water pumping. The d-q axis theory [8] have been generally used to study the motor transients and significant computing effort is required to maintain the accuracy of the results within acceptable limits. However, the analytical models of these studies are mainly linear and results are computed around quiescent points. The nature of the hydraulic load of the pump is nonlinear and is reflected on the motor dynamic characteristics. A direct solution for the motor-pump dynamic equations of operation is very difficult and a digital simulation model is therefore worked out in this paper taking into account the practical approximations which can validate the accuracy of the simulation results. Reasonable range of parameter variations have been introduced in this paper and results are obtained to identify the important system design parameters influencing the electrical starting characteristics of the motor pumping unit. MODELING OF MOTOR-PUMP UNIT Two types of rotary pumps are commonly used in irrigation and drainage stations. They are mainly centrifugal and axial flow pumps. The principle of operation for these pumps is that energy of the liquid is increased by imparting tangential acceleration to it as it flows through the pump. Mixed flow pumps are a combination of centrifugal and axial flow pumps. For a fixed diameter pumping liquid with zero static lift, the characteristics of the centrifugal pump at a speed n2 can be modeled knowing the corresponding characteristics of the pump at speed n1 as follows: h1/h2 = n12/n22 Q1/Q2 = n1 /n2 and h1/h2 = (Q1/Q2)2 (3) Equations 1, 2 and 3 can be expressed as functions of the pump design constants k1, k2 and k3 as: (1) (2)

:Keywords .Induction motors, pump drives, starting performance

INTRODUCTION Three phase induction motors are the most common electric drives in pumping stations. The normal practice in controlling the output of a water pumping station is switching on and off different pump units [1]. During switching-on period of induction motor, high currents are drawn from the power supply [2] and possible voltage dips may occur. This could aggravate the performance of other electric equipment connected in parallel. The voltage dip during motor starting period causes flicker in the electric incandescent lamps. Frequent starting of the motor causes excessive overheating of the motor windings leading to possible operational failures [3]. Different methods [4] are usually employed to reduce the motor starting currents and the corresponding voltage dips. In order to optimize the application of these methods, adequate knowledge of the motor starting performance is required. In this paper, a simulation study is presented to evaluate the starting characteristics of three phase induction motor driving a centrifugal pump under hydraulic loading. Several papers [5,6,7] have been published to report studies on the nature of the starting currents and the electro magnetically produced torque in the motor during the starting period but no account

Q = k1 . n h = k2 . n2 h = k3 . Q2

(4) (5) (6)

The hydraulic power, Ph , can be computed from the hydraulic head water flow rate using the following equation: Ph = 9.81 Q h (7) Based on the system equations, a mathematical model is formulated and shown by the block diagram in Fig.1.

.Fig.2. Motor-pump coupling arrangement

The torque transform between the shaft of motor and pump is described by the following equation.

((9

Tm = Tp

.Fig.1. Pump model

The pump model is nonlinear and the speed output signal, n, is supplied from the shaft of a power transmission unit coupled to the driving motor shaft. Four types of single stage centrifugal pumps have been considered in this study. They are mainly: inclined mixed flow pumps, axial flow pumps, mixed flow horizontal pumps and submersible pumps. Representative pump design data [10, 11] used in this study are given in Appendix I. The choice of these types of pumps is based on an adequate range of specific speeds between 90 to 1900 commonly used in irrigation and industrial applications [12]. The selected pumps allow the study of the effects of different pump structure and performance characteristics on the starting behavior of the driving motor. Figure 2 shows a schematic for the mechanical coupling arrangement in the motor-pump unit in this study. The motor output power, Pm, is transferred to the pump shaft as an input power, Pp, through a power transmission unit. Losses in power transmission is neglected in this analysis for two reasons. The first one is due to its small amount relative to the power transmitted. The second reason is the convenience of this assumption to simplify system analysis without sacrificing the accuracy. However, the power transmission unit acts as a torque converter which is considered in the analysis of the system starting .characteristics

The motor mathematical model is derived from its equivalent circuit [9] shown in Fig. 3. All motor electric parameters are referred to its stator windings side. The motor design data is given in Appendix II. X1 r1 x2

V1

xm

r2/s

.Fig. 3. Motor equivalent circuit

During starting, the motor slip, s, varies with time. The slip variation with respect to time during starting is modeled by the following equation:

ts 1 2Tm x s= ( Tm ) d t 0 J ws s + s m x sm x s

(1 0)

MOTOR STARTING PERFORMANCE

The starting process of a three phase squirrel cage induction motor driving submersible pump is studied under the following hydraulic loading condition: 3.7 m head, 130 m3/min flow rate, 75.57 pump efficiency and 3000 rpm speed. The motor is operated on load and supplied from a balanced three phase supply with nominal operating variables. For this condition the computed starting time is 3.9 seconds. The simulation results for the system electrical parameters during the motor starting period are shown in Fig. 4.

.Fig.5. Power variation during starting period

Three modes of operation of the pump had been considered to study power loss during motor starting. These operational modes are mainly: constant head, constant flow rate and variable head/flow-rate operations. It is found that minimum power loss occurs during starting with constant head operating mode. The highest starting power loss occurs with variable head/flow-rate operating mode. However, the power loss at the end of the starting period depends only on the applied steady state load of the pump. INFLUENCE OF STARTING PARAMETERS ON MOTOR STARTING PERFORMANCE The interest behind investigating the starting performance characteristics of the motor-pump unit stems from possible deteriorating effects of high starting currents and power losses and the need to optimize system operation during the starting period. The temperature rise of the motor windings is influenced to a large extent by the I2t represented by tmpr that is :computed as follows

Fig. 4. variations of motor operating variables during .start It is seen that the power factor, pfk, increases till it reaches its nominal value at the end of the starting period. The motor input current, iqk, apparent power, sik, and reactive power, rqk, decrease as the motor speed increase and they reach their rated steady values after starting. The input real power, Pinqk, increases at the beginning and it decreases near the end of the starting period to reach its nominal value at the steady state. The motor and pump power components are computed by the system simulation model during the starting period and the results are shown in Fig.5. It is seen that a portion of the motor power, pok, is transferred to the pump during starting due to the physical limitation of power transfer between the electrical, mechanical, and hydraulic elements of the system. However, the pump shaft power, ppk, is shown to comprise the impeller power, ppqk and the water power pphk.

ts 2 tm p =r i1t.d t 0

(1 1 )

The starting time, ts, depends on the loading condition of the pump. In this study, the range of parameter variations considered are taken between 50% and 150% of the rated design values. The effect of voltage variation was simulated between 70% to 120% of rated motor terminal voltage. The effects of perturbed operating conditions on temperature of motor windings, tmprn, starting time at no load, tson, starting time on load, tsn, mechanical energy losses, menln, and the electrical energy losses, penln are investigated and results are shown in the following sections.

The effects of changing the motor stator windings resistance, r1n, on the motor-pump unit starting characteristics is shown in Fig. 6. It is seen that the electrical energy losses and the motor temperature are not greatly influenced by changes in the stator resistance. However, the starting time and mechanical energy losses are increased for larger windings .resistance values

effected by variation of the stator reactance, the starting time increases to a large extent for higher values of reactance. It is also seen that the motor temperature decreases by increasing the stator reactance.

.Fig.8. Influence of stator reactance variation

Figure 9 shows the effects of changing the rotor leakage reactance. The increase of the rotor reactance causes an increase of the starting time and a slight decrease of the motor temperature. However, it is seen that the influence of changing the rotor reactance on the other starting variables is rather weak.

.Fig.6. Influence of changing stator resistance

Figure 7 depicts the influence of varying the motor rotor resistance, r2n, on the starting characteristics. It is seen

.Fig.9. Influence of rotor reactance variation

The magnetizing reactance, xmn of the motor electric circuit depends on the rotor slip [13], which is changing continuously during the starting period. Due to this fact, it is essential to investigate the influence of changing the magnetization reactance of the motor circuit on the starting performance characteristics of the motor-pump unit. Results of a simulation study performed to show this influence are graphically given in Fig. 10. It is seen that the variation of the magnetization reactance has slight effect on motor starting characteristics. A small decrease in the starting time, mechanical energy losses and the .motor temperature are observed

.Fig.7. Influence of changing rotor resistance that the starting time and the motor temperature are largely decreased by increasing rotor resistance. However, the sensitivity of starting time in this case is less than that of varying the stator resistance. The electric energy losses are decreased slightly for higher rotor resistance and the rate of decrease of mechanical energy loss is rather higher.
The simulation results of studying the effect of varying the stator leakage reactance are shown in Fig. 8. While energy losses during the starting period are slightly

.Fig.12. Influence of terminal voltage variation .Fig.10. Influence of magnetization reactance variation
The motor dynamics during starting depend to a large extent on the inertia constant, J, of the motorpump unit. The inertia constant is a function of the shape and type of material that forms the rotating parts. The influence of the inertia constant on the motor starting performance is depicted in Fig. 11. It is seen that the inertia constant has a strong influence on the starting characteristics of the motor. Larger value of the inertia constant increases the staring time, temperature rise, and energy losses of the motor-pump unit. The pump specific speed, nspn, is a representative design parameter which reflects the main feature of the pump type [14]. The shape and dimension of the pump impeller decide the capacity, Q, the hydraulic lift, h, and speed, n, of the centrifugal pump. Larger specific speeds of volute pumps correspond to pumps having larger ratio between blade width and inner diameter of the outer dimension of the impeller. As the specific speed increase, the pump type changes to the mixed flow and then to the axial flow type. In general the specific speed decides the structure and performance characteristics of the centrifugal pump, The effect of changing the pump specific speed was simulated to study its influence on the starting of the motor-pump unit. The results are shown in Fig. 13. It is seen that choosing a centrifugal pump of higher specific speed results into a relatively shorter starting time. In this case lower temperature rise and energy losses are observed. Large pumps are therefore better matched to .extract more useful power from the electric drive

.Fig.11. Influence of inertia constant

In many situations, the starting current of the induction motor is so high that it may cause voltage dip at the motor terminal due to the voltage drop in the supply network. In industrial environment, the terminal voltage my vary in the range between 70% to 120% of rated value. The voltage variation effect was simulated and its influence on the motor starting performance is computed. The results are shown in Fig. 12. Decreasing the motor voltage will increase the starting time. It is also seen that decreasing the terminal voltage will decrease the losses and the motor temperature rise. However, the voltage influence on the starting time is rather high.

.Fig.13. Influence of pump specific speed

CONCLUSIONS A simulation study is presented in this paper for evaluating the starting performance characteristics of a motor-pump unit. The unit consists of a three phase induction motor driving a centrifugal pump. A digital simulation model has been formulated and the effects of different design and operating parameters have been investigated. Starting the motor under hydraulic loading conditions decreases the

starting time to a certain degree. The starting time is very sensitive to variations in the leakage reactance of the motor stator windings and the inertia of the rotating parts of the motor-pump unit. Although the rotor resistance and applied motor voltage has an impact on the starting time, their effect is inversely nonlinear. Higher rotor resistances and specific pump speeds improve the starting performance characteristics yielding lower energy losses and decreased motor temperature rise during the starting period. The simulation results have provided useful information that helps in establishing guidelines for optimizing influencing design parameters of the system and starting performance characteristics of the motor.

LIST OF SYMBOLS V1 = motor terminal phase voltage i1 = motor input current I2 = rotor current referred to stator side s = motor slip ns = synchronous speed of the rotating magnetic field in the motor air gap r1, x1: stator resistance and reactance per phase r2, x2: rotor resistance and reactance per phase referred to stator side xm : magnetization reactance tmpr: indicative measure of temperature rise of motor windings h : hydraulic head Q : flow rate VII. REFERENCES [1] A. Stepanaff, centrifugal and axial flow pumps, Book, John Wiley & Sons, N.Y., 1997. [2] R. Natarajan and V. Misra, Starting transient current of induction motors without and with motor terminal capacitors, IEE Trans. On Energy Conversion, v.6, n.1, March 1991. [3] I. Karassik, Centrifugal pump clinic, Book, Marcel Dekker, N.Y., 1989. [4] A. Fyodorov, Industrial power supply, Book, MIR Publisher, Moscow, 1988. [5] I. Smith and Sriharan, Transient performance of induction motor, Proc. IEE, v. 113, pp.11731181, 1966. [6] W. Wood, F. Flynn and A. Shanmugasundram, Transient torques in induction motors due to switching of the supply Proc. IEE, v.117, n.7, pp.1348-1354, 1965. [7] P. Alger and Y. Ku, Switching transients in wound

rotor induction motors AIEE technical Paper: 54-23, Nov. 1953. [8] J. Meisel, Electromechanical energy conversion, Book, McGraw-Hill, N.Y., 1966. [9] D. Brown and E. Hamilton, Electromechanical energy conversion, Book, Macmillan Publishing Co., N.Y., 1984. [10] Kubota Ltd., Kubota Models: SP, SPV, DSV.V, DF-S.SP-S, catalogues, Kubota, Japan, 1996. [11] Saer Elettropompe, Submersible pumps, Catalogue, SAER, Gaustalla, Italy, 1996. [12] Kubota Ltd, Pump handbook, Kubota, Japan, 1995. [13] L. Perira , Induction generators for small hydroplants Water Powe and Dam Construction, pp.30-34, Nov. 1981. [14] P. Fraenkel, Water pumping devices, Book, FAO/ITP, London, 1986. APPENDIX I Specifications and parameters for Centrifugal Pumps

:TYPE 1
Inclined mixed flow pump for irrigation and drainage Suitable for river bank installation Single stage
Efficiency

Design data are in Table AI-1 Table AI-1

Discharge diameter Capacity Head Speed

(Inch) 12 14 16 18 20 24 :TYPE 2

(cm/min) 10 14 19 25 32 39

(m) 38.2 25.1 19.6 12.7 11.8 8.3

(rpm) 1490 1490 1490 985 990 735

% 83.2 76.6 81.2 69.2 82.3 70.6

Axial flow pump Horizontal

Large capacity, low head

Suitable for fluctuating head and constant flow design data are in Table AI-2 Table AI-2
Discharge diameter Capacity Head Speed Efficiency

(mm)

(cm/min)

(m)

(rpm)

2100 1600 1200 1100 900 800 :TYPE 3

370 240 165 135 110 85

1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5

85 140 215 260 350 420

8.66 78.48 71.94 73.57 71.94 64.85

0.15 ohm/phase Rotor resistance: 0.07 ohm/phase Magnetization reactance: 6.00 ohm/phase Windage and friction losses: 3.00 kW Moment of inertia:6 kg.m2

Submersible semi axial pump Design data are in Table AI-3 Table AI-3
Discharge diameter Capacity Head Speed

Efficiency

(Inch) 10 10 :TYPE 4

(cm/min) 2.7 3.7

(m) 130 88

(rpm) 3000 3000

% 75.57 71

S-type centrifugal pump

Horizontally split case construction Single stage volute type having a double suction closed impeller Used in general water services, utilities and crude oil transfer Design data are in Table AI-4 Table AI-4
Capacity Head Speed

Efficiency

(cm/min) 10 24

(m) 36 16

(rpm) 1170 1170

% 78.00 83.70

APPENDIX II Three Phase Induction Motor Parameters Stator connection: star Voltage: Frequency: Output power: 460 volt 50 Hz 100 Hp

Synchronous speed: 3000 rpm Stator leakage reactance: 0.18 ohm/phase Stator resistance: 0.09 ohm/phase Rotor leakage reactance: