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1666 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 40, NO. 6, NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2004
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MALINOWSKI et al.: ADVANCES IN CONSTRUCTION TECHNIQUES OF AC INDUCTION MOTORS 1667
TABLE IV TABLE V
IEC DEFAULT VALUES FOR STRAY LOAD LOSSES APPROXIMATE ESTIMATION OF COMPARABLE EFFICIENCY LEVELS
USING JEC, IEC, AND IEEE TEST METHODS
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1668 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 40, NO. 6, NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2004
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MALINOWSKI et al.: ADVANCES IN CONSTRUCTION TECHNIQUES OF AC INDUCTION MOTORS 1669
Rotors were cast in a 750-ton (650 metric tonne) horizontal creased conductivity of copper rotor bars. Rotor slot dimen-
die-casting machine. Chopped copper wire rod was used for sions are reduced and the shape changed to optimize perfor-
the casting material. The copper was melted as required for mance to NEMA Design B specifications for a 10-hp (7.5 kW)
each shot in an induction furnace to control the problems of motor. Rather than decreasing the amount of active material in
oxygen and hydrogen in the molten copper over time. With only the stator, it remains the same, resulting in higher efficiency.
a 60-kW supply, the furnace required about 13 min for the melt Rotor casting will be performed in the same manner as the ini-
to 1230 C (2246 F), providing about 150 C (302 F) of su- tial research.
perheat.
A heated shot sleeve surrounded with a thermal wrap was D. Conversion to Production Designs
used. The shot sleeve was sized for the rotor requirements
to minimize air entrapment and porosity in the casting. After Once testing proves the basic design, production lamination
casting, the rotor was water quenched because it was believed tooling could be produced. It would be logical that NEMA
that the rapid cooling would break the copper away from the frames 143T–449T covering 1–250-hp (0.75–190 kW) designs
laminations and minimize annealing. would be made available in these super-premium designs.
Above-NEMA designs are presently available with fabricated
B. Test Results copper bar rotors in severe-duty and API 541 configurations
During the first test process, seven rotors were cast for the from many manufacturers.
15-hp (11 kW) motor. Efficiency for these motors averaged
90.7% and variations of 0.1% based on IEEE 112B. Rotor watts
loss averaged 157 W with a range of 153–167 W loss. VI. CONCLUSION
Tests comparing rotors quenched by water to those that were Use of die-cast copper rotors is one method enabling motor
air-cooled showed no difference in performance. Rotors that efficiency to be increased as much as 1%–2% above what is
were quenched could be handled within 2 min, compared to 20 currently possible using die-cast aluminum rotors. These effi-
min for those that were allowed to air cool. Quenching would ciency increases are expected to be higher on smaller motors,
allow a much faster production time. decreasing to 0.5% on larger designs. Life-cycle cost will be-
Compared to aluminum, performance variations from rotor come more important in the future as energy costs increase. Be-
to rotor were insignificant. This confirms the belief that rotor sides lower cost of operation, these smaller copper rotor mo-
porosity would be reduced when compared to aluminum. Chem- tors are more robust, providing less downtime, just like larger
ical analysis showed iron, nickel, and oxygen pickup to be min- above-NEMA sizes. IEEE, NEMA, and other standards groups
imal. Electrical conductivity of these castings averaged no lower may need to consider upgrading efficiency standards as better
than 98% IACS. motors become commercially available.
Table VII shows the IEEE test results for the seven rotors
tested.
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1670 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 40, NO. 6, NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2004
TABLE VIII
PRE-EPACT DESIGN—87.4% EFFICIENCY
TABLE IX
EPACT DESIGN—91.0% EFFICIENCY
TABLE X
NEMA PREMIUM DESIGN—92.4% EFFICIENCY
TABLE XI
COPPER ROTOR DESIGN—ABOVE NEMA PREMIUM—93.2% EFFICIENCY
REFERENCES
Jim McCormick (M’99–SM’01) received the
[1] Motors and Generators, NEMA MG 1-2003. B.S.M.E. degree from the University of Missouri,
[2] IEEE Standard Test Procedure for Polyphase Induction Motors and Gen- Columbia, in 1970. He has authored or coauthored
erators, IEEE Standard 112-1996. several papers presented at IEEE and other confer-
[3] IEEE Standard for Petroleum and Chemical Industry—Severe Duty ences.
Totally Enclosed Fan-Cooled (TEFC) Squirrel Cage Induction Mo- He is Chief Applications Engineer with Baldor
tors—Up to and Including 370 kW (500 Hp), IEEE Standard 841-2001. Electric Company, Fort Smith, AR.
[4] Rotating Electrical Machines. Part 2: Methods for Determining Losses Mr. McCormick is a member of the IEEE 841 and
and Efficiency of Rotating Electrical Machinery From Tests, IEC Stan- P1349 Working Groups.
dard 60034-2, 1996.
[5] Energy Efficiency Test Methods for Three-Phase Induction Motors,
CAN/CSA-C390-98, 2002.
[6] “Update: Copper motor rotor,” Copper Development Assoc., New York,
NY, 2001–2002.
[7] J. G. Cowie, E. F. Brush Jr, D. T. Peters, and S. P. Midson, “Materials
and modifications to die cast the copper conductors of the induction rotor Kevin Dunn (M’95–SM’03) received the A.A.S.
motor,” Die Casting Eng., Sept. 2001. degree in mechanical engineering from Saint Louis
[8] D. T. Peters, J. G. Cowie, E. F. Brush, and S. P. Midson, “Use of high Community College, St. Louis, MO, in 1988, and
temperature die material and hot dies for high pressure die casting pure the B.A. degree in marketing from Lindenwood
copper and copper alloys,” in Proc. 2002 Die Casting Congr., North University, St. Charles, MO, in 1993.
American Die Casting Assoc., Rosemont, IL, Sept. 30–Oct. 2, 2002. He is currently Director of Marketing with Baldor
[9] “Guidelines for maintaining motor efficiency during rebuilding,” Elec- Electric Company, Fort Smith, AR.
trical Apparatus Service Assoc., Inc. (EASA), St. Louis, MO, 1999. Mr. Dunn was a member of the IEEE 841 and
[10] Recommended Practice for the Repair of Rotating Electrical Apparatus, P1349 Working Groups.
ANSI/EASA AR100-1998, 1998.
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