Proceedings of EnCon2008

nd
2 Engineering Conference on
4 Sustainable Engineering
Atiqah Farhana Khazin, 1S. Rajendran, 2M.K. Ahamed Khan, 3
Gobbi.R, and
Infrastructures K. Anayet& Management
Development
December 18 -19, 2008, Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia

ENCON2008-193

Design of a Three Phase Induction Motor Based

On Efficiency Improvement Using Amorphous
Iron Material
Abstract - This paper presents the primary result of a research project whose aim is to improve efficiency of a three
phase induction motor using amorphous iron as its stator cores. The Amorphous Iron material is chosen to give a
high performance. Functional coil design, sheet cut design and choice of the used materials improve the performance
of the induction motor considerably specific power, torque and efficiency. A 220 V, 2-hp, 4 pole, 50 Hz three phase
induction motor, 36-28 stator and rotor slots has been simulated. The study present the flux density of the induction
motors; conventional motor that uses silicon core iron and new induction motor that uses amorphous iron as its stator
cores. The FEMM simulation results are presented to verify the validity of the model.

Keywords: Efficiency Improvement, Amorphous Iron, FEMM, etc

I.OBJECTIVES
This paper is concerned on designing and simulating the stator design of amorphous iron and silicon core iron using Finite
Elements Method Magnetic software. This paper also involve investigation on the improvement of the efficiency of the three
phase induction motor by comparing amorphous iron and silicon core iron for the stator.

II.INTRODUCTION
In 1820, while experimenting with electrical currents, Hans Christian Oersted (1777-1851), accidentally discovered that the
electrical current affected a nearby magnetic compass. His report spurred a great interest in the relationship between
electricity and magnetism.In the same year, Jean-Baptiste Biot (1774-1862) and Félix Savart discovered that the intensity of
the magnetic field set up by a current flowing through a wire is inversely proportional to the distance from the wire.

This relationship is now known as the Biot-Savart law.[1] Michael Faraday (1791-1851) also conducted many experiments
and his experiments lead to his visual models of electro-magnetism, which were formalized into mathematical models by
James Maxwell (1831-1879).[1]

A magnetic field exists around a conductor of electrical current. The magnetic field is called a magnetizing force (H), and it
can be concentrated by winding the conductor into loops. Current is measured in amperes, and the magnetizing force is
measured in ampere-turns. Substances placed near a magnetizing force are affected by it, and the substances take on
magnetic properties. The amount of magnetism induced into a body by a magnetizing force (H) is called flux density (B).
[2]The intensity of the flux density (B) is affected by the intensity of the magnetizing force (H), the qualities of the
substance, and by the intervening media between the systems. The movement of the electric charges causes effects in the
points of the surrounding space, so that is possible to define the magnetic flux density field, B. its magnitude is measured in
(T). The fundamental property of the field B, is that it Is a solenoidal field. Let say for example, when the flux of B gets
through any closed surface is null. [2]

The requirement of more accuracy during the process design and analysis of the electrical machines fostered the speeding of
numerical models appropriate for computing electric and magnetic fields. The finite element method is a numerical
technique that suitable for complex geometrical machine structures and the nonlinear characteristic of the materials. It allows
a filed solution to be obtained, even with time-variable fields and with materials that nonhomogenous,

Rajendran.S., and M.K.A. Ahamed Khan are with the Division of Electrical Engineering, 1&2University Industry Selangor, Malaysia, Fax: +603 3280 6016 .
(e-mail:rajendran@unsel.edu.my, khan@unisel.edu.my.)
Gobbi. R is with Center for Robotics and Electrical System (CRES) 3Multimedia University, Malaysia, Tel: 603-83125419, Fax: 603-83183029 (Email :
gobbi@mmu.edu.my )
K. Anayet is with Division of Electrical Engineering, 4Universiti Malaysia Perlis, Malaysia, ( anayet@unimap.edu.my)
anisotropic, or nonlinear. Using the finite elements, the whole analysis domain is divided into elementary subdomains, which
is called finite elements, and the field equations are applied to each of them.[2]

Nowadays, research in developing high power density, high efficiency and cost effective electrical machines is growing
extensively. Furthermore, the escalation of oil prices led the manufacturers of electric motors hunt for methods that can

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improve motor efficiencies. One of the methods to increase the efficiency of electrical machines is to utilize an alternative
magnetic material which is amorphous iron that can offer lower iron losses than the conventional materials such as silicon
iron. These manufacturers have taken advantage of amorphous iron in the design and manufacture of components and
product for decades. Amorphous material is produced in thin ribbon form that are generally impregnated into a glass
substrates and due to their purity and molecular consistency, its offering extremely low core loss which is less than 0.2 W/kg
at 60 Hz, 1.57 Tesla, or 30% of the core loss of electrical steel (core loss at 50 Hz is approximately 80% of 60 Hz values).[3]
Although amorphous iron is excellent material for induction motor, the main challenges with this material is difficult to
handle it in term of cutting, handling and assembly into motors.

Washing machines, compressor, air conditioning units, pump, and many more are using a three phase induction motor on
running the machines. The three phase induction motor is also conventionally applied in industrial application for the reasons
of its simplicity, rugged construction, and low manufacturing cost.

In order to select an appropriate motor, a series of standard design referred as design classes that have been defined by
NEMA (National Electrical Manufacturers Association) has been created. There are several of standard NEMA design
classes and each class has different type of applications.

For design class A, typical applications for this type are driving fans, blowers, pump, lathes and other machines tools. For
design class B, its application is quite similar to design A, but motor design B is much more preferred because of its lower
starting-current requirement. Nowadays, design class B has taken over and largely replaced the design class A in new
installations.

For design class C, they are commonly used for high-starting-torque loads, such as compressors, loaded pumps and
conveyors. As for the design class D, these motors are used in applications that require the acceleration of extremely high
inertia loads, such as large flywheel that been used in punch presses or shears.

III. AMORPHOUS IRON CHARACTERISTICS

The magnetic properties of the amorphous iron are different from that of the silicon iron. This can be shown in the table 1.
Table 1 provides a review of the principal properties of presented magnetic materials: silicon iron (Si), amorphous iron.

Table 1: Comparison between Silicon Core Iron and Amorphous Iron.

Silicon core iron Amorphous iron

Magnetic flux density, 1.66 1.57
T@5000A/m (50Hz) (60Hz)

Specific core losses at

50Hz and 1T, W/kg 1.45 0.06

Electric resistivity,
μ•cm 49 130
Permeability
5000 600000

Several research have been conducted for the stator core made of silicon core iron with maximal core loss p1.0/50=1.45W/kg,
and the amorphous steel METGLAS 2605SA1 (annealed) with thickness 0.0254mm and maximal core loss of about
p1.0/50=0.06W/kg. As for the electrical conductivity, it is inverse to the value of electrical resistivity. Figure 1 shows B/H
curves for both materials and Figure 2 is the curve of core losses for amorphous iron and frequency of 50 Hz and B=1T.

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 Figure 1: B-H Curves for Silicon Core Iron and Amorphous Iron. [4]

Figure 2: Iron Losses of Silicon Iron and Amorphous Iron at 50Hz and B=1T. [4]

The saturation flux density of the amorphous iron is lower than that of the silicon steel. Materials' manufacturers are mainly
focused on implementation of these materials in transformers and do publish data related to no annealed (as cast) materials
suitable for electric motors. Amorphous iron is emerging materials which offer significant advantages in the design of
electrical machines.

IV. INDUCTION MOTOR DESIGN

The particular motor of interest was designed on the basis of the classical structure of four-pole induction motor, 2 HP motor
running of a 220 Vrms line-to-line, implying that it will be running at slightly less than 1500 rpm, stator windings are delta
connected, and supply voltage is 220 Vrms line-to-line for the frequency of 50 Hz and 3-phase supply.

There are a total of 36 slots on the stator and 28 slots on the rotor. In every stator slot a total of 44 turns sit inside so that a
phase current of 1A would place a total of 44 Amp*Turns in a slot. [3] The outer rotor’s diameter is 80 mm. The length of the
machine in the into-the-page direction is 100 mm. The material used in shown in Table 2.

Table 2: The three phase linear generator materials

Conventional Motor using

motor amorphous iron
as stator core
Stator winding Coil coil
Stator core Silicon iron Amorphous iron
Rotor slots Copper copper

The schematic cross sectional view of the three phase induction motor is shown in Figure 3. This design is used for the
motor that using amorphous iron as its stator core. Due to symmetrical, the induction motor can be modeled by ¼ of the
induction motor.

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 Figure 3: The cross sectional view of three phase induction motor

Figure 4: (a) Flux density distribution of Induction Motor

Figure 5: Created mesh.

The flux linkage is split into four partitions since this motor have four poles. Figure 4 shows that, the flux distribution is not
overlapping with each other and must not crossing over the rotor slot otherwise, the design will short-circuit.

Flow chart is necessary to see the flow on the designing of the motor. Form the first step to last step this motor are design
carefully to avoid erroneous in design.

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 Figure 6: Flowchart of the three induction motor design.

V. SIMULATION RESULTS
For the magnetic flux density each color has a difference value of flux density. The value of the flux for the motor is shown
in the legend. Notice that the maximum values of flux density of both motor are at the knee point of their B-H curve
respectively. Not to mention that this design can be accepted for both materials as the maximum value for amorphous is
1.293T (for amorphous the saturation region is from 1.2 to 1.57 T) and for the silicon iron is 1.262T (the saturation
region is from 1.0 to 1.45T).

Figure 7: Flux density for induction motor using amorphous iron

The saturation point should not be less or higher than the knee point. If the values is more than saturation region, the energy
that been produced will dissipate as heat and this will cause higher losses and practically not efficient. If the value of flux
density is below than saturation region, the design is bulky and produces less output power.

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 Figure 8: Flux density for conventional induction motor

The result can be obtained by implementing the lua programme and some equations. It is a lot easier to use the Mathematica
software for calculating all the parameter values needed for this induction motor. From the lua programme the values for real
and imaginary flux linkage and torque are obtained. Inductance can be obtained by dividing flux linkage with the phase
current. Table 3 and Table 4 show the result from Lua Programme.

Table 3: Inductance Result for Amorphous Iron as Stator Core

Table 4: Inductance Result for Conventional Motor

VI. CONCLUSIONS
The three induction motor model of the system has been presented. The flux density can be produced for the
induction motor using amorphous iron. The flux density also shows that the near the values to the operating point, the greater
the efficiency of the induction motor can be achieved. Finally, the three phase induction motor using amorphous iron has
been successfully simulated and it gives satisfactory results. This paper shows the possibility of using amorphous magnetic
materials for stator core of induction motor and comparing it with conventional motor for obtaining more efficient motor
construction.

VII. REFERENCES

[1] N.Bianchi, L.Alberti.( June 1,2006) “Finite Element Analysis of the Induction Motor”. Department of Electrical Engineering,University of
Padova.
[2] Prof. Francesco Parasiliti,Dr. Marco Villani.(2003)”New Materials and Innovative Technologies to Improve the Efficiency of Three-phase
Induction Motors. A Case Study.”
[3] David Meeker, Induction motor example. August 20, 2004
[4] M.Dems, K.Komeza, S.Wiak.(2004) “The highly Efficient Three Phase Small Induction Motors with Stator Cores Made From Amorphous Iron”
The International Journal for Computation and Mathematics in Electrical and Electronic Engieering. Volume 23 No.3 pp.625-632
[5] N.Bianchi. (2005) “Electical Machines Analysis Using Finite Element”. CRS Press. Taylor &Francis Group
[6] Stephen J. Chapman (2002) “Electric Machinery and Power System Fundamentals”. Mc Graw Hill

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