LOSSES IN ELECTRICAL DRIVES SYSTEMS

Energy conservation in electrical drives is achieved by reduction of losses in its various

parts. Typical losses include the following :
 Electrical transmission losses: These losses depends on the drive power factor and the
harmonics in the line current.
 Conversion losses in the power modulator (or converter): The semi-conductor converter usually
has low conversion losses.
 Electrical motor losses to convert electric power into mechanical power: These are determined
by choice of motor (quality of its design and its selection of right rating ) and quality of
supply (voltage variation, unbalance, frequency variations and harmonics.
 Mechanical losses in the parts of the transmission system such as bearing , gears clutches and
belts.
 Losses in the load: Load is a machine required to perform a specified task such as fans, pump
and train.
 losses caused by throttling or by other means that control material flow by absorbing or
bypassing excess output.
 Mechanical transmission losses such as friction losses to move material from one location to
another. Losses in pipe line carrying fluid is one such example.
The efficient operation of an electrical drive, with minimum consumption of energy, requires that the drive
and the driven machinery (or load) operate efficiently. This calls for careful design of both electrical and
mechanical systems. Only those measures are considered here which can lead to efficient operation of
electrical drive systems.
Losses in Electric Motors:
Copper Loss
Core Loss
Friction & Windage Loss
Stray Load Loss
Losses due to varying Load

MEASURES FOR ENERGY CONSERVATON IN ELECTRICAL DRIVES

Following measures can be adopted for energy conservation in electrical drives

 Use of efficient motors.
 Use of variable speed drives.
 Improvement of power factor in electrical drives.
 Using a motor of right rating.
 Improvement of quality of supply
 1 phase to 3 phase semiconductor in rural application.
 Regular and preventive maintenance of motors, transformers & coupled equipments.
These measures are explained in detailed as follows.

USE OF EFFICIENT MOTORS

Due to lack of awareness several consumers buy inefficient motors because they are cheaper
this choice are highly uneconomical in the long run because of high charges of electricity. Usually
the motors are inefficient due to three major factor:
1. Poor quality of lamination and insulation.
2. Use of less active material causing machine operation.
3. Poor mechanical design of bearing, clutches, gears and couplings.
Markets in India are flooded with substandard motors although there is no shortage of
motors with good design. There is need for awareness among engineers, technicians and the other
consumers to go for efficient motors.
EEM HAVE:
 More Copper in windings.
 reduced fan losses.
 9-15% more efficient than standard motors.

USE OF VARIABLE SPEED DRIVES

Several drives are driven at constant speeds by induction or synchronous motors although
operation at variable speed could lead to saving of substantial amount of energy such practice was
adopted in the past because of non availability of efficient methods of speed control of induction
and synchronous motors.
Thus use of variable speed drives can lead to large saving of energy. Studies have shown that the
energy saving ranges from 20%-40% and extra cost incurred in providing speed control can be
recovered in period of 2-5 years
.
Considering that a no. of these drives have rating in megawatt range large amount of energy can
be saved by the use of variable speed drives.

IMPROVEMENT OF POWER FACTOR

The term power factor comes into the picture in AC circuits only. Mathematically it is
the cosine of the phase difference between the source voltage and current. It refers to
the fraction of total power (apparent power) which is utilized to do the useful work
called active power.

Need for Power Factor Improvement:

 Due to wide spread use of elect. drives improvement of power factor has become an important
issue. A good power factor:
 Decrease the copper loss in transformer, distribution cables, transmission line and other
equipments, thus allowing considerable saving in energy consumption
 Helps in stabilizing the system voltage
 Reduce the load on transmission, distribution and transformer. Full utilization of substation and
generating units.
 Avoids large penalty often imposed on low power factor consumer by utilities.

Following methods are employing for improvement of power factor

Synchronous Condensers
Synchronous condensers are 3 phase synchronous motor with no load attached to its shaft. The synchronous
motor has the characteristics of operating under any power factor leading, lagging or unity depending upon
the excitation. For inductive loads, a synchronous condenser is connected towards load side and is
overexcited. Synchronous condensers make it behave like a capacitor. It draws the lagging current from the
supply or supplies the reactive power.

Static Capacitor:
There are large number of applications where speed control is not required. Induction motors are
widely used in these applications. Power factor of such drives can be corrected (improved ) by
permanently connecting a fixed capacitor across the motor terminals.
Improving power factor means reducing the phase difference between voltage and current. Since the
majority of loads are of inductive nature, they require some amount of reactive power for them to function.
A capacitor or bank of capacitors installed parallel to the load provides this reactive power. they act as a
source of local reactive power, and thus less reactive power flows through the line. Capacitor banks reduced
the Phase difference between the voltage and current.
USING A MOTOR OF RIGHT RATING

Most consumers tend to select motor power rating much higher than necessary. Over sizing of
motor has several disadvantages such as higher motor cost, higher power modulator cost, higher
installation cost, lower power factor & efficiency, & higher losses. Adequate & careful analysis
must be done to calculate motor rating for a given application. Then from among the commercially
available ratings the next higher ratings, which is quite close to the calculated rating, must only be
selected.
Power Factor Calculation
In power factor calculation, we measure the source voltage and current drawn using a
voltmeter and ammeter respectively. A wattmeter is used to get the active power.
Now, we know P = VIcosφ watt

Hence, we can get the electrical power factor.

Now we can calculate the reactive power Q = VIsinφ VAR
This reactive power can now be supplied from the capacitor installed in parallel with
the load in local. The reactive power of a capacitor can be calculated using the
following formula:

In power factor improvement, the reactive power requirement by the load does not change. It is
just supplied by other devices, thus reducing the burden on the source to provide the required
reactive power.

IMPROVEMENT OF QUALITY OF SUPPLY

Due to inadequate reactive power compensation, the motor terminal voltage varies in wide limits.
In order to avoid low voltage, substation transformers are often set for higher voltages.
Under light load condition, over voltage conditions are produced.
Another important problem is the unbalance of supply voltage. A small unbalance in voltage
produces large unbalance in current and a large increase in losses.
Sharp fluctuation of voltage due to loads like arc furnace and welding machines is another problem.

REGULAR AND PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE OF MOTORS, TRANSFORMERS AND

COUPLED EQUIPMENTS
Friction losses in motors and elect. losses in transformers and motors are reduced by regular and
preventive maintenance of motors and transformers. Oiling of bearings, proper condition and setting
of brakes, brushes etc. Proper condition of cooling fans and transformer oils are some of the step
that could be taken.
CONCLUSION:
Keeping in view the resources constraints new generation of capacity addition has limited scope.
Trust areas of energy conservation, saving energy management and optimum utilization of existing
installed capacities have vast potential for energy saving. These news technology are also helping to
save the energy going to waste.
 Energy Efficient Operation of Drives:
In many Energy Efficient Operation of Drives applications involving constant speed operation,
induction motors operate under no load or light load for prolonged periods, such as in pressing machine,
conveyors, rock crushers, centrifuges, drill presses, wood saw and, some machine tools.
In such applications, saving in energy can be achieved by operating the motors at low voltages while
running at no load and light loads. When a motor operates at full voltages at no load, core loss has a large
value. Reduction in voltage increases copper loss but reduces core loss by a larger amount. Therefore, net
loss is reduced.
At some voltage when core loss becomes equal to copper loss; the loss has minimum value and
efficiency is maximum. Any increase or decrease of voltage from this value increase the loss. Therefore, for
each loading, there is an optimum value of voltage for which the loss is minimum.
Energy saving is achieved by operating the induction motor at optimum voltage values. The energy saving
depends on following factors:
Duty cycle of motor: Energy saving occurs mainly during no load and light load operation. Therefore,
energy saving is larger in drives which operate at low duty cycles.
Operation with overvoltages: When motor is located in the area where overvoltages are common, larger
amount of energy can be saved. At overvoltages, because of saturation of magnetic circuit of motor, the core
loss becomes larger than its full voltage value. Operation at the optimum voltage gives rise to larger
reduction in loss and greater saving in energy.
Quality of motor design: Badly designed motors use inferior core material and operate with saturation even
at full voltage. Therefore, they have larger core loss at full voltage and over-voltages than the motors with
good design. Operation of badly designed motors at the optimum voltages reduces the loss by a larger
amount than in a motor with good design.
Oversizing of motor: Often a motor of power rating higher than necessary is employed. Optimum voltage
control gives rise to greater saving of energy in oversized motors. As explained above, for each loading
there is an optimum voltage. The loss minimization requires that the motor voltage be continuously varied
with the load. Therefore; an ac voltage controller must be incorporated between motor and the source.
When an ac voltage controller is used to get variable voltage, harmonics are present in the motor terminal
voltage. These harmonics produce losses, and therefore, the energy saving is reduced. The economic
benefits of the net energy saved should be compared with the increase in cost due to the addition of an ac
voltage controller to arrive at a decision about the desirability of using this energy saving scheme. In several
applications requiring soft start, ac voltage controller is always there, and therefore, no additional cost is
incurred in implementation of energy saving scheme. Energy saving scheme is particularly beneficial in
single-phase motors. Substantial energy saving can also be achieved in variable frequency induction and
synchronous motor drives. The common approach to variable frequency control is to operate the motor at a
constant flux up to base speed by keeping V/f ratio constant. From point of view of energy consumption, this
is not correct approach. V/f ratio should be varied to change flux so that the operation takes place with
minimum loss. Let us examine the operation of a motor at a given frequency when load is varied. When V/ f
ratio has rated value, flux is also at the rated value, and motor has nearly maximum efficiency and minimum
loss at the rated torque. When torque is reduced, motor copper loss reduces but the core loss remains
constant. When V/f ratio is reduced to make core and copper losses equal, minimum loss operation is
obtained. Further reduction in torque will require additional reduction in V/f ratio to obtain minimum loss
operation. What is true for one frequency is also true for other frequencies. This minimum loss operation
control strategy is complex and difficult to implement but is within the reach of current technology. Amount
of energy saved depends on the duty cycle of motor and quality of its design.
Load Equalization in Electrical Drives
Definition: Load equalization is the process of smoothing the fluctuating load. The fluctuate load draws
heavy current from the supply during the peak interval and also cause a large voltage drop in the system due
to which the equipment may get damage.
In load equalization, the energy is stored at light load, and this energy is utilized when the peak load occurs.
Thus, the electrical power from the supply remains constant.
The load fluctuation mostly occurs in some of the drives. For example, in a pressing machine, a large torque
is required for a short duration. Otherwise, the torque is zero. Some of the other examples are a rolling mill,
reciprocating pump, planning machines, electrical hammer, etc.
In electrical drives, the load fluctuation occurs in the wide range. For supplying the peak torque demand to
electrical drives the motor should have high ratings, and also the motor will draw pulse current from the
supply. The amplitude of pulse current gives rise to a line voltage fluctuation which affected the other load
connected to the line.
Method of Load Equalization:
The problem of load fluctuation can be overcome by using the flywheel. The flying wheel is mounted on a
motor shaft in non-reversible drives. In variable speed and reversible drive, a flywheel cannot be mounted
on the motor shaft as it will increase the transient time of the drive. If the motor is fed from the motor
generator set, then flywheel mounted on the motor generator shaft and hence equalizes the load on the
source but not load on the motor.
When the load is light, the flywheel accelerated and stored the excess energy drawn from the supply. During
the peak load, the flying wheel decelerates and supply the stored energy to the load along with the supply
energy. Hence the power remains constant, and the load demand is reduced.
Moment of inertia of the flying wheel required for load equalization is calculated as follows. Consider the
linear motor speed torque curve as shown in the figure below.

Assumed the response of the motor is slow due to large inertia and hence applicable for transient
operation. Differentiate the equation (1) and multiply both sides by J (moment of inertia).

where Τm is the mechanical time constant of the motor. It is the time required for the motor speed to change
by (ωm0 – ωm) when motor torque is maintained constant at rated value ᴛr. From equation(2) and (3)

Consider a periodic load torque a cycle which consists of one high load period with torque Tlh and duration
the, and one light load period with torque Tll and duration tl

Where Tmin is the motor torque at t = 0 which is also the instant when heavy load Tlh is applied. If
motor torque at the end of heavy load period is Tmax, then from the equation (6)
Solution of equation (5) for the light load period with the initial motor torque equal to Tmax is

where t‘ = t – th

When operating at steady state the motor torque at the end of a cycle will be the same as at the
beginning of a cycle.Hence at t’ = tl, T = tmin. Substituting in equation (8) give

From equation (7)

From equation (4) and (10)

Also from equation (9)

From equation (4) and (11)

Moment of inertia of the flywheel

required can be calculated either from equation(11) and (12)

Where W is the weight of the wheel (Kg), and R is the radius (m).

Note: The moment of inertia is the angular obstruction of the rotating body. It is the product of the
mass and a square of a distance from the axis of rotation.

ENERGY CONSERVATION IN ELECTRIC DRIVES:

Drive: A combination of prime mover, transmission equipment and mechanical Working load is called a drive.
Electric drive: An Electric Drive can be defined as an electromechanical device for converting electrical energy to
mechanical energy to impart motion to different machines and mechanisms for various kinds of process control.