Rotating Magnetic Field

Rotating magnetic fields generated by the six copper coils in the base and walls of
the unit interact with the permanent magnets mounted within the rotor and cause
it to spin rapidly.

From: Handbook of Biomechatronics, 2019

Related terms:

Energy Engineering, Semiconductor, Amplifier, Rotors, Stators, Oscillators, Transis-

tors, Magnetic Fields, Binary Digit

View all Topics

Motor design and impeller suspension

Toru Masuzawa, ... Martin Mapley, in Mechanical Circulatory and Respiratory Sup-
port, 2018

AC induction motor
A rotating magnetic field, as in the synchronous motor, also forms the basic op-
erating principle of an asynchronous induction motor. However, instead of the
rotor being constructed from permanent magnet material, the induction motor
has a rotor constructed only from conductive material. Eddy currents are induced
in the rotor conductors by the rotating magnetic field resulting in a Lorentz force
being produced from the interaction of the eddy currents and the rotating magnetic
field. Induction motors are popular motors in industry due to their simple, low-cost
construction.

The operation of an induction motor is based on Arago's rotations. In the 19th

century, French physicist François Arago observed that the eddy currents produced
in a conductor due to electromagnetic induction could be used to rotate a conductive
circular disk. The principle of Arago's rotations is shown in Fig. 11.11.
Fig. 11.11. Principle of Arago's rotations.

When a rotating magnetic field traverses a conductive circular disk, eddy currents
are induced in the disk. A Lorentz force is produced by the eddy current and the
rotating magnetic field. For example, consider a permanent magnet placed just
above a conductive disk so that the magnetic field passes through it, and the magnet
is moved in a circular motion around the disk's radius. At the forward-facing edge of
the magnet, magnetic flux does not exist in the disk until the magnet passes over that
area. As the magnetic flux from the permanent magnet passes through an area of the
disk, a current is induced in the conductive material by method of electromagnetic
induction. This current forms small loops in the disk (eddy currents) producing an
opposing vertical magnetic flux in the area under the forward-facing edge of the
permanent magnet. The magnetic flux passing through the disk decreases with the
movement of the permanent magnet at the back facing edge, inducing an eddy
current in an attempt to maintain the decreasing magnetic flux. These currents
are summed under the permanent magnet, with the resultant current flowing in
the direction perpendicular to the movement of the permanent magnet. A Lorentz
force is produced by the resultant-induced current and the magnetic flux of the
permanent magnet in the same direction as the movement of the permanent
magnet. This causes the disk to rotate in the direction of the rotating permanent
magnet.

The low-cost construction of an induction motor is related to the lack of requirement

for expensive permanent magnets. Instead, the rotor is constructed from arranged
conductors that are in the form of windings or a squirrel cage. In Fig. 11.12, a
typical squirrel-cage rotor for an induction motor is shown. The vertical bars of
the squirrel-cage rotor are made from a conductor such as copper. The bars are
connected to the top and bottom conductive rings to allow current to pass through
the structure. The rotating magnetic field is produced radially around the rotor by
the varying currents in the stator windings. The rotating magnetic field induces
eddy currents in the squirrel cage's vertical bars causing it to rotate. The rotation of
the rotor and magnetic field are asynchronous. This difference in speed of rotation
between the rotor and magnetic field is known as slip. There is a linear relationship
between the slip and the produced torque in the driving range of induction motors.
To control the rotational speed of an induction motor, a feedback system is required
due to the asynchronous nature of the supply current frequency and rotor speed.

Fig. 11.12. Operating principle of an induction motor with a squirrel-cage rotor.

Induction motors are generally the least efficient design of motor due to the
power required to induce the current in the rotor. Due to the need for efficiency
in implantable blood pumps, the induction motor has not been used to date for this
application but may have potential for future low-cost blood pumps if efficiency
issues can be overcome.

> Read full chapter

Basic Control of AC Motor Drives

Kyo-Beum Lee, ... Yeongsu Bak, in Control of Power Electronic Converters and
Systems, 2018

11.1.1.3 Rotation Principle of the Induction Motor

The rotating magnetic field is produced by the three-phase current of the stator in
the actual three-phase induction motor. It can be replaced by permanent magnets
in a permanent magnet synchronous motor. The three-phase windings of the inner
stator are spaced 120° electrical degrees apart. In addition, the conductor of each
winding is distributed such as a sinusoidal wave. Therefore, when the current flows
into the three-phase windings, the magneto motive force (MMF) of the sinusoidal
waveform is produced by the current. Fig. 11.2 shows the MMF distribution of Fa in
the space when the AC current flows into the phase winding. The sinusoidal MMF
changes instantaneously according to the input AC source [4].

Fig. 11.2. Basics of induction motor. (A) Current of phase-a, (B) winding of phase-a,
and (C) magnetic flux distribution of phase-a air gap.

Sinusoidal MMFs are produced by the windings of phase b and phase c. The wind-
ings are located to each other at 120° spatially. The three-phase balanced current of
the stator winding can be expressed as:

(11.1)

Fig. 11.3 shows the instantaneous change of the three-phase current. The MMF is
determined by the magnitude and direction in accordance with the instantaneous
value of current. The MMF in each phase can be expressed as the space vector of
the phase axis, and the magnitude is proportional to the instantaneous value of the
current. The total MMF can be expressed as the summation of each component of
the three-phase MMF.

Fig. 11.3. Basics of induction motor. (A) Three-phase winding and (B) three-phase
current.

When T = t0, the current of each phase winding can be expressed as:

(11.2)

Fig. 11.4 shows the position and magnitude of the changed instantaneous total
MMF. When the current flows to the phase-a winding in maxima, i.e., t = t0, the
MMF is maximum and Fa = Fmax into the positive direction of phase-a axis. The MMFs
of phase-b and phase-c are expressed as Fb and Fc, respectively. The magnitude is
Fmax/2, and the direction is the positive direction of each axis. The vector direction
of the MMF summation is equal to the vector direction of the phase-a axis, and
its magnitude is F = 3/2max. Therefore, this instantaneous summation MMF is
distributed by a sinusoidal wave form similar to the MMF of phase-a.

Fig. 11.4. Various instantaneous MMFs in the induction machine at different time
instants. (A) t = t0 = t4, (B) t = t0, magneto motive force & synthesis graph, (C)
t = t1, (D) t = t2, and (E) t = t3.

When t = t1, each phase current and MMF can be expressed as:

(11.3)

Fig. 11.4 shows the vector of the total MMF and the vector components of each
phase. The magnitude of the total MMF vector is approximately 1.5 times the MMF
of phase-a. However, its direction is rotated 90° in the counter clockwise direction.
Fig. 11.4C shows the MMF waveform of each phase and the total wave. If t = t2 and
t = t3, Fig. 11.4D and E shows the current and total MMF. The total MMF waveform
is a sinusoidal wave of the same magnitude with respect to time. When the current
flows into the three-phase winding, expressed as Eq. (11.1), the rotating MMF rotates
clockwise and it has the same rotor direction. If the three-phase winding is changed
to two phase, the rotor of the motor rotates in the opposite direction. The total MMF
wave of the current change during one period returns back to Fig. 11.4A.

(11.4)

Each phase MMF is proportional to the number of available windings Ns, and the
instantaneous current of each phase can be expressed as:

(11.5)

Eq. (11.6) can be obtained by substituting Eq. (11.4) in Eq. (11.5) as follows:
(11.6)

(11.7)

Eq. (11.7) represents the total MMF in the air gap. This indicates that the total MMF is
rotated to a constant angular speed, and it is distributed in the sinusoidal waveform.

> Read full chapter

Magnetic swarm control of microor-

ganisms
Paul Seung Soo Kim, ... MinJun Kim, in Microbiorobotics (Second Edition), 2017

11.3.4.5 Swarm control

Once a rotating magnetic field has been removed, cells continue to swim straight,
although in slightly different directions. This difference in orientation may be used
to control swarms of cells to congregate or steer them to arbitrary positions. Using
a combination of rotating and straight swimming (swimming in the presence and
absence of a rotating magnetic field), a scenario such as in Fig. 11.14 may be
accomplished with many cells. A system can implement a toggling magnetic field to
characterize cells and then calculate the most efficient path for goals.

Figure 11.14. A scenario for swarm control using a combination of straight and
rotating swimming to direct two cells to the same orbit using a global input. In
STRAIGHT-SWIM modes, the center of the cell's rotation changes, and in ORBIT
modes, the cell's center remains constant. The heading direction of cells will vary
after the movement mode is toggled from ORBIT to STRAIGHT-SWIM. Models of
the cell and a feedback algorithm could potentially be implemented in a vision-based
tracking system to control two or more cells.
Our control input consists of an alternating sequence of ORBIT and
SWIM-STRAIGHT modes. The oscillation frequency f of the magnetic field is con-
stant for every ORBIT mode. At the beginning of each ORBIT mode, the phase of
the magnetic oscillation is resumed from the previous ORBIT mode. During the first
ORBIT mode, we identify the centers of rotation of each cell by recording the cell
positions for at least one period, calculated by Eq. (11.4), and computing

(11.8)

The center of rotation of each cell translates along with the cell during each
SWIM-STRAIGHT mode (see Fig. 11.14). Control laws were designed from a con-
trol-Lyapunov function and investigated in [31].

> Read full chapter

Control of three bead achiral robotic

microswimmers
U Kei Cheang, ... MinJun Kim, in Microbiorobotics (Second Edition), 2017

7.2.2 Actuation of achiral microswimmers

The achiral microswimmers are actuated via a rotating magnetic field; once actuated
the microswimmers convert the rotational motion created by the externally applied
torque into translational motion (Fig. 7.1(C)). The translation motion is perpendicu-
lar to the magnetic field and is a consequence of the rotation of the microswimmer,
not of an externally applied force. The use of magnetic fields includes the benefit
of having the ability to permeate over long ranges with minimal health effects and
to wirelessly transmit large amounts of power for propulsion, motion control, and
localization [10,45].

The exact motion of the achiral microswimmer can be captured by tracking the
movement of the individual beads using image processing. The individual beads of
an achiral microswimmer have their own distinct helical path. The helical motion of
each bead can be expressed as

(7.1)

where t is time, and a, b, c, and d are the parameters for the helical trajectory for each
bead. These parameters can be determined through curve fitting of experiment data
obtained from tracking the individual beads. The equation for is the same as the
forward swimming velocity of the microswimmer and should have the same values
for all three beads.

> Read full chapter

Induction motor—Operation from

50/60Hz supply
Austin Hughes, Bill Drury, in Electric Motors and Drives (Fifth Edition), 2019

6.6.2 Self-excited induction generator

In previous sections we have stressed that the rotating magnetic field or excitation
is provided by the magnetising current drawn from the supply, so it would seem
obvious that the motor could not generate unless a supply was provided to furnish
the magnetising current. However, it is possible to make the machine ‘self-excite’ if
the conditions are right, and given the robustness of the cage motor this can make
it an attractive proposition, especially for small-scale isolated installations.

We saw in Chapter 5 that when the induction motor is running at its normal speed,
the rotating magnetic field that produces the currents and torque on the rotor also
induced balanced 3-phase induced e.m.f's in the stator windings, the magnitude of
the e.m.f 's being not a great deal less than the voltage of the utility supply. So to act
as an independent generator what we want to do is to set up the rotating magnetic
field without having to connect to an active voltage source.

We discussed a similar matter in Chapter 3, in connection with self-excitation of

the shunt d.c. machine. We saw that if enough residual magnetic flux remained in
the field poles after the machine had been switched off, the e.m.f. produced when
the shaft was rotated could begin to supply current to the field winding, thereby
increasing the flux, further raising the e.m.f. and initiating a positive feedback (or
bootstrap) process which was ultimately stabilised by the saturation characteristic of
the iron in the magnetic circuit.

Happily, much the same can be achieved with an isolated induction motor. We
aim to capitalise on the residual magnetism in the rotor iron, and by turning the
rotor, generate an initial voltage in the stator to kick-start the process. The e.m.f.
induced must then drive current to reinforce the residual field and promote the
positive feedback to build up the travelling flux field. Unlike the d.c. machine,
however, the induction motor has only one winding that provides both excitation
and energy converting functions, so given that we want to get the terminal voltage
to its rated level before we connect whatever electrical load we plan to supply, it is
clearly necessary to provide a closed path for the would-be excitation current. This
path should encourage the build-up of magnetising current—and hence terminal
voltage.

‘Encouraging’ the current means providing a very low impedance path, so that a
small voltage drives a large current, and since we are dealing with a.c. quantities, we
naturally seek to exploit the phenomenon of resonance, by placing a set of capacitors
in parallel with the (inductive) windings of the machine, as shown in Fig. 6.17.

Fig. 6.17. Self-excited induction generator. The load is connected only after the stator
voltage has built up.

The reactance of a parallel circuit consisting of pure inductance (L) and capacitance
(C) at angular frequency is given by , so at low and high frequencies the reactance
is very large, but at the so-called resonant frequency , the reactance becomes zero.
Here the inductance is the magnetising inductance of each phase of the induction
machine, and C is the added capacitance, the value being chosen to give resonance at
the desired frequency of generation. Of course the circuit is not ideal because there
is resistance in the windings, but nevertheless the inductive reactance can be ‘tuned
out’ by choice of capacitance, leaving a circulating path of very low resistance. Hence
by turning the rotor at the speed at which the desired frequency is produced by the
residual magnetism (e.g. 1800 rev/min for a 4-pole motor to generate 60 Hz), the
initial modest e.m.f. produces a disproportionately high current and the flux builds
up until limited by the non-linear saturation characteristic of the iron magnetic
circuit. We then get balanced 3-phase voltages at the terminals, and the load can
be applied by closing switch S (Fig. 6.17).

The description above gives only a basic outline of the self-excitation mechanism.
Such a scheme would only be satisfactory for a very limited range of driven speeds
and loads, and in practice further control features are required to vary the effective
capacitance (typically using triac control) in order to keep the voltage constant when
the load and/or speed vary widely.

> Read full chapter

Polyphase Motors
George Patrick Shultz, in Transformers and Motors, 1989

Direction of Rotation
Three-phase motors turn in the direction of the rotating magnetic field. The di-
rection of rotation of these motors can be easily changed. This is accomplished by
reversing the connections of two of the power lines to the motor leads. The result is
the rotating magnetic field will reverse, and the rotor will turn in that direction.

When the application requires the motor to run in either direction, magnetic starters
or contactors are generally used to reverse the connections between the three-phase
power and the motor. Figure 8-13 shows a controller circuit that will cause the
direction of rotation of a three-phase motor to reverse.

FIGURE 8-13. Magnetic controllers used to reverse the direction of rotation of a

three-phase motor.

> Read full chapter

Speed- and (or) Torque- Control of

THREE-PHASE Asynchronous Motor
Jean Pollefliet, in Power Electronics, 2018

1.2 Rotating stator field – rotating rotor field

The stator and rotor are drawn in fig. 20-3, shown spatially and isolated from each
other.
Fig. 20-3. Stator and rotor with respective rotating fields

A three-phase current with frequency fS in the stator winding creates a rotating

magnetic field . The speed of this field is with respect to the stator.

The rotor winding behaves as a three-phase winding and similar to the operation in
the stator the rotor current produces a rotating magnetic field with respect to the
rotor. The speed of this rotor field with respect to the rotor is determined by the
frequency fR of the rotor current so that:

Since the rotor rotates at n rpm the rotor field will have a speed with respect to the
stator of:

Decision: if we take the stator as reference, then in the three-phase machine we have
a rotating stator field with synchronous speed nS AND a rotating rotor field with
the same synchronous speed nS. Both fields together produce THE rotating stator
field !

> Read full chapter

Electrical and electronics principles

Charles J. Fraser, in Mechanical Engineer's Reference Book (Twelfth Edition), 1994

2.2.23 Braking induction motors

Induction motors may be brought to a standstill by either ‘plugging’ or ‘dynamic
braking’:
1. Plugging: This refers to the technique where the direction of the rotating
magnetic field is reversed, and is brought about by reversing any two of the
supply leads to the stator. The current drawn during plugging is, however, very
large and machines which are regularly plugged must be specially rated.
2. Dynamic braking: In this technique the stator is disconnected from the a.c.
supply and reconnected to a d.c. source. The direct current in the stator
produces a stationary uni-directional field and, as the rotor will always tend
to align itself with the field, it will come to a standstill.

> Read full chapter

Drivers
Grant Musgrove, ... Matt Taher, in Compression Machinery for Oil and Gas, 2019

Current Pulsation
In a synchronous motor, AC power is supplied to the stator to generate a rotating
magnetic field. DC power is supplied to the rotor which results in discrete North
(N) and South (S) poles. The poles in the rotor then lock onto (synchronize) and
follow the opposing rotating magnetic pole (N follows S). At zero load, they follow
exactly, but at load they follow slightly behind by a load angle which varies between
0 electrical degrees at zero load to typically between 20 and 30 degrees at 100% load
and approximately 70 degrees at stall. Fig. 7.21 shows example where load angle
at full load is 32 degrees. There are 180 electrical degrees between each adjacent
N and S pole. So take the previous example where the torque variation was ± 40%,
the torque would vary between 60% and 140% and the magnetic lag would vary
between 0.6 × 32 = 19.2 degrees and 1.4 × 32 = 44.8 degrees. In a synchronous
motor, however, the exciting amps are varied to keep the power factor constant
with load and so the amps would also vary between 60% and 140% nameplate, the
average amps would be 100%, average power 100%. The current pulsation would
be (140–60)/100 = 80%. So in this case, the NEMA limit of 66% current pulsation
is adequate to protect the motor because a synchronous motor is less affected by
torque pulsations. API 618 also recommends 66% as a current pulsation limit.
 Fig. 7.21. Synchronous motor operation in synchronism: at full load (example 32
degrees) and at no load (0 degree).

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