Induction Motor: Working Principle, Types:

Introduction
An induction motor is a commonly used ac electric motor. In an induction motor,
the electric current in the in the rotor needed to produce torque is obtained via
electromagnetic induction from the rotating magnetic field of the stator winding.
The rotor of an induction motor can be a squirrel cage rotor or wound type rotor.
Induction motors are referred to as ‘asynchronous motors’ because they operate at
a speed less than their synchronous speed. Three Phase Induction Motor Self
Starting. Single Phase Induction Motor is not Self Starting. One of their biggest
advantages is their high efficiency – which can go as high as 97%.

Working Principle of Induction Motor:

We need to give double excitation to make a DC motor to rotate. In the DC motor,
we give one supply to the stator and another to the rotor through brush
arrangement. But in induction motor, we give only one supply, so it is interesting
to know how an induction motor works. It is simple, from the name itself we can
understand that here, the induction process is involved. When we give the supply
to the stator winding, a magnetic flux gets produced in the stator due to the flow of
current in the coil. The rotor winding is so arranged that each coil becomes short-
circuited. The flux from the stator cuts the short-circuited coil in the rotor. As the
rotor coils are short-circuited, according to Faraday’s law of electromagnetic
induction, the current will start flowing through the coil of the rotor. When the
current through the rotor coils flows, another flux gets generated in the rotor. Now
there are two fluxes, one is stator flux, and another is rotor flux. The rotor flux will
be lagging in respect of the stator flux. Because of that, the rotor will feel a torque
which will make the rotor to rotate in the direction of the rotating magnetic field.
This is the working principle of both single and three phase induction motors.

Types of Induction Motors:

The types of induction motors can be classified depending on whether they are a
single phase or three phase induction motor.
Single Phase Induction Motor
The types of single-phase induction motors include:

1. Split Phase Induction Motor

2. Capacitor Start Induction Motor
3. Capacitor Start and Capacitor Run Induction Motor
4. Shaded Pole Induction Motor
Three Phase Induction Motor
The types of three phase induction motors include:

1. Squirrel Cage Induction Motor

2. Slip Ring Induction Motor

Advantage of induction motor:

1. The most important advantage of an induction motor is that its construction
is quite simple in nature. The construction of the Stator is similar in
both Synchronous motors as well as induction motors. However, a slip ring
is required to feed DC Supply to the Rotor in the case of a Synchronous
Generator. These Slip rings are not required in a Squirrel cage induction
motor because the windings are permanently short circuited. When
compared with a DC Motor, the induction motor does not have Brushes and
hence, maintenance required is quite low. This leads to a simple
construction.
2. The working of the motor is independent of the environmental condition.
This is because the induction motor is Robust and mechanically strong.
3. An induction motor is a highly efficient machine with full load efficiency
varying from 85 to 97 percent.
4. Unlike synchronous motors, a 3 phase induction motor has a high starting
torque, good speed regulation and reasonable overload capacity.
5. Due to the absence of Brushes, there are no sparks in the motor. It can also
be operated in hazardous conditions.
Disadvantages of Induction Motor:
1. A single phase induction motor, unlike a 3 phase induction motor, does not
have a self-starting torque. Auxiliaries are required to start a single-phase
motor.
2. Speed control of an induction motor is very difficult to attain. This is
because a 3-phase induction motor is a constant speed motor and for the
entire loading range, the change in speed of the motor is very low.
3. Induction motors have high input surge currents, which are referred to
as Magnetizing Inrush currents. This causes a reduction in voltage at the
time of starting the motor.
4. Due to poor starting torque, the motor cannot be used for applications which
require high starting torque.

Result: