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Abstract – All motor rotors have an axial position called a configuration. Therefore, extensive tests are required to
magnetic center, which is the location where the motor’s axial analyze the effect of each category. This paper focuses on
magnetic forces are balanced. The magnitude of these axial typical large induction motor construction in a horizontal
magnetic forces that hold the rotor in this position can vary configuration with radial cooling vents in the stator and rotor
greatly depending on the machine size, speed, cores, fabricated rotor bars, sleeve bearings, and internal
electromagnetic configuration and mechanical geometry. blowers mounted on the rotor. This paper also discusses
Very little research has focused on this phenomenon and variations in rotor configurations and their effects on the
other issues that can cause weak magnetic centers, floating magnetic center using calculations and tests.
magnetic centers and multiple magnetic centers. This paper
presents comparisons of calculated and tested data to II. GENERAL
describe the axial magnetic forces and their effects. It also
suggests methods to strengthen weak magnetic forces. This The following definitions are used to understand the
condition exists in induction motors, but is most serious in magnetic centering analysis:
sleeve bearing configurations where mechanical rotor endplay
can permit violent and damaging rotor motion when weak Magnetic center - The axial position the rotor will take
magnetic centers or multiple centers are present. when running at no load condition (Uncoupled and
energized with full voltage and frequency at the motor
Index Terms – Axial Magnetic Force, Weak Magnetic terminals) with axial forces balanced.
Centers, Double Magnetic Centers, Stator and Rotor Mechanical endplay - Total distance that a rotor assembly
Configurations, Solving Magnetic Center Issues. can move axially between the limits set by the sleeve
bearing thrust faces and shaft collars.
I. INTRODUCTION Mechanical center - The location of the rotor shaft
assembly exactly half way between the physical limits of
A rotor’s magnetic center position is determined by the its possible endplay movement [3].
influence of the stator and rotor geometry and the magnetic Magnetic centering force - The magnitude of the axial
flux established in the core and air gap. Following are some magnetic re-centering force exerted on the rotor when
parameters for the mechanical and electrical influences of the any external influence moves it from its magnetic center
magnetic center phenomenon. while the machine is running.
266
There are methods that have been developed to help as shown in Figs. 3 and 4, the characteristic of the rate
strengthen the magnetic center forces on a machine with change, equation (3), is plotted in Fig. 5.
minimum effect on overall motor performance. These
methods will be discussed in Section VI of this paper.
2
60 E o Im o ⎛ Lo ⎞ ∂L
Fends = 0.0117α × × ×⎜ ⎟ × (1)
f Lo ⎝ L ⎠ ∂x Fig. 2 – Idealized End Configuration [2]
where
Eo Phase voltage, volts
α Number of phases
Imo No load phase current, amps
f Frequency, hertz
Lo Gross core length, inches
L Effective core length per unit air gap, inches
∂L/ ∂x Rate of change of effective machine length
with axial displacement
∂L ⎡ 2 −1⎛ h ⎞⎤
− = ⎢1 − × Ctn ⎜ ⎟⎥ (3)
∂x ⎣ π ⎝ g ⎠⎦
Fig. 4 – Rate of change of effective machine length
when the stator overhangs the rotor [2]
where
h displacement, inches
g air gap length, inches
d width of the duct (vent), inches 2) Vent Alignment: The force resulting from changes in
alignment of the edges of the radial cooling vents.
The value [∂L/ ∂x] represents the rate of change of effective Equation (4) will apply for the force resulting from changes
length with respect to axial displacement of the core ends. of the edges of the radial vents. Its contribution of [∂L/ ∂x]
The idealized stator and rotor end configuration is referenced will be for each duct of the machine and its associated vent
in Fig. 2. When the rotor and stator are not identical lengths pack correction per (Lo/L)2. The component for opposite
267
1
6 d/ g=10
0.9
5
0.8 d/ g=8
4
0.7 3 d/ g=6
0.6 2
d/ g=4
0.5 1
d/g=2
0.4 0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
0.3 AXIAL DISPLACEM ENT PER UNIT AIR GAP (h/g)
0.2
d/g=2 d/g=4 d/g=6 d/g=8 d/g=10 d/g=12 d/g=14 Fig. 7 – Rate Of Change Of Effective Machine Length With
0.1 Axial Displacement Of Rotor [2]
0 Equation (5) and (6) are correct only when stator and rotor
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 core ends are aligned [2].
Axial Displacement per unit air gap (h/g)
268
Per Fig. 9, the axial forces for each case show different
TABLE I results when the rotor is locked away from its magnetic
TEST CASES center. As the rotor is moved in and out, the re-centering
Case HP Poles Voltage Freq. Enclosure forces are opposed to the direction of displacement indicating
1 4550 4 13800 60 TEAAC that the rotor wants to return to its magnetic center. Cases 1
2 2000 2 4160 60 WP2 through 4 are designs with the stator and rotor core ends
3 3500 2 4160 60 WP2 aligned and in line radial cooling vents. Cases 1 and 4 are 4
4 4000 4 4160 60 WP2
pole machines that demonstrate stronger magnetic re-
5 8000 6 13800 60 TEWAC
centering forces in both rotor positions as compared to the 2
pole machines shown in Cases 2 and 3. Case 5 has the
A load cell was mounted to the shaft end to measure the
lowest tested re-centering force as a result of being designed
axial force for different conditions. Fig. 8 illustrates a typical
with non-aligned radial cooling vents.
set up for a load cell device.
600
400
Case 1
Case 2
Case 3
Case 4 200
Case 5
-200
A: The Flange is bolted to the drive end of the motor Fig. 9 – Axial Force Test at Full Voltage
shaft and rotates with the shaft.
B: The Thrust Bearing is a non-rotating part that Fig. 10 represents testing of the axial forces for Case 4
transfers force to the load cell. when the rotor is locked away from its magnetic center at
C: The Load Cell is locked in place with the motor at different voltages. All other cases tested demonstrate the
magnetic center and offset to zero. same axial force profile when the voltage is reduced from
100% to 60% of rated voltage. The axial force magnitude
Testing protocol is divided into 2 different conditions, Running
and Starting. 600
100%V
A. Running Condition
90%V
400
80%V
The motors were operated at rated voltage and frequency
70%V
under no load conditions with the rotor positioned and held on 60%V
its magnetic center. Under these conditions, the motors were 200
brought up to speed, with the axial forces measured and
AXIAL FORCE (lbs.)
269
decreases approximately to the square of the voltage as the magnetized at the same rate as the winding during the
voltage drops. starting condition. Therefore, the vent arrangement has
Table II is a comparison of the calculated forces using minimal contribution to the axial forces.
equations from Section IV and the test results. The tested
values are similar to calculated for machines with core ends
and radial cooling vents aligned. However, Case 5, which is a
non-aligned vent arrangement, did not follow the same pattern 12 0
TABLE II 0
0 10 20 30 40
AXIAL FORCE (lbs.) - CALCULATED VS. TESTED -20
Displacement Calculated Tested
-40
(inches) 0.1 0.2 0.1 0.2
Case 1 189 386 244 485 -60
B. Starting Condition Fig. 12 illustrates how the axial force rises rapidly when the
voltage is applied during start up due to the magnetic field
When a motor is energized, the magnetic field can not be concentration on the end turns versus the lack of
established or changed instantaneously in the magnetic iron. magnetization in the iron laminations. Once the machine
The instantaneous field created by applying voltage to the reaches full speed the laminations become fully magnetized
winding is forced to interact with the air or leakage paths of and it returns to magnetic center where the axial forces are
the machine due to the concentration in the end turn regions zero. The intention of performing the ATL starting test was to
of the stator winding. A strong magnetic field is present on study the rotor behavior, not to establish the relationship of
each end of the winding [5]. The magnetic material in the the flux in the machine in comparison with the axial force.
presence of these magnetic fields tries to position itself to This is due to the lab limitations of the voltage source which
shorten the flux path and the rotor reacts by trying to move did not recover quick enough to correlate the magnitude of
into the end turn regions to shorten the air lines of force. force with the voltage applied during acceleration.
Thus, the rotor will axially move and thrust between the
bearing and shaft collar until the magnetic field is established
7000 140
in the stator iron before it will return to its magnetic center.
Testing axial force during starting has not been reported in Amps (A)
6000 120
the literature. To accomplish this test, the motor was started
Voltage (V)
across the line with a load cell device mounted on the shaft
end to measure and record the axial force. Refer to Fig. 8 for 5000 100
Speed (RPM)
load cell configuration.
Load (Lbs.)
All five of the cases were started across the line (ATL) with 4000 80
AXIAL FORCE (lbs.)
RPM,VOLTS,AMPS
the rotor locked by the load cell on the magnetic center while
the axial force, voltage, amps and speed were recorded. In 3000 60
each case, additional starts at reduced voltages were
performed to analyze the axial force behavior. Figure 11 is a 2000 40
summary of all the cases started across the line.
In all cases the rotor has a behavior of exhibiting positive or 1000 20
negative axial forces until the machine reaches full speed.
Fig. 11 shows that the magnitude of the axial forces measured 0 0
are transitory and decay rapidly to zero indicating that the 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
magnetic center has been located. Data was recorded using -1000 -20
a data acquisition system with a high speed sample rate to TIME (SECONDS)
demonstrate this transitory effect. The results show that there
is no correlation between the magnitude of the force, the vent
arrangement of the machine or the number of poles. This lack Fig. 12 – ATL Starting for Case 3
of correlation is due to the core lamination packs not being
270
All cases were tested to show the difference in axial force load test. The contribution of this re-centering force will most
when started at different voltages. Fig. 13 plots the likely happen on machines with weak magnetic centers.
magnitude of the axial force against the voltage applied during
the starting condition. The 4 pole machines show minimal VI. METHODS TO STRENGTHEN AXIAL
change in the axial force with relation to the starting voltage. MAGNETIC FORCES.
However, the 2 and 6 pole machines exhibit a magnitude
close to linear correlation to the applied voltage. Due to the As stated in Section III, the axial forces associated with
size of the machine for case 5 and the test facility limitations, magnetic centering are influenced by the alignment of the
the motor was tested at 52% of rated voltage. stator core and rotor core ends and the edges of the stator
and rotor radial ducts. When double magnetic centers are
found, as represented in Fig. 1, or when the magnetic center
is considered weak, the rotor can shift off its magnetic center
125 producing an axial force sufficient enough to damage the
Case 1 couplings. To minimize this effect by strengthening the
100
Case 2 magnetic center, a “dummy” or grooved vent can be
75 Case 3 incorporated on the rotor. The dummy vent is approximately
Case 4 0.075 inches deep and is positioned on the rotor to equal or
50
Case 5 be slightly larger than the width of the stator vent. The
machining of the dummy vent location is dependent on the
AXIAL FORCE (lbs.)
25
radial stator and rotor vent configuration, but most often is
0 placed exactly opposite the stator vent location. See Fig. 14
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 as an example.
-25 Dummy vents can be used to correct manufacturing
variations where the rotor vents are mis-aligned with the stator
-50
vents creating nonsymmetrical balancing forces.
-75
-100
-125
STARTING VOLTAGE (%)
C. Additional Tests
271
center force. Providing more rotor grooves will only increase C. All tested machines experienced axial movement of the
the strength of the magnetic center. However, special rotor within the endplay limitations during across the line
attention should be paid to motor performance since the starting. The magnitude of the axial force is transitory and
average radial air gap is being modified with every dummy decays once the machine reaches full speed. The shifting of
vent added. Past experience shows that the changes in the rotor may exceed the end play limits, but the sleeve
performance on large induction machines are minimal. The bearing and the shaft collar are designed to accommodate
main parameter that will be effected is the power factor due to this momentary effect [5].
the increase in the average air gap. The expected D. Methods to strengthen the magnetic center where the
performance with the addition of the grooves (or offset depth) re-centering forces are relatively weak or minimize a double
can be calculated by averaging the equivalent air gap through magnetic center have been successfully applied with the use
the effective core length of the machine. of “dummy” or grooved vents. The machining of the dummy
vents is relatively easy to accomplish and can contribute
VII. AXIAL ALIGNMENT OF FLEXIBLE tremendously to strengthen weak magnetic centers. The re-
COUPLINGS WITH SLEEVE BEARING centering force effect created by the grooves will vary
MOTORS depending on the speed of the motor and the number of
grooves. High speed machines may require two or more
The sleeve bearing machines designed and applied in dummy vents while low speed machines may only need one
accordance with NEMA MG1-20.29 for large motors, greater or two to strengthen the magnetic center.
than 500hp, establish a rotor end float limit of 0.5” and notes E. Because of the inherent nature of electric machines,
to limit the maximum coupling end float to 0.19” [4]. This limit small unbalanced forces that are dynamic or magnetic can
is to ensure that clearance is maintained under all operating physically disrupt the force equilibrium. This will result in
conditions between the journal shoulders on the motor shaft unstable rotor positions and shaft oscillations within a few
and the end faces of the bearings. A machine with sleeve thousandths of an inch and the magnitude of the axial force
bearings running on its magnetic center will not show axial can be as low as one pound of force. At first glance, these
forces. If the rotor position is displaced from its magnetic oscillations could be misconstrued as axial force by the
center, the re-centering force will develop and try to return the human eye; however, the magnitude is negligible and
rotor to its magnetic center position. considered normal for most machines.
For most large motor applications, limited-end float flexible
couplings are used for connecting motors with sleeve IX. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
bearings to driven loads containing thrust bearings. When the
motor is uncoupled and then energized, the centering force The authors would like to acknowledge the assistance of
will move the rotor to its magnetic center position as described Bryan Evans, Terry Evans, Gabriel Sosa, Pat Hyzak for their
in Section V. B ‘Starting Condition’. However, when the help and use of the test facility. The authors would also like to
machine is coupled the motor will transmit torque to the load. show appreciation to Dennis Kosar, Russell King, and MP
Under this condition the centering force is usually insufficient Reddy, for their help to support the technical aspect of this
to overcome the friction in the coupling and therefore, will documentation.
continue to operate in the position set by the coupling. In
other words, the rotor requires a small force to move off X. REFERENCES
center, but requires a very large force to slip the coupling and
return to magnetic center when transmitting motor starting [1] EASA technical paper 1996, Some Aspects of Magnetic
torque to the load. Centering effects on sleeve bearing induction Motors by Bob
Brozek.
VIII. CONCLUSIONS
[2] AIEE Rotating machinery committee, Published in 1953
Although the information and results discussed in this paper Paper 53-124, Axial Magnetic forces on Induction Machine
are performed on induction motors, the principles can be Motors, By C.E. Bradford and R.G. Rhudy
applied to any AC electrical machine, including synchronous
and wound rotor motors. [3] Managing Motors, The plant engineering’s guide to
Several conclusions can be derived based on the testing induction industrial electric motors, Richard L. Nailen, P.E.
performed.
A. The equations presented in this paper provide a [4] NEMA Standards Publication MG 1-2003, Motors and
reasonable, order of magnitude prediction of the resultant Generators
axial forces when the machines are influenced by the
magnetic circuit and the iron effects. These calculations can [5] Axial Alignment of Flexible Coupled Sleeve Bearing
help to determine the strength of the magnetic re-centering Motors, September 1985, Internal Westinghouse Memo by E.
force and its consequences. These equations are intended to F. Merrill, PE
be used exclusively for machines with aligned radial vents or
when core ends (stator or rotor) overhang each other. XI. VITAE
B. Both electrical and mechanical components influence the
magnetic centering force. Machines constructed with internal Javier Portos graduated from U.A.N.L, Mexico with a BSEE
vents and core ends aligned have a stronger magnetic center degree in 1990. He joined Unimega-Hitachi Monterrey Plant
compared to those with non-aligned vent arrangements. in 1990 as an Electrical Design Engineer. He moved in 1996
272
to GE Canada as an Electrical Design Engineer with the large
motor technology group. In 1998 he pursued a career with
Louis Allis company in Milwaukee as a Electrical Design
Engineer of large and special induction motors. In December
1998, he joined Teco-Westinghouse Motor Company as an
Advanced Design Engineer and currently holds a position as a
Senior Design Engineer for large Induction and Synchronous
machines.
Bill Veerkamp received the B.S. degree with honors and the
M.S. degree from the University of Missouri-Rolla in 1988 and
1989, respectively, both in electrical engineering. In 1989 he
joined The Dow Chemical Company, where he has worked in
a variety of positions. He currently provides electrical
technical support in their Engineering Solutions office in
Houston. He is a member of the IEEE Industry Applications
(IAS) and Power Engineering Societies as well as the
Standards Association. He is Vice-Chair of the Awards
Nominating Subcommittee of the IAS Petroleum and
Chemical Industry Committee (PCIC).
273