AC 3 phase induction motors

The polyphase induction motor is self starting. Its speed falls to a small extent
with load ( as does a D.C. shunt wound motor) It has two main parts, the
stator which is similar to a stationary armature of an alternator, and the rotor,
mounted on bearings within the stator.

Stator

This is provided with three sets of windings energised separately by the

individual phases of a three phase supply, giving a rotating magnetic field,
constant in magnitude and rotating at the same angular frequency as that of
the supply voltage.

Squirrel cage rotor

 Rotor- There are no electrical or other connections made to the
rotor which is built up of soft iron laminations fixed to the shaft and slotted to
receive conductors.

The squirrel cage rotor has a single stout copper conductor bedded
into slots, these conductors being short circuited by heavy copper rings at both
ends. A similar electrical type has windings on the rotor which are short
circuited but are not in the form of a squirrel cage.

Current flowing in the squirrel cage rotor conductors is an induced

current and cannot be controlled. When it is necessary to vary the rotor
current a three phase wound rotor is used and the connections to the windings
are brought out to slip rings across which variable resistance's are connected
and can reduce starting current, improve starting torque and control speed.

Principal of operation

If a conductor set at right angles to a magnetic fields moves across the flux
from left to right, the direction of the induced voltage will be out of the paper,
by lenz's law. If this conductor is part of a complete circuit, then a current will
flow in the direction of this voltage, and there will be a force on the conductor
tending to urge it from right to left.

The same relative motion of field and conductor is obtained if the

conductor is stationary and the field moved from right to left. If a current is
switched on in the stator setting up a rotating field then electromotive forces
are set up in the rotor. The resulting rotor currents give rise to a force in the
conductors tending to move the rotor in the same direction as the stator field
motion. The speed of the rotor can never equal the speed of the stator rotating
field as there must always be relative motion between the conductors and the
rotating field. The greater the difference between the stator rotating field
speed and the rotor speed the greater the relative speed of conductors and
field, and the greater the force on each conductor with more torque exerted on
the whole.

Slip = Field speed - Rotor Speed/ Field speed

The greater the slip the greater the torque exerted. Light load slip
is about 2%, full load slip is about 4 to 5%.

Torque and slip

Consider the frequency of the stator fields relative to each conductor. When
the rotor is at rest this equals the alternation of the supply. If lightly loaded
the slip is small, say only one or two cycles per second.

Resistance of a squirrel cage rotor as a rule will be very small and

its inductance high. Its reactance will thus be large at the frequency of the
supply and much less when it is running (induced reactance depends upon
frequency).
 XL = 2 p f L
XL = Inductive resistance
L = Inductance [ H ]

The power factor of the rotor will be low at starting and its torque
small. P.F. of 0.2 to 0.4 on starting.
If the resistance of the conductors was increased, the starting power factor is
increased.

As the frequency difference between the rotating field and the

rotating conductors reduces so the Inductive resistance component reduces
and so the power factor increases improving efficiency and reducing current
draw.

Wound rotor
If the resistance of the conductors was increased, the starting power factor is
increased. There are two possible methods for attaining this. The first is to
have a rotor squirrel cage made of a suitable high resistance material say
bronze rather than copper, a second method is to use a wire wound rotor with
the ends of the windings brought out via slip rings and attached to high
resistances. However at working speeds more slip is needed for a given torque.
So what is gained in starting is lost in steady running. When a large starting
torque is essential a Wound Rotor may be used, with external variable
resistances which can be cut out as the rotor speed increases. A less expensive
solution is a dual squirrel cage rotor

Note:It is the resistance in the closed circuit which determines the

current in the circuit induced by the rotating field

Comparisons of cage and slip ring rotors

Squirrel cage
 Advantages
 Cheaper and more robust
 Slightly higher efficiency and power factor
 Explosion proof, since absence of slip rings and brushes eliminates
risk of sparking
 Virtually constant speed machine
 Disadvantages
 High starting current ( 5 to 8 times F.L.)
 Low starting torque
 Wound rotor with slip rings

 Advantages
 High starting torque
 Lower starting current
 Speed can be varied if required

Disadvantages

 cost
 Danger from sparking

For small squirrel cage motors direct on line starting with starter
current of about 5 x full load . With larger squirrel cage where the torque
increases as speed of load increases ( fans, bow thrusters, etc.) reduced
voltage starting may be obtained with star delta or auto transformer starters.

In modern marine practices the wound rotor with slip rings is

seldom found. To obtain high starting torque with starting currents of about
3.5 x full load the induction motor rotor is provided with two cages.

a. AN outer cage in shallow slots with high resistance ( bronze)

b. An inner cage in deeper slots of low resistance (copper)

On starting the inner cage is very reactive with low torque and
little current (See graph above).The outer cage has high torque with most of
the rotor current when starting. During running most of the current is in the
inner cage of low resistance as at small slip the inductive reactance is low.

These two cage induction motors may be started direct on line and
are widely used in marine practice.
 Skewed conductors (windings)
Magnetic hum
 Two possible sources of magnetic hum , commonly heard in transformers,
are
 Attraction and repulsion alternately of laminations
 Magnetic striction i.e. when the poles in a bar are aligned the bar has a tendency
to expand.

Synchronous motors
 Advantages
 The ease with which the power factor can be controlled. An
overexcited synchronous motor with a leading power factor can be
operated in parallel with induction motors having a lagging power
factor to improve the overall power factor of the supply system
 The speed is constant and independent of the load. This
characteristic is mainly of use when the motor is required to drive
another alternator to generate a supply at a frequency, as in
frequency changers

Uses-A.C. electric propulsion schemes but generally not for auxiliary

purposes.

 Disadvantages
 Cost per h.p. is greater than induction motors
  D.C. supply is necessary for the rotor excitation. This is usually
provided by a small D.C. generator carried on an extension of the
shaft.
 Some arrangement must be provided for starting and synchronising
the motor. Two possible methods are by pony motor, or by
incorporating a wound rotor induction windings which may be
opened when up to speed and a D.C. voltage applied

Graph of induction motors showing effect of increasing the

ratio of resistance to inductance.

Full load occurs at around 40 % torque. It can be seen that varying

the resistance will change the degree of slip and hence speed. For R = 2X the
motor is not self starting as it never reaches full starting torque. It will also be
expensive to run due to the high heat losses through the resistance's.
 At reduced load the power factor is much reduced. Because of this
it is very inefficient to place an oversized motor on a load, or to have several
motors only partly loaded.

The effects of frequency and voltage change on an

induction motor.

Effects of frequency change

At constant voltage if frequency is increased from 50Hz to 60Hz there is an

increased Inductive resistance XL. As stator flux is reduced this effects the
starting torque increasing starting current demand. Higher speed increases
power output. If a centrifugal pump or fan the power increase is proportional
to the speed cubed ( [60 / 50]3 = 1.728) giving a 73% increase in power
demand.

At constant voltage if the frequency is decreased from 60Hz to

50Hz the stator flux is increased but the speed is reduced by a 83%. Unless
the load is reduced the machine will run hotter than normal. Starters and
contactors could be adversely affected. A 440v 60Hz system supplied from a
415v 50Hz shore supply runs at 83% speed, slightly hotter but should run
without damage.

Effects of voltage change

At constant frequency if voltage is reduced this has little effect on speed (less
than 5%) but increased current for same power. Torque is proportional to the
square of the voltage therefore there is a corresponding and greater drop in
available starting torque, this leads to longer run up times and the possibility
of stalling.
As induction motors very really run at full load, a large voltage reduction would
be required to cause a damaging current.

At constant frequency if voltage is increased gives a stronger

stator flux depending on slot design and original flux density this could
increase stator iron losses sufficiently to cause overheating.

Squirrel cage

wound rotor