EE6200

Power Electronic Control of Electric Machines

Assignment-1

1. Derive an expression for the minimum possible moment of inertia of a right circular cone of
height h and base radius r, about any axis perpendicular to and passing through a point on
the line joining the apex to the center of the base.
2. Consider the arrangement of a solid cylinder of radius R, with a hole of radius R/2 cut out
through it as shown in Fig.1. The cylinder with the hole dug out has a mass M, and is rotated
by an electric motor, with a shaft of radius R/2 and mass M passing through the hole in the
cylinder. Such an arrangement is sometimes employed in electric actuators for operating valves.

2R

R
Figure 1: Solid cylinder with hole

Derive an expression for the kinetic energy of the system when the motor rotates at speed ω.
3. A thermal powerplant uses the arrangement shown in Fig.2 to transport coal from the hopper
to the pulveriser. The pulley P1 is driven by a motor using a gear arrangement to reduce

100 kg/s

P1 P2

Figure 2: Conveyor belt arrangement

the speed. Both the pulleys have an inertia of 5 kg-m2 and radius of 0.239 m. Coal from the
hopper falls onto the belt at a rate of 100 kg/s. The gear ratio is 20 and the motor runs at 600
rpm. The belt is supported on frictionless rollers of negligible inertia that keeps it horizontal.
The total mass of the belt is 100 kg. Neglecting the frictional losses in the pulleys, compute
(a) the inertia of the system referred to the drive motor under unloaded condition
(b) the frictional force exerted by the belt on the coal
(c) the work done by the drive motor in 1 s
(d) the kinetic energy gained by the falling coal in 1 s due to change in horizontal motion
Why are the answers to (c) and (d) same or different?
4. A motor is connected with a rigid coupling to a a load so as to have an equivalent inertia of
J = 0.015 kg-m2 and B = 0.015 Nm-s. The system is accelerated under no load conditions by
 applying a constant torque of 2 Nm from the motor. Derive an expression for the instantaneous
rotational speed of the system. Also compute the time taken by the drive to accelerate to 1000
rpm and the work done by the motor during this time.
5. Jay recently graduated with a degree in electrical engineering and is offered a job with a drives
company. The company has lately installed a dc motor connected to an inertia load with a
flexible coupling, at a client site. The inertia of the motor and the load are both equal to 1
kg-m2 . The torque transmitted by the coupling is given as
d
Mc = K1 (θm − θl ) + K2 (θm − θl )
dt
The value of B for the drive is negligible. The installed drive shows oscillations in shaft speed
at both sides of the coupling.

θm θl

Flexible
Coupling

Motor Load

Figure 3: Motor coupled to load with flexible coupling

(a) Mathematically explain the possible reason for the shaft vibrations. If K1 = 6 × 105 N-
m/rad and K2 = 0.1 N-m-s/rad what would be the frequency of the vibrations observed.
(b) Hoping to solve the issue, Jay suggests the use of a large flywheel to increase the inertia of
the drive. He installs the flywheel at the non driving end of the motor, and immediately
finds that the vibrations at the motor shaft side are considerably reduced in magnitude.
Explain how the flywheel might have helped him.
(c) How do you expect the vibrations at the load side to behave under this condition?
(d) Would it have helped if the flywheel was installed at the load end? Why or why not?
(e) What other solution will you suggest to avoid this problem?
6. Obtain the equation of motion for the drive system shown in Fig.4 consisting of a gear train, an
inertia, a hoisting load, a dry friction torque, a viscous torque (kv ω), and a fan torque (kf ω 2 ).
JL FAN
ωl
r
Dry Viscous
Friction Friction
v
Motor ωm Md W
Gear

Figure 4: Drive system

7. A motor is rigidly connected to a load in a certain application. The torque developed by the
motor Md , and the load torque Ml are both functions of the angular speed ω and are given as
Md = aω + b; a, b > 0
2
Ml = cω + d; c, d > 0

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The total inertia of the rotating masses is J.
(a) How should the constants a, b, c and d be related so that the motor can start and attain
an equilibrium speed
(b) Calculate the equilibrium operating speed and comment on its stability
(c) Compute the speed at which the acceleration is maximum and calculate the maximum
acceleration
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