COMPARISON OF A 3KW STANDARD AND HIGH EFFICIENCY INDUCTION

MOTOR

MA Khan, D Pati and HM Mzungu

University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa

ABSTRACT

This paper presents a comparison of the operating and
performance characteristics of a 3kW standard
efficiency (SE) induction motor to that of a 3kW high
efficiency (HE) induction motor. Both motors are
analysed when driving a centrifugal pump load. The
motors are tested according to the IEC 60034-2-1
standard and their operation with the pump load is
simulated based on the pump characteristic.
1. INTRODUCTION
motor [6]. The efficiency can be expressed in terms of
output power (Pout) and the sum of losses (∑Plosses), as:
Pout Pout
η= = (1)
Pin Pout + ∑ Plosses
Three tests are performed in order to determine the losses
in an induction machine accurately. The tests and results
associated with each are as follows:

High efficiency (HE) induction motors offer improved a) Temperature test:

efficiency over standard efficiency (SE) induction motors. The motor is loaded and allowed to run until its
Over the past few years, very few South African temperature stabilizes. The temperature and winding
companies opted for HE motors as alternatives to SE resistances are recorded.
motors. This is true for new, replacement or retrofit
applications of induction motors. The main reasons for
b) Load test
this was the cost differential between HE and SE motors
and also the low electricity cost in South Africa. The motor is loaded at six different loading points
However, the recent constrained energy supply in South ranging from 25%-150% of rated load. The stator
Africa has firmly established the need for HE induction and rotor copper losses are calculated from this.
motors in South African industry. This is further
supported by Eskom DSM’s Energy Efficient Motors c) No-load test:
program [1].
The motor is run at no-load with a varying supply
voltage between 125% to 20% of rated voltage. The
The main objective of this paper is to compare the
friction & windage and core losses are calculated
operating and performance characteristics of a 3kW
from this.
standard efficiency (SE) induction motor to that of a 3kW
high efficiency (HE) induction motor. The efficiencies of
Temperature correction (to 25ْC) is done on the Stator and
the motors are determined using the IEC 60034-2-1
Rotor losses using the winding temperature and resistance
standard. The no-load and locked rotor tests are then
from the temperature test. The stray load losses (SLL)
used to determine the equivalent circuit parameters of
are then found by subtracting all the calculated losses
each motor. The operating characteristics of the motors
from the measured loss.
with the same pump load are then simulated by means of
a Matlab model.
The loss segregation method is regarded as the most
accurate method for calculating efficiency. This does of
course depend on the accuracy of equipment. It also has
2. IEC 60034-2-1 STANDARD
the advantage of very high repeatability due to the
temperature correction of the losses.
Several international standards exist for testing the
efficiency of induction motors. The standards include:
IEEE 112, IEC 60034-2, CSA 390 and JEC 37. The 3. LABORATORY SETUP
standards differ mainly in their treatment of the stray
losses in an induction machine [2],[3],[4]. A detailed The IEC 60034-2-1 standard requires the test motor to be
comparison of the different efficiency results between the coupled to a dynamometer and an accurate method of
standards was presented in [5]. The IEC standard was measuring the shaft torque. The accuracy of torque
used in the research related to this paper. measurement will determine the accuracy of the
efficiency estimate.
The IEC 60034-2-1 standard uses the segregation of
losses method to determine the efficiency of an induction
 No-load Iron losses vs Line voltage
220

200

180

160

140

P fe Losses [W]
120

100

80

60 Std-Motor
Cubic-fit
40 H-Eff-Motor
Cubic-fit
20
200 250 300 350 400 450 500
Figure 1: Laboratory setup with the 3kW high efficiency Line voltage [V]

induction motor coupled to a DC generator

Figure 4: Variation of no-load iron losses with line
volatge for the high efficiency and standard efficiency
motors
Stator Copper losses vs load
400
A 3kW HE and a 3kW SE induction motor was coupled
350 in-turn to a DC motor that is connected to a four-quadrant
300
DC drive. The DC motor and drive operates in generator
mode and therefore applies a load to the shaft of the
induction motor. The induction motors were fitted with
Stator Cu losses [W]

250

type K Chromel-Alumel thermocouples to measure the

200
temperature distribution of the motor windings. The
150 laboratory setup is shown in Figure 1 with the HE
induction motor being tested.
100 Std-Motor
Cubic-fit
50 H-Eff-Motor
Cubic-fit 4. PERFORMANCE TESTING
0
20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160
Load [%] The friction and windage losses are determined from the
Figure 2: Variation of stator copper losses with load for no-load test by varying the line voltage across the motor
the high efficiency and standard efficiency motors windings. The friction and windage losses of HE motor
is 18.8W and that of the SE motor is 54.3W.

The IEC standard was used to determine the stator and

700
Rotor Copper losses vs load rotor copper losses for each motor. The variation of
stator copper losses with load for the two motors is shown
600 in Figure 2. The rotor copper losses are shown in Figure
3. The stator and rotor copper losses of the HE motor are
500 lower at all loads than that of the SE motor. This is
expected since the stator and rotor winding resistances are
Rotor Cu losses [W]

400 smaller by design in the HE motor, in an effort to reduce

the copper losses in the motor.
300

The no-load core (iron) losses of the motors are shown in

200
Figure 4. The IEC standard specifies the core losses
Std-Motor
Cubic-fit under load conditions to be determined as follows:
100
H-Eff-Motor

0
Cubic-fit
• An equivalent line voltage is calculated from the load
20 40 60 80 100
Load [%]
120 140 160 test results, using an appropriate formula given in the
standard.
Figure 3: Variation of rotor copper losses with load for
the high efficiency and standard efficiency motors • The load core losses are then read from the no-load
core losses (Figure 4) as the value corresponding to
the calculated equivalent line voltage.
 Indirect Method Efficiency vs Load IM Torque vs speed characteristic
0.92 60
Std-Motor High Eff Calc
Cubic-fit Std Calc
0.9
H-Eff-Motor High Eff Exp
50 Std Exp
Cubic-fit Centrifugal load
0.88

0.86 40
Efficiency [pu]

0.84

Torque [Nm]
30
0.82

0.8
20

0.78

10
0.76

0.74
20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 0
0 500 1000 1500
Load [%] n [rpm]

Figure 5: Efficiency vs load characteristics of the 3kW

Figure 6: Torque vs speed characteristics of the 3kW HE
HE and SE induction motors
and SE induction motors with pump load

The higher losses associated with the SE induction motor

IM per-phase stator current vs speed characteristic
results in a lower overall efficiency of the SE motor 30
High Eff Calc
compared to the HE motor. A comparison of the Std Calc
High Eff Exp
efficiency vs load curves of the two motors is shown in 25 Std Exp

Figure 5. It can be seen that the SE motor is designed to

operate at maximum efficiency at 60% loading, whereas 20

the HE motor operates at maximum efficiency at

approximately 70% loading.
Current [A]

15

10
5. OPERATING CHARACTERISTICS

The equivalent circuit model of an induction machine can 5

be used to predict its operating characteristics. The

variation (with speed) of its torque, current, input power 0
0 500 1000 1500
factor, efficiency, etc. determined in this manner can be n [rpm]

used to simulate the motor’s operation with an arbitrary

Figure 7: Current vs speed characteristics of the 3kW HE
load. Comparison of the operating characteristics of the
and SE induction motors
HE and SE induction machines were simulated in this
manner. The equivalent circuits of each motor were
determined and their operation with the same centrifugal IM Efficiency vs speed characteristic
100
pump load was simulated and analysed by means of a High Eff Calc.

Matlab model. 90 Std. Calc.

High Eff. Exp
Std. Exp
80
A locked rotor test and a no-load test can be used to
determine the equivalent circuit parameters of an 70

induction machine [7]. These tests were performed on 60

Efficiency [%]

each of the motors and the equivalent circuit parameters 50

are listed below:
SE Motor HE Motor 40

30

20

10

0
1000 1050 1100 1150 1200 1250 1300 1350 1400 1450 1500
n [rpm]

Figure 8: Efficiency vs speed characteristics of the 3kW

HE and SE induction motors
The simulated torque vs speed characteristics of the two
induction motors are plotted in Figure 6 with a typical
centrifugal load torque-speed characteristic. The
experimental torque vs speed points determined by means
of the IEC standard tests are also included in Figure 6.
The current vs speed and efficiency vs speed
characteristics of the motors are plotted in Figure 8.
Good correlation can be observed between the
experimental and simulated characteristics of both motors
in Figure 6, Figure 7 and Figure 8.
The steady-state operating points of the two motors were
determined for same pump load shown in Figure 6. The
operating points of the motors are summarised in the
Table 1:
Table 1: Operating points of the motor
SE motor HE motor
Slip 6.1 % 4.85 %
Speed 1408.5 rpm 1427.3
rpm
Line current 6.28 A 6.1 A
Input power 0.78 0.8 lagging
factor lagging
Efficiency 83.1 % 87.8 %
Input power 3.39 kW 3.38 kW
A comparison of the operating points of the motors shows
that the HE motor operates with a 4.7% increase in
efficiency over the SE motor under the same load. The
HE motor drives the centrifugal load at a higher speed
and delivers motor torque to its shaft. More output power
and hence increased mass flow is therefore delivered to
the mechanical process that the HE motor-pump drive is
connected to. This is achieved with approximately the
same input power for the two motors (0.3% increase for
the HE motor). If the increased mass flow is perceived
by the process operator as enhanced productivity, a
temptation would exist to run the HE motor-pump drive
for the same duration as the SE motor-pump drive, in
order to increase revenue. The benefit of the higher
efficiency of the HE motor in reducing electrical power
consumption is therefore almost entirely lost.
6. CONCLUSION
It was shown that by replacing a pump drive with a high
efficiency motor, the net reduction in electrical power
consumption is only 0,3% even though the motor itself
was almost 5% more efficient. The reason being that the
high efficiency motor operates with a lower slip. The
resulting speed difference results in the pump delivering
more, and also drawing more power so that the benefit of
the higher efficiency (in terms of reducing electrical
power consumption) is almost entirely lost.
7. REFERENCES
[1] http://www.eskomdsm.co.za/eem_index.htm
[2] A Boglietti, A. Cavagnino, M. Lazzari, M.
Pasterolli, “International Standards for the
Induction Motor Efficiency Evaluation: A Critical
Analysis of Stray-Load Loss Determination”,
IEEE Transaction on Industry applications, Vol.
40, No. 5, September/October 2004.
[3] B. Slaets, P. Van Roy, R. Belmans, K. Hameyer,
“Energy Efficiency of Induction Motors”,
Katholieke Universitiet Leuven, E.E. Dept., Div.
ESAT/ELEN .
[4] B. Renier, K. Hameyer, R. Belmans, “Comparison
of standards for determining efficiency of three
phase induction motors”, IEEE Transactions on
Energy Conversion, Vol. 14, No. 3, Septermber
1999.
[5] H.M. Mzungu, A.B. Sebitosi, M.A. Khan,
"Comparison of Standards for Determining Losses
and Efficiency of Three-Phase Induction Motors",
IEEE PES PowerAfrica 2007 Conference and
Exposition, Johannesburg, South Africa, 16 – 20
July 2007.
[6] IEC 60034-2-1 International Standard, Rotating
electrical machines – Part 2-1: “Standard methods
for determining losses and efficiency from tests
(excluding machines for traction vehicles)”, IEC,
Geneva, Switzerland, 2007.
[7] P.C. Sen, “Principle of Electrical Motors and
Power Electronics”, John Wiley & Sons, 1997.
8. AUTHORS
Principal Author: Azeem Khan holds a PhD degree in
Electrical Engineering from the University of Cape Town
(UCT). He is currently a Senior Lecturer in the
Department of Electrical Engineering at UCT. His
research interests include: electrical machines & drives,
renewable energy and energy efficiency.
Co-author: Dumisani Pati holds a BSc degree in
Electrical Engineering from the University of Cape
Town. He is currently employed by Eskom.
Co-author: Heskin Mzungu holds a BSc degree in
Electrical Engineering from the University of Cape
Town. He is currently working towards an MSc degree
in the Department of Electrical Engineering at UCT. His
research is on the impact of repairs on the efficiency of
induction motors.
Presenter: The paper will be presented by Azeem Khan.