DC Drives

Revision: DC Motor
• Field windings is used to excite field
flux
• Armature current is supplied to rotor
via brush & commutator for
mechanical work
• Interaction of field flux & armature
Ea current in rotor produces torque

• When a separately-excited motor is excited by if & ia , motor

develops back emf & torque
• if is independent of ia
• Windings are supplied separately
• if is normally much less than the ia
Revision: Field and armature equations

Ea

Ea
Revision: DC Motors Back EMF

• DC motors are built the same

way as generators are;
consequently, a DC machine can
operate either as a motor or as a
generator.
• When a motor spins, a voltage is
induced in the same manner as a
generator. This voltage opposes
the motor supply voltage, and is
known as back EMF:

Ea = K a m
Revision: Acceleration of DC Motors

• The net voltage acting on the armature circuit of a DC

motor is (Vs-Ea) volts. The resulting current is limited
only by the armature resistance Ra, and so.
Ea = Vs − I a Ra

Vs − Ea
 Ia =
Ra
• When the motor is at rest, the induced voltage Ea = 0, and
so the starting current is

Vs
I start =
Ra
Revision: Torque Equation Of DC Motor

• The developed power

Pd = Ea I a = Td m
Where Ea = K a m

Td = K a I a

where K a is a constant depending on poles number and winding type

 Revision: Speed Equation

•
Ea = Ka m = Vs − I a Ra
Since

• Re-arranging Vs − I a Ra
m =
Ka 
Ea
<
 Types of DC Drives
SCR phase-angle controlled drive
•By changing firing angle, variable DC output voltages can be
obtained
•Single-phase (low power) & three-phase (high power)
•Line current is uni-directional, but output voltage polarity is
reversible
•2-quadrant operation is possible
•4-quadrant is possible by using two sets of controller rectifiers

Switched-mode drive
•Using switched mode DC-DC converter, DC voltage is varied by
duty cycle
•Mainly used for low to medium power application
•Buck: 1-quadrant, half-bridge: 2-quadrant, full-bridge: 4-
quadrant
SCR phase-angle controlled drive

• provides constant
voltage to field
winding to create a
constant field/flux in
the motor

• For motors up to a few kW, armature converter is supplied from either

1-phase or 3-phase mains, but for larger motors, 3-phase is always
used
• A separate thyristor rectifier is used to supply the field of motor
• The power is much less than armature power, so it is often 1-phase
 SCR phase-angle controlled drive

• Main power circuit consists of 6-thyristor bridge circuit, which

rectifies incoming AC supply to produce DC to motor armature
• By altering thyristors firing angle, rectified voltage can be varied,
thereby allowing the motor speed to be controlled
SCR phase-angle controlled drive

• Control system: Compares desired speed with feedback signals &

sends appropriate signals to firing circuit
• Analog drives: consists of both voltage & current regulators
• Voltage regulator accepts speed error as input & produces voltage
output to be applied to current regulator
• Current regulator produces required firing current to firing circuit
SCR phase-angle controlled drive

• If higher speed is required, additional current is drawn from voltage

regulator & hence thyristors conducts for longer periods
• This is accomplished with PID controllers
• Modern digital μp-based drives: speed control is achieved with a
lookup table to determine current for firing circuit
• Firing Circuit: Supplies gate pulses to thyristors so that they are turned
ON for particular periods to produce variable armature voltages
Revisions: SCR phase-angle controlled
drive
• Silicon Controlled Rectifiers
(SCRs) are widely used thyristors for
large DC motor drives
• SCR conducts when a small voltage
applied to its gate terminal

• Its conduction continues till the

starting of -ve cycle & it is turned
OFF automatically once the voltage
across SCR goes through natural zero
till next gated signal
• The purpose of using these SCRs in
DC drives is to convert fixed AC
supply to variable DC supply that
controls the motor speed
SCR phase-angle controlled drive
 SCR phase-angle controlled drive

• For 4-quadrant operation, a bridge rectifier consisting of 12

SCRs with a 3-phase incoming supply is used
• During each quadrant operation, SCRs are triggered at a
phase angle in order to provide required DC voltage to the
motor
• Motoring SCR bridge & regeneration SCR bridge achieve
the drive 4-quadrant operation by receiving appropriate gate
signals from (analog or digital) controller.
• If the SCRs were gated with a phase angle of zero degrees,
the drive function as a rectifier which feds the full rectified
rated DC supply to the motor
• By varying the firing angle to the SCRs, a variable DC
supply is applied to the motor
Basic single-phase drive
Basic single-phase drive
 SCR phase-angle controlled drive

• The DC output voltage waveform in relation to the AC waveform for

above circuit is shown below
• This average DC output voltage is obtained for 400, 320 and 240 firing
phase angles
• By this way, the average output is controlled by varying the firing phase
angles to the SCRs
 Basic single-phase drive

• The bridge conduction is delayed

• The delay angle is measured from zero crossing of voltage waveform &
is generally termed α
• Thus, this voltage is quantified as
 Example 1

separately-excited
- constant torque
a

operate
Three-phase thyristor-controlled
converter
Three-phase thyristor-controlled
converter
Example 2
Switched–mode DC Drives
 DC-DC Converter Drives

• Principle of Power Control

• Principle of Regenerative Brake Control
• Principle of Rheostatic Brake Control

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 Rheostatic Brake Control versus
Regenerative Brake Control
• Dynamic braking – use of motor as generator when
slowing down a vehicle
• "rheostatic" - the generated electrical power is dissipated
as heat in brake grid resistors
– reduces wear on friction-based braking components
• "regenerative" - the power is returned to the supply line
– reduces net energy consumption
• Applications: light rail vehicles, electric trams, and
electric and hybrid electric automobiles.

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Application of a DC – DC Converter
in Regenerative Braking

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 Waveform Summary
Armature Current Continuous
and Ripple-Free

32
 Principle of Regenerative Braking

• The average voltage across the transistor is

Vch = (1 − k )Vs
• The regenerated power can be found from

Pg = I aVs (1 − k )

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 Regenerative Braking

• Begin with the motor

turning by kinetic
energy of the vehicle
• Armature current flows
as shown
• Turn the transistor on
• Armature current rises
• Turn the transistor off
• Diode turns on, current
flows into the supply
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 Principle of Regenerative Braking
(continued)
• The voltage generated by the motor acting as a
generator is
Eg = K v I f 
E g = Vch + Rm I a = (1 − k )Vs + Rm I a
• The equivalent load resistance of the motor
acting as a generator is Control Power by changing k

EgVs
Req = = (1 − k ) + Rm
Ia Ia
35
 min    max
0  ( E g − Rm I a )  Vs
E g = K v min I f = Rm I a
Rm I a
 min = Minimum
Braking
Kv I f Speed
Eg = K v I f     min
E g = Vch + Rm I a = (1 − k )Vs + Rm I a
K v I f  = (1 − k )Vs + Rm I a
K v max I f − Rm I a = Vs
Vs Rm I a
 max = +
Kv I f Kv I f Maximum
Braking
   max Speed
 Principle of Regenerative
Braking
• The current produced during
braking is fed back into the power
supply instead of being wasted as
heat.
• Common practice: incorporate
both regenerative and rheostatic
braking.
• If the power supply
system is not "receptive",
i.e. incapable of
absorbing the current, the
system will go back to
rheostatic mode in order
to provide the braking
effect.

• Application: locomotives with onboard energy

storage systems which allow the recovery of
some of this energy which would otherwise
be wasted as heat are now available. 37
 EXAMPLE 3
A DC-DC converter is used in regenerative braking of a DC series
motor. The DC supply voltage is 600 V. The average voltage
across the converter is 300 V and the power re-generated to the
DC supply is 120 kW. The armature resistance is 0.02 Ω and the
field resistance is 0.03 Ω. The back emf constant is 15.27 mV/A
rad/s. The armature current is continuous and has negligible
ripple. The field current is 250 A. Determine:
(a) the duty cycle of the DC-DC converter
(b) the average armature current
(c) the equivalent resistance of the motor acting as generator
(d) the minimum and maximum permissible braking speed
(e) the motor speed

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Rheostatic Brake Control
Dynamic Braking

39
Waveform Summary

40
 Principle of Rheostatic Brake Control

• The average current in the braking resistor is

I b = I a (1 − k )

• The average voltage across the braking

resistor is

Vb = Rb I a (1 − k )

41
 Principle of Rheostatic Brake Control
(continued)
• The equivalent load resistance of the generator
Eg = K v I f 
E g = Vb + Rm I a = (1 − k )Vs + Rm I a

42
 Principle of Rheostatic Brake
Control
• The electrical energy • Large cooling fans
produced by the motors is are necessary to
dissipated as heat by a
protect the resistors
bank of onboard
resistors. from damage.

• Modern systems have thermal

monitoring, so, if the temperature of
the bank becomes excessive, it will be
switched off, and the braking will
revert to friction only. 43
 EXAMPLE 4
A DC-DC converter is used in rheostatic braking of a separately-
excited DC motor. The armature resistance is 0.05 Ω. The braking
resistance is 5 Ω. The back emf constant is 1.527 V/A rad/s. The
average armature current is maintained constant at 150 A. The
armature current is continuous and has negligible ripple. The field
current is 1.5 A. If the duty cycle of the DC-DC converter is 40
%, determine:
(a) the average voltage across the DC-DC converter
(b) the equivalent resistance of the motor acting as generator
(c) the motor speed
(d) the peak DC converter voltage

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Converter-fed DC Drive for a
Separately-excited Motor

45
Waveform Summary
Highly Inductive Load
Ripple-free Armature Current

46
 Principle of Power Control

Va = kVs

Va

Va Va

Po = Va I a = kVs I a

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 Principle of Power Control (continued)

• The average value of the input current is

I s = kI a
• The equivalent input resistance seen by the
source is
Vs Vs
Req = =
I s kI a

Control Power Flow by adjusting the duty cycle

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 EXAMPLE 5
A DC separately-excited motor is powered by a DC-DC converter
from a 600 V DC source. The armature resistance is 0.05 Ω. The
back emf constant is kv = 1.527 V/A rad/s. The average armature
current is 250 A. The field current is 2.5 A. The armature current
is continuous and has negligible ripple. If the duty cycle of the
DC-DC converter is 60 %, determine:
(a) the input power from the source
(b) the equivalent input resistance of the DC-DC converter drive
(c) the motor speed
(d) the developed torque

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