Selection of Motor Power Rating

Dr. Sushma Gupta

Professor
Department of Electrical Engineering
MANIT, Bhopal
 Introduction
• Power rating of motor for specific application should
be carefully chosen to obtain economical and reliable
operation.
• If motor rating is insufficient then either it fails to
drive the load or reduce the productivity and
reliability through frequent damage and shutdown
due to overloading of the motor.
• If power rating is decided liberally then initial cost
will be more & extra loss of energy due to operation
below rated power.
• Induction and Synchronous motor operate at low
power factor when it operates below the rated power.
• When a motor operates, heat is produced due to
losses (copper and iron) inside the machine and its
temperature rises.
• As the temperature increases beyond ambient value,
heat produced flow out to the surrounding medium.
• As motor temperature rises, the heat flow increases
and equilibrium sets when generated heat becomes
equal to heat dissipated into surrounding medium.
Motor temperature then reaches at steady-state value.
• Steady-state temperature depends on the power loss,
which depends on the output power of the machine.
• Since temperature rise has a direct relation with the
output power, it is termed as thermal loading of the
machine.
• When operating for a specific application, motor
rating should be carefully chosen to ensure that the
insulation temperature never exceeds the prescribed
limit.
– It will lead to thermal breakdown causing short
circuit and damage the winding.
– It will lead to deterioration of its quality, resulting
into thermal breakdown
• For load which operates at a constant power and
speed, determination of motor power rating is simple
and straight forward.
• Only few loads operate at constant speed and power.
• Therefore thermal model and class of duty should be
known for selection of motor rating.
Type of Temp. Material Used
Insulation
ϒ 90 oC Paper, Silk, Cotton, Vulcanized Natural
Rubber.
A 105 oC Impregnated varnish or insulation oil with
Cotton, Silk, Paper, Synthetic Fibres.
E 120 oC Epoxy Resin, Polyethylene Terephthalate

B 130 oC Mica, Glass, Fibre, Asbestos.

F 155 oC Impregnated varnish or insulation oil with
Mica, Glass, Fibre, Asbestos.
H 180 oC Silicone Elastomer
C Above Mica, Porcelain, Glass, Quartz with an
180 oC inorganic binder
 Thermal Model of Motor
• An accurate prediction of temperature rise inside
an electrical motor and heat flow are very difficult
owing to complex geometrical shapes.
• Conductivity of various material does not differ
by a large amount, a simple thermal model of the
machine can be obtained by assuming machine to
be a homogenous body.
• The developed thermal model is not accurate but
it gives sufficient information for the engineers to
select the motor rating for a given application.
 When load is connected to the machine. Then-
Heat absorbed in machine = (Heat developed inside machine-
Heat dissipated to surrounding cooling medium)
Whdθ  p1dt  p 2 dt
dθ
p 2  θdA p1  Dθ  C
dt
C  Wh D  dA

P1 = Heat Developed, Joules/sec.

P2 = Heat Dissipated to cooling medium, Joules/sec.
W = Weight of the active part of machine, kg
h = Specific heat, Joules/kg/oC
A = Cooling Surface, m2 θ = Mean temperature rise oC
d = Coefficient of heat transfer Joules/sec./m2/oC
‘C’ is the thermal capacity of the machine and ‘D’ is the
heat dissipation constant.
• Heat dissipation occurs through convection.
• The first order differential equation has a solution

• Constant of Integration K is obtained by substituting the

temperature rise at t = 0. When initial temperature is θ1 then

• τ is the heating time constant. The Θss is the steady state

temperature. At this temperature, all the heat produced in the
machine is dissipated to the surrounding medium and temperature
maintains constant.
• Load is disconnected from the machine. Heat loss will reduce
to a value P1’ and cooling operation of the motor will begin.
Heat dissipation constant will be D’.

• This is the first order differential equation. If time is measured

from the instant when load is disconnected. Constant of
Integration K’ is obtained by substituting the temperature fall
at t = 0 and initial temperature is θ2 -

Θss’ is the steady-state

temperature and τ’ is
cooling time constant.
• If motor is disconnected from the supply during
cooling Θss’ will be atmospheric temperature and
final temperature attained by the motor will be-

• Both heating and cooling time constants (τ and τ’

respectively) depend on the velocity of cooling air
(τ = C/D where C’ is the thermal capacity of the
machine and ‘D’ is the heat dissipation constant).
• In self-cooled motor, cooling fan is mounted on
the motor shaft and velocity of cooling air varies
with motor speed thus varying cooling time
constant.
• In high performance, medium and high power
variable speed drives, forced cooling is provided in
machine.
• Thermal time constant of a motor is higher than
mechanical and electrical time constant.
• Electrical time constant is 1 to 100 ms. Mechanical
time constant is 10 ms to 10 sec.. Thermal time
constant is 10 min to hours.
• A motor has a thermal heating time constant of 45 minutes.
When the motor runs continuously on full-load, its final
temperature rise is 80oC.
– What would be the temperature rise after 1 hours, if the motor runs
continuously on full-load?-Ans.-58.9oC.
– If the temperature rise on 1 hr. rating is 80o, find the maximum steady-
state temperature at this rating. Ans.-108.64 oC
– How long will the motor take for its temperature to rise from 50o to
80oC, if it is working at its 1 hr. rating? Ans.-32.25 min.
 Classes of Duty Cycle
• Continuous Duty-Motor operates at a
constant load torque for long duration
and temp. reaches at steady-state value.
• Ex. Paper mill drives, compressor,
conveyers, centrifugal pumps, fans etc.
• Short Time Duty- Time of drive
operation is less than the heating time
constant and machine has sufficient time
to cool off and attend ambient temp.
before the motor is operated again.
• In this duty, machine can be overloaded
until temp. rises to the permissible limit.
• Ex.-Crane drives, drives for household
appliances, sluice-gate drives, valve
drives etc.
• Intermittent Duty-It consists of
periodic duty cycle, each consists of
period of running at a constant load
and a rest period.
• In this case, neither the duration of
running period is sufficient to rise
the temp. to a steady-state value nor
rest period is long enough to cool
off to the ambient temp.
• In this duty, heating of machine N= Operation under rated
during starting and braking condition
operation is negligible. R = Operation under rest
condition
N Ex-Pressing, cutting,
CDF(CyclicDurationFactor) 
NR Mixer, drilling machine
drives.
• Intermittent Period Duty
with Starting- In this duty
heat losses during starting
cannot be ignored.
• It consists of a period of
starting, operation at constant
load and a rest period.
• In this duty, heating of machine
during braking is not
considered because either
mechanical brakes are used for D= Operation under Starting
stopping the motor or motor is N= Operation under rated condition
allowed to stop due to its own R = Operation under rest condition
friction.
Ex.- Metal cutting,
D N
CDF(CyclicDurationFactor)  drilling tool drives,
D  N  R mine hoist etc.
• Intermittent Periodic Duty
with Starting and Braking-
This is intermittent periodic
duty where heat losses during
starting and braking cannot be
ignored.
• It consists of a period of
starting, a period of operation
with constant load, a braking
period with electrical braking
and a rest period.
D  N  F D= Operation under Starting
CDF  N= Operation under rated condition
D  N  F  R F= Operation under Braking
R = Operation under rest condition
Ex.- Billet mill drive, manipulator drive, ingot buggy drive,
drives for electrical suburban trains and mine hoist
• Continuous Duty with
Intermittent Periodic
Loading- It consists of
periodic duty cycles,
consisting of period of
running at a constant load and
a period of running at no load.
• Ex- Pressing, cutting, drilling
machine drives.
N
CDF(CyclicDurationFactor) 
NV

N = Operation under rated condition.

V = Operation on no-load
• Continuous Duty with
starting and braking-
Consists of periodic duty
cycle, having a period of
starting, a period of
running at a constant load
and a period of electrical
braking, there is no rest
period.
• Ex-Main drive of
blooming mill
D= Operation under Starting
D  N  F
CDF  1 N= Operation under rated condition
D  N  F F= Operation under Braking
• Continuous Duty with
Periodic Speed
Changes- Consisting of TL
periodic duty cycle,
each having a period of
running at one load and
speed and another θ
period of running at
different speed and load.
• There is no rest period.
• Ex- Vehicles
• Manipulators consist of
several links connected
by joints. Each joint has
an actuator
which drives the joint to
rotate or slide.
• Blooming mill is - a
rolling mill in which
blooms are produced
from ingots in steel
manufacture
 Motor Rating
• Continuous Duty
• Fluctuating and intermittent duty
• Short-time duty
 Continuous Duty
• Maximum power demand of load is known and fixed.
• A motor with next higher power rating from
commercially available rating is selected.
• Motor’s speed-torque characteristic should be matched
with load’s speed-torque characteristic.
• Motor is able to provide starting torque and continue to
drive the load.
• Although losses during starting are greater than those
under rated load, they may be neglected because
starting under continuous duty is very infrequent and
practically no influence on motor heating.
• Motor should be able to drive load under normal
disturbances in power supply system.
 Fluctuating and Intermittent Load

• This method is based on approximation that

the actual variable motor current can be
replaced by an equivalent Ieq, which produces
same losses in the motor as actual current.

Load Diagram of Fluctuating Load

• The equivalent current is determined as follows:
• Motor loss (Pl ) consists of two components.
– Pc (Core loss and friction loss )- Constant loss which is
independent of load
– Pcu (copper loss) is variable loss which depends on
load
• If fluctuating load consists of n values of motor currents
I1, I2,I3 , ….., In for duration t1, t2, t3 , …., tn respectively.
• The equivalent current Ieq is calculated as: -
• If current varies smoothly over a period T then equivalent current
is:

Load Diagram of Fluctuating Load

• After Ieq is determined, a motor with next higher current rating

from commercially available rating is selected.
• When torque is directly proportional to current; e.g. dc separately
excited motor.
• When a motor operates at nearly fixed speed, its
power will be directly proportional to torque. Hence,
for nearly constant speed operation, power rating of
the motor can be obtained directly from:

• A constant speed drive has the following duty cycle.

i) Load rising from 0 to 400 kW ; 5 min
ii) Uniform load of 500 kW; 5 min
iii) Regenerative power of 400 kW returned to the supply; 4
min.
iv) Remains idle for ; 2 min.
Estimate power rating of the motor. Assume losses to be
proportional to (power) 2
 DC motor
• This motor can be allowed to carry larger than the rated current
for a short duration. ( Short time overload capacity of the motor)
• A normally designed DC machine is allowed to carry up to 2
times the rated current. (Special design motor can carry 3 – 3.5)
• The ratio of maximum allowable current (short time overload
current capacity) to rated current may be denoted as λ.

Where, Imax is the maximum value of current and Irated is the

motor rated current
• The motor rating is calculated from: -
 Induction and Synchronous motors
• In case of induction and synchronous motors, for stable
operation, maximum load torque should be well within the
breakdown torque of the motor.
• The ratio of breakdown to rated torque for induction motors
with normal design varies from 1.65 to 3 and for synchronous
motors it varies from 2 to 2.25. (for special SM types up to
3.5)
• If the ratio of breakdown to rated torque is λ’, then the motor
torque rating is chosen based on
 Short time duty

• In short time duty, time of motor operation is

considerably less than the heating time constant and
motor is allowed to cool down to the ambient
temperature before it is required to operate again.
• A motor with continuous duty power rating Pr can be
overloaded by a factor K ( K>1) such that the power
rating becomes KPr and the maximum temperature
rise reaches the permissible value (θper).
• When the duration of running period in a duty cycle
with power KPr is tr, then permissible temperature can
be expressed as

(1)

• The θss is the steady state temperature rise which will

attained if the motor delivers a power (KPr) on
continuous bases, whereas the permissible
temperature rise θper is also the steady state
temperature rise attained when the motor operates
with a Power Pr on continuos bases.
• If the motor losses for powers Pr and KPr be P1r and P1s,
respectively, then
(2)

(3)

(4)

• Pc is the load independent (constant) loss and Pcu the load

dependent loss. Then

(5)

Overloading factor K which can be calculated

when constant and variable losses are known
separately. If not Known separately, total loss
is assumed to be only proportional to (K)2; i.e.
alpha (α) is assumed to be 0.
 Intermittent periodic duty
• During a period of operation, if the speed changes in wide
limits, leading to changes in heating and cooling conditions,
methods of equivalent current, torque or power described
previously can not be employed.
• Let us consider an intermittent load where the motor is
alternatively subjected a fixed load Pr’ of duration tr and stand
still condition of ts.
• As the motor is subjected to a periodic load, after the thermal
steady state is reached the temperature will fluctuate between a
maximum value θmax and a minimum value θmin.
• For this load, the motor rating should be selected such that, θmax
≤ θper where θper is the max. permissible temperature rise of the
motor.
• At the end of running period maximum temperature will be:

• Fall in temperature at the end of standstill interval ts will be:

Intermittent Periodic Load