MMME 2104 ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING SECTION EXPERIMENT 3 POLYPHASE INDUCTION MOTORS 1 AIMS

1 2 To determine the speed ~ torque characteristics of an induction motor using a machine with a wound rotor To investigate the speed control characteristics of a squirrel cage induction motor driven by a variable frequency, variable voltage inverter.

2 INTRODUCTION
Throughout the world, three phase induction motors are used in the majority of machine drives in industry because of their simplicity of manufacture and their robustness. They range in capacity from fractions of a kW to many megawatts. For very low power levels, single phase induction motors are often used but their operating characteristics will not be considered here. Because both the stator and rotor experience alternating magnetic fields they are both laminated, the stator being wound with a balanced three phase winding three separate identical windings separated by 120 degrees around the stator. When connected to a balanced three phase supply these produce a magnetic field of constant amplitude rotating at the synchronous speed of the machine (Ns rpm) which is related to the number of pairs of poles (p) and the frequency of the supply (f Hz) by equation (1). Ns = 60 f p rpm or

s = 2 f
p

radians/sec

(1)

For the normal 50 Hz supply, the synchronous speeds are shown in Table 1.: Number of poles (2p) 2 4 6 8 Revs per minute 3000 1500 1000 750 Synchronous speed Revs per second 50 25 16.7 12.5 Radians per second 314.2 157.1 104.7 78.5

Table 1 Synchronous speed for a range of numbers of poles Only very rarely do machines have more than 8 poles. Consider the situation where the rotor also has a balanced three phase winding. Since it is immersed in the rotating field produced by the stator, the rotor windings will have a set of three phase emfs induced in them in accordance with equation (2) the standard flux linking emf equation for AC fluxes. V = 4.44 B A N f volts (rms) (2)

Where B is the peak flux density in the machine A is the cross sectional area of the stator N is the number of turns on each phase winding and f is the frequency of the supply Induced currents flow in the rotor windings and the stator and rotor fluxes interact to produce torque which attempts to bring the rotor up to the same speed as the rotating field produced by the stator winding. If the rotor did catch up to the stator field, the rotor windings would not experience a changing flux, there would then be no induced emfs or currents and therefore no torque. Induction motors therefore run at a speed (Nr) slightly lower than the synchronous speed, typically at about 95% of it. The difference between the rotor speed (Nr) and the synchronous speed (Ns) is used to define a useful parameter called the slip (s) of the machine:

Slip

s = Ns - Nr Ns

per unit

or (Ns - Nr)*100 Ns

per cent

(3)

The slip therefore has a value of unity (pu) when the machine is at standstill and zero at synchronous speed. If the rotor speed were to be greater than the synchronous speed, the slip would be negative and the machine would be operating as an induction generator. 2.1 THE EQUIVALENT CIRCUIT The simplified equivalent circuit is shown in figure 1 where R1, R2 and Rm. are respectively the stator winding resistance, rotor winding resistance and the resistance equivalent to the core losses in the machine. Similarly, X1, X2 and Xm relate to the reactances of the stator, the rotor and the magnetisation branch respectively.

Figure 1 The equivalent circuit 2.2 THE TORQUE ~ SPEED CHARACTERISTIC The machine is found to have the typical torque ~ speed curve shown in figure 2 where the speed axis is labeled as both rpm and slip, and the torque is shown as percentage ie scaled with rated torque being 100%.

Figure 2 Typical torque ~ speed curve for an induction motor The values of the maximum torque and the starting torque depend upon the resistances and reactances of the machine. For a rated torque of 1 pu the maximum torque may be 2.5 pu and the starting torque 0.4 pu. The normal operating point for the machine is at a slip of about 5% and over the range form

zero to full load, the speed therefore varies only slightly. The induction motor can be considered to be a virtually constant speed drive. 2.3 MACHINE TESTS The parameters of the machine can be determined from the results of the no load test and the locked rotor test. 2.3.1 No load test With no mechanical load on the shaft, the machine is supplied at rated voltage and the input voltage (V1) the current (I1) and power (P1) are measured. The impedance presented to the supply is then simply Zm, the parallel combination of Rm and Xm and the input power is the core loss at rated voltage. Since the slip is almost zero, I2 is very small and I1 is approximately equal to Io which can be separated into two components as follows. Cos = Whence Rm = V1 Ic 2.3.2 Locked rotor test With the rotor locked so as to keep the machine at standstill (slip = 1), the input line voltage (V1), line current (I1) and power (P1) are measured with rated current flowing. With the machine stalled, E2 is only that required to overcome the small impedance Z2.. Since the flux in the core is then very small, the magnetising branch (Rm in parallel with Xm) can be ignored and the input power is the total copper loss in the machine. The impedance presented to the supply is Z = (Z1 + Z2 ) = R + jX = R1 + jX 1 + R2 + jX 2 = (R1 + R2) + j (X1 + X2) The values of resistance and reactance are obtained as follows: Z = V1 I1 Then and Cos = X = Z sin P1 . 3 V1 I 1 P1 . 3 V1 I 1 then and Ic = Io cos Xm = V1 Im and Im = Io sin

R = Z cos and

It is not possible to separate the resistances and reactances of the two windings from the results of this test but this is of no consequence because in the equations for the machine the terms arising are always (R1 + R2) and (X1 + X2). The DC resistances of the windings can easily be measured separately and if necessary, the leakage reactance can be apportioned equally between the stator and rotor. The normal operation of the induction motor is naturally seen as a constant speed drive 2.4 SPEED CONTROL USING VARIABLE FREQUENCY ~ VARIABLE VOLTAGE CONVERTERS It is clear from equation (1) that if the frequency is varied, the synchronous speed will change and so will the operational speed of the induction motor. Electronic switching devices are used to provide a variable frequency supply for the machine. Reducing the frequency compresses the horizontal speed scale in figure 2 whilst increasing it expands the scale. The inverter converts the DC supply voltage to a three phase sinusoidal output by control of the conduction periods of six SCRs IGBTs or FETs. The width of each pulse in each half cycle are controlled so that a sinusoidal output voltage is produced when passed through a low pass filter, as shown in figure 3. The switching frequency can be several kHz and may even be 100 kHz which means that there are virtually no power frequency harmonics present in the voltage waveform. Some higher frequency harmonics are naturally produced and these are dependent on the switching frequency of the

converter. The converter used here has 14 pulses per half cycle of the voltage waveform, for all output frequencies.

Figure 4 Sinusoidally Pulse Width Modulated Waveform The range of speed control normally possible is from about 10% of normal speed (restricted by the relatively higher losses in the machine which corrupt the torque ~ speed characteristic) to 150% (limited by the centrifugal force on the rotor). Plotting the torque ~ speed curve for several values of supply frequency produces the family of curves shown in figure 4. The ramifications of equation (2) are that if the frequency is changed, the magnitude of the applied voltage must change in unison to keep the flux density in the machine constant at the design value. Reducing the frequency and voltage in this way enables the machine to deliver constant torque at all speeds below normal speed. Figure 4 Speed control using a variable frequency/variable frequency supply

At rated speed the voltage will be the rated value. Because the voltage cannot exceed the rated value, at frequencies higher than 50 Hz the V/f ratio falls and the motor then operates at constant power rather than constant torque.

2.4.1 Current ~ Frequency Relationship At frequencies lower than the rated value, since V/f is maintained constant, and the machine is predominantly a reactance, the current taken from the supply is also constant. At very low frequencies the resistance predominates and the current taken from the supply increases linearly with frequency. Above synchronous speed the current once again falls as the voltage is reduced.

3 THE EXPERIMENT
PART 1 WOUND ROTOR INDUCTION MOTOR

Equipment to be used
The workstation for this part of the experiment has a three phase induction machine directly coupled to a DC machine. The induction machine has four poles and a rating of 415 volts, 5.5 kVA, 10.8 amps but the four quadrant controller of the DC machine has a continuous rating of only 3 kW with a short term rating of 4 kW. The connections to the machines have already been made on the back of the panel but external connections will be made to enable a variable voltage supply to be connected to the stator and external resistances will be connected in the rotor circuit. All other instrumentation and control functions are available on the consoles. A number of push buttons, potentiometers and switches on the console allow a variety of parameters to be activated, varied, controlled or limited: On the Induction machine An external three phase variac is used to provide a controlled voltage to the stator. To enable the voltage applied to the stator to be controlled a three phase variac is connected between the 415 volt supply and the stator. To do this, before any supplies have been turned on, remove the three links between the machine and the mains. Whilst the stator terminals are open circuited, measure the value of the stator windings using a multimeter and then connect the three phase variac unit to the bench. The plug supplying the unit should be plugged into the three phase socket on the right hand end of the bench. The output from the variac, which is available from three terminals on the left hand side of the unit, should be connected to the stator terminals Set the switch on the left hand side of the unit to the auto position and ensure that the variac is always returned to the zero position before the supply is switched on. On the DC machine The field winding on the stator is supplied with a fixed, dc current. The armature is supplied from a four quadrant drive in which: (i) (ii) The speed control potentiometer varies the armature voltage. This feature is not used in this experiment. A current limit potentiometer is used to set a limit on the armature current. In this experiment the current limit will be used to control the load on the shaft of the induction motor.

4 PROCEDURE
4.1 THE NO LOAD TEST With the rotor winding short circuited, the stator is supplied with a range of voltages without any supplies being made to the DC machine.

4.1.1

Switch on the three phase supply to the variac and increase the voltage to 200 volts. Record the values of the parameters listed in Table 1 and compute the values of the power factor, phase angle of the current and the values of Rm and Xm (the magnetising branch parameters using equations (4)) for the machine. Repeat for a supply voltage of 415 volts

4.1.2

Comment on the variation of power factor, and the values of Rm and Xm. 4.2 THE LOCKED ROTOR TEST

(a) With the Rotor Short Circuited Rotate the rotor by hand and engage the pinion of the rotor locking mechanism into the rotor. 4.2.1 Increase the supply voltage so that 2 amps flows into the stator and complete the values of the parameters in Table 2, computing the values of the power factor, phase angle and the values of R and X (the parameters of the machine windings using equations (5)). Repeat this for current levels of 6 and 12 amps. With the current at 12 amps, disengage the rotor locking pinion and describe what happens to the machine.

4.2.2 4.2.3

(b) With an Additional External Rotor Resistance Switch off the supplies to the bench and open the back of the bench. Remove the links short circuiting the rotor terminals and connect the pre-formed external rotor resistance across the rotor terminals. Lock the rotor again and: 4.2.4 Increase the supply voltage so that 2 amps flows into the stator and complete the values of the parameters in Table 3, again computing the values of the power factor, phase angle and the values of R and X (the parameters of the machine windings). Repeat this for current levels of 6 and 12 amps. With the stator current at 12 amps, disengage the rotor locking pinion and describe what happens. Enter the steady state values of the parameters in the last row of table 3.

4.2.5 4.2.6

Comment on the values of machine parameters obtained with and without the external rotor resistance. 4.3 LOAD TESTS Without changing any conditions set in section 4.2.6: 4.3.1 Switch on the four quadrant supply to the DC machine and, with the speed potentiometer set on zero, slowly increase the current limit potentiometer, observing the torque ~ speed curve on the PC screen. Increase the stator voltage to 415 volts and repeat 4.3.1 without exceeding a line current of 15 amps. Draw the torque ~ speed curves displayed on the PC in the results section.

4.3.2

Comment on the torque ~speed curves obtained.

PART 2 SPEED CONTROL OF A SQUIRREL CAGE INDUCTION MOTOR. MOVE TO A DIFFERENT BENCH WHICH HAS A SQUIRREL CAGE INDUCTION MOTOR COUPLED TO A DC GENERATOR The workstation for this part of the experiment has a three phase squirrel cage induction machine directly coupled to a DC machine. The induction machine has four poles and a rating of 415 volts, 5.5 kVA, 10.8 amps but the four quadrant controller of the DC machine has a continuous rating of only 3 kW with a short term rating of 4 kW. The induction motor is supplied from a variable voltage, variable frequency inverter, the frequency available from the supply being adjustable from near zero to 50 Hz by the frequency adjust potentiometer. The frequency of the supply is indicated on a digital display visible through the back panel of the bench. 5 PROCEDURE 5.1 With the current limit potentiometer on the DC machine set to zero, increase the frequency of the supply to 15 Hz. Observe the waveform of the line voltage supplied to the induction motor and confirm that there are 14 pulses per half cycle in the sinusoidally pulse width modulated waveform. Now slowly increase the current limit potentiometer on the DC machine and observe the variation of torque with speed. Repeat 5.1 for frequencies of 20, 30 40 and 50 Hz.

5.2.1 5.3

5.4 With the current limit potentiometer on the DC machine set at 30 % vary the supply frequency from minimum to maximum and observe the variation of current with frequency. Draw this curve in the results section and comment on the shape of the curve. 5.5 Repeat 5.4 for current settings of 60% and 100%

Comment on the scope made available for the speed control of the induction motor using pulse width modulated variable frequency converters.

ANSWER SHEET Table 1 The Open Circuit Test Voltage 200 415 Current Power

EXPERIMENT 3

INDUCTION MOTORS

Speed

Power factor

Phase angle

Rm

Xm

Table 2 Locked Rotor Test with the Rotor Short Circuited Current 2 6 12 12 Table 3 Locked Rotor Test with an External Rotor Resistance Current 2 6 12 12 Voltage Power Speed Power factor Phase angle R X Voltage Power Speed Power factor Phase angle R X

Table 4 Load Tests Supply Voltage = Induction motor Current Power Speed Torque T Power = *T On the DC Machine Current Power

Voltage

Power factor

In phase current

Quadrature current

Efficiency