19_222 Dr A.

Cruden
Tutorial 6: AC Machines
1) What is the difference between an AC machine with a salient pole rotor and a cylindrical rotor?
Which type of rotor would commonly be used for a high speed generator (a so-called turbo-
alternator set, consisting of a steam turbine driving a generator at 3000rpm)?

Ans: A salient rotor has ‘protruding’ poles (see illustration below) and due to centrifugal forces is
commonly used for low speed machines. A cylindrical rotor, or ‘smooth’ rotor, has the rotor coils
evenly distributed around the rotor and held in place by wedges. It is commonly used for turbo-
alternator sets for the reason previously given.

Coils Coils Rotor Body

Rotor Body

Salient rotor with protruding poles Cylindrical or smooth rotor with distributed coils

2) From the equivalent circuit of a synchronous motor, prove that the power from the machine, P,
equals P = (|V||E|/XS) sinδ.

Ans: From the circuit below, find that XSIcosθ = Esinδ, (from a basic circuit analysis summing the
voltages around the circuit)

XS
XS I cosθ = Esinδ

V
V 0 E -δ
δ
θ θ X SI
E
I
Supply
Terminals

Also, recognising that P = |V||I|cosθ, then prove that P = (|V||E|/XS) sinδ.

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3) A synchronous motor is rated at 100MW at 0.8pf. If the terminal voltage of the machine is 17kV,
what is the current delivered to this machine at rated load? At rated power, the excitation to this
machine produces a back emf of 16,536V at a machine rotor load angle of 71.50. What value of
excitation (or back emf actually, but the excitation increases the back emf) is required to enable
this machine to operate at unity power factor at rated load?

Ans: 2450.9A, 23,131V

4) A three phase, 2000hp, 13.2kV, 60Hz, six pole, wye (star) connected, cylindrical rotor synchronous
motor operates at rated load, 0.85 power factor leading, and an efficiency of 94%. The synchronous
reactance per phase is 32Ω and the armature resistance is negligible. Determine the following:
a) Rated torque.
b) Armature current.
c) Excitation voltage and power angle.
d) Pullout torque.

Ans: 11,873.3Nm, 81.66A, 9267.9∠-13.860V, 52,761Nm

5) A 3φ, 11kV, 2MVA, 4 pole, 50Hz, star connected, synchronous motor is required to be operated as
a synchronous condenser, delivering 1MVAr of reactive power to the network it is connected to.
Calculate the excitation required to achieve this operational state if the synchronous reactance is
6Ω/phase, and draw the resulting phasor diagram. Assume the motor has zero friction and windage
losses, and that the armature resistance is negligible.

Ans: 6665∠00V

6) What is meant by the slip of an induction motor, and define the expression allowing evaluation of
this parameter?

7) A three phase, 15hp, 460V, 4 pole, 60Hz, 1728rpm induction motor delivers full output power to a
load connected to its shaft, The windage and friction loss of the motor is 750W. Determine the:
a) Mechanical power developed.
b) Air gap power.
c) Rotor copper loss.

Ans: 11,940W, 12,437.5W, 497.5W

8) A three phase, 36hp, 400V, 4 pole, 50Hz, wound rotor induction motor has the following
parameters/per phase:
R1 = 0.35Ω R’2 = 0.3Ω
X1 = X’2 = 0.75Ω Xm = 40Ω
Friction and windage losses are assumed to be 2700W. Initially the rotor terminals are short-circuited,
hence find:
a) the stator supply current and power factor when supplying rated power at a slip of 8.85%.
b) calculate the value of magnetizing current, Iφ, at this operating point
c) calculate the torque produced at this operating point.

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d) The maximum value of torque with the rotor short-circuited and the speed this maximum
torque occurs at.
e) The value of extra rotor resistance required to be added in the rotor circuit to achieve
maximum torque at start-up (i.e. the level of torque calculated in d)).

Ans: 57.725A, 0.9 lagging, 4.9∠-98.260A, 206.4Nm, 262.8Nm @ 1206rpm, 1.23Ω/phase.

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