Technical Bulletin 08/01

by
Alex Settimi Sohler
Technical Manager
for WEG Australia

S
electing motor protection devices may not be as
straight forward as one may think. Firstly, the
protection must be selected in a way to prevent the
potential disastrous damages of short-circuit currents.
Secondly, it shall be sized to prevent nuisance tripouts caused
by motor inrush current.
Imag
Inrush current is often mistaken by locked rotor current.
According to IEC 60034-1 “locked rotor current is the greatest
steady-state r.m.s. current taken from the line with the motor
held at rest, over all angular positions of its rotor, at rated
voltage and frequency”. When a motor is energised it draws a
high current for the first few cycles (inrush), then if the rotor
remains locked the current stabilizes around its steady state Figure 1: Magnetization curve (Chapman, S ’Electric Machinery
value (locked-rotor current). If the motor is allowed to Fundamentals’. 1991: p 60)
accelerate the current drops until it reaches its rated value
(motor rated current, which is dependent on load). The difficulty in protecting an electric motor and respective
circuit lies in selecting and adjusting a suitable device that
Mathematically the inrush current can be calculated by will not trip due to the high inrush current, but at the same time
analysing the motor’s voltage and flux immediately after will protect the circuit against a true short circuit condition.
energising it. The voltage applied to the motor is: Failure to do so may result in nuisance trips or inadequate
circuit protection. A possible solution is the use of two
v(t) = VM sin (ω + θ) (1) instantaneous trip elements, with different I versus t curves.
The maximum flux amplitude reached on the first half-cycle of
the applied voltage depends on the phase of the voltage at the The amplitude of the inrush and consequently locked rotor
time it is applied. If the initial voltage is current also depends on the X/R ratio of the motor. High
efficiency motors have a lower X/R ratio, hence higher locked
rotor current. Nonetheless, many motor specifications tend to
v(t) = VM sin (ω + 90) = VM cosωt (2)
require a maximum starting current (a terminology incorrectly
used, since there is no formal definition for it) of 600% (the
Supposing the initial flux in the core is zero, the maximum flux
average is 650% to 750%) . This means that manufacturers
during the first half-cycle will equal the flux at steady state (3).
have to increase the motor’s electrical resistance, hence
φmax = VM (3) increasing its overall losses. This has a negative effect on
ωNp motor efficiency, also impacting on motor temperature rise
If the voltage displacement angle θ is 0 then the maximum flux and slip. The only positive about it, apart from the decrease in
at the first half-cycle is locked rotor current, is the increase in motor power factor.

π/ω
φmax = 1 VM sinωt dt = 2VM (4) It is important to note that although AS and IEC standards set
Np ωNp forth limits for motor locked rotor current, there are no limits
0 for inrush current. As a matter of fact, the high inrush current
is a inherent phenomenon to induction motors, and since it
Equation 4 shows that the maximum flux can be twice as high
varies with the angular position of the applied voltage there
as the steady state flux. Examining a motor’s magnetisation
are no standardised ways of measuring it. There are a
curve (see figure 1) it can be seen that a small increase in flux
number of papers that go on to recommend practical rules to
results in an enormous increase in the magnetization current.
selecting and adjusting motor protection devices. We cite
In fact, the inrush current can reach a peak value of
below the recommendation set forth by IEEE 242 standard:
approximately 3 times the motor’s locked rotor current (the
latter is measured in r.m.s.). As it lasts only a few cycles
“For many smaller squirrel-cage induction motors it is usual to
(some milliseconds), it is not normally detected by
set the instantaneous pickup at 10 or 11 times the motor full
conventional meters, but it is sensed by the instantaneous trip
load current.”
elements of circuit breakers, fuses or overcurrent relays, which
may result in tripouts during motor starting.

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