Testing of DC Machines (Part One):

There are several tests that are conducted upon a dc machine (generator or motor) to judge its performance.
The efficiency of a dc machine depends upon its losses. The smaller the losses, the greater the efficiency
of the machine and vice versa. Consideration of losses in a dc machine is important for two principal
reasons. First, the losses determine the efficiency of the machine and appreciably influence its operating
cost. Secondly, losses determine the heating of the machine and hence power output that may be obtained
without undue deterioration of the insulation.
Efficiency of a DC Machine
The power that a dc machine receives is called the input and the power it gives out is called the output.
Thus, the efficiency is given by:
𝑂𝑢𝑡𝑝𝑢𝑡
𝐸𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑦 = … … … … … … … … …. (1)
𝐼𝑛𝑝𝑢𝑡
𝑜𝑢𝑡𝑝𝑢𝑡 = 𝑖𝑛𝑝𝑢𝑡 − 𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑠
𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 {
𝑖𝑛𝑝𝑢𝑡 = 𝑜𝑢𝑡𝑝𝑢𝑡 + 𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑠
Therefore, the efficiency of a dc machine can also be expressed in the following forms:
𝐼𝑛𝑝𝑢𝑡 − 𝐿𝑜𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑠
𝐸𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑦 = … … … … … … … … …. (2)
𝐼𝑛𝑝𝑢𝑡
𝑂𝑢𝑡𝑝𝑢𝑡
𝐸𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑦 = … … … … … … … … …. (3)
𝑂𝑢𝑡𝑝𝑢𝑡 + 𝐿𝑜𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑠
The most obvious method of determining the efficiency of a dc machine is to load it directly and measure
the input power and output power. Then we use equation (1) to determine the efficiency of the machine.
This method suffers from three main drawbacks. First, this method requires the application of the load on
the machine. Secondly, for machines of large rating, the loads of the required sizes may not be available
and thirdly, even if it is possible to provide such loads, large power will be dissipated, making it an
expensive method.
The most common method of measuring the efficiency of a dc machine is to determine its losses (instead
of measuring the input and output on load) then use equation (2) or (3) to determine the efficiency of the
machine. This method has the advantage of convenience and economy.
Efficiency by Direct Loading:
In this method, the dc machine is loaded and input and output are measured to find the efficiency. For this
purpose, two simple methods are used:
Method 1: Brake Test
In this method, a brake is applied to a water-cooled pulley mounted on the motr shaft as shown below:

1
One end of the rope is fixed to the floor via a spring balance S and a known mass is suspended at the other
end. If the spring balance reading is S Kg and the suspended mass has a weight of W Kg, then,

𝑁𝑒𝑡 𝑝𝑢𝑙𝑙 𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑜𝑝𝑒 = 𝑊 − 𝑆 𝐾𝑔 = [𝑊 − 𝑆] × 9.81 𝑁

If r is the radius of the pullet in meters, then the shaft torque developed by the motor is:

𝑇𝑠ℎ = [𝑊 − 𝑆] × 9.81 × 𝑟 𝑁𝑚
If the speed of the pulley is N rpm, then,
2𝜋𝑁 𝑇𝑠ℎ 2𝜋𝑁 × [𝑊 − 𝑆] × 9.81 × 𝑟
𝑂𝑢𝑡𝑝𝑢𝑡 𝑃𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 = 𝑇𝜔 = = 𝑊𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑠
60 60

𝑉 = 𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑝𝑙𝑦 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑡𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑉𝑜𝑙𝑡𝑠

𝐿𝑒𝑡 {
𝐼 = 𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑛 𝑏𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑜𝑡𝑜𝑟 𝑖𝑛 𝐴𝑚𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑠
𝐼𝑛𝑝𝑢𝑡 𝑃𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑜𝑡𝑜𝑟 = 𝑉𝐼 𝑊𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑠

2𝜋𝑁 × [𝑊 − 𝑆] × 9.81 × 𝑟
𝐸𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑦 =
60 × 𝑉𝐼
Method 2
In this method, the motor drives a calibrated generator i.e. one whose efficiency is known at all loads. The
output of the generator is measured with the help of an ammeter and voltmeter.
𝐺𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑜𝑟 𝑂𝑢𝑡𝑝𝑢𝑡
𝑂𝑢𝑡𝑝𝑢𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑀𝑜𝑡𝑜𝑟 =
𝐺𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑜𝑟 𝐸𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑦

𝑉 = 𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑝𝑙𝑦 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑡𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑉𝑜𝑙𝑡𝑠

𝐿𝑒𝑡 {
𝐼 = 𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑛 𝑏𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑜𝑡𝑜𝑟 𝑖𝑛 𝐴𝑚𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑠
𝐼𝑛𝑝𝑢𝑡 𝑃𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑜𝑡𝑜𝑟 = 𝑉𝐼 𝑊𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑠

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 𝑂𝑢𝑡𝑝𝑢𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑀𝑜𝑡𝑜𝑟
𝐸𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑦 =
𝑉𝐼
Note that the direct loading method is only used when determining the efficiency of small machines.
Example 1:
In a brake-test on a small shunt motor, the speed was 1500 rpm. The load on one side of the brake band was
28.9 N and on the other side 1.67 N. The diameter of the brake pulley was 15.2 cm. If the input current was
2 A at 250 V, calculate:
i) The torque
ii) The brake horse power
iii) The efficiency

Solution:
i)
0.152
𝑇𝑠ℎ = (𝑊 − 𝑆) × 𝑟 = (28.9 − 1.67) × = 2.07 𝑁𝑚
2
ii)
2𝜋𝑁 𝑇𝑠ℎ 2𝜋 × 1500 × 2.07
𝑂𝑢𝑡𝑝𝑢𝑡 𝑃𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 = = = 325 𝑊
60 60
325
𝐵𝐻𝑃 = = 0.436 𝐻𝑃
746
iii)

𝐼𝑛𝑝𝑢𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑀𝑜𝑡𝑜𝑟 = 𝐼𝑉 = 250 × 2 = 500 𝑊

𝑜𝑢𝑡𝑝𝑢𝑡 325
𝐸𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑦 = × 100 = × 100 = 65%
𝑖𝑛𝑝𝑢𝑡 500
Swinburne’s Method for Determining Efficiency:
In this method, the dc machine (generator or motor) is run as a motor on no-load and the losses of the
machine determined. Once the losses are known, the efficiency at any desired load can be determined in
advance.
This method is applicable to those machines in which the flux is practically constant at all loads e.g. shunt
and compound machines. Let us look at how the efficiency of a dc shunt machine is determined by this
method. The test consists of two steps:
Step 1: determination of hot resistances of windings
The armature resistance and shunt field resistance are measured using a battery, voltmeter and ammeter.
Since these resistances are measured when the machine is cold, they must be converted to values
corresponding to the temperature at which the machine would work on full load. Generally, these values
are measured for a temperature rise of 40 oC above room temperature.

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Let the hot resistances of the armature and shunt field be 𝑅𝑎 and 𝑅𝑠ℎ resp.

Step 2: determination of constant losses

The machine is run as a motor on no-load with supply voltage adjusted to the rated voltage (the voltage
indicated on the nameplate). The speed of the motor is adjusted to the rated speed with the help of a field
regulator R as shown in the diagram above.
Considering the diagram above:
𝑉 = 𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑝𝑙𝑦 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑡𝑎𝑔𝑒
𝐿𝑒𝑡 { 𝐼0 = 𝑛𝑜 𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑑 𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑 𝑏𝑦 𝑎𝑚𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝐴1
𝐼𝑠ℎ = 𝑠ℎ𝑢𝑛𝑡 𝑓𝑖𝑒𝑙𝑑 𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑 𝑏𝑦 𝑎𝑚𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝐴2
𝑛𝑜 𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑑 𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡, 𝐼𝑎0 = 𝐼0 − 𝐼𝑠ℎ
𝑛𝑜 𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑑 𝑖𝑛𝑝𝑢𝑡 𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑜𝑡𝑜𝑟 = 𝑉𝐼0
𝑛𝑜 𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑑 𝑖𝑛𝑝𝑢𝑡 𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 𝑡𝑜 𝑎𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 = 𝑉𝐼𝑎0 = 𝑉(𝐼0 − 𝐼𝑠ℎ )
Since the output of the motor is zero, the no-load input power to the armature supplies the iron losses in the
core, friction losses, windage losses and armature copper loss. Note that Iron losses, friction losses and
windage losses remain constant at all loads and constitute the constant losses. This makes the only loss
varying with the load to be the armature copper loss.
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𝐴𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝐶𝑢 𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑠 = 𝐼𝑎0 𝑅𝑎 = (𝐼0 − 𝐼𝑠ℎ )2 𝑅𝑎

𝐶𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑠, 𝑊𝐶 = 𝑖𝑛𝑝𝑢𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑜𝑡𝑜𝑟 − 𝑎𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑟 𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑠

𝑊𝐶 = 𝑉𝐼0 − (𝐼0 − 𝐼𝑠ℎ )2 𝑅𝑎

Since the constant losses are known, the efficiency of the machine at any other load can be determined.
Suppose it is desired to determine the efficiency of the machine at load current I, then:
𝐼 − 𝐼𝑠ℎ 𝑖𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑚𝑜𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔
𝑎𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡, 𝐼𝑎 = {
𝐼 + 𝐼𝑠ℎ 𝑖𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑔𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔

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Efficiency when running as a motor:

𝑖𝑛𝑝𝑢𝑡 𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑜𝑡𝑜𝑟 = 𝑉𝐼

𝑎𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝐶𝑢 𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑠 = 𝐼𝑎2 𝑅𝑎 = (𝐼 − 𝐼𝑠ℎ )2 𝑅𝑎

𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑠 = 𝑊𝐶

𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑠 = (𝐼 − 𝐼𝑠ℎ )2 𝑅𝑎 + 𝑊𝐶

𝑖𝑛𝑝𝑢𝑡 − 𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑠 𝑉𝐼 − (𝐼 − 𝐼𝑠ℎ )2 𝑅𝑎 − 𝑊𝐶

𝑚𝑜𝑡𝑜𝑟 𝑒𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑦 = =
𝑖𝑛𝑝𝑢𝑡 𝑉𝐼
Efficiency when running as a generator:

𝑜𝑢𝑡𝑝𝑢𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑔𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑜𝑟 = 𝑉𝐼

𝑎𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝐶𝑢 𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑠 = (𝐼 + 𝐼𝑠ℎ )2 𝑅𝑎

𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑠 = 𝑊𝐶

𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑠 = (𝐼 + 𝐼𝑠ℎ )2 𝑅𝑎 + 𝑊𝐶

𝑜𝑢𝑡𝑝𝑢𝑡 𝑉𝐼
𝑔𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑜𝑟 𝑒𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑦 = =
𝑜𝑢𝑡𝑝𝑢𝑡 + 𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑠 𝑉𝐼 + (𝐼 + 𝐼𝑠ℎ )2 𝑅𝑎 + 𝑊𝐶

Advantages of Swinburne’s Test:

1. The power required to carry out the test is small because it is a no-load test. Therefore this method
is quite economical.
2. The efficiency can be determined at any load because the constant losses are known
3. This test is very convenient
Disadvantages of Swinburne’s Test:
1. It does not take into account the stray losses (due the eddy current in the conductors and due to
change in magnetic field) that occur when the machine is loaded.
2. This test does not enable us to check the performance of the machine on full-load. E.g. it does not
check whether commutation on full load is satisfactory and whether the temperature rise is within
the specified limits.
3. This test does not give accurate efficiency of the machine. This is because iron losses under actual
load are greater than those measured (due mainly to the armature reaction distorting the field).

5
It may be important to note that this method cannot be used for dc series machines for two reasons:
1. This test requires the machine to be run as a motor on no-load. A dc series motor should not be run
on no-load because on no-load its speed is very high and may result in damage to mechanical parts
of the machine and its foundation.
2. In dc series machines, iron and friction losses are not constant but vary with load.

Example 2:
A 220 V dc shunt motor at no-load takes a current of 2.5 A. The resistances of the armature and shunt field
are 0.8 Ω and 200 Ω resp. Estimate the efficiency of the motor when input current is 32 A.

Solution:
𝑛𝑜 𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑑 𝑖𝑛𝑝𝑢𝑡 𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 = 𝑉𝐼0 = 220 × 2.5 = 550 𝑊
220
𝐼𝑠ℎ = = 1.1 𝐴
200
𝑛𝑜 𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑑 𝑎𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡, 𝐼𝑎0 = 2.5 − 1.1 = 1.4 𝐴
2
𝑛𝑜 𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑑 𝑎𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝐶𝑢 𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑠 = 𝐼𝑎0 𝑅𝑎 = (1.4)2 × 0.8 = 1.6 𝑊

𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑠 = 550 − 1.6 = 548.4 𝑊

When input current is 32 A:
𝑎𝑚𝑟𝑎𝑢𝑡𝑟𝑒 𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡, 𝐼𝑎 = 32 − 1.1 = 30.9 𝐴

𝑎𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝐶𝑢 𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑠 = 𝐼𝑎2 𝑅𝑎 = 30.92 × 0.8 = 764 𝑊

𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑠 = 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑠 + 𝐼𝑎2 𝑅𝑎 = 548.4 + 764 = 1312.4 𝑊

𝑖𝑛𝑝𝑢𝑡 𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 = 220 × 32 = 7040 𝑊
𝑜𝑢𝑡𝑝𝑢𝑡 𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 = 7040 − 1312.4 = 5727.6 𝑊
5727.6
𝑒𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑦, 𝜂 = × 100 = 81.36 %
7040