University of Kufa Fourth Year, Introduction

Faculty of Engineering Electrical Drive and Control

Electrical Engineering Department Ali Qasim AL-Mousawi

REVIEW OF ELECTRIC DRIVES

Introduction to Electrical Drive: -
The first electric drive was invented in 1838 by B. S. Iakobi in Russia. He tested a
DC motor which is supplied from a battery to push a boat. Although, the application
of electric drive in industrial can happen after so many years like in 1870. At present,
this can be observed almost everywhere. We know that the speed of an electrical
machine (motor or generator) can be controlled by the source current’s frequency
as well as the applied voltage. Although, the revolution speed of a machine can also
be controlled accurately by applying the electric drive concept.

1.1 What is an Electric Drive?

An Electric Drive can be defined as, a system which is used to control the movement
of an electrical machine. This drive employs a prime mover such as a petrol engine,
otherwise diesel, steam turbines otherwise gas, electrical & hydraulic motors like a
main source of energy. These prime movers will supply the mechanical energy
toward the drive for controlling motion. At present, the controlling can be done
simply using the software. Thus, the controlling turns into more accurate & this drive
concept also offers the ease of utilizing. Electrical drives have many advantages
over other mechanical drives. Electrical drives are more popular for its simple
constructions, reliability, cleanliness, and smooth easy speed control.

The types of electrical drives are two such as a standard inverter (used to control the
torque & speed) as well as a servo drive (used to control the torque as well as speed,
and also components of the positioning machine utilized within applications that need
difficult motion).
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University of Kufa Fourth Year, Introduction
Faculty of Engineering Electrical Drive and Control
Electrical Engineering Department Ali Qasim AL-Mousawi

Component of Electric Drive

The electric drive can be built with source, power modulator, motor, load, sensing unit, control unit,
an input command.

1- Power Source
The power source offers the necessary energy for the system. The converter and the motor
interfaces by the power source to provide changeable voltage, frequency and current to the motor.
Very low power drives are generally fed from single phase sources. Rest of the drives is powered
from a 3-phase source. Low and medium power motors are fed from a 400v supply. For higher
ratings, motors may be rated at 3.3KV, 6.6KV and 11 KV. Some drives are powered from battery.

2- Power Modulator
can be used to control the output power of the supply. The power controlling of the motor can
be done when electrical motor sends out the speed-torque feature which is necessary with the load.
During the temporary operations, the extreme current will be drawn from the power source and may
excess it otherwise can cause a voltage drop. Therefore, the power modulator limits the motor
current. The power modulator can change the energy based on the motor requirement.
It can classify as: Controlled rectifier (AC/DC), Inverters (DC/AC), AC voltage controllers
(AC/AC), DC choppers (DC/DC), and Cyclo-converters (Frequency conversion).

3- Control Unit
used to control the power modulator, and this modulator can operate at power levels as well as
small voltage. And it also works the power modulator as preferred. This unit produces the rules for
the safety of the motor as well as power modulator. The input control signal regulates the drive’s
working point from input toward the control unit.

4- Sensing Unit
The sensing unit in the block diagram is used to sense the particular drive factor. This unit is
mainly used for the operation of closed loop otherwise protection. There are many types of sensors:-
  Speed Sensing (From Motor)
  Torque Sensing
  Position Sensing
  Current and Voltage Sensing from Lines or from motor terminals.
  Torque sensing (from load).   Temperature Sensing (from load).

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University of Kufa Fourth Year, Introduction
Faculty of Engineering Electrical Drive and Control
Electrical Engineering Department Ali Qasim AL-Mousawi

5- Motor
Convert energy from electrical to mechanical. In braking mode, the flow of power is reversed.
The electric motor can be chosen by believing various features such as price, power rating &
performance necessary by the load throughout the stable state as well as active operations.
The motor speed is determined mainly by the applied frequency. The motor slows down a little
as the load increases and the slip increases. If the load is too great the motor will exceed the
maximum torque and stall or “pull out‟. Most motors and inverters will operate at 150% load.
The losses in the machines contribute to the temperature increase in the machine. Allowable
power losses are higher for materials which can withstand higher temperature which translates to
higher costs. Three main cause of power losses are:
 Conductor losses: 𝑖 𝑅. Exist in the windings, cables, brushes, slip rings, commutator, and etc.
 Core losses: Mainly due to eddy current and hysteresis losses
 Friction and windage losses: Mainly due to ball bearings, brushes, ventilation losses

6- Load
The mechanical load can be decided by the environment of the industrial process & the power
source can be decided by an available source at the place. However, we can choose the
other electric components namely electric motor, controller, & converter. The load requirements
are in either of Speed control or Torque control.
Depending upon the load requirements the motor has to be chosen. For example, in traction
system the load needs high starting torque (initial i.e., high current value is needed at the start. A
series motor provides a high starting torque. Hence series motor should be chosen for traction
system). There are three types of industrial loads under which electric motors are required to work.
1) Continuous load: Load is continuous in nature. Ex- Pumps or fans require a constant power
input to keep them operating.
2) Intermittent load: This type classified in to two types: Motor loaded for short time and then
shunt off for sufficiently longer duration temperature is brought to the room temperature.
Ex: kitchen mixite.
3) Variable or fluctuating load.

Advantages of Electrical Drives:

 It has very large range of speed and power.
 It is independent of the environmental condition.
 It is readily available by means of electric power.
 They are pollution free as there are no flue gases in that.
 It operates on all the quadrants of speed torque plane.
 It can be started easily.
 It has high efficiency due to fewer losses.
 They have a longer life span than other drives systems.
 No need of any fuel storage and transportation.
 It has High efficiency.
 They require less space.
 It is reliable, economical source of power, and can be remotely controlled.

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University of Kufa Fourth Year, Introduction
Faculty of Engineering Electrical Drive and Control
Electrical Engineering Department Ali Qasim AL-Mousawi

Classification of Electrical Drives

The drives categorized based on the different parameters as shown below: -
 Based on supply namely AC drives & DC drives.
 Based on running speed namely Constant speed drives & changeable speed drives.
 Based on a number of motors namely Single motor drives & multi-motor drives.
 Based on control parameter namely stable torque drives & stable power drives.

In electrical drives choice, AC drive is preferred because of it cost less, AC power can be
transmitted with low line losses, and increase or decrease voltage without more losses of power.

DC Drives AC Drives
1 Power circuit and control circuit is simple Power and Control circuit is complex
2 Frequent Maintenance. Less Maintenance.
3 Commulator makes bulky, costly and Problems are not there, particularly squirrel
heavy. cage motor.
4 Speed and design rating are limited due to Ratings have no upper limits.
commutation.
5 This is used in certain location Used in all location
6 Fast response and wide speed range In solid state control speed range is wide and
smooth achieved by conventional and conventional method it is stepped and limited.
solid-state control
7 Poor PF, harmonic distortion of the For Regenerative drives the line pf is poor, for
current. non-regenerative drives the line PF is better.
8 Power / weight ratio is small. Power / weight ratio is large.

Classification of Electric Drives according to number of machines

The choice of the electric drives, there are three classification namely
 grope drive
 individual drive
 multimotor drive

Individual Drive
In individual drive, each individual machine is driven by a separate motor. This motor also
imparts motion to various other parts of the machine. Examples of such machines are single spindle
drilling machines (Universal motor is used) and lathes. In a lathe, the motor rotates the spindle,
moves the feed and also with the help of gears, transmits motion to lubricating and cooling pumps.
A three-phase squirrel cage induction motor is used as the drive. In many such applications the
electric motor forms an integral part of the machine.

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University of Kufa Fourth Year, Introduction
Faculty of Engineering Electrical Drive and Control
Electrical Engineering Department Ali Qasim AL-Mousawi

Advantages:
1. Machines can be located at convenient places.
2. Continuity in the production of the processing industry is ensured to a high level of reliability.
3. when is a fault in one motor, the effect on the production of the industry will not be appreciable.
Disadvantages: Initial cost is very high.

Group Drive
One motor is used as a drive for two or more than machines. The motor is connected to a long shaft.
All the other machines are connected to this shaft through belt and pulleys.

Advantages:
1. economical because the rating of the motor used less than the aggregate of the individual motors
required to drive each equipment, because all of they may not be working simultaneously.
2. reduces the initial cost of installing a particular industry.
3. Less space is required in group drive as compared to individual drive.
4. Low maintenance cost.

Disadvantages: The use of this kind of drive is restricted due to the following reasons:
1. Flexibility of lay out is lost and the possibility of installation of additional machines in an
existing industry is limited.
2. In case of any fault to the main driving motor, all the other motors will be stopped immediately.
3. Level of noise produced at the site is high.
4. This kind of drive is untidy appearance, and it is also less safe to operate.
5. power loss is high because of the large amount of energy is wasted in belts and pulleys.
6. Power factor: Group drive has low power factor
7. Speed: Group drive does not provide constant speed.
8. Group drive is not suitable for driving heavy machines such as cranes, and hoists.

Multimotor Drive
In this type of drive, separate motors are provided for actuating different parts of the driven
mechanism. Ex: cranes, drives used in paper mills, rolling mills etc.,
In cranes, separate motors are used for hoisting, long travel motion and cross travel motion.

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University of Kufa Fourth Year, Introduction
Faculty of Engineering Electrical Drive and Control
Electrical Engineering Department Ali Qasim AL-Mousawi

Selecting a Drive
Often drive selection is straightforward, as a motor is already installed and the speed range
requirement is not excessive. However, when a drive system is selected from first principles, careful
consideration may avoid problems in installation and operation, and may also save significant cost.

and some considerations must be taken into account such as: -

a) Check the Current rating of the inverter and the motor. Power rating is only a rough guide.
b) Check that you have selected the correct operating voltage. 230V three phase input
MICROMASTERs will operate with single or three phase inputs; MIDIMASTERs will operate
with three phase only. Single phase input units can be more cost effective in some cases, but
note that 230V units will be damaged if operated at 400V.
c) Check the speed range you require. Operation above normal supply frequency (50 or 60Hz) is
usually only possible at reduced power. Operation at low frequency and high torque can cause
the motor to overheat due to lack of cooling.
d) Synchronous motors require de-rating, typically by 2 -3 times. This is because the power factor,
and hence the current, can be very high at low frequency.
e) Check overload performance. The inverter will limit current to 150 or 200 % of full current very
quickly - a standard, fixed speed motor will tolerate these overloads.
f) Do you need to stop quickly? If so, consider using a braking resistor to absorb the energy.
g) Do you need to operate with cables longer than 50m, or screened or armored cables longer than
25m? If so, it may be necessary to de-rate, or fit a choke to compensate for the cable
capacitance.

CLASSES OF MOTOR DUTY

various load time variations encountered into eight classes as: -
1) continuous duty.
2) short time duty.
3) intermittent periodic duty.
4) intermittent periodic duty with starting.
5) intermittent periodic duty with starting & braking.
6) continuous duty with intermittent periodic loading.
7) continuous duty with starting & braking.
8) Continuous duty with periodic speed changes.

Continuous Duty:
 This type drive is operated continuously for a duration which is long enough to reach its steady
state value of temperature.
 This duty is characterized by constant motor torque and constant motor loss operation.
Depicted in fig.1 (a) & (b).
 This type of duty can be accomplished by single phase/ three phase induction motors and DC
shunt motors.
Examples: Paper mill, Compressors, Conveyors, Centrifugal pumps and Fans.

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University of Kufa Fourth Year, Introduction
Faculty of Engineering Electrical Drive and Control
Electrical Engineering Department Ali Qasim AL-Mousawi

Short time duty:

 Time of operation is less than heating time constant and motor is allowed to cool off to room
temperature before it is operated again. See Figure 2 (a) and (b)
 the motor can be overloaded until the motor temperature reaches its permissible limit.
 This type of duty can be accomplished by single phase/ three phase induction motors and DC
shunt motors, DC series motors, universal motors.
Examples: Crane drives, drives for house hold appliances, Turning bridges, Sluice gate drives.

Intermittent periodic duty:

 In this type drive operation, it consists of a different periods of duty cycles. i.e. a period of rest
and a period of running, a period of starting, a period of braking.
 Both a running period is not enough to reach its steady state temperature and a rest period is not
enough to cool off the machine to ambient temperature.
 In this type drive operation, heating due to starting and braking is negligible. See Fig.3(a)& (b).
 This type of duty can be accomplished by single phase/ three phase induction motors and DC
shunt motors, universal motors.
Examples: Pressing, Cutting, Drilling machine drives.

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University of Kufa Fourth Year, Introduction
Faculty of Engineering Electrical Drive and Control
Electrical Engineering Department Ali Qasim AL-Mousawi

Intermittent periodic duty with starting:

 This is intermittent periodic duty where heating
 Due to starting can’t be ignored.
 It consists of a starting period; a running period, a braking period & a rest period are being too
short to reach their steady state value.
 In this type of drive operation, heating due to braking is negligible. Depicted in fig.4 (a) & (b).
 This type of duty can be accomplished by three phase induction motors and DC series motors,
DC compound motors, universal motors.
Examples: Metal cutting, Drilling tool drives, Drives for forklift trucks, Mine hoist etc.

Intermittent periodic duty with starting & braking:

 This is an intermittent periodic duty where heating during starting & braking can’t be ignored.
 It consists of a starting, a running; a braking & a rest period are being too short to reach their
steady state temperature value. Depicted in fig.5 (a) & (b).
 This type of duty can be accomplished by single/ three phase induction motors and DC shunt
motors, DC series motors, DC compound motors, universal motors.
Examples: Billet mill, Manipulator, Screw down mechanism of blooming mill.

Continuous duty with intermittent periodic loading:

 consists a period of running at constant load and a period of running at no load with normal
voltage to the excitation winding in separately excited machines.
 Again, the load and no-load periods are not enough to reach their respective temperature limits.
 This duty is notable from intermittent periodic duty by running at no load instead of rest period.
 This type of duty can be accomplished by single phase/ three phase induction motors and DC
compound motors, universal motors.
Examples: Pressing, Cutting, Shearing and Drilling machine drives.

Continuous duty with starting & braking:

 It consists a period of starting, running & a period of electrical braking.
 Here period of rest is negligible.
 This type can be accomplished by single phase/ three phase induction motors.
Examples: The main drive of a blooming mill.

Continuous duty with periodic speed changes:

 It consists a period of running in a load with a specific speed and also running at different load
and speed which are not enough to reach their respective steady state temperatures.
 Further here is no period of rest.
 can be achieved by single phase/ three phase induction motors and DC series motor in traction.
Examples: All variable speed drives.

Questions and Answers

1. Mention the types of braking
Ans: -
1) Regenerative braking
2) Dynamic braking
3) Plugging

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University of Kufa Fourth Year, Introduction
Faculty of Engineering Electrical Drive and Control
Electrical Engineering Department Ali Qasim AL-Mousawi

2. What is meant by regenerative braking?

Ans: - Regenerative braking occurs when the motor speed exceeds the synchronous speed. In this case
the IM runs as the induction m\c is converting the mechanical power into electrical power which is
delivered back to the electrical system. This method of braking is known as regenerative braking.

3. What is meant by dynamic braking?

Ans: - Dynamic braking of electric motors occurs when the energy stored in the rotating mass is
dissipated in an electrical resistance. This requires a motor to operate as a gen. to convert the stored
energy into electrical.

4. What is meant by plugging?

Ans: - It is one method of braking of IM. When phase sequence of supply of the motor running at the
speed is reversed by interchanging connections of any two phases of stator with respect to supply
terminals, operation shifts from motoring to plugging region.

5. Which braking is suitable for reversing the motor?

Ans: - Plugging is suitable for reversing the motor.

6. What is critical speed?

Ans: - It is the speed that separates continuous conduction from discontinuous conduction mode.

7. Define equivalent current method.

Ans: - The motor selected should have a current rating more than or equal to the current. It is also
necessary to check the overload of the motor. This method of determining the power rating of the motor
is known as equivalent current method.

8. Define four quadrant operation.

Ans: - The motor operates in two mode: motoring and braking. In motoring, it converts electrical energy
into mechanical energy which supports its motion. In braking, it works as a generator, converting
mathematical energy into electrical energy and thus opposes the motion. Motor can provide motoring
and braking operations for both forward and reverse directions.

9. What is meant by mechanical characteristics?

Ans: The curve is drawn between speed and torque. This characteristic is called mechanical
characteristics.