INDUSTRIAL AC MACHINES(ACM) [22523]

Mrs. G B Sonawane
Lect in Electrical Engg Govt polytechnic Jalna

C H . 4 S y n c h r o n o u s M o t o r s ( 12 /70)
Contents:
1. Principal of working/ operation, significance of load angle.
2. Torques: starting torque, running torque, pull in torque, pull out torque.
3. Synchronous motor on load with constant excitation (numerical), Effect of excitation at
constant load (Numerical).
4. V-curve and inverted V-curves.
5. Hunting and phase swinging.
6. Methods of starting of synchronous motor.
7. Loses in synchronous motor, efficiency(No numerical)
8. Applications areas.
 4.1 Principal of working

• It works on principals of magnetic locking

between the stator and rotor.
• Synchronous motor is a doubly excited machine i.e two electrical inputs are
provided to it.
• Let consider the stator wound for 2 poles. And rotor also produce 2 poles
when excited by DC source.
• As 3 phase supply given to stator winding Rotating Magnetic Field rotates in air
gap produces 2 stator poles N1 and S1 Rotates at synchronous speed.
• Rotor also produces 2 poles N2 and S2 ,Then Rotor driven by External prime
mover, This is because Synchronous motor is not self starting.
• Once the unlike pole come close to each other stator and rotor poles are
locked magnetically and continue rotates at synchronous speed then external
prime mover decoupled.
 Construction of Synchronous Motor
• Fundamentally an alternator operates as motor
• Like alternator sync motor
has two main parts

Stator :
• Houses 3 phase armature winding in the slots of the stator core
• Receives power from 3 phase supply
• Stator is wound for same no of poles as rotor poles.
• It is designed to produce a rotating magnetic field when AC
supply is given to it
Rotor:
• Has a set of salient poles excited by DC to form N and S poles
• DC current is fed from external exciter mounted on same shaft
 Working of synchronous motor

The stator is wound for the similar number of poles as that of rotor, and fed with three phase AC supply. The 3
phase AC supply produces rotating magnetic field in stator. The rotor winding is fed with DC supply which
magnetizes the rotor. Consider a two pole synchronous machine as shown in figure below.
•Now, the stator poles are revolving with synchronous speed (lets say clockwise). If the rotor position is such that,
N pole of the rotor is near the N pole of the stator (as shown in first schematic of above figure), then the poles of
the stator and rotor will repel each other, and the torque produced will be anticlockwise.
•The stator poles are rotating with synchronous speed, and they rotate around very fast and interchange their
position. But at this very soon, rotor can not rotate with the same angle (due to inertia), and the next position will
be likely the second schematic in above figure. In this case, poles of the stator will attract the poles of rotor,
and the torque produced will be clockwise.
•Hence, the rotor will undergo to a rapidly reversing torque, and the motor will not start.
But, if the rotor is rotated upto the synchronous speed of the stator by means of an external force (in the direction
of revolving field of the stator), and the rotor field is excited near the synchronous speed, the poles of stator will
keep attracting the opposite poles of the rotor (as the rotor is also, now, rotating with it and the position of the
poles will be similar throughout the cycle). Now, the rotor will undergo unidirectional torque. The opposite poles of
the stator and rotor will get locked with each other, and the rotor will rotate at the synchronous speed.
 Significance of load angle.

Load Angle (δ): In a synchronous generator, it represents the phase

difference between the internal induced voltage (E) and the terminal
voltage (V). This angle arises due to the interaction between the rotating
magnetic field produced by the rotor and the stationary magnetic field
generated by the stator current. Higher loads cause larger δ
values, indicating stronger lagging of the terminal voltage behind the
induced voltage.

• Increase in load, load angle increase, so resultant voltage increase with

increase in current.
• Motor torque will increase with increase in current.
• So torque produced is proportional to load angle.
Methods of Starting of Synchronous Motor

There are Three Main Types of starting of Synchronous Machine:

 4.2 Torques: starting torque, running torque, pull in torque, pull
out torque.

• Starting torque: It is torque developed by motor when full voltage is applied to

its stator winding

• Running torque: It is torque developed by motor under running condition

• Pull in torque: The amount of torque at which the motor will pull into
synchronization is called the pull in torque

• Pull out torque: The maximum torque which the motor can develop without
pulling out of step or out of synchronism is called the pull out torque.
 4.3 Synchronous motor on load with constant excitation
(numerical)
The load on a synchronous motor is increased the following points are considered
which are given below.
• The motor continues to run at synchronous speed.
• The torque angle δ increases.
• The excitation voltage Ef remains constant.
• The armature current Ia drawn from the supply increases.
• The phase angle ϕ increases in the lagging direction.
Power Equations and Power Flow Diagram for Synchronous Motor

Input electrical power Pin is supplied to the synchronous motor, the output
mechanical power Pout is the actual power delivered by the synchronous motor.
The electrical and mechanical losses waste the power and reduce the actual
power delivered by the motor.
The input power per phase is given by
Pph = VIa cosφ
The total 3-phase input power to a star-connected synchronous motor is given by
Pin = √3 VL IL Cos φ
Pin = 3 Vph Iph Cos φ
Where
•VL = Line Voltage
•IL = Line Current
•Vph = Phase Voltage
•Iph = Phase Current
Gross Mechanical Power Developed
The gross mechanical power Pm is the power generated in the rotor. It is calculated by
subtracting the stator’s windings loss from the input power as given below.
Pstator = 3 Ia2 Ra
Where ‘Ia’ and ‘Ra’ is the armature current and resistance.
Pm = Pin – Pstator
Pm = √3 ILVL Cos φ – 3 Ia2Ra
Or
Pm = back emf x armature current x cosine of the angle between them
Pm = EbIa cos(α − φ) for lagging p.f
Pm = EbIa cos(α + φ) for leading p.f
Output Mechanical Power
The output power is the actual mechanical power delivered to the shaft and eventually to the
load. It is calculated by subtracting the magnetic, mechanical and stray losses from the
mechanical power such as
Pout = Pm – Pmagnetic -PMechanical
 Effect of varying excitation of synchronous motor with constant
load

Under Excitation:
When the field excitation is reduced, the excitation
voltage E decreases(E<V), as shown in the below
figure(b). The decrease in excitation shifts the resulting
voltage ER in a clockwise direction.
Since the phase angle between the resultant voltage
and the armature current is equal to θ is fixed, the
armature current phasor is shifted in the clockwise
direction.
This shiting causes the power factor angle to increase,
which means the power factor decreases. To maintain
a constant I cos ϕ, the armature current increases.
Hence when the synchronous motor is operated in
reduced excitation, it draws more current from the
supply at the lower lagging power factor.
Over excitation
When the excitation is increased above the supply
voltage(E>V), the excitation voltage E increases, as
shown in the above figure(c). It will shift the resultant
voltage ER in the anti-clockwise direction.
This shifting will cause a change in the position of the
armature current phasor with respect to the terminal
voltage V. Hence the motor operates at a leading power
factor.
Critical excitation
The field excitation is increased, such that the phase angle between the voltage V and the current I
is zero. Such excitation is called critical excitation. It means the current is in phase with voltage V, as
shown in the above figure(d).
In this case, the current drawn will be minimum with the unity power factor. If the excitation is
increased beyond that limit, then the synchronous motor draws the current with the leading power
factor. It is depicted in figure(d).

Comparison of various excitations

Comparison of E Nature of Armature

Excitation type
and V power factor current
Normal
E=V Lagging Increases
Excitation
Under
E<V More lagging Increases
Excitation
Over Excitation E>V Leading Increases
Critical
E>V Unity Minimum
Excitation
 4.4 V-curve

• Curves of stator current vs. field current (or excitation voltage to a different
scale) are called V curves
• The power factor of the synchronous motor can be controlled by varying the
field current If.
• Ia changes with the change in the field current If.
• Let us assume that the motor is running at NO load. If the field current is
increased from this small value, the armature current Ia decreases until the
armature current becomes minimum.
• At this minimum point, the motor is operating at unity power factor.
• The motor operates at lagging power factor until it reaches up to this point of
operation.
• If now, the field current is increased further, the armature current increases and
the motor start operating as a leading power factor.
• The graph drawn between armature current and field current is known as V
curve. If this procedure is repeated for various increased loads, a family of
curves is obtained.
• An overexcited synchronous motor operate at leading power factor.
• Under-excited synchronous motor operate at lagging power factor.
• Normal excited synchronous motor operate at unity power factor.
Inverted V-curves:
• it is graph of field current If against the power factor.
• Power factor is lagging for under excitation and increases towards unity with
increase in excitation.
• For over excitation the pf is leading and decrease with increase in excitation.
 4.5 Hunting and phase swinging.
• Hunting : The phenomenon of oscillation of the rotor about its final equilibrium
position is called Hunting.
• Causes of Hunting: Sudden changes of load, Sudden change in the field current,
Cyclic variations of the load torque.
• Effect of Hunting: It can lead to loss of synchronism, variations of the supply
voltage , producing undesirable lamp flicker, possibility of Resonance condition,
Large mechanical stresses on rotor shaft, The machine losses increases and the
temperature of the machine rises.
• Reduction of Hunting: Use of damper windings, Uses of flywheels, The prime
mover is provided with a large and heavy flywheel. This increases the inertia of the
prime mover and helps in maintaining the rotor speed constant, By designing
synchronous machines with suitable synchronising power coefficients.
• Phase swinging : The motor responds to a decreasing load torque by a temporary
increase in speed and a reduction of the torque angle δ. Thus, the rotor swings and
rotate around the synchronous speed. Thus, this process of rotation of the rotor
speed equal or around the synchronous speed is known as Hunting. Since, during
the rotor oscillation, the phase of the phasor Ef changes about phasor V. Thus,
hunting is known as Phase Swinging.
 4.6 Methods of starting of synchronous motor.
Motor starting with an external prime Mover :
• Synchronous motors are mechanically coupled with another motor.
• It could be either 3 phase induction motor or DC shunt motor. DC excitation is
not fed initially. It is rotated at speed very close to its synchronous speed and
after that DC excitation is given. After some time when magnetic locking takes
place supply to the external motor is cut off.
Damper winding :
• In case, synchronous motor is of salient pole type, additional winding is placed
in rotor pole face.
• Initially when rotor is standstill, relative speed between damper winding and
rotating air gap flux in large and an emf is induced in it which produces the
required starting torque.
• As speed approaches synchronous speed , emf and torque is reduced and
finally when magnetic locking takes place, torque also reduces to zero.
• Hence in this case synchronous is first run as three phase induction motor
using additional winding and finally it is synchronized with the frequency.
4.7 Loses in synchronous motor, efficiency(No numerical)
 4.8 Applications areas.

• As synchronous motor is capable of operating under either leading and lagging

power factor, it can be used for power factor improvement.
• A synchronous motor under no-load with leading power factor is connected in
power system where static capacitors can not be used.
• It is used where high power at low speed is required. Such as rolling mills,
chippers, mixers, pumps, pumps, compressor etc.
 ASSIGNMENT-4
1) State methods of starting of synchronous motor.
2) Explain hunting in synchronous motor. State its causes and effects
3) Draw and explain V and inverted V curves of synchronous motor.
4) State working principle of operation of synchronous motor.
5) List various losses occurring in synchronous motor.
6) Explain hunting and phase swinging in synchronous motor.
7) A 20 pole,693V, 50 Hz,3 phase, delta connected synchronous motor is
operating at no load with normal excitation. It has armature resistance per
phase of zero and synchronous reactance of 10 ohm. If the rotor is restarted by
0.5 degree(mechanical) from its synchronous position , compute i) rotor
displacement in electrical degrees ii) armature emf/phase iii) armature current
/phase, iv) power drawn by the motor and v) power developed by armature.

Note: Practice to solve Examples on excitation from V K Mehta and taken in

class.