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The Control Techniques Drives and Controls Handbook
2nd Edition Bill Drury Digital Instant Download
Author(s): Bill Drury
ISBN(s): 9781849190138, 1849190135
Edition: 2
File Details: PDF, 9.90 MB
Year: 2009
Language: english
 IET POWER AND ENERGY SERIES 57

The Control Techniques

Drives and Controls
Handbook
Other volumes in this series:
Volume 1 Power circuit breaker theory and design C.H. Flurscheim (Editor)
Volume 4 Industrial microwave heating A.C. Metaxas and R.J. Meredith
Volume 7 Insulators for high voltages J.S.T. Looms
Volume 8 Variable frequency AC motor drive systems D. Finney
Volume 10 SF6 switchgear H.M. Ryan and G.R. Jones
Volume 11 Conduction and induction heating E.J. Davies
Volume 13 Statistical techniques for high voltage engineering W. Hauschild and W. Mosch
Volume 14 Uninterruptible power supplies J. Platts and J.D. St Aubyn (Editors)
Volume 15 Digital protection for power systems A.T. Johns and S.K. Salman
Volume 16 Electricity economics and planning T.W. Berrie
Volume 18 Vacuum switchgear A. Greenwood
Volume 19 Electrical safety: a guide to causes and prevention of hazards J.Maxwell Adams
Volume 21 Electricity distribution network design, 2nd edition E. Lakervi and E.J. Holmes
Volume 22 Artificial intelligence techniques in power systems K. Warwick, A.O. Ekwue and
R. Aggarwal (Editors)
Volume 24 Power system commissioning and maintenance practice K. Harker
Volume 25 Engineers’ handbook of industrial microwave heating R.J. Meredith
Volume 26 Small electric motors H. Moczala et al.
Volume 27 AC-DC power system analysis J. Arrillaga and B.C. Smith
Volume 29 High voltage direct current transmission, 2nd edition J. Arrillaga
Volume 30 Flexible AC Transmission Systems (FACTS) Y-H. Song (Editor)
Volume 31 Embedded generation N. Jenkins et al.
Volume 32 High voltage engineering and testing, 2nd edition H.M. Ryan (Editor)
Volume 33 Overvoltage protection of low-voltage systems, revised edition P.Hasse
Volume 34 The lightning flash V. Cooray
Volume 35 Control techniques drives and controls handbook W. Drury (Editor)
Volume 36 Voltage quality in electrical power systems J. Schlabbach et al.
Volume 37 Electrical steels for rotating machines P. Beckley
Volume 38 The electric car: development and future of battery, hybrid and fuel-cell cars
M. Westbrook
Volume 39 Power systems electromagnetic transients simulation J. Arrillaga and N. Watson
Volume 40 Advances in high voltage engineering M. Haddad and D. Warne
Volume 41 Electrical operation of electrostatic precipitators K. Parker
Volume 43 Thermal power plant simulation and control D. Flynn
Volume 44 Economic evaluation of projects in the electricity supply industry H. Khatib
Volume 45 Propulsion systems for hybrid vehicles J. Miller
Volume 46 Distribution switchgear S. Stewart
Volume 47 Protection of electricity distribution networks, 2nd edition J. Gers and E.Holmes
Volume 48 Wood pole overhead lines B. Wareing
Volume 49 Electric fuses, 3rd edition A. Wright and G. Newbery
Volume 50 Wind power integration: connection and system operational aspects
B.Foxetal.
Volume 51 Short circuit currents J. Schlabbach
Volume 52 Nuclear power J. Wood
Volume 53 Condition assessment of high voltage insulation in power system equipment
R.E. James and Q. Su
Volume 55 Local energy: distributed generation of heat and power J. Wood
Volume 56 Condition monitoring of rotating electrical machines P. Tavner, L. Ran, J.Penman
and H. Sedding
Volume 905 Power system protection, 4 volumes
The Control Techniques
Drives and Controls
Handbook
2nd Edition

Bill Drury

The Institution of Engineering and Technology

Published by The Institution of Engineering and Technology, London, United Kingdom
# 2001 The Institution of Electrical Engineers
# 2009 The Institution of Engineering and Technology
First published 2001 (0 85296 793 4)
Second edition 2009

This publication is copyright under the Berne Convention and the Universal Copyright
Convention. All rights reserved. Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private
study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, this
publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, only with
the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in
accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. Enquiries
concerning reproduction outside those terms should be sent to the publishers at the
undermentioned address:
The Institution of Engineering and Technology
Michael Faraday House
Six Hills Way, Stevenage
Herts SG1 2AY, United Kingdom

www.theiet.org
While the author and publisher believe that the information and guidance given in this work
are correct, all parties must rely upon their own skill and judgement when making use of
them. Neither the author nor publisher assumes any liability to anyone for any loss or damage
caused by any error or omission in the work, whether such an error or omission is the result
of negligence or any other cause. Any and all such liability is disclaimed.

The moral rights of the author to be identified as author of this work have been asserted by him in
accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this product is available from the British Library

ISBN 978-1-84919-013-8 (hardback)

ISBN 978-1-84919-101-2 (PDF)

Typeset in India by Techset Composition Ltd, Chennai

Printed in the UK by Athenaeum Press Ltd, Gateshead, Tyne & Wear
 Contents

Preface xxv
Acknowledgements xxxix

PART A DRIVE TYPES AND CORE TECHNOLOGY 1

A1 Industrial motors 11
A1.1 Introduction and basic electromagnetic principles 11
A1.1.1 Magnetic circuits 11
A1.1.2 Electromechanical energy conversion 16
A1.1.2.1 The alignment of magnetic force/flux lines 16
A1.1.2.2 The interaction between a magnetic field
and a current-carrying conductor 18
A1.2 D.C. motors 20
A1.2.1 General 20
A1.2.2 Operating principles 21
A1.2.3 Fundamental equations of steady-state performance 25
A1.2.3.1 The separately excited d.c. motor 25
A1.2.3.2 The series d.c. motor 29
A1.2.3.3 The shunt d.c. motor 30
A1.2.3.4 The compound d.c. motor 30
A1.2.4 Permanent magnet d.c. motor 31
A1.2.5 Construction of the d.c. motor 32
A1.2.5.1 D.C. motor frame 32
A1.2.5.2 D.C. motor armature 33
A1.2.5.3 Brush gear 34
A1.2.5.4 Degree of protection and mounting 34
A1.2.5.5 DCPM design 35
A1.3 A.C. induction motors 36
A1.3.1 General 36
A1.3.2 Operating principles 36
A1.3.2.1 Rotating magnetic field 37
A1.3.2.2 Torque production 38
vi Contents

A1.3.3 Fundamental equations of steady-state performance 43

A1.3.3.1 Direct on line (DOL) starting current
and torque 43
A1.3.3.2 Starting current and torque when the
motor is connected to a variable-frequency
and/or variable-voltage supply 45
A1.3.4 Voltage – frequency relationship 45
A1.3.5 Slip-ring induction motor 48
A1.3.6 Speed-changing motors 50
A1.3.7 A.C. induction motor construction 50
A1.4 A.C. synchronous motors 52
A1.4.1 General 52
A1.4.2 Operating principles 53
A1.4.3 Fundamental equations of steady-state performance 54
A1.4.3.1 General 54
A1.4.3.2 Brushless PM servo motor 55
A1.4.4 Limits of operation 57
A1.4.5 Synchronous motor construction 58
A1.4.5.1 Permanent-magnet servo motors 58
A1.4.5.2 Permanent-magnet industrial motors 60
A1.4.5.3 Wound-rotor synchronous motors 61
A1.4.6 Starting of synchronous motors 61
A1.5 Reluctance motors 62
A1.6 A.C. commutator motors 63
A1.7 Motors for special applications 64
A1.7.1 Geared motors 64
A1.7.2 Brake motors 64
A1.7.3 Torque motors 64
A1.8 Motors for hazardous locations 65
A1.8.1 General 65
A1.8.2 CENELEC 65
A1.8.3 North American standards 69
A1.8.4 Testing authorities 69

A2 Drive converter circuit topologies 71

A2.1 Introduction 71
A2.2 A.C. to d.c. power conversion 72
A2.2.1 General 72
A2.2.2 Converters for connection to a single-phase supply 73
A2.2.2.1 Uncontrolled converters 73
A2.2.2.2 Controlled converters 74
A2.2.2.3 Sine-wave input converters 76
A2.2.2.4 Summary of characteristics 76
 Contents vii

A2.2.3 Converters for connection to a three-phase supply 78

A2.2.3.1 Uncontrolled converters 78
A2.2.3.2 Controlled converters 78
A2.2.3.3 Summary of characteristics 79
A2.2.4 Converters for d.c. motor drive systems 82
A2.2.4.1 Single-converter drives 83
A2.2.4.2 Dual-converter drives 84
A2.2.4.3 Field control 85
A2.3 D.C. to d.c. power conversion 86
A2.3.1 General 86
A2.3.2 Step down d.c. to d.c. converters 87
A2.3.2.1 Single-quadrant d.c. to d.c. converter 87
A2.3.2.2 Two-quadrant d.c. to d.c. converter 88
A2.3.2.3 Four-quadrant d.c. to d.c. converter 89
A2.3.3 Step-up d.c. to d.c. converters 90
A2.4 A.C. to a.c. power converters with intermediate d.c. link 91
A2.4.1 General 91
A2.4.2 Voltage source inverters 91
A2.4.2.1 General characteristics 91
A2.4.2.2 Six-step/quasi-square-wave inverter 94
A2.4.2.3 Pulse-width modulated inverter 96
A2.4.2.4 Multi-level inverter 97
A2.4.3 Current source inverters 99
A2.4.3.1 General characteristics 99
A2.4.3.2 Converter-fed synchronous machine (LCI) 100
A2.4.3.3 Converter-fed induction motor drive 101
A2.4.3.4 Forced commutated induction motor drive 101
A2.4.3.5 Static Kramer drive 102
A2.5 Direct a.c. to a.c. power converters 103
A2.5.1 General 103
A2.5.2 Soft starter/voltage regulator 103
A2.5.3 Cycloconverter 104
A2.5.4 Matrix converter 106
A2.5.5 Static Scherbius drive 107

A3 Power semiconductor devices 109

A3.1 General 109
A3.2 Diode 114
A3.2.1 PN diode 114
A3.2.2 PIN diode 116
A3.2.3 Transient processes (reverse and forward recovery) 118
A3.2.3.1 Reverse recovery 118
A3.2.3.2 Forward recovery 120
A3.2.4 Diode types 121
viii Contents

A3.3 Thyristor (SCR) 122

A3.3.1 Device description 122
A3.3.2 Transient processes 124
A3.3.2.1 Turn-on 125
A3.3.2.2 Turn-off 126
A3.3.3 Thyristor gating requirements 127
A3.3.4 Thyristor types 127
A3.4 Triac 130
A3.5 Gate turn-off thyristor (GTO) 130
A3.5.1 Device description 130
A3.5.2 Switching characteristics and gate drive 132
A3.5.2.1 Turn-on 133
A3.5.2.2 Turn-off 134
A3.5.3 Voltage and current ratings 135
A3.6 Integrated gate commutated thyristor (IGCT) 135
A3.6.1 Device description 135
A3.6.2 Switching behaviour and gate drive 136
A3.6.3 Voltage and current ratings 137
A3.7 MOSFET 137
A3.7.1 Device description 137
A3.7.2 Principal features and applications 137
A3.7.3 D.C. characteristics 139
A3.7.4 Switching performance 140
A3.7.5 Transient characteristics 141
A3.7.5.1 Switching waveforms 141
A3.7.5.2 Turn-on 142
A3.7.5.3 Turn-off 143
A3.7.6 Safe operating area (SOA) 143
A3.7.6.1 Forward-bias safe operating area (FBSOA) 143
A3.7.6.2 Reverse-bias safe operating area (RBSOA) 144
A3.7.7 Parasitic diode 144
A3.7.8 MOSFET gate drive requirements 145
A3.7.8.1 Speed limitations 146
A3.7.8.2 Driving paralleled MOSFETs 147
A3.7.9 Voltage and current ratings 147
A3.8 Insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) 147
A3.8.1 Device description 147
A3.8.2 Principal features and applications 148
A3.8.3 D.C. characteristics 149
A3.8.4 Punch-through versus non-punch-through
structures (PT and NPT) 150
A3.8.5 Switching performance 151
A3.8.6 Transient characteristics 151
A3.8.6.1 Switching waveforms 152
A3.8.6.2 Turn-on 152
A3.8.6.3 Turn-off 154
 Contents ix

A3.8.7 Safe operating area (SOA) 155

A3.8.7.1 Forward-bias safe operating area (FBSOA) 155
A3.8.7.2 Reverse-bias safe operating area (RBSOA) 156
A3.8.8 Parasitic thyristor 157
A3.8.9 IGBT gate drive requirements 157
A3.8.9.1 IGBT switching speed limitations 157
A3.8.9.2 Series and parallel operation 158
A3.8.9.3 IGBT short-circuit performance 159
A3.8.10 Voltage and current ratings 159
A3.9 Bipolar junction transistor (BJT) 159
A3.10 Other power devices and materials 160
A3.10.1 MOS controlled thyristor (MCT) 160
A3.10.2 MOS turn-off thyristor 161
A3.10.3 Junction field-effect transistors (JFETs) 162
A3.11 Materials 162
A3.12 Power device packaging 163
A3.12.1 General 163
A3.12.2 Pressure contact packages 165
A3.12.2.1 Construction 165
A3.12.2.2 Features 166
A3.12.3 Large wire-bonded packages for power modules 166
A3.12.3.1 Construction 166
A3.12.3.2 Package types 167
A3.12.3.3 Features 168
A3.12.4 Small wire-bonded packages for discrete devices 168
A3.12.4.1 Construction 169
A3.12.4.2 Package types 169
A3.12.4.3 Features 169

A4 Torque, speed and position control 171

A4.1 General principles 171
A4.1.1 The ideal control system 171
A4.1.2 Open-loop control 171
A4.1.3 Closed-loop control 172
A4.1.4 Criteria for assessing performance 173
A4.2 Controllers in a drive 175
A4.2.1 General 175
A4.2.2 Torque control 176
A4.2.3 Flux control 179
A4.2.4 Speed control 179
A4.2.4.1 Basic speed control 179
A4.2.4.2 Setting speed controller gains 183
A4.2.4.3 Speed control with torque feed-forward 185
A4.2.5 Position control 186
A4.2.5.1 Basic position control 186
A4.2.5.2 Position control with speed feed-forward 190
x Contents

A4.3 D.C. motor drives 192

A4.3.1 General 192
A4.3.2 Torque control 192
A4.3.3 Flux control 194
A4.4 A.C. motor drives 195
A4.4.1 Torque and flux control 195
A4.4.1.1 Introduction 195
A4.4.1.2 D.C. motor torque and flux control 196
A4.4.1.3 Permanent magnet motor torque
and flux control 197
A4.4.1.4 Induction motor torque and flux control 203
A4.4.1.5 Open-loop induction motor drive 205
A4.4.2 Direct torque control 206
A4.4.3 Performance summary 208
A4.4.3.1 Permanent-magnet motor drives 209
A4.4.3.2 Induction motor drives with
closed-loop current control 210
A4.4.3.3 Open-loop induction motor drives 210

A5 Position and speed feedback 211

A5.1 General 211
A5.1.1 Feedback quantity required 211
A5.1.2 Absolute position feedback range 212
A5.1.3 Position resolution 212
A5.1.4 Position accuracy 214
A5.1.5 Speed resolution 214
A5.1.6 Speed accuracy 214
A5.1.7 Environment 215
A5.1.8 Maximum speed 215
A5.1.9 Electrical noise immunity 215
A5.1.10 Distance between the feedback device and the drive 216
A5.1.11 Additional features 216
A5.2 Speed feedback sensors 216
A5.2.1 D.C. tacho-generator 216
A5.3 Position feedback sensors 218
A5.3.1 Resolver 218
A5.3.2 Incremental encoder 221
A5.3.3 Incremental encoder with commutation signals 223
A5.3.4 Incremental encoder with commutation signals only 224
A5.3.5 SINCOS encoder 224
A5.3.6 Absolute SINCOS encoder 226
A5.3.7 Absolute encoders 227
A5.3.8 SINCOS encoders with serial communications 228
A5.3.8.1 EnDat 228
A5.3.8.2 Hiperface 229
 Contents xi

A5.3.8.3 SSI 229

A5.3.8.4 Summary 230
A5.3.9 Serial communications encoders 230
A5.3.9.1 BiSS 230
A5.3.9.2 EnDat 230
A5.3.10 Wireless encoders 231

A6 Motion control 233

A6.1 General 233
A6.1.1 Position, speed, acceleration and jerk 234
A6.1.1.1 Speed 234
A6.1.1.2 Acceleration 234
A6.1.1.3 Jerk 235
A6.1.2 Possible configurations 236
A6.2 Time-based profile 239
A6.3 CAM profile 243
A6.4 Electronic gearbox 248
A6.5 Practical systems 249
A6.5.1 Control Techniques’ Advanced Position Controller 249
A6.5.2 Control Techniques’ Indexer 250

A7 Voltage source inverter: four-quadrant operation 253

A7.1 General 253
A7.2 Controlled deceleration 254
A7.2.1 Performance and applications 255
A7.2.1.1 Advantages 256
A7.2.1.2 Disadvantages 256
A7.3 Braking resistor 256
A7.3.1 Performance and applications 257
A7.3.1.1 Advantages 257
A7.3.1.2 Disadvantages 257
A7.4 Active rectifier 257
A7.4.1 Performance and applications 259
A7.4.1.1 Advantages 259
A7.4.1.2 Disadvantages 260

A8 Switched reluctance and stepper motor drives 261

A8.1 General 261
A8.2 Switched reluctance motors and controllers 261
A8.2.1 Basic principle of the switched reluctance motor 261
A8.2.1.1 Operation as a motor 264
A8.2.1.2 Operation as a brake or generator 265
A8.2.1.3 Summary so far 265
A8.2.1.4 Relationship between torque polarity
and motoring and generating 267
xii Contents

A8.2.2 Control of the machine in practice 267

A8.2.2.1 Low-speed operation 267
A8.2.2.2 What happens as speed is increased? 267
A8.2.2.3 Medium-speed operation 268
A8.2.2.4 How is performance maintained as
speed increases? 269
A8.2.2.5 High-speed operation 269
A8.2.2.6 Summary of typical/practical control 270
A8.2.2.7 Control of speed and position 271
A8.2.3 Polyphase switched reluctance machines 272
A8.2.4 Losses in the switched reluctance motor 273
A8.2.5 Excitation frequency 274
A8.2.6 Power electronics for the switched reluctance motor 275
A8.2.6.1 Power supply and ‘front end’ bridge 275
A8.2.6.2 Power switching stage 275
A8.2.6.3 Single-switch-per-phase circuits 275
A8.2.6.4 Multiple-phase operation 277
A8.2.6.5 Single-switch circuit using bifilar winding 278
A8.2.6.6 Two-switch asymmetrical bridge 278
A8.2.7 Advantages of the switched reluctance system 279
A8.2.7.1 Rotor construction 279
A8.2.7.2 Stator construction 280
A8.2.7.3 Electronics and system-level benefits 280
A8.2.8 Disadvantages of the switched reluctance system 282
A8.2.8.1 Torque ripple 282
A8.2.8.2 Acoustic noise 283
A8.3 Stepper motor drives 284
A8.3.1 Stepping motor principles 284
A8.3.1.1 The permanent-magnet motor 284
A8.3.1.2 The VR motor 285
A8.3.1.3 The hybrid motor 286
A8.3.2 Stepping motor drive circuits and logic modes 287
A8.3.2.1 General 287
A8.3.2.3 Unipolar switching 288
A8.3.2.3 Bipolar switching 290
A8.3.2.4 High-speed stepping: L/R drives 290
A8.3.2.5 Chopper drives 292
A8.3.2.6 Bilevel drives 292
A8.3.3 Application notes 293
A8.3.3.1 Effect of inertia 293
A8.3.3.2 Resonance 293
A8.3.3.3 Stepper/encoders 294
 Contents xiii

PART B THE DRIVE IN ITS ENVIRONMENT 295

B1 The a.c. supply 299

B1.1 General 299
B1.2 Supply harmonics and other low-frequency disturbances 299
B1.2.1 Overview 299
B1.2.2 Regulations 300
B1.2.2.1 Regulations for installations 301
B1.2.2.2 Regulations and standards for equipment 301
B1.2.3 Harmonic generation within variable-speed drives 302
B1.2.3.1 A.C. drives 302
B1.2.3.2 D.C. drives 304
B1.2.4 The effects of harmonics 306
B1.2.5 Calculation of harmonics 307
B1.2.5.1 Individual drives: d.c. 307
B1.2.5.2 Individual drives: a.c. 308
B1.2.5.3 Systems 308
B1.2.5.4 Isolated generators 310
B1.2.6 Remedial techniques 310
B1.2.6.1 Connect the equipment to a point
with a high fault level (low impedance) 311
B1.2.6.2 Use three-phase drives where possible 311
B1.2.6.3 Use additional inductance 311
B1.2.6.4 Use a lower value of d.c. smoothing
capacitance 315
B1.2.6.5 Use a higher pulse number
(12 pulse or higher) 316
B1.2.6.6 Use a drive with an active input converter 318
B1.2.6.7 Use a harmonic filter 318
B1.2.7 Typical harmonic current levels for a.c.
drive arrangements 319
B1.2.8 Additional notes on the application of
harmonic standards 319
B1.2.8.1 The effect of load 319
B1.2.8.2 Choice of reference current:
application of IEEE Std 519-1992 321
B1.2.9 Interharmonics and emissions up to 9 kHz 321
B1.2.10 Voltage notching 322
B1.2.11 Voltage dips and flicker 323
B1.3 Power factor 324
B1.4 Supply imperfections 326
B1.4.1 General 326
xiv Contents

B1.4.2 Frequency variation 326

B1.4.3 Voltage variation 326
B1.4.4 Temporary and transient over-voltages between
live conductors and earth 327
B1.4.5 Voltage unbalance 327
B1.4.6 Harmonic voltage 329
B1.4.7 Supply voltage dips and short interruptions 329
B1.4.8 Interharmonics and mains signalling 330
B1.4.9 Voltage notching 331
B1.4.10 EMC standards 333

B2 Interaction between drives and motors 335

B2.1 General 335
B2.2 Drive converter effects upon d.c. machines 335
B2.3 Drive converter effects upon a.c. machines 336
B2.3.1 Introduction 336
B2.3.2 Machine rating: thermal effects 336
B2.3.3 Machine insulation 337
B2.3.3.1 Current source inverters 337
B2.3.3.2 Voltage source inverters 337
B2.3.4 Bearing currents 349
B2.3.4.1 Root causes of bearing currents 349
B2.3.4.2 Good practices to reduce the risk
of bearing currents 351
B2.3.5 Overspeed 352
B2.4 Motors for hazardous (potentially flammable or
explosive) locations 353

B3 Physical environment 355

B3.1 Introduction 355
B3.2 Enclosure degree of protection 355
B3.2.1 General 355
B3.2.2 Motor 356
B3.2.2.1 General 356
B3.2.2.2 US practice 356
B3.2.3 Drive 356
B3.3 Mounting arrangements 360
B3.3.1 Motor 360
B3.3.1.1 General 360
B3.3.1.2 IEC 60034-7 standard enclosures 360
B3.3.1.3 NEMA standard enclosures 360
B3.3.2 Drive 360
B3.3.3 Integrated motor drive 363
B3.4 Terminal markings and direction of rotation 363
B3.4.1 Motor 363
B3.4.1.1 General 363
 Contents xv

B3.4.1.2 IEC 60034-8/EN 60034-8 364

B3.4.1.3 NEMA 366
B3.4.2 Drive 371
B3.5 Ambient temperature 371
B3.5.1 Motor 371
B3.5.2 Drive 372
B3.5.2.1 Maximum operating temperature 372
B3.5.2.2 Minimum operating temperature 372
B3.6 Humidity and condensation 373
B3.6.1 Motor 373
B3.6.2 Drive 373
B3.7 Noise 373
B3.7.1 Motor 373
B3.7.2 Drive 376
B3.7.3 Motor noise when fed from a drive converter 376
B3.8 Vibration 378
B3.8.1 Motor 378
B3.8.2 Drive 380
B3.9 Altitude 380
B3.10 Corrosive gases 380
B3.10.1 Motors 380
B3.10.2 Drives 381

B4 Thermal management 383

B4.1 Introduction 383
B4.2 Motor cooling 383
B4.2.1 General 383
B4.2.2 D.C. motors 385
B4.2.2.1 Air filters 386
B4.2.3 A.C. industrial motors 386
B4.2.4 High-performance/servo motors 386
B4.2.4.1 Intermittent/peak torque limit 388
B4.2.4.2 Forced-air (fan) cooling 388
B4.3 Drive cooling: the thermal design of enclosures 389
B4.3.1 General 389
B4.3.2 Calculating the size of a sealed enclosure 389
B4.3.3 Calculating the air-flow in a ventilated enclosure 391
B4.3.4 Through-panel mounting of drives 392

B5 Drive system power management: common d.c. bus topologies 393

B5.1 Introduction 393
B5.2 Power circuit topology variations 396
B5.2.1 General 396
B5.2.2 Simple bulk uncontrolled external rectifier 396
B5.2.3 A.C. input and d.c. bus paralleled 397
B5.2.4 One host drive supplying d.c. bus to slave drives 398
xvi Contents

B5.2.5 A bulk four-quadrant controlled rectifier

feeding the d.c. bus 399
B5.2.6 Active bulk rectifier 400
B5.3 Fusing policy 402
B5.4 Practical systems 402
B5.4.1 Introduction 402
B5.4.2 Variations in standard drive topology 403
B5.4.3 Inrush/charging current 404
B5.4.4 Continuous current 404
B5.4.5 Implementation: essential knowledge 406
B5.4.5.1 A.C. and d.c. terminals connected:
drives of the same current rating only 406
B5.4.5.2 A.C. and d.c. terminals connected:
drives of different current ratings 407
B5.4.5.3 One host drive supplying d.c. bus
to slave drives 407
B5.4.5.4 Simple bulk uncontrolled external rectifier 408
B5.4.6 Practical examples 408
B5.4.6.1 Winder/unwinder sharing energy
via the d.c. bus 408
B5.4.6.2 Four identical drives with a single
dynamic braking circuit 409
B5.4.7 Note on EMC filters for common d.c. bus systems 409

B6 Electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) 411

B6.1 Introduction 411
B6.1.1 General 411
B6.1.2 Principles of EMC 411
B6.1.3 EMC regulations 412
B6.2 Regulations and standards 412
B6.2.1 Regulations and their application to drive modules 412
B6.2.2 Standards 413
B6.3 EMC behaviour of variable-speed drives 414
B6.3.1 Immunity 414
B6.3.2 Low-frequency emission 414
B6.3.3 High-frequency emission 415
B6.4 Installation rules 416
B6.4.1 EMC risk assessment 416
B6.4.2 Basic rules 417
B6.4.2.1 Cable segregation 417
B6.4.2.2 Control of return paths, minimising
loop areas 417
B6.4.2.3 Earthing 417
B6.4.3 Simple precautions and ‘fixes’ 420
B6.4.4 Full precautions 420
 Contents xvii

B6.5 Theoretical background 422

B6.5.1 Emission modes 422
B6.5.2 Principles of input filters 424
B6.5.3 Screened motor cables 425
B6.5.4 Ferrite ring suppressors 425
B6.5.5 Filter earth leakage current 426
B6.5.6 Filter magnetic saturation 426
B6.6 Additional guidance on cable screening for sensitive circuits 426
B6.6.1 Cable screening action 426
B6.6.2 Cable screen connections 428
B6.6.3 Recommended cable arrangements 431

B7 Protection 433
B7.1 Protection of the drive system and power supply infrastructure 433
B7.1.1 General 433
B7.1.2 Fuse types 433
B7.1.3 Application of fuses to drive systems 434
B7.1.4 Earth faults 435
B7.1.5 IT supplies 435
B7.1.6 Voltage transients 436
B7.2 Motor thermal protection 438
B7.2.1 General 438
B7.2.2 Protection of line-connected motor 438
B7.2.3 Protection of inverter-driven motor 439
B7.2.4 Multiple motors 440
B7.2.5 Servo motors 440

B8 Mechanical vibration, critical speed and torsional dynamics 441

B8.1 General 441
B8.2 Causes of shaft vibrations independent of
variable-speed drives 443
B8.2.1 Sub-synchronous vibrations 443
B8.2.2 Synchronous vibrations 443
B8.2.3 Super-synchronous vibrations 444
B8.2.4 Critical speeds 444
B8.3 Applications where torque ripple excites a resonance in
the mechanical system 444
B8.4 High-performance closed-loop applications 446
B8.4.1 Limits to dynamic performance 446
B8.4.2 System control loop instability 446
B8.5 Measures for reducing vibration 446

B9 Installation and maintenance of standard motors and drives 449

B9.1 Motors 449
B9.1.1 General 449
xviii Contents

B9.1.2 Storage 449

B9.1.3 Installation 450
B9.1.4 Maintenance guide 451
B9.1.5 Brush gear maintenance 452
B9.2 Electronic equipment 454
B9.2.1 General 454
B9.2.2 Location of equipment 454
B9.2.3 Ventilation systems and filters 455
B9.2.4 Condensation and humidity 455
B9.2.5 Fuses 455

PART C PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS 457

C1 Application and drive characteristics 461

C1.1 General 461
C1.2 Typical load characteristics and ratings 461
C1.3 Drive characteristics 472
C1.3.1 General 472
C2 Duty cycles 477
C2.1 Introduction 477
C2.2 Continuous duty: S1 477
C2.3 Short-time duty: S2 478
C2.4 Intermittent duty: S3 479
C2.5 Intermittent duty with starting: S4 480
C2.6 Intermittent duty with starting and electric braking: S5 481
C2.7 Continuous operation periodic duty: S6 481
C2.8 Continuous operation periodic duty with electric
braking: S7 482
C2.9 Continuous operation periodic duty with related load
speed changes: S8 482
C2.10 Duty with non-periodic load and speed variations: S9 482
C2.11 Duty with discrete constant loads: S10 483
C3 Interfaces, communications and PC tools 485
C3.1 Introduction 485
C3.2 Overview of interface types 485
C3.3 Analogue signal circuits 486
C3.3.1 General 486
C3.3.2 Hardware implementations and wiring advice 487
C3.3.2.1 General guidance on connecting
analogue signal circuits 487
C3.3.2.2 Single-ended circuits 490
C3.3.2.3 Differential circuits 491
C3.3.2.4 The case for 4 – 20 mA and other
current loop circuits 496
 Contents xix

C3.3.2.5 The use of capacitors for connecting

cable screens 496
C3.3.3 Typical specifications for analogue inputs and outputs 497
C3.4 Digital signal circuits 499
C3.4.1 Positive and negative logic 499
C3.4.2 Digital input 500
C3.4.3 Digital output 501
C3.4.4 Relay contacts 501
C3.5 Digital serial communications 501
C3.5.1 Introduction 501
C3.5.2 Serial network basics 502
C3.5.2.1 Physical layer 503
C3.5.2.2 Data link layer 506
C3.5.2.3 Application layer 508
C3.5.2.4 Device profile 508
C3.5.3 RS-232/RS-485 Modbus: A simple Fieldbus system 508
C3.6 Fieldbus systems 510
C3.6.1 Introduction to Fieldbus 510
C3.6.2 Centralised versus distributed control networks 512
C3.6.2.1 Centralised network 512
C3.6.2.2 Distributed network 513
C3.6.2.3 Hybrid networks 514
C3.6.3 Open and proprietary Fieldbus systems 516
C3.6.3.1 Open networks 516
C3.6.3.2 Proprietary networks 516
C3.6.4 OPC technology 517
C3.6.5 Industrial Fieldbus systems (non Ethernet) 517
C3.6.5.1 Profibus DP 517
C3.6.5.2 DeviceNet 518
C3.6.5.3 CANopen 519
C3.6.5.4 Interbus 520
C3.6.5.5 LonWorks 520
C3.6.5.6 BACnet 521
C3.6.5.7 SERCOS II 522
C3.6.6 Ethernet-based Fieldbuses 523
C3.6.6.1 General 523
C3.6.6.2 Modbus TCP/IP 523
C3.6.6.3 EtherNet IP 524
C3.6.6.4 PROFINET 525
C3.6.6.5 EtherCAT 525
C3.6.6.6 Powerlink 526
C3.6.7 Company-specific Fieldbuses 526
C3.6.7.1 CTNet 526
C3.6.7.2 CTSync 527
C3.6.8 Gateways 528
xx Contents

C3.7 PC tools 528

C3.7.1 Engineering design tools 529
C3.7.2 Drive commissioning and setup tools 529
C3.7.3 Application configuration and setup tools 530
C3.7.4 System configuration and setup tools 530
C3.7.5 Monitoring tools 531

C4 Typical drive functions 533

C4.1 Introduction 533
C4.2 Speed or frequency reference/demand 533
C4.3 Ramps 534
C4.4 Frequency slaving 535
C4.5 Speed control 535
C4.6 Torque and current control 535
C4.6.1 Open loop with scalar V/f control 535
C4.6.2 Closed-loop and high-performance open loop 536
C4.7 Automatic tuning 536
C4.8 Second parameter sets 537
C4.9 Sequencer and clock 537
C4.10 Analogue and digital inputs and outputs 537
C4.11 Programmable logic 537
C4.12 Status and trips 538
C4.13 Intelligent drive programming: user-defined functionality 539
C4.14 Functional safety 543
C4.14.1 Principles 543
C4.14.2 Technical standards 544
C4.14.3 Possible safety functions for drives 546
C4.14.3.1 Safe torque off (STO) 546
C4.14.3.2 Advanced drive-specific functions 547
C4.14.3.3 Other machinery safety functions 548
C4.14.3.4 Safety bus interfaces 549
C4.14.3.5 Integration into a machine 549
C4.15 Summary 549

C5 Common techniques 551

C5.1 General 551
C5.2 Speed control with particular reference to linear motion 552
C5.2.1 Linear to rotary speed reference conversion 555
C5.3 Torque feed-forward 555
C5.4 Virtual master and sectional control 556
C5.5 Registration 562
C5.6 Load torque sharing 567
C5.6.1 General 567
C5.6.2 Open-loop systems 568
C5.6.3 Paired d.c. motors 570
C5.6.4 Paired a.c. motors 572
 Contents xxi

C5.6.4.1 Parallel motors 572

C5.6.4.2 Frequency slaving 573
C5.6.4.3 Current slaving 573
C5.6.5 Torque slaving systems 574
C5.6.6 Speed-controlled helper with fixed torque 575
C5.6.7 Speed-controlled helper with shared torque 576
C5.6.8 Full closed-loop systems 577
C5.7 Tension control 578
C5.8 Sectional control 579
C5.9 Winding 580
C5.9.1 General 580
C5.9.2 Drum winders 581
C5.9.3 Centre-driven winders 582
C5.10 High-frequency inverters 589
C5.10.1 General 589
C5.10.2 Frequency control of a.c. induction motors 590
C5.10.3 Purpose-designed high frequency motors 592
C5.10.4 High-frequency inverters 593
C5.10.5 High-frequency applications 594
C5.11 Special d.c. loads 594
C5.11.1 Traction motor field control 595
C5.11.2 Battery charging 595
C5.11.3 Electrolytic processes 596
C5.11.4 Electric heating and temperature control 596

C6 Industrial application examples 599

C6.1 Introduction 599
C6.2 Centrifugal pumps 599
C6.2.1 Single-pump systems 599
C6.2.2 Multiple pump systems (duty-assist control) 605
C6.2.2.1 Note on parallel operation of pumps 605
C6.3 Centrifugal fans and compressors 606
C6.4 Heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration (HVAC/R) 607
C6.4.1 Introduction 607
C6.4.2 Commercial buildings 608
C6.4.2.1 Building automation systems 608
C6.4.2.2 HVAC applications 609
C6.4.3 Retail facilities 614
C6.4.3.1 Refrigeration applications 615
C6.4.4 Original equipment manufacturers 616
C6.5 Cranes and hoists 616
C6.5.1 General 616
C6.5.2 Overhead cranes 617
C6.5.3 Port cranes 617
C6.5.3.1 Ship-to-shore container cranes: grab
ship unloaders 617
xxii Contents

C6.5.3.2 Rubber-tyred gantry cranes 618

C6.5.3.3 Rail-mounted gantry cranes 618
C6.5.4 Automated warehousing 620
C6.5.5 Notes on crane control characteristics 620
C6.5.5.1 Hoisting control 620
C6.5.5.2 Slewing control 620
C6.5.6 Retrofit applications 621
C6.6 Elevators and lifts 622
C6.6.1 Lift system description 622
C6.6.2 Speed profile generation 625
C6.6.3 Load weighing devices 626
C6.6.4 Block diagram of lift electrical system 627
C6.7 Metals and metal forming 627
C6.7.1 Introduction 627
C6.7.2 Steel 627
C6.7.2.1 Main mill drives 628
C6.7.2.2 Auxiliary drives 629
C6.7.2.3 Strip rolling mills 630
C6.7.2.4 Continuous casting 633
C6.7.3 Wire and cable manufacture 635
C6.7.3.1 Wire drawing machine 635
C6.7.3.2 Twin carriage armourer 637
C6.8 Paper making 638
C6.8.1 General 638
C6.8.2 Sectional drives 639
C6.8.3 Loads and load sharing 640
C6.8.4 Control and instrumentation 642
C6.8.5 Winder drives 644
C6.8.6 Brake generator power and energy 645
C6.8.7 Unwind brake generator control 647
C6.8.8 Coating machines 648
C6.9 Plastics extrusion 649
C6.9.1 General 649
C6.9.2 Basic extruder components 652
C6.9.3 Overall extruder performance 653
C6.9.4 Energy considerations 654
C6.9.5 Motors and controls 656
C6.10 Stage scenery: film and theatre 657
C6.10.1 The Control Techniques orchestra 657

PART D APPENDICES 661

D1 Symbols and formulae 663
D1.1 SI units and symbols 663
D1.1.1 SI base units 663
D1.1.2 Derived units 664
 Contents xxiii

D1.2 Electrical formulae 665

D1.2.1 Electrical quantities 665
D1.2.2 A.C. three-phase (assuming balanced symmetrical
waveform) 666
D1.2.3 A.C. single-phase 666
D1.2.4 Three-phase induction motors 667
D1.2.5 Loads (phase values) 667
D1.2.6 Impedance 667
D1.2.7 A.C. vector and impedance diagrams 667
D1.2.8 Emf energy transfer 669
D1.2.9 Mean and rms values, waveform 670
D1.2.9.1 Principles 670
D1.2.9.2 Mean d.c. value 671
D1.2.9.3 rms value 672
D1.2.9.4 Form factor 674
D1.3 Mechanical formulae 674
D1.3.1 Laws of motion 674
D1.3.1.1 Linear motion 676
D1.3.1.2 Rotational or angular motion 677
D1.3.1.3 Relationship between linear and
angular motion 678
D1.3.1.4 The effect of gearing 679
D1.3.1.5 Linear to rotary speed reference conversion 680
D1.3.1.6 Friction and losses 681
D1.3.1.7 Fluid flow 682
D1.4 Worked examples of typical mechanical loads 684
D1.4.1 Conveyor 684
D1.4.2 Inclined conveyor 689
D1.4.3 Hoist 689
D1.4.4 Screw-feed loads 693

D2 Conversion tables 695

D2.1 Mechanical conversion tables 695
D2.2 General conversion tables 700
D2.3 Power/torque/speed nomogram 706

D3 World industrial electricity supplies (<1 kV) 707

Bibliography 715
Index 717
 Preface

With the rapid developments in the last 20 years in the area of industrial automation,
it can be argued that the variable-speed drive has changed beyond all recognition.
The functionality of a modern drive is now so diverse that its ability to rotate a
motor is sometimes forgotten. Indeed, some customers buy drives not to control a
motor but to utilise the powerfull auxiliary functionality that is built in. This is,
however, unusual, and the drive remains a key component of the boom in all
aspects of automation. Drives are also critical components in relation to energy
saving. For over 30 years the case for energy saving through the use of variable-speed
drives has been made by drive companies, and at last it seems that industry is
moving quickly to adopting the technology. Consider the facts: 55– 65 per cent of
all electrical energy is used by electric motors. On average, fitting a variable-speed
drive will save 30 per cent of the energy used by a fixed-speed motor, but today
only 5 per cent of those motors are controlled by variable-speed drives. The opportu-
nity is therefore enormous. Drives could save the world, or make a significant
contribution to the cause. Before taking a brief look into the future it is helpful to
look back at the relatively short history of drives and see how far and how quickly
the technology has come.

1820 Oersted was the first to note that a compass needle is deflected when an electric
current is applied to a wire close to the compass; this is the fundamental prin-
ciple behind an electric motor.
1821 Faraday (Figure P.1), built two devices to produce what he called electromag-
netic rotation: that is, a continuous circular motion from the circular magnetic
force around a wire. This was the initial stage of his pioneering work.
1824 Arago discovered that if a copper disc is rotated rapidly beneath a suspended
magnet, the magnet also rotates in the same direction as the disc.
1825 Babbage and Herschel demonstrated the inversion of Arago’s experiment by
rotating a magnet beneath a pivoted disc causing the disc to rotate. This was
truly induced rotation and just a simple step away from the first induction
motor, a step that was not then taken for half a century.
1831 Using an ‘induction ring’, Faraday made one of his greatest discoveries –
electromagnetic induction. This was the induction of electricity in a wire by
means of the electromagnetic effect of a current in another wire. The induction
ring was the first electric transformer. In a second series of experiments in the
xxvi Preface

Figure P.1 Michael Faraday (1791– 1867)

same year he discovered magneto-electric induction: the production of a

steady electric current. To do this, Faraday attached two wires through a
sliding contact to a copper disc, the first commutator; this was an approach
suggested to him by Ampère. By rotating the disc between the poles of a
horseshoe magnet he obtained a continuous direct current. This was the first
generator. Faraday’s scientific work laid the foundations for all subsequent
electro-technology. From his experiments came devices that led directly to
the modern electric motor, generator and transformer.
1832 Pixii produced the first magneto-electric machine.
1838 Lenz discovered that a d.c. generator could be used equally well as a motor.
Jacobi used a battery-fed d.c. motor to propel a boat on the River Neva.
Interestingly, Jacobi himself pointed out that batteries were inadequate for
propulsion, a problem that is still being worked on today.
1845 Wheatstone and Cooke patented the use of electromagnets instead of perma-
nent magnets for the field system of the dynamo. Over 20 years were to elapse
before the principle of self-excitation was to be established by Wilde,
Wheatstone, Varley and the Siemens brothers.
1870 Gramme introduced a ring armature that was somewhat more advanced than
that proposed by Pacinotte in 1860, which led to the multi-bar commutator
and the modern d.c. machine.
1873 Gramme demonstrated, at the Vienna Exhibition, the use of one machine as a
generator supplying power over a distance of 1km to drive a similar machine
 Preface xxvii

as a motor. This simple experiment did a great deal to establish the credibility
of the d.c. motor.
1879 Bailey developed a motor in which he replaced the rotating magnet of
Babbage and Herschel by a rotating magnetic field, produced by switching
of direct current at appropriately staggered intervals to four pole pieces.
With its rotation induced by a rotating magnetic field it was thus the first
commutatorless induction motor.
1885 Ferraris produced a motor in which a rotating magnetic field was established
by passing single-phase alternating current through windings in space quad-
rature. This was the first alternating current commutatorless induction
motor, a single-phase machine that Dobrowolsky later acknowledged as the
inspiration for his polyphase machine.
1886 Tesla developed the first polyphase induction motor. He deliberately generated
four-phase polyphase currents and supplied them to a machine with a four-
phase stator. He used several types of rotor, including one with a soft-iron
salient-pole construction (a reluctance motor) and one with two short-circuited
windings in space quadrature (the polyphase induction motor).
1889 Dobrowlsky, working independently from Tesla, introduced the three-phase
squirrel-cage induction motor.
1890 Dobrowlsky introduced a three-phase induction motor with a polyphase
slip-ring rotor into which resistors could be connected for starting and
control. The speed of these motors depends fundamentally upon its pole
number and supply frequency. Rotor resistance control for the slip-ring
motor was introduced immediately, but this is equivalent to armature resist-
ance control of a d.c. machine and is inherently inefficient.
By 1890 there was a well established d.c.. motor, d.c. central generating
stations, three-phase a.c. generation and a simple three-phase motor with
enormous potential but which was inherently a single-speed machine. There
was as yet no way of efficiently controlling the speed of a motor over the
full range from zero to full speed.
1896 The words of Harry Ward Leonard first uttered on 18 November 1896 in his
paper entitled ‘Volts vs. ohms – speed regulation of electric motors’
marked the birth of the efficient, wide-range, electrical variable-speed drive:

‘The operation by means of electric motors of elevators, locomotives, printing presses,

travelling cranes, turrets on men-of-war, pumps, ventilating fans, air compressors,
horseless vehicles, and many other electric motor applications too numerous to
mention in detail, all involve the desirability of operating an electric motor
under perfect and economical control at any desired speed from rest to full speed.’
(Figure P.2.)

The system he proposed was of course based upon the inherently variable-
speed d.c. machine (which had hitherto been controlled by variable armature
resistors). His work was not universally accepted at the time and attracted
much criticism, understandably, as it required three machines of similar
rating to do the job of one. Today, however, all d.c. drives are based upon
xxviii Preface

Figure P.2 110th Meeting of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers,

New York, 18 November 1896

his control philosophy, only the implementation changing from multi-motor

schemes through the era of grid controlled mercury arc rectifiers to thyristors
and more recently, in demanding dynamic applications, to bipolar transistors,
field-effect transistors (FETs), insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs) and
so on.
1904 Kramer made the first significant move with respect to frequency changing in
1904 by introducing a d.c. link between the slip rings and the a.c. supply. This
involved the use of two a.c. $ d.c. motor sets. The d.c. link was later to
become a familiar sight in many a.c. drive technologies. He published in
1908 (Figure P.3).
Subsequent advances in a.c. motor speed control was based upon purely
electrical means of frequency and voltage conversion. Progress has followed
the advances in the field of semiconductors (power and signal/control).
1911 Schrage introduced a system based upon an induction motor with a commu-
tator on the rotor. This machine proved to be very popular, requiring no
auxiliary machines and was very reliable. It found large markets, particularly
in the textile industry and some other niche applications. It is still sold today
but in rapidly reducing numbers.
1923 The introduction of the ignitron made controlled rectification possible. The
thyratron and grid controlled mercury rectifiers made life easier in 1928.
This made possible the direct control of voltage applied to the armature of a
 Preface xxix

Figure P.3 Elektrotechnische Zeitschrift, vol. 31, 30 July 1908

d.c. machine so as to apply the philosophy of Ward – Leonard control without

additional machines.
1930 The ideas of inversion (d.c. to variable-frequency/voltage a.c., which is the
basis for the present-day inverter) had been established, and the use of
forced commutation by means of switched capacitors was introduced.
1931 Direct a.c. to a.c. conversion by means of cycloconverters was introduced for
railway service.
1932 The Nyquist stability criterion was developed.
1938 The Bode stability criterion developed.
1950 The introduction of silicon into power switches replaced the bulky and rela-
tively inefficient mercury arc rectifiers (MAR). By 1960, thyristors (SCRs)
had become available and the key enabling technology for drives had
arrived. D.C. drives and cycloconverters quickly embraced the new silicon
technology at first using techniques with origins in the MAR forerunners.
xxx Preface

The faster switching performance of the new silicon, however, opened many
new doors, notably in the field of forced commutation. The way was clear for
commercial variable-frequency drives (VFDs).
1957 The ‘back to back’ reversing d.c. drive introduced.
1960s Power semiconductor voltage and current ratings grow and performance
characteristics improve. Inverters became commercially viable, notably in
industries such as textiles where a single (bulk) inverter was used to feed
large numbers of induction motors (or reluctance motors, despite their low
power factor, where synchronisation was required).
1963 Gain –bandwidth relationships of power converters were investigated.
1970 The 1970s saw a new and very significant revolution hit the variable-speed
drives market – packaging. Up until this time the static variable-speed drive
design process had essentially concentrated on performance/functionality.
Both a.c. and d.c. drives of even low rating were broadly speaking custom
built or hand crafted. This approach resulted in bulky, high-cost drives, the
very uniqueness of which often compromised reliability and meant service
support was difficult. The drives industry was not fulfilling its potential.
1970s A.C. motor drives had made great advances in terms of performance but still
lacked the dynamic performance to really challenge the d.c. drive in demand-
ing process applications. Since the early 1970s considerable interest was being
generated in field oriented control of a.c. machines. This technique, pioneered
by Blaschke and further developed by Leonhard, opened up the opportunity
for a.c. drives not only to match the performance of a d.c. drive but to
improve upon it. The processing requirements were such that in its early
days commercial exploitation was restricted to large drives such as mill
motor drives and boiler feed pump drives. Siemens were very much in the
forefront of commercialising field orientation. Siemens were also rationalising
the numerous alternative drive topologies that had proliferated and, while
stimulating to the academic, were confusing to drive users:

1. D.C. drives
a. Single converter
b. Double converter
i. Circulating current free
ii. Circulating current
2. A.C. drives
a. Voltage (phase) control
b. Voltage source inverters
i. Quasi-square V/f
ii. Quasi-square V/f with d.c. link chopper
iii. Pulse width modulated (PWM)
c. Current source inverters
i. Induction motor
ii. Synchronous machine
d. Static Kramer drive
e. Cycloconverter
 Preface xxxi

Figure P.4 D.C. drive module [photograph courtesy of Control Techniques]

1972 Siemens launched the SIMOPAC integrated motor with ratings up to 70 kW.
This was a d.c. motor with integrated converter including line reactors!
1973 A new approach to drives in terms of packaging. Utilising 19-in rack
principles, a cubicle-mounting standard well used in the process industry,
compact, high-specification ranges of d.c. drives in modular form (Figure
P.4) became available off the shelf. Companies such as AEG, Thorn
Automation, Mawdsley’s and Control Techniques pioneered this work. A
new era of drive design had started.
1979 Further advances in packaging design were made possible by the introduction
of isolated thyristor packages.

Figure P.5 Plastic mouldings introduced into drives [photograph courtesy of

Control Techniques]
xxxii Preface

1983 In 1983 plastic mouldings (Figure P.5), made their first significant impact in
drives. Bipolar transistor technology also arrived, which eliminated bulky
auxiliary commutation circuits.
1985 Takahashi and Noguchi published a paper on direct torque control (DTC) in
the IEEE. This date is included not because of its technical significance but
rather as a point of interest as DTC has received much commercial attention.
1986 Great advances were being made at this time in the field of microprocessors
making possible cost-effective digital drives at low powers. Further drives
were introduced containing application-specific integrated circuits (ASIC),
which to that time had only been used in exceptionally large-volume/
domestic applications. Further, new plastic materials were introduced that gave
structural strength, weight, size, assembly and cost advantage (Figure P.6).
1988 IGBT technology was introduced to the drives market. IGBTs heralded the era
of relatively quiet variable-speed drives (and introduced a few problems, some
of which have led to substantial academic activity, and only a very few of
which have required more pragmatic treatment).

Figure P.6 Digital d.c. drive with microprocessor and ASIC [photograph courtesy
of Control Techniques]
 Preface xxxiii

Figure P.7 Vector drive [photograph courtesy of Control Techniques]

1989 The first implementation of the field orientation or flux vector drive was intro-
duced to the high-volume, lower-power market (Figure P.7). It found immedi-
ate application in machine tool spindle drives and has grown rapidly in
application (and rating) since. It should be said that the name vector has
been prostituted by some in the drives industry with ‘voltage vector’ and
other such names/techniques, causing confusion and frustration to customers.
1990 The trend to smaller drive products, which were also simpler to design, was
given a significant boost by Mitsubishi, who introduced intelligent power
modules that integrated into the semiconductor package the necessary gate
drive and protection functions.
1992 A new packaging trend emerged – the bookform shape (Figure P.8); this had
previously been applied to servo drives and was now being applied to the
broader industrial a.c. drives market. The trend continues today but there is
not a consensus that this is the most suitable shape for all market segments.
1993 Another innovation in packaging arrived – at the low-power end of the spec-
trum when a DIN rail mounting 0.4kW inverter package (Figure P.9), similar
to that used widely in equipment such as contactors and control relays, was
xxxiv Preface

Figure P.8 Bookform shape of drive [photograph courtesy of Control Techniques]

Figure P.9 DIN rail mounting drive with built in EMC filter [photograph courtesy of
Control Techniques]
 Preface xxxv

Figure P.10 Universal a.c drive modules [photograph courtesy of Control

Techniques]

launched. The first drive with a built-in supply-side filter fully compliant with
the then impending EU regulations on conducted EMC was introduced.
1996 The first truly universal drive (Figure P.10) was launched that met the diverse
requirements of a general-purpose open-loop vector drive, a closed-loop flux
vector drive, a servodrive, and a sinusoidal supply converter with the selection
purely by parameter selection. This was also the birth of what has become
known as the intelligent drive with user-programmable functionality as well
as a broad range of Fieldbus connectivity.
1998 The integrated d.c. motor launched in 1972 was not a great commercial
success – much has been learnt since those days. In 1998 integrated a.c.
motor drives were introduced onto the market (Figure P.11). These products
are, for the most part, open-loop inverter-driven induction motors and were
initially targeted on replacing mechanical variable-speed drives. Integrated
servo motors followed.
1999 A radical servo drive was introduced with the position and speed loop
embedded in the encoder housing on the motor itself (Figure P.12). This
brought with it the advantage of processing the position information close
to the source, thereby avoiding problems of noise etc, and allowed dramatic
xxxvi Preface

Figure P.11 Integrated a.c. motor [photograph courtesy of Leroy– Somer]

improvements in control resolution, stiffness of the drive and reduced the

number of wires between the drive and the motor.
2000 In the early years of the new millennium, rapid change continued. Those users
who were looking to use drives as components in a larger control system, were
looking for ever greater connectivity. The Fieldbus ‘wars’ were raging with
passionate claims for many systems (I counted over 200 in a 12-month
period), most of which have since disappeared. The war has now morphed
into the Ethernet wars, with advocates of the different protocols all predicting
dominance.

Figure P.12 Speed loop motor [photograph courtesy of Control Techniques]

 Preface xxxvii

Development is driven by component technology, design techniques and the vision of

the industry. Power devices, notably Trench IGBTs, have driven improved efficiency,
while improved microprocessor performance has yielded not only improved motor
shaft performance, but facilitated further significant functionality. Ease of use has
been, and remains, a key focus. Although there remain specific motor types and con-
trols best suited to certain applications, users can buy a single product that can meet
these different needs. The universal drive is truly a no compromise solution to a
broad range of applications and grows in the market. Ease of use and optimising of
setup is achieved by automatic tuning routines in drives, matching the drive to both
motor and mechanical load.
Functionality has been greatly enhanced to a level where IEC 61131 compliant
PLC functionality is available for users to programme very complex and demanding
system applications. Drives can be synchronised together with control loop jitter of
,2 ms without the need for a master controller.
Motor technology is changing. The brushless permanent magnet (BPM) motor,
once only used in high-performance applications, is now being considered where
efficiency or size is critical. Linear motors have made an appearance, but mainly at
trade shows. For the most demanding applications, the quality of speed or position
measurement is critical. The emergence of sine/cosine encoders has facilitated
very-high-resolution position feedback, while all digital solutions such as EnDat
point the way forward.
Much has indeed changed in the last ten years. Much will change in the next ten
years and beyond. Component developments, particularly in the semiconductor indus-
tries, will continue to play a significant role in defining direction. Cost remains a driver
of product development, and motor shaft performance improvements continue apace
even if they do not always appear centre stage in the marketing brochures.
With the capabilities within a modern drive, users need to consider how to balance
elegance and cost over what could be considered over-dependence on a single sup-
plier. The improved interfacing technologies, including the emergence of Ethernet
as an industrial backbone at the machine level, will certainly act to mitigate these
concerns. Customer needs will of course be the key driver to future developments.
Significant advances occur when users and drive designers get together and consider
system solutions. Some drives are sold to customers who have no intention of connec-
ting a motor to it! It has been purchased purely to use the comprehensive
auxiliary functions.
The world of drives is therefore vibrant and dynamic, but the breadth of technology
can be confusing. This book aims to de-mystify the technology and the way the pro-
ducts can be used to bring benefit in many applications. It covers the present state of
development, or rather commercial exploitation of industrial a.c. and d.c. variable-
speed drives and associated systems. It is intended primarily for the use of professional
engineers who specify or design systems that incorporate drives. The theory of both the
driven motor and the drive is explained in practical terms, with reference to fundamen-
tal theory being made only where appropriate for further illumination. Information on
how to apply drive systems is included, as are examples of what can be found within
commercially available drives and indications of what can be achieved using them.
xxxviii Preface

Emphasis is placed on low-voltage (110 to 690 V) industrial drives in the range

0.37 kW to 1 MW.
The practical nature of the book has led to two unfortunate but I fear unavoidable
consequences. First, some of the theory behind the technology contained in the
book has had to be omitted or abridged in the interests of clarity and volume.
Second, in such a practical book it has proved difficult to avoid some reference to pro-
prietary equipment. In such circumstances a tendency towards referencing the pro-
ducts of Control Techniques is inevitable. It should be clear to readers that these
products are described as examples to illustrate the technology. The IET, publisher
of this book, does not endorse these products or their use in any way.

Professor Bill Drury

 Acknowledgements

A book of this type relies upon the contribution and help of a great number of people.
This edition of The Control Techniques Drives and Controls Handbook has been
created with contributions from engineers both within Control Techniques itself
as well as sister companies within the family that is Emerson. Accordingly, the con-
tributions of all the following are acknowledged with great thanks.

The Control Techniques Drives and Controls Handbook (IET, 2009)

I would in particular like to thank Dr Mike Cade and Dr Colin Hargis, who have been a
major source of help throughout the project, and have contributed to key areas of the
book. Thanks are also due to Dr Volker Pickert, Dr Matthew Armstrong, Peter
Worland, Kevin Manton, Jon Atkinson, Alex Harvey and Giannbattista Dubini for
their help in specific areas of the book. Thanks are also due to our friends and col-
leagues at Leroy Somer, Heidenhain, Sick Stegmann and IC-Haus for the help and
support they have given.

The Control Techniques Drives and Controls Handbook (IEE, 2001)

Dr Mike Cade, Dr Colin Hargis, Dr Peter Barrass, Ray Brister, Vikas Desai, Jim
Lynch, John Orrells, Bleddyn Powell, Alex Rothwell, Michael Turner, and Peter
Worland.

Drives and Servos Yearbook (Control Techniques, 1990)

J. Boden, K. Briggs, S. Buckley, A. Clark, R. Cottell, A. Davies, J. Day, C. French,
B. Hardy-Bishop, C. Haspel, E. Introwicz, R.Lang, T. Miller, L. Mummery-Smith,
J. Orrells, D. Reece, A. Richmond, A. Royle, N. Sewell, P. Sewell, R. Smith,
G. Thomas, N. Vivian, G. West, and P. Worland.
Part A
Drive types and core technology

Introduction
A1 Industrial motors
A2 Drive converter circuit topologies
A3 Power semiconductor devices
A4 Torque, speed and position control
A5 Position and speed feedback
A6 Motion control
A7 Voltage source inverter: four-quadrant operation
A8 Switched reluctance and stepper motor drives
 Introduction

The selection of a drive is determined by a great many factors. Section A of this book
describes the core technology and performance of the different elements of a drive
system. To put this into context, the main types of industrial drives are tabulated
below with a brief summary of their features. Reference is made to areas of the
book for further more detailed descriptions.
The number of topologies is so broad so for convenience the table has been split
into the following:

† D.C. drives
† A.C. inverter drives
† Slip energy recovery and direct converter drives
† Soft starter, switched reluctance and stepper motor drives
 4

Table A0.1 D.C. drives

Drive type Single quadrant drive Single quadrantA Four quadrant drive Four quadrant drive D.C. chopper
with single half drive with single fully with single converter with significant period
controlled converter controlled converter and armature or field without torque
reversal
Motor type D.C. Separately Excited Motor (A1.2.3.1) or d.c. Permanent Magnet Motor (A1.2.4)
Converter type Single/three phase Single/three phase Single/three phase Dual single/three Four quadrant d.c.
half controlled fully controlled fully controlled phase fully chopper (A2.3.2.3)
thyristor bridge. thyristor bridge. thyristor bridge. controlled thyristor usually fed from
(A2.2.4/A2.2.2.2/ (A2.2.4/A2.2.2.2/ (A2.2.4/A2.2.2.2/ bridge. (A2.2.4/ uncontrolled converter
Part A Drive types and core technology

A2.2.3.2) A2.2.3.2) A2.2.3.2) A2.2.2.2/A2.2.3.2) (A2.2.2.1/A2.2.3.1)

Main switching
MOSFET (A3.7)
power Thyristor/SCR (A3.3)
[or IGBT (A3.8)]
semiconductors
Torque/speed Motoring in one Motoring in one Motoring and braking in both directions Two or Four quadrant
quadrants of direction only direction only. versions
operation Braking in the other
direction
Method of speed
Closed loop control of armature voltage with inner current control loop (A4.3)
control
Method of torque
Closed loop control of armature current (A4.3)
control
Exploring the Variety of Random
Documents with Different Content
which bounded the original monastery, and must have been, as is
usual, either an earthen rampart, or one composed of mixed earth
and stones, if it was not a stone cashel. We should expect, too, to
find some indications of what formed its cemetery or burial ground.
Then the stream which issues from the Lochan Mor, and is termed
the Mill-stream, must have turned the wheel of a small mill; and
near it we should find the remains of the kiln, which was of course a
stone building.[187] On the north side of the Mill-stream, near its issue
from the lake, is an elevated piece of ground, rectangular in shape,
flat on the top, and in part enclosed at the sides, which does not
appear to be artificial, though adapted to some purpose. Where this
abuts on the stream are the remains of a stone kiln. On its western
side, at a little distance from where the stream issues from the lake,
is the commencement of an outer rampart, composed of mixed
earth and stones, which extends to the end of the plateau and then
proceeds north between the lake and the plain, passing the two
isolated rocky knolls on the east side, and terminates in two parallel
straight terraces about one hundred and eighty yards long. These
are termed Iomaire nan achd ann an breithe, or ‘the Ridge of the
Acts in judgment,’ and approach within about fifty yards of the rocky
knoll which bounds this plain on the north. Such indications as
Adamnan gives of the site of the monastic buildings would place
them on the sloping ground between this rampart and the channel.
He mentions the vallum, or rampart, the canaba, or kiln, and the
horreum, or barn by name; and, though he does not expressly
mention a mill, he shows that there was one, as he tells us that one
of the crosses was placed in a mill-stone as a pedestal.[188] He
speaks of the monasterium, or monastery proper, in terms which
show that it contained a refectory of considerable size, in which was
a fireplace and a vessel of water.[189] He mentions the hospitium, or
guest-chamber, which was wattled,[190] and the houses, or cells of
the monks, with the plateola, or little court, which they surrounded,
[191]
and he indicates that these monastic buildings were constructed
of wood.[192] He repeatedly mentions the church with its exedra, or
side chamber, and terms it an oratorium, which shows that it was a
Duirthech or oak building.[193] He frequently alludes to the house, or
cell, occupied by Columba himself, which he says was built of planks
and placed on the highest part of the ground.[194] Although no
remains of these buildings exist, we can gather what their relative
position probably was from the buildings of another early monastery
founded by Columba, which appear to have been all constructed of
stone, and have thus left some remains behind them. In one of the
Garveloch islands termed Eilean na Naomh, or the Isle of the Saints,
are the remains of some very primitive ecclesiastical buildings which,
as we shall afterwards see, we can identify with those of the first
monastery Columba founded after that of Iona, and which,
fortunately for us, owing to the island being uninhabited, not very
accessible, and little visited, have not disappeared before the
improving hand of man. The remains are grouped together about
the middle of the island, on its south-eastern side. Here there is a
small sheltered port or harbour, and near it a spring of water termed
Tobar Challum na Chille, or Columba’s well. Near the shore, south of
this, in a sheltered grassy hollow, are the remains of the cemetery,
with traces of graves of great age; and adjoining it a square
enclosure, or small court, on the east of which are the remains of
buildings of a domestic character. North of this is the church, a
roofless building, formed of slates without mortar, and measuring
twenty-five feet by fifteen. North-east of this is a building resembling
the cells appropriated to the abbots of these primitive monasteries.
Farther off, on higher ground, are the remains of a kiln, and on a
slope near the shore are two beehive cells resembling those used by
anchorites.[195] Somewhat of the same arrangement characterised
the early monastic buildings at Iona, so far as the existing remains
and the indications afforded by Adamnan enable us to fix their site.
The small creek now called Port na muintir, or the harbour of the
community, considerably to the south of where the mill-stream
enters the sea, is, from its situation opposite a similar harbour on
the coast of Mull, probably the portus insulæ, or landing-place of the
island, mentioned by Adamnan. The remains of the stone kiln fix its
site. Columba’s cell was, he tells us, on the highest ground, and
another passage shows that it was near a small hillock overlooking
the monastery.[196] On the east side of the rampart, however, just
where it passes near the isolated rocky knoll called Cnoc na
bristeadh clach, is an elevated piece of level ground where the
fragments of a cross were found; and here it must have been, for
Adamnan tells us that Ernan the priest, who was Columba’s uncle,
and presided over the monastery he had founded in the island of
Hinba—that is, the very monastery the remains of which we have
been describing—feeling himself seriously ill, desired to be taken
back to Columba, who set out from his cell to the landing-place to
meet him, while Ernan, though feeble, attempted to walk from the
landing-place to meet Columba; and, when there were only twenty-
four paces between them, Ernan suddenly died before Columba
could see his face, and breathed his last as he fell to the ground;
and Adamnan adds, ‘that on the spot where he died a cross was
raised before the door of the kiln, and another where Columba
stood.’ It is obvious from this narrative that the kiln was between
Columba’s cell and the landing-place, and the former must have
been nearly as far to the north as the latter was to the south-east of
it. There in his cell, overlooking the monastery, Columba sat and
wrote or read, having one attendant and occasionally two of the
brethren standing at the door and awaiting his orders; and here he
slept on the bare ground with a stone for his pillow. From his cell
there appears to have been a via or road which crossed the mill-
stream in front of the kiln, and led from thence to the harbour or
landing-place now called Port na muintir.[197] Then the flat boulder
stone fixes the site of the refectory and the other conventual
buildings which formed the monastery proper. Adamnan indicates
that it was at some distance from the eminence immediately behind
Columba’s cell which overlooked it.[198] We learn from an incident
mentioned by Adamnan in connection with Cainnech’s monastery of
Achaboe in Ireland, that it contained a refectory in which was a table
whereon the eulogia, or blessed bread, was divided;[199] and a
curious passage in the preface to an old poem attributed to Columba
shows us that the same custom was used at Iona, but that a large
flat stone was used for a table. It is as follows:—‘On a certain day
Columcille was in Hii, and no one was with him except Boithin; and
they had no food except a sieve of oats. Then said Columcille to
Boithin, “Illustrious guests are coming to us to-day, O Boithin;” and
he said to Boithin, “Remain thou here ministering to the guests,
whilst I go to the Muillinn, or mill.” He took upon him his burden
from off a certain stone that was in the Recles or monastery;
Blathnat was its name, and it exists still, and it is upon it that
division is made in the Proinntig, or refectory. However, the burden
was heavy to him; so that he made this hymn in alphabetical order
from that place until he arrived at the mill.’ Another version of the
preface says that ‘the name of that stone is Moelblatha, and he left
prosperity on all food which should be placed upon it.’[200] The
refectory, therefore, was at some distance from the mill, and its site
was marked by a stone remarkable enough to have a special name,
to be capable of being used as a table, and to survive the building
which enclosed it. Between this spot and the sea are the remains of
an old burial-ground, marked by two upright pillar stones, over
which a third was once placed, resembling a rude cromleac, or stone
gateway. The Duirthech, or oratory, was placed probably on a higher
part of the sloping ground between the conventual buildings and
Columba’s cell. The site thus indicated of the older wooden
monastery places it about a quarter of a mile north of the present
ruins, which are on the south side of the mill-stream and therefore
between the kiln and the shore. Outside of the vallum, or rampart,
was the Bocetum, or cowhouse, mentioned by Adamnan; and the
land on the east side of the island, south of the mill-stream, appears
to have been used for pasture, while the fertile land forming the
western part of the central plain, as well probably as the level land
at the north end of the island, was used for tillage; and there appear
to have been two granaries for storing the grain—one near the
monastery, and the other close to the fields under tillage.
 Map of
PART OF IONA
shewing site of the
MONASTERIES.
 J. Bartholomew, Edin.r

Constitution of The members of this community were termed

the monastery. brethren. They took a solemn monastic vow on
bended knees in the oratorium, and were tonsured from ear to ear—
that is, the fore part of the head was made bare, and the hair was
allowed to grow only on the back part of the head. They were
addressed by Columba as his familia or chosen monks. They
consisted of three classes. Those of advanced years and tried
devotedness were called seniors. Their principal duty was to attend
to the religious services of the church, and to reading and
transcribing the Scriptures. Those who were stronger and fitter for
labour were termed the working brothers. Their stated labour was
agriculture in its various branches, and the tending of the cattle; and
probably, in addition to this, the service within the monastery in the
preparation of food and the manufacture of the various articles
required for personal or domestic use. Among these Adamnan
mentions the pincerna, or butler, who had charge of the refectory
and its appointments, and the pistor, or baker, who was a Saxon.
The third class consisted of the youth who were under instruction,
and were termed alumni, or pupils. The dress of the monks
consisted of a white tunica, or under garment, over which they wore
a camilla, consisting of a body and hood made of wool, and of the
natural colour of the material. When working or travelling their feet
were shod with sandals, which they usually removed when sitting
down to meat. Their food was very simple, consisting of bread
sometimes made of barley, milk, fish, eggs; and in Iona they appear
to have also used seals’ flesh. On Sundays and festivals, and on the
arrival of guests, there was an improvement of diet; and an addition,
probably of flesh meat, as mutton or even beef, was made to the
principal meal.
With regard to divine worship, Adamnan does not specially
mention a daily service; but the recitation of the Psalter is so
repeatedly alluded to as an important part of the service, that a part
of the day was probably given to it, from which, however, the
working brethren were exempt. But the principal service was
unquestionably the celebration of the Eucharist, which took place on
the dies dominica, or Lord’s day, on the stated festivals of the
church, as well as on such particular occasions as the abbot may
have appointed. It is termed by Adamnan ‘the Sacred Mysteries of
the Eucharist,’ or ‘the Mysteries of the Sacred Oblation.’ The priest,
standing before the altar, consecrated the elements. When several
priests were present, one was selected, who might invite a brother
presbyter to break bread with him in token of equality. When a
bishop officiated, he broke the bread alone, in token of his superior
office. The brethren then approached and partook of the Eucharist.
The chief festival in the year was the Paschal solemnity, or Easter.
The practice of making the sign of the cross is repeatedly mentioned
by Adamnan. One very important feature of this monastic system
was the penitential discipline to which the monks were subjected.
The ordinary discipline consisted of fasting on Wednesday and Friday
and during Lent, to which those who practised extreme asceticism
added the strange custom of passing a certain time with the body
entirely immersed in water, and in that uncomfortable condition
reciting the whole, or part, of the Psalter; but when any one,
whether lay or cleric, desired to enter upon a special course of
exercises, it was usual to select a distinguished saint as his
Anmchara, soul-friend, or spiritual director, under whose direction it
was fulfilled. After the commission of any offence, the penitent was
required to confess his sin before the community, generally on his
knees, and to perform such penance as the abbot prescribed, when
he was either absolved or enjoined a more lengthened discipline.
Adamnan records two instances of this severer discipline. In one,
where the sin was a very great one, Columba imposed as a penance
perpetual exile in tears and lamentations, among the Britons; and in
another, the penitent, who had assumed the clerical habit, was
sentenced to do penance for seven years in the island of Tiree, and
accomplished his penance in the monastery of Maigh Lunge in that
island. In conclusion, all the members of the community, as well as
the affiliated monasteries, were, by their monastic vow, bound to
yield prompt and implicit obedience to the abbot of the mother
church, who was termed holy father and holy senior.[201]
Such is a short view of the character of the monastic system
established by Columba in the island of Iona. It presented the same
life of strict submission to a rule enforcing observance of religious
duty, ascetic practice and self-denial, which characterised the
monastic church in Ireland, and its doctrines in no respect differed
from those of that church. Their doctrinal system was that common
to the Western Church prior to the fifth century, and it is pervaded
by the ecclesiastical language of that early period. The divergence
which took place between the Irish and the Roman Churches related
to points of doctrine, or matters of observance, which emerged in
the Western Church after that date, when all intercourse between it
and the Churches of Britain and Ireland, beyond the bounds of the
Roman empire, had been for the time interrupted; and to the
authority of the Church of Rome with regard to such matters of faith
and practice, when they again came into contact, the Columban
Church, in common with the Irish Church, opposed the custom of
their fathers, for which they claimed the sanction of the second
general council, held in the year 381. To use the language of
Columbanus, the Columban Church ‘received nought but the doctrine
of the evangelists and apostles;’ and, as we learn from Adamnan,
the foundation of Columba’s preaching, and his great instrument in
the conversion of the heathen, was the Word of God.[202]
St. Columba’s Such then was the form in which, in the
labours among monastery founded by him in the island of Iona,
the Picts. Columba exhibited the Christian life to the
surrounding heathen, and such the spirit in which he proceeded to
do battle with the paganism which confronted him. Directly facing
him to the east was the great pagan nation of the northern Picts,
occupying the whole of Scotland north of the great range of the
Mounth, and extending from sea to sea. Immediately before him,
separated from Iona by a narrow channel, was the large island of
Mull, with its low flat promontory stretching out towards the island;
and behind it, on the mainland, extended the western districts of
Ardnamurchan, Morven, and Lochaber, separated from the main
body of the Pictish kingdom by the western part of the range of
Drumalban, that part of it which was situated south of the Mounth
forming the eastern boundary of the Scottish kingdom of Dalriada.
It was probably not long before the influence of the little colony of
Christian monks, and that of its founder, was felt in the neighbouring
districts occupied by a Pictish population. Columba appears to have
been two years on the island before he attempted to approach the
powerful monarch of the Pictish nation, who was the more direct
object of his mission, and in that period he probably won over the
greater part of the people of the districts of Ardnamurchan and
Lochaber. In Adamnan’s narrative he appears three times in the
former district, which he appropriately terms that ‘stony region;’ on
one occasion, travelling through it with two of his monks; on
another, baptizing a child presented to him by its parents, who must
have been already converted; and, on a third, denouncing some
Scottish pirates, who had robbed Columban, whose guest he was
then, and who is termed his friend.[203] In Lochaber he appears
twice: once as the guest of a man of humble condition, who was the
owner of five heifers, and whom the Saint blessed; and, a second
time, when he relieves a very poor peasant who had come to him.
These notices seem to indicate that Columba had at an early period
made his way as a missionary among the rural population of these
districts.[204]
 565.
A.D. It was in the year 565, two years after he
Converts King landed in Iona, that he appears to have crossed
Brude. the great mountain barrier of Drumalban and
made his way to the court of King Brude,[205] whose royal palace was
situated near the river Ness.[206] Adamnan relates that, when the
Saint made his first journey to King Brude, the king would not open
his gates to him. When Columba observed this, ‘he approached the
folding doors with his companions, and, having first formed upon
them the sign of the cross, he knocked at and laid his hand upon the
gate, which instantly flew open of its own accord, the bolts having
been driven back with great force. The Saint and his companions
then passed through the gate thus speedily opened.’[207] Adamnan
does not tell us who his companions were, which is unusual with
him; but we learn from the Life of St. Comgall that they were, in
point of fact, two of the most distinguished saints of the period,—
Comgall of Bangor and Cainnech of Achaboe. They both belonged to
the race of the Irish Picts; and therefore Columba probably thought
that his mission to the king of the Picts of Scotland would be
materially aided by their presence. According to this Life, Comgall
made the sign of the cross upon the gates of the castle, and they
immediately fell broken to the ground. Columba made the sign of
the cross on the door of the royal house, with the same effect.
Cainnech, however, made the sign over the hand of the king, which
held a sword with which he intended to slay them, and the king’s
hand was instantly withered; and it so remained till he believed in
God, and, being made faithful to God, his hand was restored.[208]
The old Irish Life of Columba, in narrating the same occurrence, says
simply that ‘the gate of the castle was shut against him, but the iron
locks of the town (Baile) opened instantly through the prayers of
Columcille;’ and we may well suppose that the bolts may have been
withdrawn and the anger of the king disarmed through no greater
miracle than the impression created by the imposing presence of the
three ecclesiastics with their attendants. Adamnan implies this when
he says that, ‘when the king learned what had occurred, he and his
councillors were filled with alarm, and immediately setting out from
the palace, advanced to meet, with due respect, the holy man,
whom he addressed in the most conciliatory and respectful
language. And ever after from that day, as long as he lived, the king
held this holy and reverend man in very great honour, as was
due.’[209] Although Adamnan does not specifically say that the king
was then converted, we may infer that it was so, on the authority
both of the Life of St. Comgall and of the Pictish Chronicle, which
places the event in the eighth year of King Brude, and expressly says
that he was in that year baptized by St. Columba.[210] The Irish Life
adds an incident which is nowhere else recorded, that ‘Mailcu, the
son of the king, came with his Drui to contend against Columcille,
through paganism; but they perished through the words of
Columcille, both the king’s son and his Drui with him; and the name
of God and Columcille was magnified through it.’[211]
Character of the The indications which we receive from
paganism of the Adamnan and from other sources, as to what the
Scots and Picts. character of the paganism of these northern Picts
really was, are extremely slight; but such as they are, we may infer
that the pagan system which Columba had to encounter among the
heathen Picts in no respect differed from that which characterised
the pagan tribes of Ireland, and which St. Patrick found opposed to
him when executing his own Christian mission. The popular belief
undoubtedly is that the so-called Druidical religion preceded
Christianity both in Scotland and in Ireland; but, before examining
the grounds of the traditionary belief as to the leading features of
this system, it may be well to ascertain what we can really learn
from the oldest sources as to its real character. The ancient metrical
Life of St. Patrick, ascribed to Fiacc of Sleibhte, says of him—

He preached threescore years

The Cross of Christ to the Tuatha of Feni.
On the Tuatha of Erin there was darkness.
The Tuatha adored the Side.
They believed not the true Godhead
Of the true Trinity.[212]
And who these Side were we learn from the Book of Armagh, which
tells us that on one occasion St. Patrick and his attendants
assembled one morning at a well, or fountain, near Crochan or
Cruachan, the ancient residence of the kings of Connaught, in the
county of Roscommon; ‘and lo! the two daughters of King Laoghaire,
Ethne the Fair and Fedelm the Ruddy, came early to the well to
wash, after the manner of women, and they found near the well a
synod of holy bishops with Patrick. And they knew not whence they
were, or in what form, or from what people, or from what country;
but they supposed them to be men of Sidhe, or gods of the earth, or
a phantasm. And the virgins said unto them, “Where are ye? and
whence come ye?” And Patrick said unto them, “It were better for
you to confess to our true God, than to inquire concerning our race.”
The first virgin said, “Who is God, and where is God, and of what is
God, and where is his dwelling-place? Has your God sons and
daughters, gold and silver? Is he everliving? Is he beautiful? Did
many foster his Son? Are his daughters dear and beauteous to men
of the world? Is He in heaven or on earth? in the sea? in rivers? in
mountainous places? in valleys? Declare unto us the knowledge of
Him! How shall He be seen? How is He to be loved? How is He to be
found? Is it in youth? Is it in old age He is to be found?”’[213]
Whatever may be the traces of a higher and more advanced
mythology among the Irish, we can see from the questions of the
king’s daughter that the objects of the popular belief were rather the
personified powers of nature. Mysterious beings, who were
supposed to dwell in the heavens or the earth, the sea, the river, the
mountain, or the valley, were to be dreaded and conciliated. These
they worshipped and invoked, as well as the natural objects
themselves in which they were supposed to dwell; and this
conception of them runs through the early history of Ireland during
the pagan period. Thus Tuathal Teachmhar, a mythic monarch of
Ireland, is stated in the Book of Conquests to have received as
pledges from the nation ‘sun and moon and every power which is in
heaven and in earth,’ that the sovereignty should be for ever allowed
in his family;[214] and King Laogaire, the contemporary of St. Patrick,
when he attacked the people of Leinster in order to exact from them
the tribute called the Borumha, and was defeated and taken captive,
was obliged to give as pledges ‘sun and moon, water and air, day
and night, sea and land,’ that he would not ask the Borumha as long
as he lived; but having again attempted to exact the Boroime, he
was killed by the ‘sun and wind and the other elements by which he
had sworn: for no one dared to dishonour them at that time.’[215] By
the Christian Church they were regarded as demons. Thus in an
ancient tract, contained in the Leabhar na h-Uidhri, we are told that
‘the demoniac power was great before the introduction of the
Christian faith; and so great was it, that they, that is, the demons,
used to tempt the people in human bodies, and that they used to
show them secrets and places of happiness, where they should be
immortal; and it was in that way they were believed. And it is these
phantoms that the unlearned people call Sidhe and Aes Sidhe.’[216]
In connection with this belief was the class of people called
Druadh, who were supposed to be able to conciliate these gods of
the earth, or, by their influence with them, practise incantations and
work spells. Thus, in the ancient hymn called Ninine’s Prayer, he says
of St. Patrick—

He fought against hard-hearted Druide.

He thrust down proud men with the aid of our Lord of fair
heavens.
He purified the great offspring of meadow-landed Erin.
We pray to Patrick, chief apostle, who will save us at the
judgment from doom to the malevolence of dark demons.
[217]

St. Patrick himself, in the very old hymn attributed to him, prays to
be protected

Against snares of demons,

Against black laws of heathenry,
Against spells of women, smiths, and Druadh.
 And Fiacc in his poem says, ‘The Druids of Laogaire concealed not
from him the coming of Patrick.’[218] In the Book of Armagh we find,
from the indications there given of the paganism which St. Patrick
overthrew, that it bore the same character. Thus we are told in the
Life of St. Patrick that ‘the gentiles were about celebrating an
idolatrous solemnity accompanied with many incantations and some
magical inventions and other idolatrous superstitions; their kings
being collected, also their satraps with their chief leaders, and the
principal among the people, and Magi and enchanters and
soothsayers and doctors, inventors of all arts and gifts, as being
summoned before Laogaire in Temar.’[219] Again the Magus of King
Laogaire challenges St. Patrick ‘to perform signs’ to show their
respective powers. The Magus, in presence of them all, ‘commenced
his magical incantations, and brought down snow upon the whole
plain;’ but St. Patrick blesses the plain, when ‘the snow immediately
vanished without rain, clouds, or wind.’ The Magus, ‘having invoked
the demons, brought down very thick darkness upon the earth,’
which also St. Patrick dispelled.[220] In Tirechan’s Annotations we are
told that St. Patrick ‘came to the fountain of Findmaige, which is
called Slan, because it was indicated to him that the Magi honoured
this fountain and made donations to it as gifts to God,’ and further,
‘that they worshipped the fountain like a God.’[221] And again we are
told that St. Patrick ‘came to Muada; and behold the Magi of the
sons of Amolngid heard that the Saint came into the country, a very
great crowd of Magi assembled, with the chief Magus, named
Recrad, who wished to slay Patrick; and he came to them with nine
Magi clad in white garments, with a magical host.’[222] Besides the
objects of nature—the clouds of heaven, the water of the earth, the
trees and fountains—in which these gods of the earth were
supposed to dwell, they seem also to have been adored in the shape
of idols. The word in Fiacc’s Hymn translated ‘darkness’ is glossed by
‘the worship of idols;’ and the few notices we have of them indicate
that they were usually pillar stones. Thus, in the Dinnsenchus,
Magh-Sleacht is said to have been thus called ‘because there was
the principal idol of Erin, that is, the Cromcruach and twelve idols of
stone around it, and himself of gold; and he was the God of all the
people which possessed Erin till the coming of Padric;’[223] and in
Cormac’s Glossary the word Indelba is glossed as ‘the names of the
altars of these idols, because they were wont to carve on them the
forms of the elements they adored there.’[224]
Among the Picts of Ireland we find indications of the same
system. Thus, in an account of the foundation of Emain Macha, the
chief seat of their kings, which is contained in the Book of Leinster,
we are told that ‘three kings that were over Erin in co-sovereignty,
who were of the Ultonian, or Pictish, race, made an arrangement
that each man of them should reign seven years. There were three
times seven guarantors between them: seven Druid, seven Filid, or
poets, seven Octighern, or military leaders—the seven Druid to
scorch them by incantations; the seven poets to satirise and
denounce them; the seven toisechs to wound and burn them, if each
man of them did not vacate the sovereignty at the end of his seven
years.’[225]
The legendary accounts of the settlement of the Picts in Scotland
are pervaded by the same pagan system. According to these
legends, the Cruithnigh came from Thrace to Ireland under six
brothers, and the king of Leinster offered them a settlement if they
would expel a people called the Tuatha Fidhbha. One of the
brothers, ‘Drostan, the Drui of the Cruithnigh, ordered that the milk
of seven score white cows should be spilled when the battle should
be fought. This was done, and the battle was fought by them, viz.,
Ardleamhnachta in Ibh Ceinnselaigh. Every one, when wounded,
used to lie down in the new milk, and the poison did not injure any
of them.’ They are then driven out to Scotland, but ‘six of them
remained over Breaghmuigh. From them are every spell, and every
charm, and every sreod, and voices of birds, and every omen.’[226] In
the old poem which is quoted in these legends, Drostan, a
thoroughly Pictish name, is called ‘the powerful diviner,’ ‘The
plundering host of Fea’ are said to have been aided by poison. Then
it is added—

The Drui of the Cruithnech in friendship

Discovered a cure for the wounded,
 New milk in which they were washed
In powerful bathing.

The six who remained are thus described:—

There remained of them in Ealga,

With many artificers and warriors;
They would not leave Breaghmach—
Six demon-like Druadh—
Necromancy and idolatry, illusion,
In a fair and well-walled house.
Plundering in ships, bright poems,
By them were taught;
The honouring of sreod and omens,
Choice of weather, lucky times,
The watching the voice of birds
They practised without disguise.[227]

In another legend, when Cruithnecan, who had settled in Pictland,

demands wives for his people from the Irish, ‘he swore by heaven
and by earth, and the sun and the moon, by the dew and the
elements, by the sea and the land, that the legal succession among
them for ever should be on the mother’s side.’[228] There is a poem,
attributed to Columba, in which the same account is given of the
pagan system opposed to him. He says—

It is not with the sreod our destiny is,

Nor with the bird on the top of the twig,
Nor with the trunk of a knotty tree,
Nor with a sordan hand in hand.

And again—

I adore not the voice of birds,

Nor the sreod, nor a destiny on the earthly world,
Nor a son, nor chance, nor woman;
My Drui is Christ the Son of God.[229]
 The indications afforded by Adamnan of the characteristics of the
pagan system which Columba found opposed to him among the
northern Picts, are quite in harmony with these notices. Thus, as we
found King Laogaire with his Druid opposed to Patrick during his
mission, so we find, in Adamnan’s account of Columba’s mission,
Broichan the ‘Magus’ occupying an influential position at the court of
King Brude, whose tutor he had been.[230] We have already seen that
in the Book of Armagh the term ‘Magi’ is applied to those who in the
Irish documents are termed Druadh; and that the one is the
recognised equivalent in Latin for the other there can be no doubt,
for in a tract contained in the Leabhar Breac, giving an account of
the visit of the Magi to the infant Jesus, the title is, ‘Of the story of
the “Druad” incipit;’ and in another tract in the same book, giving an
account of the parentage and country of King Herod, and of the
‘Magi,’ or Wise Men of the East, the account of the latter begins, ‘It
shall now be inquired what was the family of these Druad, and what
country they came from.’[231] Adamnan too uses the name as one
well known, when he tells of a robber who dwelt in the island of
Colonsay and was in the habit of crossing to Mull and stealing the
young seals which were bred for the use of the monastery of Iona,
and whom he terms Erc Mocudruidi, or Erc the Druid’s son.[232]
We find too, that their beliefs, so far as Adamnan indicates them,
possessed the same character. Thus he tells us that on one occasion,
when Columba had been tarrying some days in the province of the
Picts, he converted a certain peasant with his whole family, through
the preaching of the Word of Life; and that the husband was,
together with his wife, children and domestics, baptized. A few days
afterwards one of his sons is attacked by a dangerous illness and
brought to the point of death; whereupon the ‘Magi,’ or Druadh,
began with great bitterness to upbraid the parents, and to extol their
own gods as more powerful than the God of the Christians, and thus
to despise God as though he were weaker than their gods. The son
dies; but Columba comes and raises him from the dead, and thus
confirms the faith of the peasant.[233] These gods, too, appear as
demons dwelling in fountains. Thus we are told that again, when
Columba was staying in the province of the Picts, he heard that
there was a fountain ‘famous among the heathen people, which the
foolish men, having their senses blinded by the devil, worshipped as
God. For those who drank of this fountain, or purposely washed their
hands or feet in it, were allowed by God to be struck by demoniacal
art, and went home either leprous or purblind, or at least suffering
from weakness or other kind of infirmity. By all these things the
pagans were seduced and paid divine honour to the fountain.’
Columba blesses the fountain in the name of Christ; and, having
washed his hands and feet, he and his companions drank of the
water he had blessed. ‘And from that day,’ adds Adamnan, ‘the
demons departed from the fountain,’ and people, instead of being
injured, were cured of many diseases by it.[234] Then we find
Broichan, the ‘Magus,’ or Drui, of King Brude, informing Columba
that he will prevent him from making his voyage along Loch Ness;
‘for,’ he says, ‘I can make the winds unfavourable to thy voyage, and
cause a great darkness to envelope thee in its shade.’ The Saint goes
to the lake with a large number of followers, and the ‘Magi’ begin to
exult, seeing that it had become very dark and that the wind was
very violent and contrary. ‘Nor should we wonder,’ says Adamnan,
‘that God sometimes allows them, with the aid of evil spirits, to raise
tempests and agitate the sea.’ Columba calls on Christ the Lord, and
embarks in his small boat, which at once carries him along against
the wind.[235]
These Christian missionaries appear not to have denied the reality
of those powers exercised by the Druids through their earth gods,
but to have attributed them to the agency of evil spirits, and to have
believed that their gods were demons; and this seems to have called
forth the counter-superstition that these old Celtic saints held
familiar intercourse with the angels of God, and in their turn received
powerful aid from them—a belief which these saints themselves
perhaps were not unwilling to recognise. We can see how such a
belief would colour mere natural phenomena, and we have perhaps
a very striking instance of it in an incident narrated by Adamnan.
While Columba, he tells us, was living in Iona, ‘he went to seek in
the woods a place more remote from men and fitting for prayer. And
there, when he began to pray, he suddenly beheld, as he afterwards
told a few of the brethren, a very black host of demons fighting
against him with iron darts. These wicked demons wished, as the
Holy Spirit revealed to the saint, to attack his monastery and with
the same spears kill many of the brethren. But he, singlehanded
against innumerable foes of such a nature, fought with the utmost
bravery, having received the armour of the Apostle Paul. And thus
the contest was maintained on both sides during the greater part of
the day; nor could the demons, countless though they were,
vanquish him, nor was he able, by himself, to drive them from his
island, until the angels of God, as the saint afterwards told certain
persons, and those few in number, came to his aid, when the
demons in terror gave way.’ On the same day, when the saint was
returning ‘to his monastery, after he had driven the devils from his
island, he spoke these words concerning the same hostile legions,
saying, Those deadly foes who this day, through the mercy of God
and the assistance of his angels, have been put to flight from this
small tract of land, have fled to Tiree; and there, as savage invaders,
they will attack the monasteries of the brethren and cause
pestilential diseases, of which many will be grievously ill and die.’[236]
We can understand how such a persuasion should, to Columba’s
mind, have peopled a dark thunder-cloud with a host of demons
preparing to attack his monastery, and converted its flashes of
lightning into iron darts; and how when as it passed over to Tiree his
prayers brought angels to his assistance—a belief that would be
confirmed if, after seeing the thunder-clouds hang over Tiree, he
received the news of a sudden outbreak of sickness there. We may
compare this incident with the verses attributed to Columba, and
believed to have formed the prayer with which he aided his kinsmen
at the great battle of Culdremhne:—

O God! why wilt thou not drive from us

This mist which envelopes our number?
The host which has deprived us of our judgment,
The host which proceeds round the cairn?
He is a son of storm who betrays us.
My Drui—he will not refuse me—
 Is the son of God and truth with purity.[237]

We thus see that the paganism which characterised the Irish tribes
and the nation of the northern Picts exhibits precisely the same
features; and all the really ancient notices we possess of it are in
entire harmony with each other in describing it as a sort of fetichism,
which peopled all the objects of nature with malignant beings to
whose agency its phenomena were attributed, while a class of
persons termed Magi and Druadh exercised great influence among
the people from a belief that they were able through their aid to
practise a species of magic or witchcraft, which might either be used
to benefit those who sought their assistance, or to injure those to
whom they were opposed. How unlike this is in every respect to the
popular conception of what is called the Druidical religion will be at
once apparent. The process by which this monstrous system has
been evoked was simply to invest these same Druadh with all the
attributes which Cæsar and the classical writers give to the Druids of
Gaul, and to transfer to those northern regions all that they tell of
Druidism in Gaul; to connect that with the stone monuments—those
silent records of a remote age, and possibly of a different race,
which have outlived all record of their time; and to assume that the
stone circles and cromlechs, which are undoubtedly sepulchral
monuments,[238] represent temples and altars. Add to this some false
etymologies of terms which are supposed to contain the name of Bel
or Baal,[239] and we have at once the popular conception of the
Druidical religion, with its hierarchy of Archdruids, Druids, Vates, and
Eubates, and all its paraphernalia of temples, altars, human
sacrifices and the worship of Baal.[240]
Proceedings of Adamnan, unfortunately, gives us no details of
St. Columba in the conversion of the nation of the northern Picts
converting the from the pagan system which prevailed among
northern Picts.
them; but so powerful a monarch as their king,
Brude mac Maelchon, having been won over to the Christian faith,
the task of spreading the knowledge of the true religion among the
nation at large would be greatly facilitated, and less reluctance
would be shown to follow his example. Columba, no doubt,
proceeded in the usual way by establishing monasteries, or small
Christian colonies, among the Pictish tribes. Adamnan records but
two instances of conversion beyond the districts which more
immediately surrounded Iona; but as we find, in the former,
Columba in friendly intercourse with the families of peasants whom
he had won over to the Christian faith, so, in the latter, the
conversions are of those in the rank of chiefs. In the one case he
was travelling near Loch Ness, and hearing that an old man, who
was a heathen, but ‘who had preserved his natural goodness
through all his life even to extreme old age,’ was at the point of
death, he hurried on to the district of Airchartan, or Glen Urquhard,
on the north side of the lake, where he found ‘an aged man called
Emchat, who, on hearing the Word of God preached by the saint,
believed and was baptized, and immediately after, full of joy and
safe from evil and accompanied by the angels who came to meet
him, passed to the Lord. His son Virolec also believed and was
baptized with all his house.’[241] In the other instance he was staying
for some days in the Island of Skye, when ‘a boat came into the
harbour, on the prow of which sat an aged man, the chief of the
Geona cohort. Two young men took him out of the boat and laid him
at the feet of the saint. After being instructed in the Word of God,
through an interpreter, the old man believed and was at once
baptized by him; and when the baptism was duly administered, he
instantly died on the same spot, and was buried there by his
companions, who raised a heap of stones over his grave.’[242] In both
cases these old men, who were obviously of the Flaith, or chieftain
class, seem to have been prepared to accept the true religion, and
probably partially instructed in its truth, and hastened to be received
into the church before death carried them off.
The position which Columba appears now to have held at the
court of King Brude, and the disappearance of the ‘Magi,’ or Druadh,
from the struggle, show the extent to which the Christian Church
had been adopted in the land; for we find him staying among the
Picts, and addressing King Brude in the following terms, in the
presence of the ruler of the Orkneys:—‘Some of our brethren have
lately set sail, and are anxious to discover a desert in the pathless
sea. Should they happen, after many wanderings, to come to the
Orcadian islands, do thou carefully instruct this chief, whose
hostages are in thy hand, that no evil befall them within his
dominions. The saint took care to give this direction because he
knew that, after a few months, Cormac would arrive at the
Orkneys.’[243] This is the language of one in a position of influence
and authority. It is unfortunate that Adamnan should tell us so little
of St. Columba’s real history and work among the heathen Picts, and
so much of his miracles, prophetic utterances, and the
manifestations of angels towards him; but his work is rather a
panegyric than a biography, and his object is more to throw light
upon his character, and to demonstrate his superior holiness, than to
contribute a detail of historical events. The early period at which he
wrote makes every hint, however slight, of great value; and we must
be thankful for what we have got.
Columba seems to have been mainly engaged in the work of
spreading the truth among the Pictish tribes for nine years after the
conversion of King Brude, when he appears to have at length also
attained the political object of his mission. In the year 574 died
Conall, son of Comgall, king of Dalriada, in the thirteenth year of his
reign.[244] The territories over which he ruled were, as we have seen,
greatly restricted in extent, as compared with those of the previous
rulers, who were termed kings of Alban; and Saint Berchan says of
him—

Thirteen years altogether

Against the hosts of the Cruithnigh ruled the illustrious.
When he died he was not king,
On Thursday in Kintyre.[245]

According to the law of Tanistry, the succession fell to his cousin

Eogan, son of that Gabran who had been defeated and slain by King
Brude in 560; and Columba would have preferred to see him
succeed, as he regarded him with affection; but he probably thought
that his brother Aidan would suit his purpose better. Aidan was
connected through his mother with the Britons of Strathclyde, and
had played his part for a few years in the British wars. Columba
announced that he had seen, ‘on a certain night, in a mental
ecstasy, an angel sent to him from heaven, and holding in his hand a
book of glass, containing the appointment of kings; and having
received the book from the hand of the angel, had read therein the
name of Aidan; and on his being reluctant to appoint him king, the
angel had struck the saint with a scourge,’ and added these words,
—‘Know for certain that by God am I sent to thee with the book of
glass, that in accordance with the words thou hast read therein,
thou mayest inaugurate Aidan into the kingdom.’ This was repeated
three times.
A.D. 574. There was no gainsaying such a statement by
St. Columba one in Columba’s position. Aidan came to Iona,
inaugurates King and Columba there ordained him king. During the
Aidan and
attends the words of consecration, he prophesied that the
assembly of throne would remain to his children,
Drumceatt. grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, and,
laying his hand upon his head, he consecrated
[246]
and blessed him. Columba’s object in inaugurating Aidan with this
solemn rite was to place him in the rank of an independent king, and
to induce the Pictish monarch to recognise him as such over the
whole of the Dalriadic territories. In order to secure the former
object, he took advantage of an approaching synod, summoned to
meet at Drumceatt, a mound on the river Roe, in the county of
Londonderry. This great convention was called together by Aedh,
son of Ainmire, king of Ireland, in the year 575,[247] and consisted of
all the petty kings and heads of tribes, and of the principal clergy of
Ireland. Columba attended it, accompanied by King Aidan, and by a
retinue who are thus described by the poet Dallan Forgaill:—

Forty priests was their number,

Twenty bishops, noble, worthy,
For singing psalms, a practice without blame,
Fifty deacons, thirty students.[248]
 The assembly was held not far from Columba’s monastery of
Derry; and no doubt this retinue would consist of persons taken
from his Irish monasteries, as well as of those who accompanied him
from Iona. Columba’s object would be to make as imposing an
appearance as possible; and there is no improbability in its having
been composed not only of priests but of bishops.
According to the ancient tract called the Amra Columcille, there
were ‘three causes for which Columcille came from Alban to Erin at
that time—viz., for the releasing of Scannlan Mor, son of Cendfaelad,
king of Ossory, with whom he went in pledge; and for the staying of
the poets in Erin—for they were in banishment on account of their
burdensomeness, for there used to be thirty in the company of each
ollamh or chief poet, and fifteen in the company of each anrad, or
poet next in rank; and for pacification between the men of Erin and
Alban about Dalriada.’ Columba then came to the assembly, and ‘all
rose up before him for welcome to him. According to another
tradition,[249] however, there rose not up one before him but
Domnall, the king’s son. For the king said there should not rise up
one before him; for he knew that about which he had come, and his
coming was not thought well of by him; for the staying of the poets
or the releasing of Scannlan was not pleasing to him. So that it is
then Columcille blessed this Domnall, because he was reverent to
that extent.’ The burdensomeness of the poets arose from their right
to exact what was called coinmed, or refection from the tribes for
themselves and their retinue; and Columba, who, as a poet himself,
sympathised with them, succeeded in having their sentence of
banishment revoked on condition of the retinue, for which coinmed
could be exacted, being reduced to twenty-four for each ollamh, and
twelve for each anrad. The chief ollamh of Erin at this time was
Dallan Forgaill; and out of gratitude for Columba’s efforts on behalf
of the poets, he composed the poem termed the Amra, or praise of
Columcille. The preface from which this account is taken states the
superstitious use that was made of it. ‘Columcille promised to Dallan
the gifts and produce of the earth for this praising; and he took not
them, but heaven, for himself and for every one who would recite it
each day, and would understand it between sense and sound. Ut
quidam dixit,

‘Amra Coluim—every day

Whoever will recite it completely,
Will reach the good bright kingdom,
Which God granted to Dallan.’[250]

Columba did not, however, succeed in obtaining the liberation of

Scannlan Mor. With regard to Dalriada, which was the main object of
his attending the assembly, the question was how far the colony,
now that Aidan had been solemnly inaugurated king, should be
made independent of the mother country. As a colony or subject
state, it was liable to the same burdens as were exacted from all the
petty principalities in Ireland. These consisted in the payment of
certain rents and tributes known as cain and cobach, and certain
military services which consisted of what was called fecht, or the
obligation of joining the superior king in expeditions, and sloged, or
‘hosting,’ that is, taking part in the general levy of the country for
war. This question was referred to Colman, son of Comgellan, who
was of Dalriada, ‘and Columcille said it is he who should make
pacification between the men of Erin and of Alban; and this is the
judgment he gave:—Their fecht and their sloged with the men of
Erin always, for there is sloged with territories always; their cain and
their cobach with the men of Alban, or their sea gathering only with
the men of Alban, but all beyond that with the men of Erin.’[251] That
is, the kingdom of Dalriada in Scotland was to be freed from all
tribute towards the supreme king of Ireland, but they were to join in
expeditions and hostings when called upon, with the exception of
the sea gathering, or maritime expedition. This made Aidan
practically independent, and Dalriada ceased to be a subject state to
Ireland. On his return from the assembly, Columba had probably
little difficulty in obtaining from King Brude a recognition of Aidan’s
character as independent king over the western districts which were
occupied by the Scots of Dalriada.
 168. Hiisdem diebus sanctus, cum duodecim commilitonibus
discipulis, ad Britanniam transnavigavit.—Pinkerton, Vit. Sanctor, p.
29.

169. Adam. Pref. 2, p. 3 (ed. 1874).

170. Adam. B. i. c. 7.

171. The ancient district of Kintyre was much greater in extent

than the modern district of that name. It included Knapdale, and
extended as far as Loch Gilp on the east and Loch Crinan on the
west. John, Lord of the Isles, dates a charter from
Cleandaghallagan, in Knapdale, which seems to be the same place.

172. New Stat. Ac. vol. vii. p. 263.

173. Gentemque illam verbo et exemplo ad fidem Christi convertit.

—Bede, H. E., B. iii. c. 4.

174. Dr. Reeves has conclusively shown that the name of Iona has
arisen from a misprint of the word Ioua, the adjective form used by
Adamnan—the root of which was Iou.—See Reeves’s Adamnan, p.
cxxvii. The oldest forms of the name are Hii, Ia, and I. But we shall,
for greater convenience, retain the conventional name of Iona. The
usual etymologies of I thona, the island of waves, or I shona, the
sacred isle, are of course untenable.

175. Bass Conaill mic Comgaill Ri Dalriada xiii anno regni sui qui
oferavit insolam Ia Colaimcille.—Chron. Picts and Scots, p. 67.

176. Quæ videlicet insula ad jus quidem Brittaniæ pertinet, non

magno ab eo freto discreta, sed donatione Pictorum, qui illas
Brittaniæ plagas incolunt, jamdudum monachis Scottorum tradita, eo
quod illis prædicantibus fidem Christi perceperint.—Bede, H. E., B.
iii. c. 3.
 177. Amra Choluim Chilli, translated by O’Beirne Crowe, p. 65. The
expression ‘definite for indefinite’ is obscure, but means probably a
‘definite title from the tribe.’

178. O’Donnel, who introduces this statement into his Life,

supposes they were Druids in disguise; but there is no warrant for
this.

179. This plain is termed by Adamnan Occidentalis Campulus. It is

now called the Machar. The hillock is now called Sithean Mor, but
the circle of stones has long since disappeared.

180. This tract is termed by Adamnan “Saltus,” or wilds, and is

now called Sliabh Meanach.

181. The author may be permitted here to enter his protest

against the cockneyism which, under the inspiration of the guide-
books, has transformed the name of the Coollin hills into the
Cuchullin hills, now universally adopted. The change has taken place
within the author’s recollection, and forty years ago was quite
unknown. Martin terms them in 1702 the Quillins. The name Cuillin
has no connection whatever with Cuchullin.

182. Such was the impression produced upon a party of

archæologists who sat one day in 1876 on the brow of the hill.
The knolls bounding the plain on the north are called Cnuic na
Bearna, ‘the knolls of the gap’; the highest of the two isolated
hillocks, Cnoc na briste clach, and the other Cnoc an tuim dharich.
The lake is called Lochan Mor, and the stream Sruth a Mhuilinn, or
‘the mill stream.’

183. The original of this interesting poem is in one of the Irish MSS.
in the Burgundian Library at Brussels. It was transcribed and
translated for the late Dr. Todd by the late Professor O’Curry, and
was kindly given to the author by Dr. Reeves, Bishop of Down and
Connor, then Dean of Armagh, in 1866.
 184. Bede, H. E., B. iii. c. 4.

185. Adamnan, B. i. c. 29.

186. Ib., B. i. c. 35.

187. Pennant, who visited the island in 1772, after describing the
existing ruins and the small rising ground on the west of them called
the Abbot’s Mount, says, ‘Beyond the mount are the ruins of a kiln
and a granary, and near it was the mill. The lake or pool that served
it lay behind.’

188. Adamnan, Vit. S. Col., B. i. c. 35; B. iii. c. 24.

189. Ib. B. i. c. 18.

190. Ib. B. ii. c. 3.

191. Ib. B. iii. c. 7.

192. Ib. B. ii. c. 46.

193. Ib. B. ii. cc. 41-46.

194. Sanctus sedens in tuguriolo tabulis suffulto.—B. i. c. 19. Duo

vero viri, qui eadem hora ejus tugurioli ad januam stabant, quod in
eminentiore loco erat fabricatum.—B. iii. c. 23.

195. See Reeves’s Adamnan, Ed. 1874, App. i. p. 318, for a fuller
account of these remains.

196. Ib. B. iii. c. 24, p. 97.

197. Reeves’s Adamnan, p. 33. The site of this cell must have
been close to where the present house called Clachanach stands,
and the remains of the cross which stood here were found behind
the barn.
 198. Adamnan, Vit. S. Col., B. i. c. 24.

199. Et cum forte post nonam cœpisset horam in refectorio

eulogiam frangere, ocius deserit mensulam, unoque in pæde
inherente calceo et altero pro nimia festinatione relicto festinanter
pergit hac cum voce ad ecclesiam.—Ib. B. ii. c. 12.

200. Lib. Hymn., part ii. p. 220. Mr. Hennessy suggests that the
syllable Blath here stands for Blad, a portion, fragment, partition,
division, which is also written Blod, Blag, Blog, and by O’Clery in his
glossary Bladh, who explains it by rann no cuid do ni, a portion, or
share, of a thing. That Moel, or Mael, when applied to a stone
means a flat-surfaced stone, which exactly answers the description
of the boulder. He thinks Moelblath may be fairly rendered ‘the flat
stone of division.’

201. In the introduction to Dr. Reeves’s Adamnan, ed. 1874, will

be found a most elaborate and exhaustive account of the
constitution, discipline, and economy of the community at Iona, to
which the reader is referred for the authorities of the above short
sketch. A more important contribution was never made to the church
history of Scotland than this work, which, for accuracy, critical
judgment and thoroughness, is unsurpassed; and a constant
reference to it must be understood in all that relates to Iona.

202. Adamnan, B. i. c. 27; B. ii. c. 33; B. iii. c. 15.

203. Adamnan, B. i. 8; B. ii. 9, 23.

204. Ib. B. ii. cc. 20, 38.

205. This appears to be the best solution of the discrepancy

between the statements of Adamnan and Bede. Adamnan and all the
Irish authorities place the arrival of Saint Columba in Britain in 563,
but Bede distinctly places it in 565. Adamnan states that he lived
thirty-four years in the island, while Bede says that he died at the
age of seventy-seven, having preached in Britain thirty-two years.
Bede, however, connects his mission entirely with the Picts, and
places it in the ninth year of King Brude. The one, therefore,
probably dates from the arrival in Iona, the other from the
conversion of Brude.

206. It is usually stated in the local guide-books that Adamnan

places King Brude’s palace ‘ad ostium Nesæ.’ No such expression,
however, appears in Adamnan. The only indication he gives is, that it
was near the river Nesa, but not on it. Dr. Reeves came to the
conclusion that it must be identified with the vitrified fort of
Craigphadrick, about two miles west of the river. It seems, however,
unlikely that in the sixth century the royal palace should have been
in a vitrified fort, on the top of a rocky hill nearly 500 feet high; and
it is certainly inconsistent with the narrative that S. Columba should
have had to ascend such an eminence to reach it. There is, however,
about a mile south-west of Inverness, a gravelly ridge called
Torvean. Part of this ridge is encircled with ditches and ramparts, as
if it formed an ancient hill fort, and at its base, along which the
Caledonian Canal has been carried, a massive silver chain was
discovered in the year 1808, consisting of thirty-three circular double
links, neatly channelled round with a prominent astragal, and
terminating at either end in two rings larger than the others, which
were about two inches in diameter, the whole weighing 104 ounces,
and extending to 18 inches in length.—New Stat. Ac., vol. xiv. p. 14.
Torvean seems to offer a more natural site if it is not to be sought
for on the other side of the river, which may be inferred from the
fact, that the only time Adamnan notices Columba going by land
instead of sailing down Loch Ness, he went on the north side of the
lake, and then he appears to have crossed the river (Adamnan, B. iii.
c. 15; B. ii. c. 58); in which case it may have been on the eminence
east of Inverness, called the Crown, where tradition places its oldest
castle.

207. Adamnan, B. ii. c. 36.