UNIT-V

SYNCHRONOUS MOTORS

RAVINDRA COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING FOR WOMEN

Kurnool – 518452, Andhra Pradesh, India
 Outline
1. Introduction
2. Differences between Induction motors and Synchronous motors.
3. Introduction to Synchronous Machines
4. Construction of alternators
5. Stator construction
6. Rotor construction
7. Salient pole rotor
8. Non- Salient pole rotor
9. Differences between Salient and Non- Salient pole rotors
10. Principle of operation of synchronous generator
11. EMF Equation
12. Voltage Regulation by EMF Method
13. Theory of operation of Synchronous Motor

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 INTRODUCTION

• Synchronous generators or alternators are used to

convert mechanical power derived by steam, gas or
hydraulic turbine to AC electric power.
• Synchronous generators are primary source of electric
energy we consume today.
• Large AC power networks rely mostly on synchronous
generators.
• Synchronous motors are built in large units as compared
to induction motors.
• Used for constant speed industrial applications.

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 DIFFERENCES BETWEEN INDUCTION MOTORS AND
SYNCHRONOUS MOTORS

INDUCTION MOTORS SYNCHRONOUS MOTORS

NAMED AS ASYNCHRONOUS MOTORS NAMED AS ALTERNATORS
INDUCTION MOTOR IS AN AC ELECTRIC SYNCHRONOUS MOTOR IS AN MOTOR IN
MOTOR IN WHICH ELECTRIC CURRENT IN WHICH AT STEADY STATE, THE ROTATION
ROTOR PRODUCES A TORQUE OBTAINED OF SHAFT IS SYNCHRONIZED WITH THE
BY ELECTRO MAGNETIC INDCUTION FREQUENCY OF SOURCE CURRENT.
FROM THE MAGNETIC FIELD OF STATOR
WINDING. THUS NO ELECTRICAL
CONNECTION EXISTS BETWEEN STATOR
AND ROTOR.
CONSTRUCTION IS SIMPLE HAS COMPLICATED CONSTRUCTION
IT IS A SINGLE EXCITED MACHINE IT IS A DOUBLY EXCITED MACHINE

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INDUCTION MOTORS SYNCHRONOUS MOTORS
IF LOAD IS INCREASED SPEED OF INDUCTION SYNCHRONOUS MOTORS ALWAYS RUN AT
MOTOR DECREASES (SPEED OF IM < SYNCHRONOUS SPEED. SPEED IS
SYNCHRONOUS SPEED) INDEPENDENT OF THE LOAD.
IM IS SELF-STARTING SM IS NOT SELF- STARTING. IT HAS TO BE RUN
UPTO SYNCHRONOUS SPEED BEFORE IT CAN BE
SYNCHRONIZED WITH AC SUPPLY.

IM OPERATES AT LAGGING POWER FACTOR. SM CAN BE OPERATED WITH LAGGING AND

LEADING POWER FACTORS BY CHANGING ITS
EXCITATION
IM CAN BE USED FOR DRIVING MECHANICAL SM CAN BE USED FOR DRIVING MECHANICAL
LOADS ONLY. LOADS AND ALSO FOR POWER FACTOR
CORRECTION.
LESS EFFICIENCY AS COMPARED TO SM OF MORE EFFICIENT THAN IM
SAME OUTPUT AND VOLTAGE RATING
IM IS CHEAPER THAN SM FOR SAME OUTPUT SM IS EXPENSIVE THAN IM FOR SAME OUTPUT
AND VOLTAGE RATING AND VOLTAGE RATING

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 CONSTRUCTION OF ALTERNATOR/ SYNCHRONOUS
GENERATOR

• Basic parts of a Synchronous generator are

• Stator – Stationary part of the machine.
• It carries armature winding in which voltage is generated.
• It has a three phase winding excited by AC supply.
• The output of the machine is taken from the stator.
• Rotor – It is the rotating part of the machine.
• It carries the field winding which is excited by a DC source.
• Thus rotor produces main field flux.

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 STATOR CONSTRUCTION
Various parts of stator include:
• Stator frame
• Stator windings
• Stator core
• Stator frame is made up of cast iron for
small sized machines.
• For large machines, stator core is made up of
Silicon steel or sheet steel to reduce
hysteresis loss and eddy current loss.
• Stator core is built with sheet steel
laminations having slots on its inner periphery.
• A three phase winding is placed on these slots
which serves as armature winding.
• Armature winding is always connected in Star.

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 ROTOR CONSTRUCTION

• Rotor carries a field winding which is supplied with Direct

Current through two slip rings by a separate DC source.
• This DC source is called as EXCITER and is generally a DC
shunt generator or a DC compound generator mounted
on the shaft of the alternator.;
• Rotor construction is of two types
(i) Salient (or Projecting) pole type
(ii) Non- Salient (or Cylindrical) pole type

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TYPES OF SYNCHRONOUS MACHINES

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Salient pole rotor

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• Salient pole rotor is also known as Projecting pole type
rotor as they are projected out from the surface of circular
steel frame which is fixed to the shaft of the alternator.
• This type of rotor is used in low and medium speed
alternators (120 rpm to 500 rpm) which are driven by hydro
turbines, diesel engines.
• Its construction is not strong enough to withstand the
mechanical stresses if they are subjected to higher speeds.
• These low speed rotors have their cores bolted to a heavy
circular steel frame.

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• Hence these rotors have larger diameter and
short axial length.
• Poles and pole shoes are laminated to reduce
eddy current losses.
• It has non-uniform air gap and concentrated
winding on the field poles.

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Non-Salient pole rotor

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• Non-salient rotor is made up of smooth solid forged steel
radial cylinder having a number of slots on the outer
periphery.
• Field windings are placed on these slots and are
connected in series with slip rings through which they are
energized by DC exciter.
• Poles do not project out from the surface of circular frame
and hence named as Non- salient type of rotor.
• These are designed for 2-pole and 4-pole turbo
generators running at 3000 rpm or 1500 rpm.

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• Polar regions are left unslotted and field coils are placed in
the slots and are arranged such that flux density is
maximum on polar central line and gradually falls on either
side.
• It has robust mechanical construction and gives noiseless
operation at high speeds.
• Less number of poles are required on the rotor and hence it
has smaller diameter and very long axial lengths.
• It has uniform air gap and distributed winding on field poles.

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 Differences between Salient pole and
Non- Salient pole rotors
SALIENT POLE ROTORS NON-SALIENT POLE ROTORS
Poles are projected out from the rotor surface Unslotted portion of the cylinder acts as poles
hence poles are not projecting.
Because of projected poles air gap is not Due to its smooth cylindrical periphery, air gap
uniform is uniform
Diameter is large and axial length is small Small Diameter and long axial length are its
features
Construction is weak and produces noise at It is mechanically strong and produces noiseless
high speeds operation at high speeds
Preferred for low and medium speed (120 rpm Preferred for high speed (1500 to 3000 rpm)
to 500 rpm) alternators. alternators or turbo alternators
Separate damper winding is provided Damper winding is not necessary
For same size, rating is rating is smaller than For same size, rating is rating is higher than
non-salient type salient- pole type
They have concentrated winding on field poles They have distributed winding on field poles

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Principle of operation of Alternator

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• The stator is wound for the similar number of poles as that of
rotor, and fed with three phase AC supply.
• The 3 phase AC supply produces rotating magnetic field in
stator.
• The rotor winding is fed with DC supply which magnetizes the
rotor. Consider a two pole synchronous machine as shown in
figure.
• Now, the stator poles are revolving with synchronous speed
(lets say clockwise).
• If the rotor position is such that, N pole of the rotor is near the
N pole of the stator (as shown in first schematic of above
figure), then the poles of the stator and rotor will repel each
other, and the torque produced will be anticlockwise.

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• But at this very soon, rotor can not rotate with the same angle
(due to inertia), and the next position will be likely the second
schematic in above figure. In this case, poles of the stator will
attract the poles of rotor, and the torque produced will be
clockwise.

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• Rotor winding is energized from a DC exciter and
alternate North and South poles are developed in the
rotor.
• Rotor is run at a proper speed by a prime mover. Prime
mover is a machine which supports mechanical energy
input to the alternator.
• When the rotor is rotated by a prime mover, the stator
or armature conductors cut the magnetic flux of rotor
poles.
• Thus emf is induced in armature conductors due to
electromagnetic induction.

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• This emf is alternating since N & S poles of rotor
alternatively pass through armature conductors.
• Direction of this induced emf is found by Fleming’s
Right Hand rule.
• A three-phase alternator has a stator with three sets
of windings and arranged such that there is a phase
displacement of 120 degrees.
• The stator windings are Y- connected.
• When the rotor is rotated a three-phase voltage is
induced in the armature windings.

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 EMF Equation of an alternator

• Let Ø= useful flux per pole in webers

P= total no. of rotor poles
N= Rotor speed in rpm
Z= no. of conductors or coil sides in series per phase
f= frequency of generated voltage in Hertz
Tp= total no. of coils or turns per phase
Since flux per pole is Ø, each stator conductor cuts a flux of
PØ webers, i.e., dØ= PØ

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• RMS value of emf induced per phase =
(Avg induced emf per phase)× Form Factor
• (Since For factor =1.11)
• Average induced emf per phase =4fØTp × 1.11
= 4.44fØTp volts
• If Kp and Kd are Pitch factor and Distribution factor of
armature winding, then
• Average induced emf per phase = 4.44KpKdfØTp volts

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Voltage Regulation

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• Load Characteristics of Synchronous Generator:
• While the exciting current and the speed remain constant,
the terminal voltage changes with the load current in the
armature and the relationship between the terminal voltage
and load current of an alternator for various power factor
conditions is known as its load characteristics.
• For lagging and unity power factors, there is always a drop in
the terminal voltage (Eo>V) and hence regulation values are
positive.
• For leading capacitive loading conditions, terminal voltage
increases as load current increases (Eo<V). Hence regulation
is negative.

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 SYNCHRONOUS IMPEDANCE METHOD/
EMF METHOD

• This method is also called E.M.F. method of determining

the regulation. The method requires following data to
calculate the regulation.
• 1. The armature resistance per phase (Ra).
• 2. Open circuit characteristics which is the graph of
open circuit voltage against the field current. This is
possible by conducting open circuit test on the
alternator.
• 3. Short circuit characteristics which is the graph of
short circuit current against field current. This is possible
by conducting short circuit test on the alternator.

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Circuit for OC and SC tests

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• The alternator is coupled to a prime mover capable of driving
the alternator at its synchronous speed.
• The armature is connected to the terminals of a switch.
• The other terminals of the switch are short circuited through
an ammeter.
• The voltmeter is connected across the lines to measure the
open circuit voltage of the alternator.
• The field winding is connected to a suitable d.c. supply with
rheostat connected in series.
• The field excitation i.e. field current can be varied with the help
of this rheostat.
• The circuit diagram is shown in the Fig

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 Open Circuit Test
• Procedure to conduct this test is as follows :
• i) Start the prime mover and adjust the speed to the synchronous
speed of the alternator.
• ii) Keeping rheostat in the field circuit maximum, switch on the
d.c. supply.
• iii) The T.P.S.T switch in the armature circuit is kept open.
• iv) With the help of rheostat, field current is varied from its
minimum value to the rated value.
• Due to this, flux increasing the induced e.m.f. Hence voltmeter
reading, which is measuring line value of open circuit voltage
increases. For various values of field current, voltmeter readings
are observed

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Field current If (A) Voc (line) (volts)

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 Short Circuit Test
• After completing the open circuit test observation, the field rheostat
is brought to maximum position, reducing field current to a minimum
value.
• The T.P.S.T switch is closed.
• As ammeter has negligible resistance, the armature gets short
circuited.
• Then the field excitation is gradually increased till full load current is
obtained through armature winding.
• This can be observed on the ammeter connected in the armature
circuit.
• The graph of short circuit armature current against field current is
plotted from the observation table of short circuit test.
• This graph is called short circuit characteristics, S.C.C.

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If(A) Isc(A)

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 Advantages of Synchronous Impedance Method

• Advantages and Limitations of Synchronous

Impedance Method
• The main advantages of this method is the value of
synchronous impedance Zs for any load condition
can be calculated.
• Hence regulation of the alternator at any load
condition and load power factor can be determined.
• Actual load need not be connected to the alternator
and hence method can be used for very high capacity
alternators.

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 Limitations of Synchronous Impedance
Method

• The main limitation of this method is that the method

gives large values of synchronous reactance.
• This leads to high values of percentage regulation than
the actual results. Hence this method is called
pessimistic method.

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Theory of operation of Synchronous Motor

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Principle of Operation of Synchronous Motor

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Methods of Starting of Synchronous Motor

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Applications of Synchronous Motors

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