Three-phase Induction Machines and Synchronous Machines

1. Advantages of three phase circuits

 Output of a three phase machine is always greater than single phase machine of a same
size.
 Power factor of a single phase motor is poor when compared to that of a three phase motor
of a same rating.
 Three phase system gives steady output.
 Single phase supply can be obtained from a three phase system, but not the other way.
 Three phase motors are self-starting.
 The voltage and current produced will have same frequency and magnitude.

2. Relation between line and phase quantities in STAR and DELTA

connected systems

2.1 STAR Connected Systems

 Relation between phase and line currents

Line current=Phase current
IL = Iph

 Relation between phase and line Voltages

𝑉L = √3 Vph

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 Three-phase Induction Machines and Synchronous Machines

2.2 DELTA Connected Systems

 Relation between phase and line currents

Line current=√3 Phase current
𝐼L = √3 Iph

 Relation between phase and line currents

Line Voltage=Phase Voltage
𝑉L = Vph

Numericals on star and delta connected systems

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Three-phase Induction Machines and Synchronous Machines

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 Three-phase Induction Machines and Synchronous Machines

3. Construction of Synchronous Generator or Alternator

As alternator consists of two main parts i.e. are

 Stator – The stator is the stationary part of the alternator. It carries the armature
winding in which the voltage is generated. The output of the alternator is taken form
the stator.
 Rotor – The rotor is the rotating part of the alternator. The rotor produces the main
field flux.

Stator Construction of Alternator: The stator of the alternator includes several parts,
that are; the frame, stator core, stator or armature windings, and cooling arrangement.

 The stator frame may be made up of cast iron for small-size machines and of welded steel
for large-size machines.

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 Three-phase Induction Machines and Synchronous Machines

 The stator core is assembled with high-grade silicon content steel laminations. These silicon
steel laminations reduce the hysteresis and eddy-current losses in the stator core.
 The slots are cut on the inner periphery of the stator core. A 3-phase armature winding is
put in these slots.
 The armature winding of the alternator is star connected. The winding of each phase is
distributed over several slots. When current flows through the distributed armature
winding, it produces an essential sinusoidal space distribution of EMF.

Fig.3.1 Stator of the synchronous generator

Rotor Construction of Alternator

The rotor of the alternator carries the field winding which is supplied with direct current
through two slip rings by a separate DC source (also called exciter). The exciter is generally a
small DC shunt generator mounted on the shaft of the alternator.

For the alternator, there are two types of rotor constructions are used viz. the salient-pole
type and the cylindrical rotor type.

3.1 Salient Pole Rotor

The term salient means projecting. Hence, a salient pole rotor consists of poles projecting out
from the surface of the rotor core. This whole arrangement is fixed to the shaft of the alternator
as shown in the figure. The individual field pole windings are connected in series such that
when the field winding is energised by the DC exciter, the adjacent poles have opposite
polarities.

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 Three-phase Induction Machines and Synchronous Machines

Fig.3.1 Salient pole rotor

The salient pole type rotor is used in the low and medium speed (from 120 to 400 RPM)
alternators such as those driven by the diesel engines or water turbines. Low speed
rotors of the alternators possess a large diameter to provide the necessary space for the
poles. As a result, the salient pole type rotors have large diameter and short axial length

3.2 Cylindrical Rotor

The cylindrical rotors are made from solid forgings of high-grade nickel-chrome-molybdenum
steel.

 The construction of the cylindrical rotor is such that there are no-physical poles to be seen
as in the salient pole rotor.
 In about two-third of the outer periphery of the cylindrical rotor, slots are cut at regular
intervals and parallel to the rotor shaft.
 The field windings are placed in these slots and is excited by DC supply. The field winding
is of distributed type.
 The unslotted portion of the rotor forms the pole faces.
 It is clear from the figure of the cylindrical rotor that the poles formed are non-salient, i.e.,
they do not project out from the rotor surface.

Fig 3.2 Cylindrical rotor synchronous rotor

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 Three-phase Induction Machines and Synchronous Machines

The cylindrical type rotor construction is used in the high-speed (1500 to 3000 RPM)
alternators such as those driven by steam turbines because of the following reasons

 The cylindrical type rotor construction provides a greater mechanical strength and permits
more accurate dynamic balancing.
 It gives noiseless operation at high speeds because of the uniform air gap.
 The flux distribution around the periphery of the rotor is nearly a sine wave and hence a
better EMF waveform is obtained.

A cylindrical rotor alternator has a comparatively small diameter and long axial length. The
cylindrical rotor alternators are called turbo-alternators or turbo-generators. The alternator
with cylindrical rotor have always horizontal configuration installation.

4. Working Principle and Operation of Alternator

An alternator or synchronous generator works on the principle of electromagnetic induction,

i.e., when the flux linking a conductor changes, an EMF is induced in the conductor. When the
armature winding of alternator subjected to the rotating magnetic field, the voltage will be
generated in the armature winding.

When the rotor field winding of the alternator is energised from the DC exciter, the alternate
N and S poles are developed on the rotor. When the rotor is rotated in the anticlockwise
direction by a prime mover, the armature conductors placed on the stator are cut by the
magnetic field of the rotor poles. As a result, the EMF is induced in the armature conductors
due to electromagnetic induction. This induced EMF is alternating one because the N and S
poles of the rotor pass the armature conductors alternatively.

The direction of the generated EMF can be determined by the Fleming’s right rule and the
frequency of it is given by,

𝑁𝑠 𝑃
𝑓𝑠 =
120

Where,

 Ns is the synchronous speed in rpm.

 P is the number of rotor poles.

The magnitude of the generated voltage depends upon the speed of rotation of the rotor and the
DC field excitation current. For the balanced condition, the generated voltage in each phase of
the winding is the same but differ in phase by 120° electrical.

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 Three-phase Induction Machines and Synchronous Machines

 EMF Equation of Alternator

Let,
𝑃 = Number of poles
φ = Flux per pole in webers
𝑁 = Rotor speed in RPM
𝑓 = Frequency of the induced EMF in Hz
𝑍 = Number of conductors in series per phase
𝑇 = Number of coils or turns per phase

As the flux per pole is φ, hence, in one revolution, each stator conductor cut a flux of,
𝑑∅ = 𝑃∅
And the time taken to complete one revolution is,
60
𝑑𝑡 =
𝑁
Therefore, according electromagnetic induction, the average EMF induced in one stator
conductor is given by,
d∅ P∅N
EMF per conductor = =
dt 60
Since there are Z conductors in series per phase, thus,
P∅N
EMF per phase=EMF per conductor × Z= ×Z
60
120f
∵ Speed of the rotor, N =
P
P∅Z 120f
EMF per phase = × = 2f∅Z … … . . (1)
60 P
Equation (1) gives the value of average induced EMF per conductor per phase. Since, one turn
has two conductors, i.e., 𝑍 = 2𝑇 and hence the expression for the average induced EMF per
phase can be written as,
EMF per phase = 4f∅T
Thus, the RMS value of the induced EMF per phase can be written as
𝐄𝐑𝐌𝐒 /𝐏𝐡𝐚𝐬𝐞 = 𝟒. 𝟒𝟒𝐟∅𝐓

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 Three-phase Induction Machines and Synchronous Machines

Numericals:

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 Three-phase Induction Machines and Synchronous Machines

4. Construction of 3-Phase Induction Motor:

A 3-phase induction motor has two main parts:
 Stator
 Rotor
The rotor and stator are separated by a small air gap ranges from 0.5 mm to 4 mm depending on
the power rating of the motor.

Stator of Three Phase Induction Motor

The stator is the stationary part of the motor. It consists of a steel frame which encloses
a hollow cylindrical core. The core of the three phase induction motor is made up of thin
laminations of silicon steel to reduce the eddy current and hysteresis losses.
A number of equally spaced slots are provided on the inner periphery of the laminated
core as shown in the figure. The insulated conductors are placed in these stator slots and are
connected in a suitable manner to form a balanced 3-phase star or delta connected stator
winding.

Fig.4.1 Stator of Induction motor

Rotor of Three Phase Induction Motor

The rotor of an induction motor is a hollow cylindrical laminated core, having slots on its outer
periphery. The rotor windings are placed in these rotor slots.

Depending upon the winding arrangement, the rotor of a 3-phase induction motor is of two
types

 Squirrel Cage Type Rotor

 Wound Type or Slip-Ring Type Rotor

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 Three-phase Induction Machines and Synchronous Machines

 Squirrel Cage Type Rotor:

The squirrel cage rotor consists of a cylindrical laminated core having slots on its outer
periphery which are nearly parallel to the shaft axis or skewed. An uninsulated copper or
aluminium bar (rotor conductor) is placed in each slot.
At each end of the rotor, the rotor bar conductors are short-circuited by heavy end rings of the
same material (see the figure). This forms a permanently short circuited winding which is
indestructible. This entire arrangement resembles a cage which was once commonly used for
keeping squirrels and hence the name.

Fig 4.2 Squirrel Cage Rotor

Most of the 3-phase induction motors in the industries use squirrel cage rotor because it has
simple and robust construction enabling it to operate in the most adverse environment.
Although, it suffers from a disadvantage of low starting torque.

 Wound Rotor or Slip Ring Rotor

The slip ring rotor consists of a laminated cylindrical armature core. The slots are provided on
the outer periphery and insulated conductors are put in the slots. The rotor conductors are
connected to form a 3-phase double layer distributed winding similar to the stator winding. The
rotor windings are connected in star fashion (shown in the figure 4.3).

Fig 4.3 Slip ring induction motor

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 Three-phase Induction Machines and Synchronous Machines

The open ends of the star circuit are taken outside the rotor and connected to three insulated
slip rings. The slip rings are mounted on the rotor shaft with brushes resting on them. The
brushes are connected to three variable resistors which are also connected in star. Here, the slip
rings and brushes are used to provide a mean for connecting external resistors in the rotor
circuit.
The external resistors enable the variation of each rotor phase resistance to serve following two
purposes
 To increase the starting torque and reduce the starting current from the supply.
 To control the speed of the motor.

Working Principle of 3 phase Induction Motor:

 When the stator winding is connected to a balanced three phase supply, a rotating magnetic
field (RMF) is setup which rotates around the stator at synchronous speed (Ns). Where,

120f
Ns =
P

 The RMF passes through air gap and cuts the rotor conductors, which are stationary at
start. Due to relative motion between RMF and the stationary rotor, an EMF is induced in
the rotor conductors. Since the rotor circuit is short-circuited, a current starts flowing in
the rotor conductors.
 Now, the current carrying rotor conductors are in a magnetic field created by the stator. As
a result of this, mechanical force acts on the rotor conductors. The sum of mechanical
forces on all the rotor conductors produces a torque which tries to move the rotor in the
same direction as the RMF.

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 Three-phase Induction Machines and Synchronous Machines

 Hence, the induction motor starts to rotate. From, the above discussion, it can be seen that
the three phase induction motor is self-starting motor.
 The three induction motor accelerates till the speed reached to a speed just below the
synchronous speed.

Slip in Induction Motor:

An induction motor cannot run at synchronous speed. If it runs at synchronous speed, there
would be no cutting of the flux by the rotor conductors and there would be no induced EMF,
no current and no torque. Therefore, the rotor of the induction motor rotates at a speed slightly
less than the synchronous speed. For this reason, an induction motor is also known
as asynchronous motor.

The difference between the synchronous speed and the actual rotor speed is known as slip
speed, i.e.,

Slip speed = Ns − Nr

Where, Nr is the actual rotor speed.

Generally, the slip speed is expressed as a fraction of the synchronous speed is called the per-
unit slip. The per-unit slip is usually called the slip and denoted by ‘s’. Thus,

Ns − Nr
Slip, s =
Ns

Ns − Nr
Percentage Slip = × 100
Ns

Rotor current frequency:

The frequency of current and voltage in the stator of a 3-phase induction motor must be same as
the supply frequency and is given by,

𝑁𝑠 𝑃
𝑓=
120

But, the frequency of the current and EMF in the rotor circuit of the 3-phase induction motor
is variable and depends upon the difference between the synchronous speed (NS) and the rotor
speed (Nr), i.e., on the slip. Thus, the rotor frequency is given by,

(Ns − Nr )P
fr =
120

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 Three-phase Induction Machines and Synchronous Machines

Now, from the equations (1) and (2), we get,

fr Ns − Nr
=
f Ns

Ns −Nr
∵ Slip, s = Ns

∵ fr = sf

where, 𝐟𝐫 is a rotor current frequency

3. A 3-phase 4pole, 440V, 50Hz induction motor runs with slip of 4%. Find the rotor speed
and frequency of rotor current.

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