Induction Motors

Introduction
 These machines are called induction machines because the
rotor voltage which produces the rotor current and rotor
magnetic field is induced in the rotor windings rather than
being physically connected by wires.
 The difference of these machines and synchronous
machines is that no dc field current is required to run the
machine.
 Although it is possible to use an induction machine as
either a motor or a generator, it has many disadvantages as
a generator and so is rarely used in that manner. For this
reason, induction machines are usually referred to as
induction motors.
Introduction
 Three-phase induction motors are the most
common and frequently encountered machines in
industry
- simple design, rugged, low-price, easy maintenance
- wide range of power ratings: fractional horsepower to
10 MW
- run essentially as constant speed from no-load to full
load
- Its speed depends on the frequency of the power source
• not easy to have variable speed control
• requires a variable-frequency power-electronic drive for
optimal speed control
Construction
 An induction motor has two main parts
- a stationary stator
• consisting of a steel frame that supports a hollow, cylindrical core
• core, constructed from stacked laminations (why?), having a
number of evenly spaced slots, providing the space for the stator
winding

Stator of IM
Construction
- a revolving rotor
• composed of punched laminations, stacked to create a series of rotor
slots, providing space for the rotor winding
• one of two types of rotor windings
• conventional 3-phase windings made of insulated wire (wound-rotor) »
similar to the winding on the stator
• aluminum bus bars shorted together at the ends by two aluminum rings,
forming a squirrel-cage shaped circuit (squirrel-cage)
 Two basic design types depending on the rotor design
- squirrel-cage: conducting bars laid into slots and shorted at both
ends by large shorting rings.
- wound-rotor: complete set of three-phase windings exactly as the
stator. Usually Y-connected, the ends of the three rotor wires are
connected to 3 slip rings on the rotor shaft. In this way, the rotor
circuit is accessible.
Squirrel-cage
 Conducting bars laid into slots and shorted at both
ends by shorting rings.
 It should be noted that the rotor bars are
permanently short-circuited on themselves, hence it
is not possible to add any external resistance in
series with the rotor circuit for starting purpose.
 The rotor slots are usually not quite parallel to the
shaft but are purposely given a slight skew;
Squirrel-cage
 This is useful in two ways:
- Eliminate slot harmonics
- It helps to make the motor run quietly by reducing the
magnetic hum
- It helps in reducing the locking tendency of the rotor i.e.
the tendency of the rotor teeth to remain under the stator
teeth due to direct magnetic attraction between the two
Wound Rotor
 A wound rotor has a complete set of three-phase windings
that are mirror images of the windings on the stator. The
three phases of the rotor windings are usually Y- connected,
and the ends of the three rotor wires are tied to slip rings
on the rotor's shaft.
 The rotor windings are shorted through brushes riding on
the slip rings. Wound-rotor induction motors therefore have
their rotor currents accessible at the stator brushes, where
they can be examined and where extra resistance can be
inserted into the rotor circuit.
 It is possible to take advantage of this feature to modify
the torque-speed characteristic of the motor.
Wound Rotor vs Squirrel-cage
 Wound-rotor induction motors are more expensive than cage
induction motors, and they require much more maintenance
because of the wear associated with their brushes and slip
rings. As a result, wound-rotor induction motors are rarely
used .
Construction
Squirrel cage rotor

Wound rotor

Notice the
slip rings
Construction
Slip rings

Cutaway in a
typical wound-
rotor IM.
Notice the
brushes and the
slip rings

Brushes
 Principle of operation of IM
 When the 3-phase stator windings, are fed by 3-phase supply
then, a magnetic flux of constant magnitude, but rotating at
synchronous speed, is set up.
 The flux passes through the air-gap, sweeps past the rotor
surface and so cuts the rotor conductors which, as yet, are
stationary.
 Due to the relative speed between the rotating flux and the
stationary conductors, an e.m.f. is induced in the latter,
according to Faraday’s laws of electro-magnetic induction.
The frequency of the induced e.m.f. is the same as the supply
frequency.
 Principle of operation of IM
 Its magnitude is proportional to the relative velocity between
the flux and the conductors and its direction is given by
Fleming’s Right hand rule. Since the rotor bars or conductors
form a closed circuit, the rotor current is produced whose
direction, as given by Lenz’s law, is such as to oppose the
voltage producing it.
 In this case, the induced voltage which produces the rotor
current is the relative velocity between the rotating flux of the
stator and the stationary rotor conductors.
 Hence, to reduce the relative speed, the rotor starts running in
the same direction as that of the flux and tries to catch up with
the rotating flux.
 Principle of operation of IM
Note: An induction motor can thus speed up to near-synchronous
speed, but it can never exactly reach synchronous speed.
 If the induction motor 's rotor were turning at synchronous
speed, then the rotor bars would be stationary relative to the
magnetic field and there would be no induced voltage
 If induced voltage were equal to 0, then there would be no
rotor current and no rotor magnetic field. With no rotor
magnetic field, the induced torque would be zero, and the
rotor would slow down as a result of friction losses.
 Voltage induced
 The voltage induced in a given rotor bar is given by the
equation

eind  (v  B).l

where v = velocity of the bar relative to the magnetic field

B = magnetic flux density vector
l  length of the conductor in the magnetic field
 Rotating Magnetic Field
 Balanced three phase windings, i.e.
mechanically displaced 120 degrees
from each other, fed by balanced
three phase source
 A rotating magnetic field with
constant magnitude is produced,
rotating with a speed
120 f e
nsync  rpm
P
Where fe is the supply frequency and
P is the no. of poles and nsync is called
the synchronous speed in rpm
(revolutions per minute)
Synchronous speed
P 50 Hz 60 Hz
2 3000 3600
4 1500 1800
6 1000 1200
8 750 900
10 600 720
12 500 600
Rotating Magnetic Field
 Torque Development

(a) the rotating stator field Bs induces a voltage in the rotor bars;
(b) the rotor voltage produces a rotor current flow, which lags behind the voltage
because of the inductance of the rotor.
(c) the rotor current produces a rotor magnetic field BR lagging 90 behind itself, and BR
interacts with Bnet to produces a counterclockwise torque in the machine.
 ind  kBR  Bs
Induction motor speed
 At what speed will the IM run?
- Can the IM run at the synchronous speed, why?
- If rotor runs at the synchronous speed, which is the
same speed of the rotating magnetic field, then the rotor
will appear stationary to the rotating magnetic field and
the rotating magnetic field will not cut the rotor. So, no
induced current will flow in the rotor and no rotor
magnetic flux will be produced so no torque is
generated and the rotor speed will fall below the
synchronous speed
- When the speed falls, the rotating magnetic field will
cut the rotor windings and a torque is produced
Induction motor speed
 So, the IM will always run at a speed lower than
the synchronous speed
 The difference between the motor speed and the
synchronous speed is called the Slip

nslip  nsync  nm
Where nslip= slip speed
nsync= speed of the magnetic field
nm = mechanical shaft speed of the motor
The Slip
nsync  nm
s
nsync
Where s is the slip
Notice that : if the rotor runs at synchronous speed
s=0
if the rotor is stationary
s=1
Slip may be expressed as a percentage by multiplying the above
eq. by 100, notice that the slip is a ratio and doesn’t have units
Induction Motors and Transformers
 Both IM and transformer works on the principle of
induced voltage
- Transformer: voltage applied to the primary windings
produce an induced voltage in the secondary windings
- Induction motor: voltage applied to the stator windings
produce an induced voltage in the rotor windings
- The difference is that, in the case of the induction
motor, the secondary windings can move
- Due to the rotation of the rotor (the secondary winding
of the IM), the induced voltage in it does not have the
same frequency of the stator (the primary) voltage
Frequency
 The frequency of the voltage induced in the rotor is
given by
Pn
fr 
120
Where fr = the rotor frequency (Hz)
P = number of stator poles
n = slip speed (rpm)

P  (ns  nm )
fr 
120
P  sns
  sf e
120
Frequency
 What would be the frequency of the rotor’s induced
voltage at any speed nm?

fr  s fe
 When the rotor is blocked (s=1) , the frequency of
the induced voltage is equal to the supply frequency
 On the other hand, if the rotor runs at synchronous
speed (s = 0), the frequency will be zero
 Torque
 While the input to the induction motor is electrical
power, its output is mechanical power and for that we
should know some terms and quantities related to
mechanical power
 Any mechanical load applied to the motor shaft will
introduce a Torque on the motor shaft. This torque is
related to the motor output power and the rotor speed

Pout 2 nm
 load  N .m and m  rad / s
m 60
Horse power
 Another unit used to measure mechanical power is
the horse power
 It is used to refer to the mechanical output power
of the motor
 Since we, as an electrical engineers, deal with
watts as a unit to measure electrical power, there is
a relation between horse power and watts

hp  746 watts
Example
A 208-V, 10hp, four pole, 60 Hz, Y-connected
induction motor has a full-load slip of 5 percent
1. What is the synchronous speed of this motor?
2. What is the rotor speed of this motor at rated load?
3. What is the rotor frequency of this motor at rated load?
4. What is the shaft torque of this motor at rated load?
Solution
120 f e 120(60)
1. nsync    1800 rpm
P 4

2. nm  (1  s )ns
 (1  0.05) 1800  1710 rpm

3. f r  sf e  0.05  60  3Hz

4.  load  Pout  Pout

m nm
2
60
10 hp  746 watt / hp
  41.7 N .m
1710  2  (1/ 60)
 Equivalent Circuit
 The induction motor is similar to the transformer with
the exception that its secondary windings are free to
rotate

As we noticed in the transformer, it is easier if we can combine

these two circuits in one circuit but there are some difficulties
Equivalent Circuit
 When the rotor is locked (or blocked), i.e. s =1, the
largest voltage and rotor frequency are induced in
the rotor, Why?
 On the other side, if the rotor rotates at synchronous
speed, i.e. s = 0, the induced voltage and frequency
in the rotor will be equal to zero, Why?
ER  sER 0
Where ER0 is the largest value of the rotor’s induced voltage
obtained at s = 1(locked rotor)
Equivalent Circuit
 The same is true for the frequency, i.e.
fr  s fe
 It is known that
X   L  2 f L
 So, as the frequency of the induced voltage in the
rotor changes, the reactance of the rotor circuit also
changes X   L  2 f L
r r r r r
Where Xr0 is the rotor reactance
at the supply frequency
 2 sf e Lr
(at blocked rotor)  sX r 0
Equivalent Circuit
 Then, we can draw the rotor equivalent circuit as
follows

Where ER is the induced voltage in the rotor and RR is the

rotor resistance
Equivalent Circuit
 Now we can calculate the rotor current as
ER
IR 
( RR  jX R )
sER 0

( RR  jsX R 0 )
 Dividing both the numerator and denominator by s
so nothing changes we get
ER 0
IR 
RR
(  jX R 0 )
s
Where ER0 is the induced voltage and XR0 is the rotor
reactance at blocked rotor condition (s = 1)
Equivalent Circuit
 Now we can have the rotor equivalent circuit
Equivalent Circuit
 Now as we managed to solve the induced voltage
and different frequency problems, we can combine
the stator and rotor circuits in one equivalent
circuit
Where
2
X 2  aeff X R0
2
R2  aeff RR
IR
I2 
aeff
E1  aeff ER 0
NS
aeff 
NR