Synchronous Motor Drives

Synchronous Motor

Mainly used in constant speed applications

Speed can be controlled by
– Varying frequency of source
Development of semiconductor variable
freq. Sources
– Inverters & Cyclo-converters allows VSD for
High power & High speed compressors,
Blowers, ID & FD Fans, Mainline Traction,
Servo drives, etc.
Synchronous Motor
 Commonly used motors are
– Wound field
– Permanent field
– Synchronous reluctance
– Hysteresis
 All these motors have a 3 phase winding
– Which is connected to an ac source
 Fractional HP Synchronous reluctance &
Hyteresis motors
– Employs Single phase stator
Wound Field Synchronous
Motor
 Rotor has a DC filed winding
– Which is supplied from a DC source thro’ slip rings and
Brushes
 Rotor can have Cylindrical or Salient pole
constructions
 Cylindrical rotor motors has higher mechanical
strength
– Employed in high power & High speed applications
 Other applications salient pole motors are preferred
– Due to lower cost
Medium & Small Size
Synchronous Motors
 DC field can be produced by permanent magnets
 Dispensing the DC Source, Slip rings, brushes &
Field winding losses
 Known as permanent magnet (PM) synchronous
motors
 Usually ferrite magnets are employed
 Rare earth (Cobalt-Samarium) magnets are some
times used to reduce volume & weight of motor
– Very Expensive
PM Synchronous Motor
Classifications
Surface Mounted
– Projecting type
– Inset type
• Less robust compared to interior type
Interior (Or Buried)
– Magnets are imbedded in the interior of the
rotor
Projecting Surface Mounted PM
Synchronous Motor
 Projecting type
– In which magnets
project from the
surface of rotor
Insert Magnet type
PM Synchronous Motor
 Inset type
– In which magnets are
inserted into the rotor,
providing a smooth
rotor surface
– Epoxy glue is used to
fix magnets to the
rotor surface in both
– These motors are easy
to construct & are less
expensive
Interior type
PM Synchronous Motor
 Interior (Or Buried)
– Magnets are imbedded
in the interior of the
rotor
Wound Field & PM
Synchronous Motor
 When compared with Induction Motor
– Have high full load efficiency & High PF
 Wound Field motors can be designed for
– Higher power rating than induction motor
– Since air gap flux is not produced solely by the
magnetizing current drawn from the armature
– A larger air gap suiting the mechanical design reqd.
 At Unity PF minimize the inverter rating
 Because of low losses, it is possible to make
motors with
– Very high power density & torque to inertia ratios
Synchronous Reluctance Motor
Has a salient poles
– But neither have field winding nor permanent
magnets
Motor is driven by reluctance torque
– Which is produced due to tendency of the
salient rotor poles to align themselves with
synchronously rotating field produced by the
stator
Damper Winding in
Synchronous Motor Rotor
Used to produce starting torque
– Starting torque of Synchronous motor is zero
– Start as Induction Motor (Also Called as
Induction Start Synchronous Motor)
To damp the hunting oscillations
– Which occurs during the transient operations
When starting with Variable Freq. Drive,
capable of smooth freq. Variation from
zero to rated
– Damper winding is not required for starting
Synchronous Motor Variable
Speed Drives
Speed is directly proportional to frequency
Motor speed can be controlled by varying
the freq.
V/F Ratio should be maintained constant
– Rated voltage is reached at the base speed
– For high speed, the m/c is operated with rated
voltage and variable freq.
– The pull-out torque decreases with an increase
increase in freq.
Variable Frequency Control

Used to vary the speed

It can also be used for smooth starting
Regenerative braking
As long as it is ensured that the changes in
freq are slow enough for rotor to track
changes in synchronous speed
A motor with damper winding is used for
pull-in to synchronism
Modes of Variable Frequency
Control
True synchronous mode
Self controlled / Self synchronous mode
True Synchronous Mode

 The stator supply freq. Is controlled

– From an independent oscillator
 Freq. From its initial to the desired values is
changed gradually
– So that the difference between synchronous speed &
rotor speed is always small
– This allows rotor speed to track the changes in
synchronous speed
 When desired synchronous speed is reached
– The rotor pulls into step, after hunting oscillations
Self Controlled / Self
Synchronous Mode
Stator supply freq. is changed
– So that synchronous speed is the same as rotor
speed
– This ensures that rotor runs at synchronous
speed for all operating points
Consequently, rotor cannot pull-out of step
and hunting oscillations are eliminated
For such applications, the motor may not
require a damper winding
 The stator supply freq. Is changed in proportion
to the rotor speed
– So that the rotating field produced by the stator always
moves at the same speed as the rotor (or Rotor field)
 The voltage induced in the stator phase has a
freq. proportional to rotor speed
– Self-control can be realized by making the stator
supply freq. To track the freq. Of induced voltage
 Alternatively sensors can be mounted on the
stator to track the rotor position
– These sensors are called rotor position sensor
 The freq. Of the signals generated by these
sensors is proportional to rotor speed
– The stator supply freq. Can be made to track the freq.
Of these signals
Self Controlled Synchronous
Motor Drive
 Used in larger power wound field synchronous
motor drives
 Employs two converters
– Which are termed here as source side converter and
load side converter
 Source side converter is a 6pulse line commutated
thyristor converter
– For a firing angle range 0s90º, it works as a line
commutated fully controlled rectifier delivering positive
Vds and positive Id
– For the range of firing angle 90ºs180º, it works as
a line commutated inverter delivering negative Vds and
positive I
Self controlled Synchronous Motor drive
employing load commutated inverter
 When synchronous motor operated as a leading
power factor
– Thyristors of the load side converter can be
commutated by the motor induced voltages in the
same way
– As thyristors of a line commutated converter are
commutated by line voltages
 Commutation of thyristors by induced voltages of
load (here load is a motor) is
– Known as load commutation
 Firing angle is measured by comparison of
induced voltages in the same way as
– By the comparison of line voltages in a line
commutated converter
Variable Freq. Control of
Multiple Synchronous Motors
 Freq. Command f* is applied to a voltage source
Inverter thro’ a delay circuit
– So that rotor speed is able to track the changes in freq.
 A flux control block changes stator voltage with
freq. To maintain a constant flux
– Below rated speed and a constant terminal voltage
above rated speed
 This scheme is commonly used for the control of
– Multiple synchronous reluctance or permanent magnet
motors in fiber spinning, textile & paper mills
– Where accurate speed tracking between the motors is
required
Variable Frequency Control of
Multiple Synchronous Motors
Closed Loop Speed control of Load
commutated inverter SM Drive
 Employs outer speed control loop
 Inner current control loop with a limiter
 The terminal voltage sensor generates
– Reference pulses of the same freq. As the machines
induced voltages
 The phase delay circuit shifts the reference pulses
suitably
– To obtain control at a constant commutation lead
angle lc
 Depending on the sine of speed error
 lc is set to provide motoring or braking operation
Closed Loop Speed control of
load commutated SM Drive
 Speed m can be sensed either from
– Terminal voltage sensor or from a separate tachometer
 An increase in ref. Speed m produces a positive
speed error
 lc value is set for motoring operation
 The speed controller and current limiter set the dc
link current ref. at the max. permissible value
 The machines accelerates fast
– When close to the desired speed
 The current limiter de-saturates and the drive
settles at the desired speed
 The dc link current, which balances motor and
load torques
 Similarly a reduction in ref. Speed
– Produces a negative speed error
 This sets lc for regenerative braking
operation(I.e.180º) and motor decelerates
 When speed error changes sign lc value is set for
motoring operation operation
– The drive settles at the desired speed
 Advantages are
– High Efficiency
– Four quadrant operation with regenerative braking
– High power rating
– Ability to run at high speeds
 Applications
– Compressors, Blowers, Fans, Pumps, Steel rolling
mills, Ship propulsion
Brush less dc Motor Drives

Has permanent magnet rotor with wide

pole arc
Stator has three concentrated phase
windings
– Which are displaced by 120º and each phase
winding spans 60º on each side
Cross Section of a Trapezoidal
PMAC motor
Trapezoidal induced Voltage
When revolving in the counter clockwise
direction
– Up to 120º rotation from the position
– All top conductors of phase A will be linking
the south pole
– All bottom conductors of phase A will be
linking the north pole
Hence the voltage induced in phase A
– Will be the same during 120º rotation
Induced Voltage, Phase current and
Torque Waveforms of a Brushless dc motor
Contd.

Beyond 120º, some conductors in the top

link north pole and others the south pole
– Same happens with the bottom conductors
The voltage induced in phase A
– Linearly reverses in next 60º rotation
Rest of the waveform of phase A and
waveforms of phases B & C can be
similarly explained
Brushless dc Motor drive for
Servo applications
 Stator windings are star connected
 It will have rotor position sensors
 The current pulses are each of 120º duration and
are located in the region
– Where induced voltage is constant & maximum
 The polarity of current pulses is the same as that
of induced voltage
 Since air gap flux is constant
– The voltage induced is proportional to speed of rotor
Trapezoidal PMAC motor fed
from a Current Regulated VSI
DC current Drawn from the
Source
Voltage Fed Converters

 Receives DC voltage at one side and converts it

to ac voltage on the other side
 AC voltage &Freq. may be variable or constant
depending on the application
 A voltage fed inverter should have a stiff voltage
source at the input
– i.e. Thevenin’s impedance should ideally be zero
 Voltage fed converters are used extensively
– AC Drives, UPS, Induction Heating, Photovoltaic
array, Static VAR generator, Active harmonic filter
Current Fed Converters

 Acts as a stiff dc current source

– i.e. ideally with infinite Thevenin’s impedance
 Which is in contrast to a stiff voltage source
 A variable voltage source can be converted
– To a variable current source by connecting a large
inductance in series
– Controlling the voltage within a feedback current
control loop
 With a stiff dc current source, the output ac current
waves are not affected by the load condition