Electrical Drives I

Week 2: SPEED-TORQUE characteristics of Electric motors

DC Motor
• Very popular due to its simple operation and control
• High starting torque and that’s why its is used in traction applications
• Used in a large number of applications and power tools used at home, such as saws
and blenders.
Armature
DC Motor: 1- Construction circuits

Field
circuits
 DC Machine – Theory of Operation

 Field winding - on stator pole

 if produces f
 Armature winding –on rotor
 ia produces a
 f and a mutually perpendicular
 maximum torque
 Rotor rotates clockwise
 For unidirectional torque and
rotation
 ia must be same polarity under each
field pole
 achieved using commutators and
brushes
1- DC Motor: Construction
Field circuits Armature circuit and
Brushes
commutator

Winding and
commutator
are mounted
on the rotor
shaft and
they
“rotate”.

“Electric magnet” fed Brushes are mounted on the stator and Rotor windings are composed of
from a dc power are stationary but are in contact with several coils, each two terminals
supply OR is a the rotating commutator segments. are connected to the commutator.
permanent magnet Allows the commutator seg. to Commutator seg. are electrically
(small machines) connect to an external dc source isolated from each other
DC Motor: 1- Theory of Operation:
How dc motor works
N

• Stator filed produces flux ф from N pole to S poles.

φ
I
• Brushes touch the terminal of the rotor coil under the pole.
+
• When brushes are connected to an external dc source of potential V, F

current I enters the rotor coil under the N pole and exits from the ω
V
terminal that is under the S pole.
• Rotor current + stator flux= force F on coil (Lorentz force). This force
. F
will produce torque T that rotates the armature counterclockwise.
• Then the coil carrying current moves away from the brush and is
disconnected from the external source and the next coil moves under S

the brush and the theory repeats itself.

• The force F is continuously produce and the motor keeps rotating.
• Commutator and brush “switch” the coils mechanically.
Operation of typical
DC machine
DC Motor: 3- Important rules:
Some limitations:
• High maintenance (commutators & brushes)
• Expensive
• Speed limitations
• Sparking

DC Motor: 4- Connections:

DC machine

Separately excited Self excited Permanent magnet

Series Shunt Compound

DC Motor: 4- Connections:
1. Separately Excited:
• field is composed of large N with small cross section wire.
• Designed to stand high voltage of motor. Armature and field have separate sources
• Independent control of if (f ) and ia (T)
2. Shunt:
• field is composed of large N with small cross section wire (same as separately excited).
• Field is connected in parallel to armature
• Common source is used
• Variable-voltage operation complex. Coupling of f (if ) and T (ia) production
3. Series:
• field is composed of small N with large cross section wire
• Designed to stand high current of motor
• Armature and field connected in series
• Variable-voltage operation complex. Coupling of f (if ) and T (ia) production
DC Motor: 4- Connections:
4. Compound:
 Combines best feature of series and shunt, Series – high starting torque and Shunt’s – no load operation

5. Permanent Magnet
 Field provided by magnets
 Less heat
 No field winding resistive losses
 Compact
 Armature similar to separately excited machine
 Disadvantages:
 Can’t increase flux
 Risk of demagnetization due to armature reaction
a- Separately Excited DC motor:
Ra La Lf Rf

ia if

+ + +

vt ea vf
Armature Field
_ circuit _ circuit _

dia di f
vt  Ra ia  La  ea v f  Rf i f  Lf
dt dt
a- Separately Excited DC motor: Field and armature Ia
 Field is excited from separate DC source, 𝑉𝑓 . Field resistance and inductance is high.
Inductance has no impact at steady state. Ra
If
 The field current can be calculated as:

𝑉𝑓 Vt

𝐼𝑓 = Rf

𝑅𝑓 Vf Ea

 Small motor’s field could be a permanent magnet and in this case, the field
current might not be adjusted.
 External source is connected to armature 𝑉𝑡 to provide the electric energy Separately excited DC machine
needed to drive the load.
 Relative to the field, the armature carries a much higher current than that of
the field. The armature resistance 𝑅𝑎 is smaller than 𝑅𝑓 .
 Field current is usually between 1%-10% of rated armature current. The field
and armature voltages are usually the same magnitude.
 The emf 𝐸𝑎 and current 𝐼𝑎 are related as:
𝑉𝑡 − 𝐸𝑎
𝐼𝑎 =
𝑅𝑎
 a- Separately Excited DC motor: Developed Power
 The developed power, 𝑃𝑑 is given by:
Ia
𝑃𝑑 = 𝐸𝑎 𝐼𝑎 = 𝑇𝑑 𝜔
Ra
 The developed power 𝑃𝑑 is also equal to the output power If
consumed by the load plus the rotational losses (friction and
windage). Vt

Rf
 Similarly, the developed torque, 𝑇𝑑 is equal to the load torque Vf Ea
plus the rotational torque.

Separately excited DC machine

 i- Separately Excited DC motor:
Ia

Ra
If
 Using the torque expression instead of force, and using angular
speed instead of 𝑣, 𝐸𝑎 and 𝑇𝑑 can be written as: Vt

Rf
𝑛 𝑍 𝐼𝑎 𝑍 Vf
𝐸𝑎 = ф P x 𝑇𝑑 = ф P x
Ea

60 𝑎 2𝜋 𝑎

𝐸𝑎 = 𝑘𝜑𝜔 Separately excited DC machine

𝑇𝑑 = 𝑘𝜑𝐼𝑎
Speed – torque equation is thus:

ia= armature conductor current

𝑉𝑡 − 𝐸𝑎 E= induced emf in conductor
Ф= flux (proportional to field current)
𝑇𝑑 = 𝑘𝜑 K= constant dependent on machine (poles,
𝑅𝑎 parallel paths, number of conductors)
a- Separately Excited DC motor:
Ia

Ra

𝑉𝑡 − 𝐸𝑎 If

𝑇𝑑 = 𝑘𝜑 Vt
𝑅𝑎 Vf
Rf
Ea

 By substituting 𝐸𝑎 and re-writing:

𝑉𝑡 − 𝑘𝜑𝜔
𝑇𝑑 = 𝑘𝜑 Separately excited DC machine
𝑅𝑎 B: magnetic flux density
l= length of conductor
ia= armature conductor current
 Thus ω can be re written as: E= induced emf in conductor
𝑉𝑡 𝑅𝑎 Ф= flux (proportional to field current)
K= constant dependent on machine (poles,
𝜔= − 2
𝑇𝑑 parallel paths, number of conductors)
𝑘𝜑 𝑘𝜑
 a- Separately Excited DC motor:
Ia

Ra
𝑉𝑡 𝑅𝑎 If

𝜔= − 2
𝑇𝑑
𝑘𝜑 𝑘𝜑 Vt

Rf
𝑇𝑑 Vf
 The speed- current equation can be obtained if is replaced by Ea
𝑘𝜑
𝐼𝑎 :
𝑉𝑡 𝑅𝑎 𝐼𝑎
𝜔= − Separately excited DC machine
𝑘𝜑 𝑘𝜑
B: magnetic flux density
 If the mechanical losses are ignored, the developed torque 𝑇𝑑 is l= length of conductor
equal to the shaft torque, and the no-load armature current is ia= armature conductor current
equal to zero. Hence the no-load speed can be calculated using E= induced emf in conductor
any of the above ω equations by setting the no-load current and Ф= flux (proportional to field current)
load torque equal to zero: K= constant dependent on machine (poles,
parallel paths, number of conductors)
No -load
speed 𝑉𝑡
𝜔0 =
𝑘𝜑
 a- Separately Excited DC motor:
Ia

Ra
 In reality, the mass of the drive system and the rotational losses are the base If
load of the motor. Thus 𝜔0 is smaller than the value obtained by the equation
of 𝜔0 and the equation gives an approximated approach. Vt

 At steady state, the developed torque 𝑇𝑑 is equal to load torque 𝑇𝑚 . At the Rf

Vf
given load torque 𝑇𝑚 , the speed of the motor drops by an amount of ∆𝜔 that Ea

is equal to the second term of equation

𝑉𝑡 𝑅𝑎 Separately excited DC machine

∵𝜔= − 2
𝑇𝑑
𝑘𝜑 𝑘𝜑
𝑉𝑡 𝑅𝑎
𝜔0 = ∴ ∆𝜔 = 𝑇𝑚
𝑘𝜑 𝑘𝜑 2
 Expressing the speed using the no-load and speed drop:

𝜔 = 𝜔0 − ∆𝜔
 Ia

a- Separately Excited DC motor: Ra

 For large motors (larger than 10 hp), 𝑅𝑎 is very small because the If

armature carries higher current and the cross section of the wire must be
Vt
large. For these motors, ∆𝜔 is very small. The motors are considered as a
constant speed machine Vf
Rf
Ea

𝑉𝑡 𝑅𝑎
∵𝜔= − 2
𝑇𝑚 𝜔 = 𝜔0 − ∆𝜔
𝑘𝜑 𝑘𝜑 Separately excited DC
machine
Speed Speed
Load Load

ω0
ω0
ω
ω Operating Motor
Operating
point
point

Current
Torque
Tm Ia
Torques – speed characteristics Speed- current characteristics
Separately excited Separately excited
 Ia

a- Separately Excited DC motor: STARTING Ra

If
 The developed torque at starting, 𝑇𝑠𝑡 and the starting
armature current 𝐼𝑠𝑡 can be calculated using: Vt

Rf
Vf Ea

𝑉𝑡 𝑅𝑎 𝑉𝑡 𝑅𝑎 𝐼𝑎
𝜔= − 𝑇𝑑 𝜔= −
𝑘𝜑 𝑘𝜑 2 𝑘𝜑 𝑘𝜑
Separately excited DC
 And by setting the motor speed to zero,
machine
• Since Ra is very small, the starting
torque is very large at rated voltage.
• VERY useful with motor starting at
Describes the
starting behavior
𝑉𝑡 heavy loads.

of a separately
𝑇𝑠𝑡 = 𝑘𝜑 • Be careful of large currents as it may

excited machine
𝑅𝑎 affect windings.
• Large currents may cause high losses
𝑉𝑡 which when accumulated over time
𝐼𝑠𝑡 = can melt insulation and cause short
𝑅𝑎 circuit
Starting of Separately Excited DC Motor: STARTING
Speed Speed

𝑉𝑡
𝑇𝑠𝑡 = 𝑘𝜑
𝑅𝑎
𝑉𝑡 Vt1

𝐼𝑠𝑡 = Ra

𝑅𝑎 Vt2
Ra+R

Current Current
Ist2 Ist1 Ia Ist2 Ist1 Ia

Terminal voltage reduction Armature resistance insertion

 Starting is a TRANSIET condition, and could be limited by either:

• reducing the terminal voltage during the starting to reduce the starting current, but
consequently the starting torque will be reduced
• Inserting a high resistance (or inductance) in starting. Resistance option will increase losses.
• With terminal voltage reduction, the starting current is reduced AND also the no load speed is
reduced. The slope is unchanged
• With resistance insertion, slope is changed BUT the no load speed is unchanged.