THREE PHASE INDUCTION MOTOR

INTRODUCTION
The three-phase induction motor is the most widely used AC motor. It differs from other type
of motors in that there is no connection from the rotor winding to any source of supply. The
necessary voltage and current in the rotor circuit are produced by induction from the stator
winding which is why it is called induction motor.

Advantages
1. It is very simple, very robust and rugged, practically unbreakable construction.
2. Its cost is low.
3. It is very reliable.
4. It is highly efficient
5. It has a fairly good power factor.
6. Its maintenance requires minimum of attention.
7. It does not need to be synchronized. It has a simple starting arrangement.
Disadvantage
1. It is essentially a constant speed motor and the speed cannot be varied easily.
2. Its speed reduces to some extent with increase in load as in case of D.C. shunt motor.
3. It has somewhat lesser starting torque as compared to D.C. shunt motor.

CONSTRUCTION
Three phase induction motor consists of two parts
1. Stator
2. Rotor
Stator
• It is the stationary part of the motor supporting the entire motor assembly.
• This outer frame is made up of a single piece of cast iron in case of small machines.
• In case of larger machines they are fabricated in sections of steel and bolted
together.The core is made of thin laminations of silicon steel and flash enamelled
to reduceeddy current and hysteresis losses.
• Slots are evenly spaced on the inner periphery of the laminations.
• Conductors insulated from each other are placed in these slots and are connected to
form a balanced 3 - phase star or delta connected stator circuit.
• Depending on the desired speed the stator winding is wound for the required number
of poles. Greater the speed lesser is the number of poles.
Rotor
They are basically classified into two types based on the rotor construction
1. Squirrel cage motor
2. Slip ring motor or phase wound motor
 Squirrel cage rotor
• Squirrel cage rotors are widely used because of their ruggedness.
• The rotor consists of hollow laminated core with parallel slots provided on the outer
periphery.
• The rotor conductors are solid bars of copper, aluminium or their alloys.
• The bars are inserted from the ends into the semi-enclosed slots and are brazed to the
thick short circuited end rings.
• This sort of construction resembles a squirrel cage hence the name “squirrel cage
induction motor”.
• The rotor conductors being permanently short circuited prevent the addition of any
external resistance to the rotor circuit to improve the inherent low starting torque.
• The rotor bars are not placed parallel to each other but are slightly skewed which
reduces the magnetic hum and prevents cogging of the rotor and the stator teeth.

Phase wound/slip ring rotor

• The rotor in case of a phase wound/ slip ring motor has a 3-phase double layer
distributed winding made up of coils, similar to that of an alternator.
• The rotor winding is usually star connected and is wound to the number of stator
poles.
• The terminals are brought out and connected to three slip rings mounted on the rotor
shaft with the brushes resting on the slip rings.
• The brushes are externally connected to the star connected rheostat in case a higher
starting torque and modification in the speed torque characteristics are required.
• Under normal running conditions all the slip rings are automatically short circuited by
a metal collar provided on the shaft and the condition is similar to that of a cage rotor.
• Provision is made to lift the brushes to reduce the frictional losses.
• The slip ring and the enclosures are made of phosphor bronze.
Comparison of the squirrel cage and slip ring rotors
S. Slip ring rotor Squirrel cage rotor
No.
1. Rotor consist of a 3-phase winding Rotor consist of bars which are shorted at the
similar to stator winding ends with the help of end rings
2. Construction is complicated Construction is very simple
3. Resistance can be added externally As permanently shorted external resistance
cannot be added
4. Slip rings and brushes are present Slip rings and brushes are absent
5. Rotors are very costly Due to simple constructions rotors are cheap
6. High starting torque can be obtained Moderate starting torque which cannot be
controlled
7. Rotor resistance starter can be used Rotor resistance starter cannot be used
8. Rotor must be wound for same The rotor automatically adjusts itself for the
number of poles as stator same number of poles as that of stator
9. Rotor copper loss is high hence Rotor copper loss is less and hence efficiency
efficiency is less is more
Production of rotating magnetic field
Consider a 3- phase induction motor whose stator windings mutually displaced from each
other by 120° are connected in delta and energized by a 3- phase supply.

The currents flowing in each phase will set up a flux in the respective phases as shown
The corresponding phase fluxes can be represented by the following equations
 R =  m sint =  m sin
Y =  m sin(t −120)
Y =  m sin( −120)
 B =  m sin (t − 240)
 B =  m sin ( − 240)

The resultant flux at any instant is given by the vector sum of the flux
in each of thephases.
(i) When  = 0 ∘ , from the flux waveform diagram ,we have
R = 0

The resultant flux  R ,

So, the magnitude of 𝝋𝑻 is 1.5𝝋𝒎 and its position is vertically upward at θ=0°
Doing the same construction,
we get the same result as 𝝋𝑻 = 1.5𝝋𝒎
(iii) When θ= 120°

Doing the same construction, we get the same result as 𝝋𝑻 = 1.5𝝋𝒎

So the magnitude of 𝝋𝑻 is 1.5𝝋𝒎 , but it has rotated through 120° in space,
in clockwisedirection from its position θ=0°.
(iv) When θ=180°

Doing the same construction,

we get the same result as 𝝋𝑻 = 1.5𝝋𝒎
So the magnitude of 𝝋𝑻 is 1.5𝝋𝒎 , but it has rotated through 180° in space,
in clockwisedirection from its position θ=0°.
From the above discussion we have the following conclusion
1. The resultant of the three alternating fluxes, separated from each other by
120° has constant amplitude of 1.5𝝋𝒎 where 𝝋𝒎 is the maximum amplitude of
an individual flux due to any flux.
2. The resultant always keeps on rotating with a certain speed in space.

Speed of the RMF

There exist a fixed relation between frequency f of AC supply to the winding,
the number of poles for which the winding is wound and speed N rpm of
rotating magnetic field. For a standard frequency whatever speed of RMF
results is called Synchronous Speed. In case of induction motor it is denoted
as NS
120𝑓
𝑁𝑠 =
𝑃
Working principle

Induction motor works on the principle of electromagnetic induction.

When a 3 phase is given to the 3 phase stator winding, a rotating magnetic field
of constant magnitude is produced. The speed of this rotating magnetic field is
synchronous speed NS rpm.
120𝑓
𝑁𝑠 =
𝑃
This rotating field produces an effect of rotating poles around a rotor. Let the
direction ofthis rotating magnetic field be clockwise as shown in fig above.
Now at this instant rotor is stationary and stator flux RMF is rotating. So
it’s obvious that there exist a relative motion between the RMF and rotor
conductors. Now the RMF gets cut by the rotor conductors as RMF sweeps over
the rotor conductors. Whenever conductor cuts the flux, emf gets induced in the
rotor. The emf that gets induced in the rotor conductor is called rotor induced
emf. This is electromagnetic induction. As rotor forms closed circuit, induced
emf circulates current through the rotor called rotor current as shown in fig b
above. Let the direction of the current be going into the paper denoted by cross.
Any current carrying conductor produces its own flux. So rotor
produces its fluxcalled rotor flux. For assumed direction of rotor current, the
direction of rotor flux is shown in fig c. this direction can be easily determined
using right hand thumb rule. Now there are
two fluxes, one RMF and other rotor flux. Both fluxes interact with each other
as shown . On left of the rotor conductor, two fluxes are in same direction hence
added up to get high flux area. On the right side, the two fluxes cancel each other
to produce low flux area. As the flux acts as stretched rubber bands, high density
area exerts a push on rotor conductors towards low flux density area. So the
rotor conductors experiences a force from left to right in the case as shown in
fig d due to interaction of two fluxes.
As all the rotor conductors experience a force the overall rotor
experiences a torque and starts rotating. So the interaction of the two fluxes is
very important for a motoring action. As seen from fig d the direction of force
experienced is same as that of RMF. Hence rotor starts rotating in the same
direction as RMF.
Alternatively this can be explained as:
According to Lenz`s law the direction of the induced current in the rotor
is so as to oppose the cause producing it. The cause of the rotor current is the
induced emf which is induced because of the relative motion present between
the RMF and rotor conductors. Hence to oppose the relative motion i.e. to
reduce the relative speed, the rotor experiences a torque in the same direction as
that of RMF and tries to catch up the speed of the RMF.
So
NS = Speed of RMF
N= Speed of Motor
Ns – N = Relative speed between RMF and rotor conductor
 Can N=𝐍𝐒 ?
When rotor starts rotating, it tries to catch up the speed of RMF. If it catches
the speed of the RMF, the relative motion between the rotor and the RMF will
vanish (NS – N=0). In fact the relative motion is the main cause for the induced
emf in the rotor. So induced emf will
vanish and hence there cannot be rotor current and the rotor flux which is
essential to produce torque on the rotor. Eventually the motor will stop. But
immediately there will exista relative motion between the rotor and RMF and
it will start. But due to inertia of rotor, this does not happen in practice and rotor
continues to rotate with a speed slightly less than the synchronous speed of the
RMF in a steady state. The induction motor never rotates at synchronous speed.
The speed at which it rotates is hence called subsynchronous speed and motor
sometimes called asynchronous motor.
N< NS
So it can be said that rotor slips behind the RMF produced by stator. The
difference betweenthe two is called slip speed.
NS – N = slip speed of the motor in rpm
This speed decides the magnitude of the induced emf and the rotor current,
which in turndecides the torque produced.

Slip of the induction motor

The rotor rotates in the same direction as that of RMF but in steady state attains
a speed lessthan the synchronous speed. The difference between the two speeds
is called the slip speed. This slip speed is generally expressed as % of
synchronous speed.
So the slip speed of the induction motor is defined as the difference
between the synchronous speed and the actual speed of the rotor expressed
as a fraction of synchronous speed.

% slip is expressed as

In terms of slip actual speed of motor can be expressed as

N= NS(1-S)
At start, motor is at rest and hence its speed N=0
Therefore s=1 at start
Frequency of rotor current
When the rotor is at standstill, the frequency of the rotor current is the same as the
supply frequency. However, when there is relative speed between the rotor and stator
field, the frequency of the induced voltage and hence the current in the rotor varies
with the rotor speed i.e., slip. Let at any speed N of the rotor, the frequency of the
rotor current be f`.

Dividing (1) by (2),

Note: In an induction motor the slip value ranges from 2% to 4%

Application of squirrel cage and slip ring induction motor

1. Squirrel cage type of motor having moderate starting torque and constant
speed characteristic are preferred for driving fans, blowers, water pumps,
grinders, lathe machines, printing, machines, drilling machines.
2. Slip ring induction motor can have high starting torque. Hence, they are
preferred for lifts, hoists, elevators, cranes.

Need for starters

When a 3- phase motor of higher rating is switched on directly from the mains it
draws a starting current of about 4 -7 times the full load (depending upon on the
design) current. This will cause a drop in the voltage affecting the performance of
other loads connected to the mains. Hence starters are used to limit the initial current
drawn by the 3 phase induction motors.
The starting current is limited by applying reduced voltage in case of squirrel cage
type induction motor and by increasing the impedance of the motor circuit in case
of slip ring type induction motor. This can be achieved by the following methods .
1. Star –delta starter
2. Auto transformer starter
3. Soft starter

Star delta starter

The star delta starter is used for squirrel cage induction motor whose stator winding
is delta connected during normal running conditions. The two ends of each phase of
the stator winding are drawn out and connected to the starter terminals.
When the switch is closed on
the star-start side
(1) The winding is to be
shown connected in star
(2) The current I = 1/3 * (I
direct switching)
(3) Reduction in voltage by
1/√3
V = Vsupply * 1/√3
When the switch is closed on
to delta –run side
(1) the winding to be shown
connected in delta
(2) application of normal
voltage V supply
(3) normal current I
During staring the starter switch
is thrown on to the STAR -
START. In this position the
stator winding is connected in
star fashion and the voltage per
phase is 1/√3 of the supply
voltage. This will limit the
current at starting to 1/3 of the
value drawn during direct
switching. When the motor
accelerates the starter switch is
thrown on to the DELTA - RUN
side. In this position the stator
winding gets connected in the ∆
fashion and the motor draws the
normal rated current.