LAB MANUAL

Subject - Electrical Traction

Diploma -VI SEM
Department of Electrical and Electronics
Engineering

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 CONTENTS
LIST OF EXPERIMENT
SRN NAME OF EXPERIMENT PAGE NO
1 Draw speed current characteristic of DC. series motor 3

2 Draw speed toque characteristic of DC series motor 6

3 Study of various methods for speed control of DC 8

4 Study of pole and bow current collector 12

5 Study of pantograph current collector 14

6 Study of Metaldyne control system 16

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 Experiment -1
Objective:
 To determine the torque-speed characteristic curve.
 To find out how to reverse the direction of rotation of a series dc motor.
Introduction: Series dc motor is a motor whose filed windings consists of a relatively few turns
connected in series with the armature circuit. The equivalent circuit for a series dc motor is shown in
Figure

Figure 7.1: Equivalent circuit of a series connected dc motor

In a series dc motor, the armature current, the field current, and the line current are all the same.
The Kirchhoff's voltage law equation for this motor is

VT = E A + I A ( R A + R S )

Induced Torque in a Series DC motor The terminal characteristics of a series dc motor are very
different from that of the shunt dc motor. The basic behavior of a series dc motor is due to the fact that
the flux is directly proportional to the armature current, at least until saturation is reached. As the load
on the motor increases, its flux increases too. As seen earlier, an increase in the flux in the motor causes
a decrease in its speed. The result is that a series dc motor has a sharply drooping torque-speed
characteristic.

The induced torque in this machine is given by The flux in this machine is directly proportional to
its armature current (at least until the metal saturation). Therefore, the flux in the machine can be
given by
In other words, the torque in the motor is proportional to the square of its armature current. As a result of
this relationship, it is easy to see that a series motor gives more torque per ampere than any other dc
motor. It is therefore used in applications requiring very high torques. Examples of such applications are
the starter motors in cars, elevator motors, and tractor motors in locomotives.

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 The Terminal Characteristic of a Series DC Motor

To determine the terminal characteristic of a series dc motor, any analysis will be based on the
assumption of linear magnetization curve, and then the effects of saturation will be considered in a
graphical analysis. The assumption of a linear magnetization curve implies that the flux in the motor
will be given equation 7.3 above. This equation will be used to derive the torque-speed characteristic
curve for the series dc motor. The derivation of a series motor’s torque–speed characteristic starts
with

Notice that for an unsaturated series dc motor, the speed of the motor varies as the reciprocal of the
square root of the torque. That is quite an unusual relationship! This ideal torque-speed characteristic is
plotted in Figure 7.2.

Figure 7.2: Torque-speed characteristic for a series dc motor.

One disadvantage of the series motors can be seen immediately from Equation 7.11. When the torque
on the motor goes to zero, its speed goes to infinity. In practice, the torque can never go entirely to zero
because of the mechanical, core, and stray losses that must be overcome. However, if no other load is
connected to the motor, it can turn fast enough to seriously damage itself. Never completely unload a
series dc motor, and never connect one to a load by a belt or other mechanism that could break. If that
were to happen and the motor were to become unloaded while running, the results could be serious.

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 Speed Control of Series DC Motors

Unlike with the shunt dc motor, there is only one efficient way to change the speed a series dc motor.
That method is to change the terminal voltage of the motor. If the terminal voltage is increased, the
first term in equation 7.10 is increased, resulting in a higher speed for any given torque. The speed of
series dc motors can also be controlled by the insertion of a series resistor into the motor circuit, but
this technique is very wasteful of power and is used only for intermittent periods during the start up of
some motor.

Prodeucre: Caution: At No Time Allow The Load To Go To Zero On A Series Motor!

1. Connect the circuit shown in Figure 7.5

2. Connect the dc power supply to the electromagnetic break and increase the voltage till the break
current reaches 0.15 A.

3. Set the inserted armature resistor to its maximum.

4. Switch on the variable dc voltage power supply and then set the terminal voltage to 220 V.

5. Slowly turn off the inserted armature resistance and observe the speed increases.

6. Change the motor load using the electromagnetic break so that it’s current does not exceed 0.5 A or
torque does not go below 2 N.m.

Table

IT[A] Pin[W] n[RPM] τ[N.M] Pout[W] η

4
5
6
7
7.3

Table 7.1: Series motor data

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 Experiment-2
Objective: Study of various methods for speed control of D C.
The above equation shows that the speed depends upon the supply voltage V, the armature circuit
resistance Ra, and the field flux Ф, which is produced by the field current. In practice, the variation of
these three factors is used for speed control. Thus, there are three general methods of speed control of
D.C. Motors.

1. Resistance variation in the armature circuit: This method is called armature resistance control or
Rheostat control.
2. Variation of field flux Ф this method is called field flux control.
3. Variation of the applied voltage. This method is also called armature voltage control.

Armature resistance control (Rheostat Control):

Figure: (a) Speed control of a d.c. Shunt motor by armature resistance control.
(b) Speed control of a D.C. Series motor by armature resistance control.

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Figure (b) shows the method of connection of external resistance Re in the armature circuit of a
D.C. series motor. In this case, the current and hence the flux is affected by the variation of the
armature circuit resistance.

The voltage drop in Re reduces the voltage applied to the armature, and therefore the speed is
reduced.

This method has the following drawbacks:

1. In the external resistance Re a large amount of power is wasted.

2. Control is limited to give speed below normal and increase of speed cannot is obtained by
this method.
3. For a given value of Re, the speed reduction is not constant but varies with the motor
load.

This method is only used for small motors.

2. Variation of field flux Ф (Field flux control):

Since the field current produces the flux, and if we control the field current then the speed can be
controlled. In the shunt motor, speed can be controlled by connecting a variable resistor Rc in
series with the shunt field winding. In the diagram below resistor, Rc is called the shunt field
regulator

4. Figure: (a) Speed control of a D.C. shunt motor by variation of field flux.
(b) The diverter in parallel with the series of D.C. Motor.

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 Experiment-3
Objective: Study of pole and bow current collector
This collector is employed on tramways and trolley buses and is mounted on the roof of the
vehicle. Contact with the OH wire is made by means of either a grooved wheel or a sliding shoe
carried at the end of a light trolley pole attached to the top of the vehicle and held in contact with
OH wire by means of a spring. The pole is hinged to a swiveling base so that it may be reversed
for reverse running thereby making it unnecessary for the trolley wire to be accurately
maintained above the centre of the track. Trolley collectors always operate in the trailing
position. The trolley collector is suitable for low speeds upto 32 km/h beyond which there is a
risk of its jumping off the OH contact wire particularly at points and crossing.

The Bow Collector

It can be used for higher speeds. As shown in Fig. 1, it consists of two roof-mounted trolley
poles at the ends of which is placed a light metal strip (or bow) about one metre long for current
collection. The collection strip is purposely made of soft material (copper, aluminium or carbon)
in order that most of the wear may occur on it rather than on the trolley wire. The bow collector
also operates in the trailing position. Hence, it requires provision of either duplicate bows or an
arrangement for reversing the bow for running in the reverse direction. Bow collector is not
suitable for railway work where speeds up to 120 km/h and currents up to 3000 A are
encountered. It is so because the inertia of the bow collector is too high to ensure satisfactory
current collection.

Fig: The Bow Collector

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Which is a type of pantograph collector?

A pantograph (or "pan", or "panto") is an apparatus mounted on the roof of an electric train,
tram, or electric bus to collect power through contact with an overhead line. (By contrast, battery
electric buses and trains are charged at charging stations). The pantograph is a common type
of current collector.

What are the different types of current collector?

Three types of current collectors are in common use, viz., the trolley collector, bow collector and
the pantograph collector:

1. Trolley Collector

2. Bow Collector:

3. Pantograph Collector:

Electric current collectors are used by trolleybuses, trams, electric locomotives or EMUs to carry
electrical power from overhead lines or electrical third rails to the electrical equipment of the
vehicles.

Electric locomotive consists of

1) Current collectors
2) Surge arrestor
3) Vacuum circuit Braker
4) On-load tap changer
5) Rectifier
6) Smoothing choke
7) Traction motor
8) ARNO converter
9) ARNO converter
10) Protective equipments

1 Current collectors
It is device which is used to current collection from overhead wire. It remains in sliding contact
with overhead wire at all speeds. Structure is made of high tensile alloys steel tubing and can be
raised or lowered using compressed air or springs.

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2 Surge arrestor
It is used to bypass surges from OHE to ground.

3 Vacuum circuit Breaker

It is mounted on the rooftop of the locomotive. It consists of a vacuum bottle having a fixed and
a movable contact separated by a small distance as shown in Fig .1.31. When CB is closed, the
two contacts – fixed and movable contact touch each other inside the bottle and current from
pantograph is conveyed to the tap changing transformer. When power supply need to be
switched off, the CB is opened so that fixed and moving contacts inside the vacuum bottle
separate thereby interrupting the circuit. The vacuum between fixed and moving constant acts as
arc quenching medium. When contacts begin to separate, an arc is formed. This is quenched by
the vacuum medium. The CB apart from normal switch on and off operation also operates under
some abnormal condition thereby protecting downstream equipments.

4) On-load tap changer

It is a transformer fitted with on-load lap changer. It is housed inside the locomotive cabin. 25
kV A.C power is stepped down to 1500 V by means of taps. Speed is controlled by on-load
changer. The transformer winding is divided into 32 steps. With first step corresponding to 0
volts and 32 step corresponding to 1500V. The voltage output o transformer can be progressively
increased to control speed. However, in thyristor controlled AC locomotives, there is no need or
tap changers and rectifiers. Voltage is regulated by changing firing angle of thyristors.
5 Rectifier
It converts input AC voltage into DC output voltage. It provides full wave rectifier to DC series
motor.
6 Smoothing choke
It removes ripples from rectifier DC output and feeds to DC traction motor.
7 Traction motor
It is DC series motor which provides motive power to wheels. Each axle of coach is driven by an
individual traction motor.
8 ARNO converters
In order to keep size of locomotives small, it is necessary to keep size of transforms rectifier and
traction motor small. This is possible by blowing air through them to keep temperature within
limits. So number of blowers for traction motor transformer and rectifiers are provided. A
compressor is also provided for supplying air required for braking of locomotive and or
operation of pneumatically controlled equipment. (Raising or lowering of pantograph) These
auxiliary machines are provided with 3ϕ AC motors
9 ARNO converter
Supply fed to locomotive is single phase, 25 kV where as requirement for auxiliary machines is
3-phase 400 Volts. So a winding is provided in transformer to step down 25 kV to 400 V. This

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single phase 400 V is converted to 3-phase supply by a rotating machine called ARNO
converter.
10 Protective equipments
In electric locomotives, protection is needed for operating personnel against contact with live
circuit and safety of individual equipments against major damage due to a fault.
B. Current Collection System
The primary requirement of a collection system is that it should maintain a continuous contact
with wire at all speeds. There are mainly two current collection system namely current
collections from conductor rail and current collection from Over Head Equipment (OHE).
B.1.Conductor Rail System
This conductor – rail system of supply has been used in many countries, or electric traction. In
this system, the current is supplied to the electrically operated vehicle through one – rail
conductor or through two – rail conductors.
Depending on the positions of the contact surface, the conductor rail may be divided into three
classes: Top, Bottom and Side.
The top rail is adopted universally for 600V DC electrification.
The side contact rail is used for 1200 V DC supply.
The bottom contact rail has the advantage of being protected from show, sheet and ice.

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 Experiment-4
Objective: Study of pantograph current collector
Its function is to maintain link between overhead contact wire and power circuit of the electric
locomotive at different speeds under all wind conditions and stiffness of OHE. It means that
positive pressure has to be maintained at all times to avoid loss of contact and sparking but the
pressure must be as low as possible in order to minimize wear of OH contact wire.

A ‘diamond’ type single-pan pantograph is shown in Fig. 2. It consists of a pentagonal

framework of high-tensile alloy-steel tubing. The contact portion consists of a pressed steel pan
fitted with renewable copper wearing strips which are forced against the OH contact wire by the
upward action of pantograph springs. The pantograph can be raised or lowered from cabin by air
cylinders.

Application: In tramways & trolley buses. Two trolley collectors are used for trolley buses.
The trolley collector works properly at low speeds, but at high speeds it can get separated from
the contact wire. The trolley contact can be used up to 32km/hr. For changing the direction of
vehicle the collector must be

 It consists of a metal strip which is attached on the one end of two poles
which are placed on the top of vehicle.
 The poles have enough length so that the sideways movement of the
collector along the vehicle’s path is achieved.
 Here the springs are used for getting an upward pressure.
 t also reduces the risk of the collector getting separated from the conductors at high
speeds also. And thus a bow collector has high speed than trolley collector

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  Pantograph collector:
 This type of collector consists of copper wearing strip which acts as contact surface.
 This strip is removable and when it wears off it is replaced with a new one.
 This copper strip is placed on pressed steel pan of the channel section.
 The springs help to support the channel section on a frame work of pentagonal
shape.

Application:

 In electric trains
 Tram cars or trolley buses

It operates at a speed in between 100kmph to 125kmph. The current gets collected in the
range of 2000A to 3000A.

It has many advantages over other types of collectors:-

 It operates in both the directions.

 The conductor and the collector separation risk are low.
 The erection of overhead network is simple.
 Its height can be adjusted accordingly by the will of operator.

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 Experiment-5
Objective: Study of Metaldyne control system

What is a Metadyne:
Definition: An electric DC machine that has two pairs of brushes is known as metadyne. This dc
machine is used as a rotating transformer or an amplifier. It is related to a third brush dynamo
although includes extra windings of varistor otherwise regulator. Metadyne characteristics are
equal to an amplidyne except a compensate winding in the latter which completely offsets the
result of the generated flux through the load current. The technical explanation is “a cross-field
dc machine mainly designed to use armature reaction”. The main function of a metadyne is to
change the input of stable voltage into a stable current and uneven voltage output.

Metadyne Working Principle

The constant current device like metadyne is mainly designed to use armature reaction. The
working principle of metadyne is to change the i/p of constant voltage to current and variable o/p
voltage. The schematic diagram of the metadyne is shown below.

Metadyne Construction

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The arrangement of the metadyne control system mainly includes three arrangements which are
shown in the figure. In the first arrangement, it signifies a cross-field machine that includes a
single cycle. In a DC machine, the excitation current effect will generate a flux represented with
A1, and at right angles to the exciting flux, it generates a quadrature flux. By connecting the
quadrature brushes mutually, the current can be generated within the armature. The A2 flux
generates at right angles in the direction of the quadrature axis and gives an armature reaction.
This armature reaction is directly proportional to the actual excitation.
This characteristic is basic to the machine and it does not lie in its rotation direction. Once the
armature reaction is incompletely compensated through a compensation winding, and then the
uncompensated part of the armature reaction works in this way. When the o/p current increases,
it restrains the excitation effect, until it achieves a state where there is sufficient excitation to
continue the current. If any current increases, the flux can be eliminated which maintains its
operation and the back emf can be generated through it. Thus, this machine works like a
constant-current generator, wherever the current is relative to the excitation.

In the second diagram, a machine includes no excitation windings, but in its place, a stable
voltage can be given to the quadrature brushes. This generates a flux similar to the one generated
through the armature rotation within the excitation flux. The machine operation is extremely
similar to the increasing o/p current until the flux generated through the applied voltage. The
metadyne generator can be partly compensated with the Metadyne transformer and operates
continually like a stable current device until the compensation increases are maximum.

In the third diagram, a metadyne is connected to 2 separate motors. This connection was
frequently used to control the traction motors within electric trains. Once the metadyne is
connected, it will reduce the effective loading & allows a small machine to be fixed. The
Metadyne works like a booster. Even though the system is horizontal to the currents within the
two divides of the load that becomes unbalanced. The unbalanced load can be modified through
the condition of additional series windings, which work as an extra circuit resistance.

Applications:
 The applications of metadynes include the following.
 These are used to control large guns & controlling the speed of electric trains.
 It can be used as a rotary transformer/an amplifier.

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 EXPERIMENT-6

Objective: Draw speed toque characteristic of d.c. series motor.

EQUIPEMENTS:

1) DC series Motor coupled with DC Generator.

2) Ammeter.
3) Voltmeter.
4) Lamp Load.
5) Tachometer.

THEORY: The characteristics of DC Motor are nothing but the performance of that motor. The
application of motor for a specific work is decided by its characteristics. For a DC Motor there
are three types of characteristics.
1) Torque-Armature current characteristics (Ta/Ia) This characteristic is also known as
electrical characteristic. We know that torque is directly proportional to the product of armature
current and field flux, Ta ∝ ɸ.Ia. In DC series motors, field winding is connected in series with
the armature, i.e. Ia = If. Therefore, before magnetic saturation of the field, flux ɸ is directly
proportional to Ia. Hence, before magnetic saturation Ta α Ia2. Therefore

2) Speed-Armature current characteristics (N/Ia) we know the relation, N ∝ Eb/ɸ For small
load current (and hence for small armature current) change in back emf Eb is small and it may be
neglected. Hence, for small currents speed is inversely proportional to ɸ. As we know, flux is
directly proportional to Ia, speed is inversely proportional to Ia. Therefore, when armature
current is very small the speed becomes dangerously high. That is why a series motor should
never be started without some mechanical load. But, at heavy loads, armature current Ia is large.
And hence, speed is low which results in decreased back emf Eb. Due to decreased Eb, more
armature current is allowed.
3) Speed-Armature Torque characteristics (N/Ta) This characteristic is also called as
mechanical characteristic. From the above two characteristics of DC series motor, it can be found
that when speed is high, torque is low and vice versa.

PROCEDURE: 1) Make the connection as per the circuit diagram.

2) switch on the loading resistance on the generator terminals because series motor should not be
run on no load.
3) Start the DC series motor with the help of starter. Generator will act as a load on the motor.
4) Apply rated voltage to the motor.
5) Increase the load on the DC generator step by step.
6) Record speed & current drawn by Motor.
7) Plot graphs: N Vs Ia, Ta Vs Ia, N Vs Ta

CONCLUSION: It is observed that, with increase in load, 1) Speed of DC Series motor

decreases. 2) Torque of DC series motor increases, the characteristics gives parabola before
saturation & straight line after saturation.

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