Topic 4: Three-phase Induction (Asynchronous) Machines

Electromechanical Energy Conversion

Various devices can convert energy to mechanical energy and vice versa. The structure of these
devices may be different depending on functions they perform. Some devices are used for continuous
energy conversion and these are known as motor and generators. Even though there various devices used
in the conversion of energy, but they all operate on similar principles. In this topic, we extensively discuss
on electric machines only.
Electric Machines
Some applications such as light bulbs and heaters require energy in electrical form while others, such
as fans and rolling mills, require energy in mechanical form. One form of energy can be obtained from the
other form with the help of converters. Converter that is used to translate electrical input to mechanical
output or vice versa are called electric machines.
The process of translation is known as electromechanical energy conversion. In these machines, the
conversion is reversible. If the conversion is from mechanical to electrical, the machine is said to act as a
generator. If the conversion is from electrical to mechanical, the machine is said to act as a motor.
Same electric machine can be made to operate as a generator as well as a motor. Machines are called
ac machines if the electrical system is ac and dc machines if the electrical system is dc.

Electrical system

Generator
Figure 1.

Electrical machines
Energy flow

Mechanical system

Motor

Electromechanical Energy Conversion

In electric machines, conversion of energy from electrical to mechanical forms or vice versa results
from the following two electromagnetic phenomena:
1.
2.

When a conductor moves in a magnetic field, voltage is induced in the conductor.

When a current-carrying conductor is placed in a magnetic field, the conductor experiences a
mechanical force.

These two effects occur simultaneously whenever energy conversion takes place from electrical to
mechanical or vice versa.
Basic Structure of Electric Machines
An electric machines has two major components, stator and rotor that separated by the air gap. Fig. 2
shows the structure of electric machines. Generally, the structure of electric machine can be divided into
two parts; stator and rotor. The Stator is referred to the static part of the machine (the outer frame) while
the rotor is the moving part (inner frame) of the machine.
1

Figure 2.

(a)
(b)
Structure of electric machine. (a) cylindrical machine (uniform air gap). (b) salient pole
machine (non-uniform air gap)

Both stator and rotor are made of ferromagnetic materials. In most machines,, slots are cut on the
inner periphery of the stator and outer periphery of the rotor structure.
str
e. Conductors are placed in these
slots. Theses conductors (in the slots of stator or rotor) are interconnected to form windings.
The winding in which voltage is induced is called the armature winding. The winding through which a
current is passed to produce the primary source of flux is called the field winding. Permanent magnets are
used in some machines to provide the major source of flux in the machine.
The three basic electric machines are dc machines, induction machines and synchronous machines.
Three-Phase Induction Machines
It is the most widely used machine in industry. In the induction machines both stator and rotor
winding carry alternating currents (ac). The ac is supplied to the stator winding directly and to the rotor
winding by induction.
Induction machine can operate both as motor and as generator. But, this machine is extensively use
used
as a motor in many applications.
Construction
An induction machines consist of two main parts; stator and rotor. There are two types of roto
rotor;
squirrel-cage rotor and wound rotor.
The squirrel-cage
cage winding consists of aluminum or copper bars embedded in the rotor slots and
shorted at both ends by aluminum or copper end rings. This type of rotor is the most commonly used rotor.
The wound-rotor
rotor winding has a complete set of three-phase
three phase windings similar to stator winding.
Usually, it is Y-connected
connected and the rotor coils are tied to the slop rings.

Figure 3.

Cutaway diagram of a typical (a) small (b) large squirrel-cage

squirrel cage induction motor.

Figure 4.

Cutaway diagram of a wound-rotor

wound
induction motor.

Three Modes of Operation

The induction machine can be operated in three modes: motoring, generating and plunging. These
three modes of operation can be represented by a torque-speed
t
characteristic curve. From the curve, we
can determine several conditions such as

a)
b)
c)

How does the torque of an induction motor change as the load changes?
How much can an induction motor supply at starting conditions?
How much does the speed of an induction motor drop as its shaft
shaf load increases?

Fig. 5 and 6 provides some important information about the operation of induction motors. The
information is summarized below:
a)
b)
c)

The induced torque of the motor is zero at synchronous speed
  0.

There is a maximum torque that cannot be exceeded.
The starting torque on the motor is slightly larger
la
than its full-load
load torque. This torque is required by
the motor to start. It also known as initial torque.

d)

e)

f)

During 0     , induction machine operates

operat in motoring mode. The rotor will rotate in the
direction of the rotating magnetic field.
field. This is the natural (or motoring) mode of operation of the
induction machine.
During 
 , induction machine operates in generating mode. The
The induction machi
machine will
produce a generating torque that is acting opposite to the rotation of the rotor (or acting opposite
the rotating magnetic field). This mode is utilizes to provide regenerative breaking in some drive
application. To stop the drive system, the synchronous speed will be reduced by reducing the supply
frequency. In this process, the rotor speed is higher than synchronous speed because of the inertia of
the drove system. As a result, the generating action of the induction machine will cause the power
flow
ow to reverse and the kinetic energy of the drive system will be fed back to the supply ((converting
mechanical power to electric power
power).
). The process is known as regenerative breaking.
During   0, induction machine operates in plugging mode. The
T torque will
ill be in the direc
direction of
rotating magnetic field but will oppose the motion of the rotor. This torque is a braking torque. This
mode is utilized in drive application where the drive system is required to stop very quickly. It
happens when the terminal phase sequence is changed suddenly, the rotating magnetic field will
rotate opposite to the rotation of the rotor. The motor will come to zero speed rapidly and will
accelerate in the opposite direction, unless the supply is disconnected at zero speed.

Figure 5.

A typical torque-speed characteristic curve

Figure 6.

A torque-speed
speed characteristic curve showing the extended operating ranges

Principles of Operation
If the stator windings are connected to a three-phase
three phase supply and the rotor circuit is closed, the induced
voltages in the rotor windings produce
oduce rotor currents that interact with the air gap field to produce torque.
The rotor, if free to do so, will then start rotating.
According to Lenzs law, the rotor rotates in the direction of the rotating field such that the relative
speed between the rotating field and the rotor winding decrease. The rotor will eventually reach a steady
steadystate speed  that is less than the synchronous speed  at which the stator rotating field rotates in the air
gap. The revolution per minutes (rpm) of the synchronous speed  of this rotating magnetic flux is
 
where




(4.1)

  the supply frequency in Hz

 number of pole

It is obvious that at    there will be no induced voltage and current in the rotor circuit and hence
no torque. During this state, there will be no cutting of flux and rotor current equals zero. Therefore, it is
not possible for the rotor to rotate at synchronous speed.
The different between the rotor speed and the synchronous speed of the rotating field is called the
slip speed or slip rpm   and is defined as
     

(4.2)

The slip  is defined as the relative speed expressed on a per-unit

per unit or sometimes as percentage basis. It
represented by
5






 


(4.3)

From Eq. (4.3), the rotor speed can be derived as

  
1  

(4.4)

The radian per second (rad/s) of rotor speed  is

  
1  

(4.5)

where   synchronous speed in rad/s

The frequency  of the induced voltage and current in the rotor circuit will correspond to this slip rpm,
because this is the relative speed between the rotating field and the rotor winding. The rotor frequency can
be expressed as

 

  


 

(4.6)

Example 1
A three-phase 460 V, 100 hp, 60 Hz, four-pole induction machine delivers rated output power at a slip of
0.05. Determine
a)
b)
c)

Synchronous speed and motor speed.

Frequency of the rotor current.
Slip rpm.

Equivalent Circuit
The per-phase equivalent circuit of a three-phase induction motor is similar to a single-phase
equivalent circuit of a transformer. The only difference is that the secondary winding of an induction motor
is short-circuited.

stator circuit
Figure 7.

rotor circuit
The per phase circuit of induction motor

The value of variable resistance of rotor  / can be replaced by two resistors in series. From Eq.
(4.7), the equivalent circuit of three-phase induction motor can be drawn as Fig. 6.
6

"

  +  $


%

(4.7)

The complete circuit of induction motor per-phase with rotor having two resistors in series

Figure 8.

The equivalent circuit per phase referred to stator of induction motor is illustrated in Fig. 9. This circuit
is similar to equivalent circuit per phase of transformer referred to the primary side.

Figure 9.

The equivalent circuit per-phase referred to stator of induction motor

The circuit of Fig. 9 can be simplified to an approximate equivalent circuit to allow a simple calculation
to be performed to calculate the currents in the circuit as shown in Fig. 9.

Figure 10.

Approximate per-phase equivalent circuit of induction motor referred to stator

Power Flow Diagram or Losses in Induction Motor

An induction motor can be described as a rotating transformer. Its input is from the three-phase
supply. The secondary (rotor) winding of an induction motor is shorted, so no electrical output exists.
Instead, the output will be mechanical. The flow of power from the input to the output is shown below.

Stator copper and

core loss (PSCL &
Pc)
Motor input
(Pin)

Air gap power

(PAG) or rotor
input power (RIP)

Rotor copper
loss (PRCL)
Windage,
friction, stray
losses and etc
(P)

Mechanical power
(Pm) or power
converted (Pconv)

Motor output
(Pout)
Figure 11.

The overall power in induction motor

Power flow diagram is normally represented as a fish bone, where it illustrates the power flow in the
machine from the input part into the output part. The branches indicate the losses that present in the
machine.
Pm/Pconv

PAG/RIP

Pin

Pout

PSCL
P
PRCL
Power flow diagram of induction motor

Pc
Figure
12.

The losses of Fig. 12 is corresponding with the approximate circuit as shown in Fig. 10.

PSCL
Rs

I 2

I1

PRCL
jX r

jXs
Rr

I
Ic

+
E s
-

Rc

Im
jX m

Rr (1-s)/s

Pc

Figure 13.

All losses obtained from approximate circuit

8

From the above circuit, the following power equations can be derived.

&  3|) ||+ | cos  3|01 ||+1 | cos 2

&3 

(4.8)

456 5 7

(4.9)

"8

&9:1  3|+; |  

(4.10)

"<

+&  3|+; |  $ %

(4.11)

&":1  3|+; |  ;

(4.12)


%

&3=>  3|+; |  ; $

(4.13)

&=?@  &3=>  &

(4.15)

From Eq. (4.11), (4.12) and (4.13), we can obtain this relationship.

+& 

A8BCD


AEFG

(4.16)

Example 2
A three-phase induction 100 hp, 400 V, 50 Hz 6-pole Y-connected squirrel cage induction motor has the
following parameters refer to the stator.
Rs = 0.125

Rr = 0.095

X = 0.45

Xm = 10

If the rotational losses are 550 W, using approximate equivalent circuit, find the following at 5% slip;

a)
b)
c)

The line current and power factor

The output horsepower
The efficiency

Example 3
A 480 V, 50 hp Y-connected induction motor has line current 60 A at 0.85 power factor lagging. This motor
has these following power losses
PSCL = 2 kW

PRCL = 700 W

P = 600 W

Find

a)
b)
c)

the air gap power

the power converted
the output power
9

Pc = 1800 W

d)
e)

the efficiency
of the motor

Torque Equation for Induction Motor

The output power of an induction motor is in the form of mechanical power. This mechanical power is
proportional to torque and rotational speed/angular velocity (). There are four different torques that we
are interested to analyzed in induction motor, i.e. starting torque, Ts, maximum torque, Tmax, mechanical
torque, Tm and output torque, To. Torque equation can be derived from basic power equation.

& H

I
J

where

rad/s

(4.17)

Therefore, general equation for torque is define as

A

JA

H   I
where

(4.18)

T = torque in Nm
N = speed in rpm

a) Mechanical Torque
Also known as induced torque;

HK 

A8BCD

(4.19)

b) Output Torque
Also known as shaft or load torque;

H=?@ 

c) Starting Torque

At starting,   0. Therefore,  

 


(4.20)

 1. Thus, equation for starting torque is

H @  N

where N 

ABLM

"<

O" P"< QPR 7

(4.21)

4
6  7

S  S + S;

d) Maximum Torque
Also known as stalling/ pull-out/ breakdown torque. The equation can be obtained by differentiate
to get smax. From the differentiation,

10

TUV
T

0

KWX 

"<

(4.22)

(4.23)

Y"7 PR 7

From smax, the maximum torque is

HKWX 

Z


[" PY"7 PR 7\

Example 4
A 208 V four-pole 60 Hz Y-connected wound-rotor induction motor is rated at 15 hp. Its equivalent circuit
components are
R1 = 0.22
X1 = 0.43
Pmech = 300 W

R2 = 0.127
X2 = 0.43
Pmisc = 0

XM = 15
Pcore = 200 W

For a slip of 0.05, find

a.
b.
c.
d.
e.

the line current

the power converted
the induced torque
the load torque
what is the slip at the pull-out torque

Speed Control
There are only two techniques by which the speed of an induction motor can be controlled; vary the
synchronous speed or vary the slip of the motor. The synchronous speed can be varied by (1) changing the
electrical frequency and (2) changing the number of poles on the machine. Slip control may be
accomplished by varying either the rotor resistance or the terminal voltage of the motor.
1.

Speed control by changing the line frequency

According to  


,


the magnetic fields speed will change if the frequency applied to the stator is

changed. Simultaneously, the no-load point on the torque-speed characteristic curve will change with it.
The synchronous speed of the induction motor at rated condition is known as the base speed. By using
variable frequency control, it is possible to adjust the speed of the motor either above or below base
speed.
A properly designed variable-frequency induction motor drive can be very flexible. It can control the
speed over a range from as little as 5% of base speed up to above twice base speed. However, it is
important to maintain certain voltage and torque limits as the frequency is varied to ensure safe operation.
When a motor is running at speed below its base speed, it is necessary to reduce the terminal voltage
applied to the stator for proper operation. The terminal voltage applied to the stator should be decreased
linearly with decreasing stator frequency. This process is called derating. If it is not done, the steel in the
core will saturate and excessive magnetization currents will flow in the machine.
11

(a)

(b)

(c)
Figure 14.
Variable-frequency
frequency speed control in induction motor. The family of torque
torque-speed
characteristic curve for speeds (a) below base speed, (b) above base speed (c) for all frequencies.
12

2.

Speed control by pole changing.

In the day before modern solid-state

state control circuits were commons, the stator windings of induction
motors were often constructed so that the number of poles in the stator windings could be changed. But
now, this technique
ue is largely outdated.
3.

Speed control by changing the line voltage.

The torque developed by an induction motor is proportional to the square of the applied voltage. This
method is sometimes used on small motors driving fans.
4.

Speed control by changing thee rotor resistance.

In wound-rotor
rotor induction motors, it is possible to change the shape of the torque
torque-speed curve by
inserting extra resistances into the rotor circuit of the machine. However, inserting extra resistances into
the rotor circuit seriously reduces
educes the efficiency of the machine. Such method is normally used only for
short periods because of this efficiency problem.

Figure 15.

Variable-line-voltage speed control

13

Figure 16.

Speed control by varying the rotor resistance

Starting of an Induction Motor

Squirrel-cage
cage induction motors are frequently started by connecting them directly across the supply
line (self-start).
start). A large starting current of the order of 500 to 800 percent of full-load
full load current may flow in
the line. This initial excessive current will
will effect the operation of other electrical equipment connected to
the same line. Also, if a large current flows for a long time it may overheat the motor and damage the
insulation. In such a case, reduced-voltage
voltage starting must be used.
1.

Using primary resistors

The purpose is to apply a reduced voltage across the motor terminals so that the initial current is
reduced. This method is useful for smooth starting small machine.
R

R: running contacts
S: starting contacts
Start: S closed , R open
Run: S open , R closed

S
Three-phase
Supply

IM
R

Figure 17.

Starting of induction motor using primary resistors

resistor

14

2.

Using star-delta starter

This method is used for delta-connected motors. It consists of two-way connects the motor in star for
starting and delta for normal running.

At starting, when star-connected, the voltage is reduced by 1/3. Hence, the developed torque is

reduced by 1/3. This method is cheap and effective provided the starting torque required does not
exceed 1.5 full-load torque. This method is used for machine tools, pumps and motor-generators.

Figure 18.

Starting of induction motor using star-delta starter

3. Using auto transformer

This method can be both for star and delta connected motors. At starting, a reduce voltage is applied
across the motor terminals. When the speed is about 80%, the autotransformer is cut-off and full supply
voltage is supplied.
R

R: running contacts
S: starting contacts
Start: S closed, R open
Run: S open, R closed

R
IM

Three-phase
Supply
S

Figure 19.

Starting of induction motor using auto transformer

4. Using solid-state voltage controller for starting

A solid-state voltage controller can also be used as a reduces-voltage starter. The controller can
provide smooth starting. This arrangement can also be used to control the speed of the induction motor.
15

Three-phase
Supply

Figure 20.

IM

Starting of induction motor using solid-state voltage controller

16