AC MOTORS

An AC motor is an electric motor driven by an alternating current (AC). The AC motor

commonly consists of two basic parts, an outside stator having coils supplied with
alternating current to produce a rotating magnetic field, and an inside rotor attached to the
output shaft producing a second rotating magnetic field. The rotor magnetic field may be
produced by permanent magnets, reluctance saliency, or DC or AC electrical windings.
Classification Based On Principle Of Operation:
(a) Synchronous Motors.
(b) Asynchronous Motors.
1. Induction Motors:
(a) Squirrel Cage
(b) Slip-Ring (external resistance).
2. Commutator Motors:
(a) Series
(b) Compensated
(c) Shunt
Classification Based On Type Of Current:
1. Single Phase
2. Three Phase
Classification Based on Speed Of Operation:
1. Constant Speed.
2. Variable Speed.
3. Adjustable Speed.
Classification Based on Structural Features:
1. Open
2. Enclosed
SYNCHRONOUIS MOTOR: https://youtu.be/80DKO7m4d7Y
Electrical motor in general is an electro-mechanical device that converts energy from
electrical domain to mechanical domain. Based on the type of input we have classified it into
single phase and 3 phase motors. Among 3 phase motors, induction motors and synchronous
motors are more widely used. When a 3 phase electric conductors are placed in a certain
geometrical positions (In certain angle from one another) then an electrical field is generated.
Now the rotating magnetic field rotates at a certain speed, that speed is called synchronous
speed. Now if an electromagnet is present in this rotating magnetic field, the electromagnet is
magnetically locked with this rotating magnetic field and rotates with same speed of rotating
field.
Synchronous motors is called so because the speed of the rotor of this motor is same as the
rotating magnetic field. It is basically a fixed speed motor because it has only one speed,
which is synchronous speed and therefore no intermediate speed is there or in other words
its in synchronism with the supply frequency. Synchronous speed is given by

120
s =

Where, f = supply frequency and p = no. of poles.

Construction of Synchronous Motor

Normally it's construction is almost similar to that of a 3 phase induction motor, except the
fact that the rotor is given DC supply, the reason of which is explained later. Now, let us first
go through the basic construction of this type of motor.
From the above picture, it is clear that how this type of motors are designed. The stator is
given is given three phase supply and the rotor is given DC supply.
Main Features of Synchronous Motors
1. Synchronous motors are inherently not self starting. They require some external
means to bring their speed close to synchronous speed to before they are
synchronized.
2. The speed of operation of is in synchronism with the supply frequency and hence for
constant supply frequency they behave as constant speed motor irrespective of load
condition
3. This motor has the unique characteristics of operating under any electrical power
factor. This makes it being used in electrical power factor improvement.

Principle of Operation Synchronous Motor

Synchronous motor is a doubly excited machine i.e two electrical inputs are provided
to it. Its stator winding which consists of a 3 phase winding is provided with 3 phase
supply and rotor is provided with DC supply. The 3 phase stator winding carrying 3
phase currents produces 3 phase rotating magnetic flux. The rotor carrying DC supply
also produces a constant flux. Considering the frequency to be 50 Hz, from the above
relation we can see that the 3 phase rotating flux rotates about 3000 revolution in 1
min or 50 revolutions in 1 sec. At a particular instant rotor and stator poles might be of
same polarity (N-N or S-S) causing repulsive force on rotor and the very next second
it will be N-S causing attractive force. But due to inertia of the rotor, it is unable to
rotate in any direction due to attractive or repulsive force and remain in standstill
condition. Hence it is not self starting.
To overcome this inertia, rotor is initially fed some mechanical input which rotates it
in same direction as magnetic field to a speed very close to synchronous speed. After
some time magnetic locking occurs and the synchronous motor rotates in synchronism
with the frequency.
Methods of Starting of Synchronous Motor
1. Motor starting with an external prime Mover: Synchronous motors are
mechanically coupled with another motor. It could be either 3 phase induction motor
or DC shunt motor. DC excitation is not fed initially. It is rotated at speed very close
to its synchronous speed and after that DC excitation is given. After some time when
magnetic locking takes place supply to the external motor is cut off.
2. Damper winding: In case, synchronous motor is of salient pole type, additional
winding is placed in rotor pole face. Initially when rotor is standstill, relative speed
between damper winding and rotating air gap flux in large and an emf is induced in it
which produces the required starting torque. As speed approaches synchronous speed,
emf and torque is reduced and finally when magnetic locking takes place, torque also
reduces to zero. Hence in this case synchronous is first run as three phase induction
motor using additional winding and finally it is synchronized with the frequency.
 Application of Synchronous Motor
1. Synchronous motor having no load connected to its shaft is used for power factor
improvement. Owing to its characteristics to behave at any electrical power factor, it is
used in power system in situations where static capacitors are expensive.
2. Synchronous motor finds application where operating speed is less (around 500 rpm)
and high power is required. For power requirement from 35 kW to 2500 KW, the size,
weight and cost of the corresponding three phase induction motor is very high. Hence
these motors are preferably used. Ex- Reciprocating pump, compressor, rolling mills
etc.

Induction Motor
One of the most common electrical motor used in most applications which is known as
induction motor. This motor is also called as asynchronous motor because it runs at a speed
less than its synchronous speed.

Here we need to define what is synchronous speed. Synchronous speed is the speed of
rotation of the magnetic field in a rotary machine and it depends upon the frequency and
number poles of the machine. An induction motor always runs at a speed less than
synchronous speed because the rotating magnetic field which is produced in the stator will
generate flux in the rotor which will make the rotor to rotate, but due to the lagging of flux
current in the rotor with flux current in the stator, the rotor will never reach to its rotating
magnetic field speed i.e. the synchronous speed.
There are basically two types of induction motor that depend upon the input supply - single
phase induction motor and three phase induction motor. Single phase induction motor is not
a self starting motor which we will discuss later and three phase induction motor is a self-
starting motor.
Working Principle of Induction Motor: https://youtu.be/EDFVS_1IkGc
We need to give double excitation to make a machine to rotate. For example if we consider a
DC motor, we will give one supply to the stator and another to the rotor through brush
arrangement. But in induction motor we give only one supply, so it is really interesting to
know that how it works. It is very simple, from the name itself we can understand that
induction process is involved. Actually when we are giving the supply to the stator winding,
flux will generate in the coil due to flow of current in the coil. Now the rotor winding is
arranged in such a way that it becomes short circuited in the rotor itself. The flux from the
stator will cut the coil in the rotor and since the rotor coils are short circuited, according to
Faraday's law of electromagnetic induction, current will start flowing in the coil of the rotor.
When the current will flow, another flux will get generated in the rotor. Now there will be
two flux, one is stator flux and another is rotor flux and the rotor flux will be lagging w.r.t to
the stator flux. Due to this, the rotor will feel a torque which will make the rotor to rotate in
the direction of rotating magnetic flux. So the speed of the rotor will be depending upon the
ac supply and the speed can be controlled by varying the input supply. This is the working
principle of an induction motor of either type single and three phase. .
Types Induction Motor
Single Phase Induction Motor
1. Split phase induction motor
2. Capacitor start induction motor
3. Capacitor start capacitor run induction motor
4. Shaded pole induction motor
Three Phase Induction Motor
1. Squirrel cage induction motor
2. Slip ring induction motor

We had mentioned above that single phase induction motor is not a self starting and three
phase induction motor is self starting. So what is self starting?
When the machine starts running automatically without any external force to the machine,
then it is called as self starting. For example we see that when we put on the switch the fan
starts to rotate automatically, so it is self starting. Point to be noted that fan used in home
appliances is single phase induction motor which is inherently not self starting. How?
Question arises How it works? We will discuss it now.
Why is Three Phase Induction Motor Self Starting?
In three phase system, there are three single phase line with 120o phase difference. So the
rotating magnetic field is having the same phase difference which will make the rotor to
move. If we consider three phases a, b and c, when phase a is magnetized, the rotor will
move towards the phase a winding a, in the next moment phase b will get magnetized and it
will attract the rotor and then phase c. So the rotor will continue to rotate.

Why Single Phase Induction Motor is not Self Starting?

It will be having only one phase still it makes the rotor to rotate, so it is quite interesting.
Before that we need to know why single phase induction motor is not a self starting motor
and how the problem is overcome. We know that the AC supply is a sinusoidal wave and it
produces pulsating magnetic field in uniformly distributed stator winding. Since pulsating
magnetic field can be assumed as two oppositely rotating magnetic fields, there will be no
resultant torque produced at the starting and due to this the motor does not run. After giving
the supply, if the rotor is made to rotate in either direction by external force, then the motor
will start to run. This problem has been solved by making the stator winding into two
winding, one is main winding and another is auxiliary winding and a capacitor is fixed in
series with the auxiliary winding. This will make a phase difference when current will flow
through the both coils. When there will be phase difference, the rotor will generate a starting
torque and it will start to rotate. Practically we can see that the fan does not rotate when the
capacitor is disconnected from the motor but if we rotate with hand it will start to rotate. So
this is the reason of using capacitor in the single phase induction motor. There are several
advantages of induction motor which makes this motor to have wider application. It is
having good efficiency up to 97%. But the speed of the motor varies with the load given to
the motor which is an disadvantage of this motor. The direction of rotation of induction
motor can easily be changed by changing the sequence of three phase supply, i.e. if RYB is
in forward direction, the RBY will make the motor to rotate in reverse direction. This is in
the case of three phase motor but in single phase motor, the direction can be reversed by
reversing the capacitor terminals in the winding.
FIG. SINGLE PHASE INDUCTION MOTOR.

Speed Control of Three Phase Induction Motor

A three phase induction motor is basically a constant speed motor so its somewhat difficult
to control its speed. The speed control of induction motor is done at the cost of decrease in
efficiency and low electrical power factor. Before discussing the methods to control the
speed of three phase induction motor one should know the basic formulas of speed and
torque of three phase induction motor as the methods of speed control depends upon these
formulas.
Synchronous Speed

120
s =

Where, f = frequency and P is the number of poles.

The speed of induction motor is given by, = s (1 )

Where,
N is the speed of rotor of induction motor,
Ns is the synchronous speed, S is the slip.
The torque produced by three phase induction motor is given by,
When rotor is at standstill slip, s is one.
So the equation of torque is,

Where,
E2 is the rotor emf
Ns is the synchronous speed
R2 is the rotor resistance
X2 is the rotor inductive reactance.
The Speed of Induction Motor is changed from Both Stator and Rotor Side
The speed control of three phase induction motor from stator side are further classified as :
1. V / f control or frequency control.
2. Changing the number of stator poles.
3. Controlling supply voltage.
4. Adding rheostat in the stator circuit.
The speed controls of three phase induction motor from rotor side are further classified as:
1. Adding external resistance on rotor side.
2. Cascade control method.
3. Injecting slip frequency emf into rotor side.

Speed Control from Stator Side

1. V / f control or frequency control - Whenever three phase supply is given to three
phase induction motor rotating magnetic field is produced which rotates at
synchronous speed given by
120
s =

In three phase induction motor emf is induced by induction similar to that of

transformer which is given by

Where, K is the winding constant, T is the number of turns per phase and f is
frequency. Now if we change frequency synchronous speed changes but with decrease
 in frequency flux will increase and this change in value of flux causes saturation of
rotor and stator cores which will further cause increase in no load current of the motor
. So, its important to maintain flux , constant and it is only possible if we change
voltage. i.e if we decrease frequency flux increases but at the same time if we decrease
voltage flux will also decease causing no change in flux and hence it remains constant.
So, here we are keeping the ratio of V/f as constant. Hence its name is V/ f method.
For controlling the speed of three phase induction motor by V/f method we have to
supply variable voltage and frequency which is easily obtained by using converter and
inverter set.
2. Controlling supply voltage: The torque produced by running three phase induction
motor is given by

In low slip region (sX)2 is very very small as compared to R2. So, it can be neglected.
So torque becomes

Since rotor resistance, R2 is constant so the equation of torque further reduces to

We know that rotor induced emf E2 V. So, T sV2.

From the equation above it is clear that if we decrease supply voltage torque will also
decrease. But for supplying the same load, the torque must remains the same and it is
only possible if we increase the slip and if the slip increases the motor will run at
reduced speed. This method of speed control is rarely used because small change in
speed requires large reduction in voltage, and hence the current drawn by motor
increases, which cause over heating of induction motor.
3. Changing the number of stator poles: The stator poles can be changed by two methods
4. Multiple stator winding method.
5. Pole amplitude modulation method (PAM)
6. Multiple stator winding method In this method of speed control of three phase
induction motor, the stator is provided by two separate winding. These two stator
windings are electrically isolated from each other and are wound for two different pole
numbers. Using switching arrangement, at a time , supply is given to one winding only
and hence speed control is possible. Disadvantages of this method is that the smooth
speed control is not possible . This method is more costly and less efficient as two
different stator winding are required. This method of speed control can only be applied
for squirrel cage motor.
7. Adding rheostat in the stator circuit - In this method of speed control of three phase
induction motor rheostat is added in the stator circuit due to this voltage gets dropped
.In case of three phase induction motor torque produced is given by T sV22. If we
decrease supply voltage torque will also decrease. But for supplying the same load, the
torque must remains the same and it is only possible if we increase the slip and if the
slip increase motor will run reduced speed.
Speed Control from Rotor Side
1. Adding external resistance on rotor side - In this method of speed control of three
phase induction motor external resistance are added on rotor side. The equation of
torque for three phase induction motor is

The three phase induction motor operates in low slip region. In low slip region term
(sX)2 becomes very very small as compared to R2. So, it can be neglected. and also E2
is constant. So the equation of torque after simplification becomes,

Now if we increase rotor resistance, R2 torque decreases but to supply the same load
torque must remains constant. So, we increase slip, which will further results in
decrease in rotor speed. Thus by adding additional resistance in rotor circuit we can
decrease the speed of three phase induction motor. The main advantage of this method
is that with addition of external resistance starting torque increases but this method of
speed control of three phase induction motor also suffers from some disadvantages :
1. The speed above the normal value is not possible.
2. Large speed change requires large value of resistance and if such large value of
resistance is added in the circuit it will cause large copper loss and hence reduction in
efficiency.
3. Presence of resistance causes more losses.
4. This method cannot be used for squirrel cage induction motor.

2. Cascade control method - In this method of speed control of three phase induction
motor, the two three phase induction motor are connected on common shaft and hence
called cascaded motor. One motor is the called the main motor and another motor is
called the auxiliary motor. The three phase supply is given to the stator of the main
motor while the auxiliary motor is derived at a slip frequency from the slip ring of
main motor.
3. Injecting slip frequency emf into rotor side - When the speed control of three phase
induction motor is done by adding resistance in rotor circuit, some part of power
called, the slip power is lost as I2R losses. Therefore the efficiency of three phase
induction motor is reduced by this method of speed control. This slip power loss can
be recovered and supplied back in order to improve the overall efficiency of three
phase induction motor and this scheme of recovering the power is called slip power
recovery scheme and this is done by connecting an external source of emf of slip
frequency to the rotor circuit. The injected emf can either oppose the rotor induced
emf or aids the rotor induced emf. If it oppose the rotor induced emf, the total rotor
resistance increases and hence speed decreases and if the injected emf aids the main
rotor emf the total decreases and hence speed increases. Therefore by injecting
induced emf in rotor circuit the speed can be easily controlled. The main advantage of
this type of speed control of three phase induction motor is that wide range of speed
control is possible whether its above normal or below normal speed.

What is Servo Motor?

This is nothing but a simple electrical motor, controlled with the help of
servomechanism. If the motor as controlled device, associated with servomechanism is
DC motor, then it is commonly known DC Servo Motor. If the controlled motor is
operated by AC, it is called AC Servo Motor.

Servo Motor Theory

There are some special types of application of electrical motor where rotation of the
motor is required for just a certain angle not continuously for long period of time. For
these applications, some special types of motor are required with some special
arrangement which makes the motor to rotate a certain angle for a given electrical
input (signal). For this purpose servo motor comes into picture. This is normally a
simple DC motor which is controlled for specific angular rotation with the help of
additional servomechanism (a typical closed loop feedback control system). Now
days servo system has huge industrial applications.
Servo Motor Working Principle
Before understanding the working principle of servo motor we should understand
first the basic of servomechanism.
A servo motor mainly consists of a DC motor, gear system, a position sensor
which is mostly a potentiometer, and control electronics.

Servomechanism
A servo system mainly consists of three basic components - a controlled device, a
output sensor, a feedback system.
This is an automatic closed loop control system. Here instead of controlling a device
by applying the variable input signal, the device is controlled by a feedback signal
generated by comparing output signal and reference input signal.
When reference input signal or command signal is applied to the system, it is
compared with output reference signal of the system produced by output sensor, and a
third signal produced by a feedback system. This third signal acts as an input signal of
controlled device.
This input signal to the device presents as long as there is a logical difference between
reference input signal and the output signal of the system. After the device achieves its
desired output, there will be no longer the logical difference between reference input
signal and reference output signal of the system. Then, the third signal produced by
comparing theses above said signals will not remain enough to operate the device
further and to produce a further output of the system until the next reference input
signal or command signal is applied to the system. Hence, the primary task of a
servomechanism is to maintain the output of a system at the desired value in the
presence of disturbances.

Working Principle of Servo Motor

A servo motor is basically a DC motor (in some special cases it is AC motor) along
with some other special purpose components that make a DC motor a servo. In a servo
unit, you will find a small DC motor, a potentiometer, gear arrangement and an
intelligent circuitry. The intelligent circuitry along with the potentiometer makes the
servo to rotate according to our wishes. As we know, a small DC motor will rotate
with high speed but the torque generated by its rotation will not be enough to move
even a light load. This is where the gear system inside a servomechanism comes into
the picture. The gear mechanism will take high input speed of the motor (fast) and at
the output, we will get an output speed which is slower than original input speed but
more practical and widely applicable.
Say at initial position of servo motor shaft, the position of the potentiometer knob is
such that there is no electrical signal generated at the output port of the potentiometer.
This output port of the potentiometer is connected with one of the input terminals of
the error detector amplifier. Now an electrical signal is given to another input terminal
of the error detector amplifier. Now difference between these two signals, one comes
from potentiometer and another comes from external source, will be amplified in the
error detector amplifier and feeds the DC motor. This amplified error signal acts as the
input power of the DC motor and the motor starts rotating in desired direction. As the
motor shaft progresses the potentiometer knob also rotates as it is coupled with motor
shaft with help of gear arrangement. As the position of the potentiometer knob
changes there will be an electrical signal produced at the potentiometer port. As the
angular position of the potentiometer knob progresses the output or feedback signal
increases. After desired angular position of motor shaft the potentiometer knob is
reaches at such position the electrical signal generated in the potentiometer becomes
same as of external electrical signal given to amplifier. At this condition, there will be
no output signal from the amplifier to the motor input as there is no difference
between external applied signal and the signal generated at potentiometer. As the input
signal to the motor is nil at that position, the motor stops rotating. This is how a simple
conceptual servo motor works.

Servo Motor Control

The servo motor can be moved to a desired angular position by sending PWM (pulse
width modulated) signals on the control wire. The servo understands the language of
pulse position modulation. A pulse of width varying from 1 millisecond to 2
milliseconds in a repeated time frame is sent to the servo for around 50 times in a
second. The width of the pulse determines the angular position.

For example, a pulse of 1 millisecond moves the servo towards 0, while a 2

milliseconds wide pulse would take it to 180. The pulse width for in between angular
positions can be interpolated accordingly. Thus a pulse of width 1.5 milliseconds will
shift the servo to 90.

It must be noted that these values are only the approximations. The actual behavior of
the servos differs based on their manufacturer.

A sequence of such pulses (50 in one second) is required to be passed to the servo to
sustain a particular angular position. When the servo receives a pulse, it can retain the
corresponding angular position for next 20 milliseconds. So a pulse in every 20
millisecond time frame must be fed to the servo.
Stepper Motor
A stepper motor is a type of DC motor that rotates in steps. When electrical signal is
applied to it, the motor rotates in steps and the speed of rotation depends on the rate at
which the electrical signals are applied and the direction of rotation is dependent on
the pattern of pulses that is followed. The Stepper Motors therefore are manufactured
with steps per revolution of 12, 24, 72, 144, 180, and 200, resulting in stepping angles
of 30, 15, 5, 2.5, 2, and 1.8 degrees per step. The stepper motor can be controlled with
or without feedback.
A stepper motor is made up of a rotor, which is normally a permanent magnet and it
is, as the name suggests the rotating component of the motor. A stator is another part
which is in the form of winding. In the diagram below, the center is the rotor which is
surrounded by the stator winding. This is called as four phase winding.
Working of Stepper Motor
The centre tap on the stator winding allows the current in the coil to change direction
when the winding are grounded. The magnetic property of the stator changes and it
will selectively attract and repel the rotor, thereby resulting in a stepping motion for
the motor.
Types of Stepper Motor
By construction the step motors come into three broad classes:
1. Permanent Magnet Stepper
2. Variable Reluctance Stepper
3. Hybrid Step Motor

1. Permanent Magnet Stepper :

The rotor and stator poles of a permanent magnet stepper are not teethed. Instead the
rotor have alternative north and south poles parallel to the axis of the rotor shaft.

.
When a stator is energized, it develops electromagnetic poles. The magnetic rotor
aligns along the magnetic field of the stator. The other stator is then energized in the
sequence so that the rotor moves and aligns itself to the new magnetic field. This way
energizing the stators in a fixed sequence rotates the stepper motor by fixed angles.
The resolution of a permanent magnet stepper can be increased by increasing number
of poles in the rotor or increasing the number of phases.
2. Variable reluctance stepper : The variable reluctance stepper has a toothed
non-magnetic soft iron rotor. When the stator coil is energized the rotor moves to have
a minimum gap between the stator and its teeth.

The teeth of the rotor are designed so that when they are aligned with one stator they
get misaligned with the next stator. Now when the next stator is energized, the rotor
moves to align its teeth with the next stator. This way energizing stators in a fixed
sequence completes the rotation of the step motor.

3. Hybrid stepper :
A hybrid stepper is a combination of both
permanent magnet and the variable
reluctance. It has a magnetic teethed rotor
which better guides magnetic flux to
preferred location in the air gap.
The magnetic rotor has two cups. One for
north poles and second for the south poles.
The rotor cups are designed so that that the north and south poles arrange in alternative
manner.

The Hybrid motor rotates on same principle of energizing the stator coils in a
sequence.

Stepping Modes
There are three stepping modes of a stepper motor. The stepping mode refers to the
pattern of sequence in which stator coils are energized.
1. Wave drive (One phase ON at a time)
2. Full drive (Two phase ON at a time)
3. Half drive (One and two phase ON at a time)
Stepper Motor v/s Servo Motor
Both the stepper motor and servo motor are used primarily in position control
applications. But there lies a difference in their working and construction. The stepper
motor has a large number of poles or teeth on their rotor and these teeth act as
magnetic north and south poles which gets attracted or repelled to the electrically
magnetized coil of the stator. This helps in the stepping motion that a stepper
generates. On the other hand, in a servo motor the position is controlled by the
specialized circuit and the feedback mechanism, which generates an error signal to
move the motor shaft.