Magnetic fields in electrical machines

Field types

Every rotating machine consists of a stationary section (stand) and a rotating section (rotor).
Stands and rotors are made up of magnetic materials and windings and generate magnetic fields in the air gap.
We differentiate between the following magnetic fields:
- constant field
- alternating field
- rotating field
Constant field
A constant field results from a permanent magnet or through a coil saturated by direct current.

Figure 1 - Constant field

(1) Rotor excitation through current flow
(2) Stator excitation through current flow
1 Field winding, 2 Rotor, 3 Magnetic flow, 4 Stator
A constant field denotes a temporally constant magnetic field in an air gap.
Alternating field
An alternating field is generated as alternating current passes through a winding.
A magnetic field which changes its size and direction according to the frequency is called an alternating field.

Figure 2 - Magnetic alternating field

1 Alternating current, 2 Induction and current,
3 Induction sequence, 4 Current sequence

Rotating field
Definition of term:
A rotating field may be compared to the magnetic field of a rotating, permanent magnet.

Figure 3 - Emergence of a rotating field through rotation of a permanent magnet

A rotating field denotes a rotating magnetic field within a specific space.
Generating a rotating field:
As Figure 4 indicates, the simplest stator of a rotating machine features three spatially positioned coils at 120 degrees. These
coils are saturated by three temporally displaced three-phase currents at 120 degrees.

Figure 04 - Emergence of a rotating field in the stator

of a rotating electrical machine
(1) Stator with three spatially displaced windings
(2) Commensurate temporally shifted currents,
t1; t2; t3 Instantaneous times

Figure 05 indicates each coil with a winding and in its veritable spatial position. A clear-cut picture of current distribution
for the moments t1, t2 and t3 emerges once the current directions in the individual conductors are entered into a line
diagram.
Figure 05 - Explanation for the emergence of a rotating field,
t1; t2; t3 Instantaneous times
Speed of the rotating field:
A stator winding where the three coils have been so switched as to only yield one north pole and one south pole is called a
two pole machine or a machine with a pole pair (p = 1). A four pole machine thus has two pole pairs etc.

Figure 06 - Four-pole machine

Given a two pole machine the rotating field runs once through
for every period of the alternating current. Following a period
the pole pairs only undertake a half rotation.
The speed of the rotating field depends on the frequency
of the alternating current and the pole pair:

A maximum speed of 3000 rpm can be attained given a frequency of f = 50 Hz.

In an induction motor, when AC supply is given to the the stator, magnetic flux is produced which is
revolving at synchronous speed. This post will explain you in brief about production of rotating magnetic
flux for 2 phase as well as 3 phase supply.

For 2 Phase Supply:

Let the stator is wound for 2 phase supply. The two phases are kept 90 space degrees apart as illustrated
in fig (a).

Let, Φ1 and Φ2 be the instantaneous values of the fluxes set up by phase 1 and phase 2 respectively.
(i) When θ = 0° (at origin fig. a), magnitude of the flux set up by phase-1 will be 0 and the magnitude of the flux
by phase 2 will be maximum but in negative direction. This is illustrated in fig (b). Hence the magnitude of the
resultant flux Φr will be equal to Φm.
(ii) θ = 45° (position 1 in fig a)
Flux by phase-1 >> Φ1 = sqrt.2 * Φm.
Flux by phase-2 >> Φ2 = sqrt.2 * Φm. Hence resultant flux >> Φr = Φm.
But the resultant has shifted 45 degrees clockwise.
(iii) θ = 90° (position 2)
Flux by phase-1 >> Φ1 = Φm.
Flux by phase-2 >> Φ2 = 0.
Hence resultant flux >> Φr = Φm.
But the resultant has further shifted 45 degrees clockwise OR resultant has shifted 90 degrees from its initial
position.
(iv) θ = 135° (position 3)
Flux by phase-1 >> Φ1 = Φm.
Flux by phase-2 >> Φ2 = Φm.
Hence resultant flux >> Φr = Φm.
But the resultant has further shifted 45 degrees clockwise OR resultant has shifted 135 degrees from its
initial position.

(iv) θ = 180° (position 4)

Flux by phase-1 >> Φ1 = 0.
Flux by phase-2 >> Φ2 = Φm.
Hence resultant flux >> Φr = Φm.
But the resultant has further shifted 45 degrees clockwise OR resultant has shifted 180 degrees from its
initial position.
Thus, it can be concluded that the magnitude of the resultant flux remains constant but its direction keeps
rotating clockwise.