Three Phase Induction Motor

The most common type of AC motor being used throughout the work today is the
"Induction Motor". Applications of three-phase induction motors of size varying
from half a kilowatt to thousands of kilowatts are numerous. They are found
everywhere from a small workshop to a large manufacturing industry.
The advantages of three-phase AC induction motor are listed below:
1. Simple design
2. Rugged construction
3. Reliable operation
4. Low initial cost
5. Easy operation and simple maintenance
6. Simple control gear for starting and speed control
7. High efficiency.
Induction motor is originated in the year 1891 with crude construction (The
induction machine principle was invented by NIKOLA TESLA in 1888.). Then an
improved construction with distributed stator windings and a cage rotor was built.
The slip ring rotor was developed after a decade or so. Since then a lot of
improvement has taken place on the design of these two types of induction
motors. Lot of research work has been carried out to improve its power factor and
to achieve suitable methods of speed control.
Types and Construction of Three Phase Induction Motor
Three phase induction motors are constructed into two major types:
1. Squirrel cage Induction Motors
2. Slip ring Induction Motors
Squirrel cage Induction Motors
(a) Stator Construction
The induction motor stator resembles the stator of a revolving field, three
phase alternator. The stator or the stationary part consists of three phase winding
held in place in the slots of a laminated steel core which is enclosed and supported
by a cast iron or a steel frame as shown in Fig: 3.1(a).
The phase windings are placed 120 electrical degrees apart and may be
connected in either star or delta externally, for which six leads are brought out to
a terminal box mounted on the frame of the motor. When the stator is energized
from a three phase voltage it will produce a rotating magnetic field in the stator
core.
 Fig: 3.1
(b) Rotor Construction
The rotor of the squirrel cage motor shown in Fig: 3.1(b) contains no
windings. Instead it is a cylindrical core constructed of steel laminations with
conductor bars mounted parallel to the shaft and embedded near the surface of
the rotor core.
These conductor bars are short circuited by an end rings at both end of the
rotor core. In large machines, these conductor bars and the end rings are made up
of copper with the bars brazed or welded to the end rings shown in Fig: 3.1(b).In
small machines the conductor bars and end rings are sometimes made of
aluminum with the bars and rings cast in as part of the rotor core. Actually the
entire construction (bars and end-rings) resembles a squirrel cage, from which the
name is derived.
The rotor or rotating part is not connected electrically to the power supply
but has voltage induced in it by transformer action from the stator. For this reason,
the stator is sometimes called the primary and the rotor is referred to as the
secondary of the motor since the motor operates on the principle of induction and
as the construction of the rotor with the bars and end rings resembles a squirrel
cage, the squirrel cage induction motor is used.
The rotor bars are not insulated from the rotor core because they are made
of metals having less resistance than the core. The induced current will flow
mainly in them. Also the rotor bars are usually not quite parallel to the rotor shaft
but are mounted in a slightly skewed position. This feature tends to produce a
more uniform rotor field and torque. Also it helps to reduce some of the internal
magnetic noise when the motor is running.
Slip ring Induction Motors
(a) Stator Construction
The construction of the slip ring induction motor is exactly similar to the
construction of squirrel cage induction motor. There is no difference between
squirrel cage and slip ring motors.
(b) Rotor Construction
The rotor of the slip ring induction motor is also cylindrical or constructed
of lamination.
Squirrel cage motors have a rotor with short circuited bars whereas slip
ring motors have wound rotors having "three windings" each connected in star.
The winding is made of copper wire. The terminals of the rotor windings
of the slip ring motors are brought out through slip rings which are in contact with
stationary brushes as shown in Fig: 3.2.
 Fig: 3.2
(c) End Shields
The function of the two end shields is to support the rotor shaft. They are
fitted with bearings and attached to the stator frame with the help of studs or bolts
attention.

THE ADVANTAGES OF THE SLIPRING MOTOR ARE

• It has susceptibility to speed control by regulating rotor resistance.
• High starting torque of 200 to 250% of full load value.
• Low starting current of the order of 250 to 350% of the full load current.
Hence slip ring motors are used where one or more of the above requirements are
to be met.
Rotating Magnetic Field
Consider a simple stator having 6 salient poles, each of which carries a coil having
5 turns as shown in the figure. Coils that are diametrically opposite are connected
in series by means of three jumpers
that respectively connect terminals a-a, b-b, and c-c. This creates three identical
sets of windings AN, BN, CN, which are mechanically spaced at 120 degrees to
each other. The two coils in each winding produce magneto motive forces that
act in the same direction.
The three sets of windings are connected in wye, thus forming a common neutral
N. Owing to the perfectly symmetrical arrangement, the line to neutral
impedances are identical. In other words, as regards terminals A, B, C, the
windings constitute a balanced 3-phase system.
For a two-pole machine, rotating in the air gap, the magnetic field (i.e., flux
density) being sinusoidally distributed with the peak along the Centre of the
magnetic poles. The result is illustrated in Fig.3.5. The rotating field will induce
voltages in the phase coils aa', bb', and cc'. Expressions for the induced voltages
can be obtained by using Faraday laws of induction.
 Elementary stator having terminals A, B, C connected to a 3-phase source

When a 3-phase winding is energized from a 3-phase supply, a rotating magnetic

field is produced. This field is such that its poles do no remain in a fixed position
on the stator but go on shifting their positions around the stator. For this reason,
it is called a rotating Held.
It can be shown that magnitude of this rotating field is constant and is equal to
1.5 m where m is the maximum flux due to any phase.
To see how rotating field is produced, consider a 2-pole, 3-phase winding as
shown in Fig. 3.6 (i). The three phases X, Y and Z are energized from a 3-phase
source and currents in these phases are indicated as Ix, Iy and Iz [See Fig. 3.6
(ii)]. Referring to Fig. 3.6 (ii), the fluxes produced by these currents are given by:

Here fm is the maximum flux due to any phase. Above figure shows the phasor
diagram of the three fluxes. We shall now prove that this 3-phase supply produces
a rotating field of constant magnitude equal to 1.5 fm.
At instant 1 [See Fig. 3.6 (ii) and Fig. 3.6 (iii)], the current in phase X is zero and
currents in phases Y and Z are equal and opposite. The currents are flowing
outward in the top conductors and inward in the bottom conductors. This
establishes a resultant flux towards right. The magnitude of the resultant flux is
constant and is equal to 1.5 fm as proved under:
So,

At instant 2 [Fig: 3.7 (ii)], the current is maximum (negative) in fy phase Y and
0.5 maximum (positive) in phases X and Y. The magnitude of resultant flux is
1.5 fm as proved under:
At instant 2, ωt = 30°. Therefore, the three fluxes are given by;
 Fig: 3.6

At instant 3[Fig: 3.7 (iii)], current in phase Z is zero and the currents in phases X
and Y are equal and opposite (currents in phases X and Y arc 0.866 × max. value).
The magnitude of resultant flux is 1.5 fm as proved under:
Fig: 3.7
At instant 4 [Fig: 3.7 (iv)], the current in phase X is maximum (positive) and the
currents in phases V and Z are equal and negative (currents in phases V and Z are
0.5 × max. value). This establishes a resultant flux downward as shown under:

It follows from the above discussion that a 3-phase supply produces a rotating
field of constant value (= 1.5 fm, where fm is the maximum flux due to any phase).
Speed of rotating magnetic field
The speed at which the rotating magnetic field revolves is called the synchronous
speed (Ns). Referring to Fig. 3.6 (ii), the time instant 4 represents the completion
of one-quarter cycle of alternating current Ix from the time instant 1. During this
one quarter cycle, the field has rotated through 90°. At a time instant represented
by 13 [Fig. 3.6 (ii)] or one complete cycle of current Ix from the origin, the field
has completed one revolution. Therefore, for a 2-pole stator winding, the field
makes one revolution in one cycle of current. In a 4-pole stator winding, it can be
shown that the rotating field makes one revolution in two cycles of current. In
general, fur P poles, the rotating field makes one revolution in P/2 cycles of
current.
The speed of the rotating magnetic field is the same as the speed of the alternator
that is supplying power to the motor if the two have the same number of poles.
Hence the magnetic flux is said to rotate at synchronous speed.

Direction of rotating magnetic field

The phase sequence of the three-phase voltage applied to the stator winding in
Fig. 3.6 (ii) is X- Y-Z. If this sequence is changed to X-Z-Y, it is observed that
direction of rotation of the field is reversed i.e., the field rotates counter clockwise
rather than clockwise. However, the number of poles and the speed at which the
magnetic field rotates remain unchanged. Thus it is necessary only to change the
phase sequence in order to change the direction of rotation of the magnetic field.
For a three-phase supply, this can be done by interchanging any two of the three
lines. As we shall see, the rotor in a 3-phase induction motor runs in the same
direction as the rotating magnetic field. Therefore, the direction of rotation of a
3-phase induction motor can be reversed by interchanging any two of the three
motor supply lines.
Slip
We have seen above that rotor rapidly accelerates in the direction of rotating field.
In practice, the rotor can never reach the speed of stator flux. If it did, there would
be no relative speed between the stator field and rotor conductors, no induced
rotor currents and, therefore, no torque to drive the rotor. The friction and
windage would immediately cause the rotor to slow down. Hence, the rotor speed
(N) is always less than the suitor field speed (Ns). This difference in speed
depends upon load on the motor. The difference between the synchronous speed
Ns of the rotating stator field and the actual rotor speed N is called slip. It is
usually expressed as a percentage of synchronous speed i.e.
Rotor Current Frequency
The frequency of a voltage or current induced due to the relative speed between
a vending and a magnetic field is given by the general formula;

(ii) As the rotor picks up speed, the relative speed between the rotating flux
and the rotor decreases. Consequently, the slip s and hence rotor current
frequency decreases.
Rotor Torque

Starting Torque (Ts)

Let,
E2 = rotor e.m.f. per phase at standstill
X2 = rotor reactance per phase at standstill
R2 = rotor resistance per phase
Generally, the stator supply voltage V is constant so that flux per pole φ set up
by the stator is also fixed. This in turn means that e.m.f. E2 induced in the rotor
will be constant.

Torque Under Running Conditions

Let the rotor at standstill have per phase induced e.m.f. E2, reactance X2 and
resistance R2. Then under running conditions at slip s,
If the stator supply voltage V is constant, then stator flux and hence E2 will be
constant

where K2 is another constant.

It may be seen that running torque is:
(i) directly proportional to slip i.e., if slip increases (i.e., motor speed
decreases), the torque will increase and vice-versa.
(ii) directly proportional to square of supply voltage. It can be shown that
K1 = 3/2 π Ns.
At starting, s = 1 so that starting torque is

Maximum Torque under Running Conditions

In order to find the value of rotor resistance that gives maximum torque under
running conditions, differentiate above equation w.r.t. s and equate the result to
zero i.e.,

Thus for maximum torque (Tm) under running conditions :

Rotor resistance/phase = Fractional slip × Standstill rotor reactance/phase