Introduction to Electrical Drives

 Motion control is required in large number of industrial and domestic applications. Systems employed for
getting the required motion and their smooth control are called Drives.
 Drives require prime movers like Diesel or petrol engines, gas or steam turbines, hydraulic motors or electric
motors. These prime movers deliver the required mechanical energy for getting the motion and its control.
 Drives employing Electric motors as prime movers for motion control are called Electric Drives.

Advantages of Electrical Drives:

 The steady state and dynamic performance can be easily shaped to get the desired load characteristics over a
wide range of speeds and torques.
 Efficient Starting /Braking is possible with simple control gear.
 With the rapid development in the field of Power Electronics and availability of high speed/high power
devices like SCRs, Power MOSFETs, IGBTs etc., design of Efficient Power Converters to feed power to the
electric drives has become simple and easy.
 With the rapid development in the computer’s HW & SW, PLCs and Microcontrollers which can easily
perform the control unit functions have become easily available.
 Electric motors have high efficiency, low losses, and considerable overloading capability. They have longer
life, lower noise and lower maintenance requirements.
 They can operate in all the four quadrants of operation in the Torque/Speed plane. The resulting Electric
braking capability gives smooth deceleration and hence gives longer life for the equipment. Similarly
Regenerative braking results in considerable energy saving.
 Electrical drive
The load: Can be any one of the systems like pumps,
machines etc to carry out a specific task.
Power Converter: Performs one or more of the following
functions:
• Converts Electrical energy from the source into a form
suitable to the motor. Say AC to DC for a DC motor and
DC to AC for an Induction motor.
• Controls the flow of power to the motor so as to get the
Torque Speed characteristics as required by the load.
• During transient operations such as Starting, Braking,
Speed reversal etc limits the currents to permissible
levels to avoid conditions such as Voltage dips,
Overloads etc.
• Selects the mode of operation of the Motor i.e Motoring
or Braking
• Types of Converter: AC to DC, AC to AC, DC to DC Control unit/Sensing unit: The control unit controls
and DC to AC. the operation of the Power converter based on the
Electrical Motors: DC motors – Shunt, Series, Compound Input command and the feedback signal continuously
etc., AC motors Suirrelcage & Slip ring induction motors, obtained from a suitable point (In a closed loop
Special motors like Brushless DC motors, stepper motors operation) at the load end so as to get the desired load
etc. performance
 Review of DC Motor Drives:

• DC drives are widely used in applications requiring adjustable speed, good speed
regulation and frequent starting, braking, and reversing. Although since late sixties, it is
being predicted that AC drives would replace DC drives, even today the variable speed
applications are dominated by DC drives because of lower cost, reliability and simple
control.
DC motors and their performance:
• Basic schematic diagrams of DC separately excited, shunt and Series motors are shown in
the figure below.
a) In a separately excited DC motor the field and
armature are connected to separate voltage
sources and can be controlled independently.
b) In a shunt motor the field and the armature are
connected to the same source and cannot be
controlled independently.
c) In a series motor the field current and armature
current are same and hence the field flux is
dependent on armature current.
The Steady state equivalent circuit of a DC motor Armature is shown in the figure below.
• Resistance Ra is the resistance of the armature circuit. For
separately excited and shunt motors it is resistance of the armature
winding and for series motors it is the sum of the field winding and
armature winding resistances.
• The output characteristics of DC motors (Torque/Speed
characteristics): They can be obtained from the Motor’s Induced
voltage and torque equations plus the Kirchhoff’s voltage law
around the armature circuit and are given below.

From the above three equations we get the Basic general relation between Torque and speed as:
 Shunt and Separately excited motors:
 In their case with a constant field current the field flux can be assumed to be constant and then (Ka.
Φ) would be another constant K.Then the above Torque speed relations would become :

• The Speed/ Torque Characteristics of a DC Separately Excited

Motor for rated terminal voltage and full field current are
shown in the figure below. It is a drooping straight line.
• The no load speed is given by the Applied armature terminal
voltage and the field current. Speed falls with increasing load
torque.
• The speed regulation depends on the Armature circuit
resistance.
• The usual drop from no load to full load in the case of a
medium sized motor will be around 5%. Separately excited
motors are mostly used in applications where good speed
regulation and adjustable speed are required.
 Series Motor:

• In series motors the field flux Φ is dependent on the

armature current Ia and can be assumed to be
proportional to the armature current in the unsaturated
region of the magnetization characteristic. Then

• And using this value in the three general motor relations

given earlier we get
 Characteristics of a DC series motor
• Series motors are suitable for applications requiring high starting torque and heavy overloads.

• Since Torque is proportional to square of the armature current, for a given increase in load torque
the increase in armature current is less in case of series motor as compared to a separately excited
motor where torque is proportional to only armature current.

• Thus during heavy overloads power overload on the source power and thermal overload on the
motor are kept limited to reasonable small values.

• According to the above Speed torque equation, as speed varies inversely to the square root of the
Load torque, the motor runs at a large speed at light load.

• Generally the electrical machines’ mechanical strength permits their operation up to about twice
their rated speed.

• Hence the series motors should not be used in such drives where there is a possibility for the torque
to drop down to such an extent that the speed exceeds twice the rated speed.
 DC Motor speed control
There are two basic methods of control
• Armature Voltage Control ( AVC ) and
• Flux control
• Torque speed curves of both SE ( separately Excited )
motors and series motors
• using these methods are shown in the figure below.

Fig: Torque speed curves with AVC : Vr ( V rated)

 Important features of DC Motor speed control
• AVC is preferred because of high efficiency, good transient response, and good speed
regulation. But it can provide speed control below base speed only because armature
voltage cannot exceed the rated value.
• For speeds above Base speed Field Flux Control is employed. In a normally designed
motor the maximum speed can be twice the rated speed and in specially designed motors
it can be up to six times the rated speed.
• AVC is achieved by Single and Three phase Semi & Full converters.
• FC in separately excited motors is obtained by varying the voltage across the field
winding and in series motors by varying the number of turns in the field winding or by
connecting a diverting resistance across the field winding.
 Due to the maximum torque and power limitations , DC Drives operating
 With full field, AVC below base speed can deliver a constant maximum torque. This is because in
AVC with full field, the Torque is proportional to Ia and consequently the torque that the motor can
deliver has a maximum value.
 With rated Armature Voltage, Flux control above base speed can deliver a constant maximum power.
This is because at rated armature voltage, Pm is proportional to Ia and consequently the maximum
power that can be developed by the motor has a constant value.
 Single Phase Semi Converter Drive connected to DC Series Motors:

 Current and voltage waveforms for

continuous motor armature current
are shown in the figure below. When
SCR is triggered at a firing angle α
the current flows during the period α
to (π + α) for continuous conduction.

 In separately excited motors a large Back EMF is always present even when the armature
current is absent. This back EMF Eb tends to oppose the motor current and so the motor
current decays rapidly. This leads to discontinuous motor current over a wide range of
operations.
 Whereas in series motors the back EMF is proportional to the armature current and so Eb
decreases as Ia decreases. So the motor current tends to be continuous over a wide range of
operations. Only at high speed and low current is the motor current is likely to become
discontinuous
• Like in earlier semi converters Freewheeling diode is connected across the converter output
as shown in the figure above. Freewheeling action takes place during the interval π to (π +
α) in continuous current operation.

In phase controlled converters for Series

motors, the current is mostly continuous and
the motor terminal voltage can be written as

Hence from the above equation the average

speed can be written as
The torque Speed characteristics under the assumption of continuous and ripple free current
flow are shown in the figure below for different firing angles α.
 Single Phase Full Converter Drive feeding a Separately Excited DC Motor:

A full converter is a two quadrant converter in

which the output voltage can be bipolar but
the current will be unidirectional since the
Thyristors are unidirectional. A full converter
feeding a separately excited DC motor is
shown in the figure below.

In this all the four devices are thyristors (T1

to T4) connected in a bridge configuration as
shown in the figure.
Fig: Single Phase full converter feeding a separately excited
The operation of the Full converter shown in DC motor
the figure above is explained with the help of
the waveforms shown below.
Thyristors T1 and T3 are simultaneously triggered at
a firing angle of α and thyristors T2 and T4 are
triggered at firing angle (π+α).
The voltage and current waveforms under
continuous current mode are shown in the figure
below. At (π+α) when the thyristors T2 and T4 are
triggered, immediately the supply voltage which is
negative appears across the Thyristors T1 and T3 as
reverse bias and switches them off.
The motor current ia which was flowing from the
supply through T1 and T3 is now transferred to T2
and T4. During α to π energy flows from the input
supply to the motor ( both e & is and ea & ia are
positive signifying positive power flow).
However during the period π to (π+ α) some of the
motor energy is fed back to the input system. (e & is
and similarly ea & ia have opposite polarities
signifying reverse power flow).
 Torque Speed Characteristics of a DC separately excited motor connected to a Single
phase Full converter:
Assuming motor current to be continuous, the motor armature voltage as derived above for the
single phase full converter is given by:
In a separately excited DC motor:
T = Ia. Ka.φ.
And applying this relationship along with
the above value of Ea (α ) for the full
converter in the above expression for the
speed we get :
ω = [(2Em/π)(cos α)-- IaRa ]/ Kaφ.
In terms of average voltages, KVL around the ω = [(2Em/π)(cos α) / Kaφ] -- [IaRa/
motor armature gives Kaφ+
ω = [(2Em/π)(cos α) / Kaφ] –
[T.Ra/( Kaφ)2]
And therefore the average speed is given by : The no-load
ωnl= speed of the
[(2Em/π)(cos α) /motor
Kaφ is given by :
ω = [ Ea (α ) -- IaRa ]/ Kaφ. where the torque T = 0
The resulting torque speed characteristics are shown in the figure below.

Fig: Torque Speed characteristics of separately excited DC motor Connected to

a single Phase fully controlled drive at different firing angles.
 Single Phase Converter Drives for DC Series Motors
Figure below shows the scheme of a basic single phase speed control circuit connected to a
DC series motor. As shown the field circuit is connected in series with the armature and the
motor terminal voltage is controlled by a semi or a full
converter.
Series motors are particularly suitable for
applications that require a high starting torque
such as cranes hoists, elevators, vehicles etc.
• Inherently series motors can provide constant
power and are therefore particularly suitable
for traction drives.
• Speed control is very difficult with the series
motor because any change in load current will
immediately reflect in the speed change and
hence for all speed control requirements
separately excited motors will be used.
In the figure the armature resistance Ra and Inductance La are shown along with the field
resistance and inductance. The basic DC series motor equations are given below again for ease
of reference
 Single Phase Semi Converter Drive connected to DC Series Motors
The figure below shows the power circuit of a single phase semi converter controlled DC
series motor.

Current and voltage waveforms for continuous motor armature current are shown in the figure
below. When SCR is triggered at a firing angle α the current flows during the period α to (π +
α) for continuous conduction.
In separately excited motors a large Back EMF is always present even when the armature
current is absent. This back EMF Eb tends to oppose the motor current and so the motor
current decays rapidly. This leads to discontinuous motor current over a wide range of
operations.
Whereas in series motors the back EMF is
proportional to the armature current and so
Eb decreases as Ia decreases. So the motor
current tends to be continuous over a wide
range of operations. Only at high speed
and low current is the motor current is
likely to become discontinuous.
Like in earlier semi converters
Freewheeling diode is connected across the
converter output as shown in the figure
above. Freewheeling action takes place
during the interval π to (π + α) in
continuous current operation.
Hence from the above equation the average
In phase controlled converters for Series
speed can be written as
motors, the current is mostly continuous and the
motor terminal voltage can be written as
The torque Speed characteristics under the assumption of continuous and ripple free
current flow are shown in the figure below for different firing angles α.
 Single Phase full converter drive connected to a DC series motor
The figure below shows the power circuit of a single phase Fully controlled converter connected
to a DC series motor.
Thyristors T1 & T3 are simultaneously
triggered at α and T2 & T4 are simultaneously
triggered at (π + α).
Current and voltage waveforms for continuous
motor armature current are shown in the figure
below.
When SCR is triggered at a firing angle α the
current flows during the period α to (π + α) for
continuous
conduction.

Fig: DC Series motor Full converter waveforms in

continuous current operation.

Fig: Power circuit of a Series motor connected to a fully controlled converter

 The motor terminal voltage can be written as

Hence from the above equation the expression

for average speed can be written as

Fig: Torque Speed characteristics of a

The torque Speed characteristics under the
Series motor connected to a fully
assumption of continuous and ripple free
controlled converter
current flow are shown in the figure below for
different firing angles α.
 Summary
Important conclusions and concepts
 In single phase converters output ripple frequency is 100 Hz.(both semi and full)
 Semi converters are one quadrant converters. i.e. they have one polarity of voltage and
current at the DC terminals. In this as firing angle varies from 0 to 1800 DC output varies
from maximum (2Em /π) to zero.
 A full converter is a two quadrant converter in which the output voltage can be bipolar but
the current will be unidirectional since the thyristors are Unidirectional. In this as firing
angle varies from 0 to 1800 DC output varies from maximum (2Em /π) to (- 2Em /π)
Separately excited motors are mostly used in applications where good speed regulation and
adjustable speed are required. Series motors are suitable for applications requiring high
starting torque and heavy overloads.
 In case of series motors, Since Torque is proportional to square of the armature current, for
a given increase in load torque the increase in armature current is less as compared to
separately excited motors where torque is proportional to only armature current.
 There are two basic methods of speed control. Armature Voltage Control and Flux Control.
 AVC is used for speeds below base speeds and FC for speeds above base speed.
Due to the maximum torque and power limitations DC Drives operating
• With full field , AVC below base speed can deliver a maximum constant torque and
• With rated Armature Voltage, Flux control above base speed can deliver a maximum constant
power.
• AVC is achieved by Single and three phase Semi & Full converters.
• FC in separately excited motors is obtained by varying the voltage across the field winding
and in series motors by varying the number of turns in the field winding or by connecting a
diverting resistance across the field winding.
Torque speed relations in semi converter:
Example-1: A separately excited d.c . motor is fed from a 230 V, 50 Hz supply via a single-
phase , half –controlled bridge rectifier. Armature parameters are: inductance 0.06 H,
resistance 0.3 Ω, the motor voltage constant is Ka = 0.9 V/A rad/s and the field resistance is
RF = 104 Ω. The filed current is also controlled by semi converter and is set to the
maximum possible value. The load torque is TL = 50 N-m at 800 rpm. The inductances of
the armature and field circuits are sufficient enough to make the armature and filed current
continuous and ripple free. Compute : (i) The field current (ii) The firing angle of the
converter in the armature circuit.
Solution:
(i) First point to be noted is since the units of Ka are V/A rad/sec the basic governing
equations for back emf Eb and Torque T will become : Eb = Kaf. If.ω and T = Kaf. If.Ia
where Kaf.is to be taken as the given Ka = 0.9 V/A rad/s
(ii) For single-phase semi converter controlled d.c. drive, we can write the expression for
field supply voltage as
Example-2: The speed of a 10 HP, 210 V, 1000 rpm separately excited D.C. motor is
controlled by a single-phase full-converter. The rated motor armature current is 30 A, and the
armature resistance is Ra = 0.25 Ω. The a.c. supply voltage is 230 V. The motor voltage
constant is KaΦ = 0.172 V/rpm. Assume that sufficient inductance is present in the armature
circuit to make the motor current continuous and ripple free. For a firing angle α = 45, and
rated motor armature current, determine: 1) The motor torque 2) Speed of the motor at Rated
armature current.
Solution:
(1) The motor Torque: can be found out directly by using the relation T = Ka ΦIa. But the
constant Ka Φ is same in the relations for torque and back emf if it is V/Rad/sec in back
emf and N-m/A in torque. But it is given in V/RPM . Hence it is first converted to V/Rad/sec
and then used in the expression for torque . The units of the Ka Φ (V/Rad/sec) = Ka Φ
(V/RPM) x 60/2π
Rated Motor Torque TR at rated armature current = Ka ΦIaR = 1.64 × 30 = 49.2 Nm.
(2) Speed of the Motor at Rated armature current: The armature voltage in a fully controlled
single phase converter is given by:
 Control of DC Motors by Three Phase Converters

Three Phase Half Wave Rectifier:

 Three Phase Full Converter drive connected to a DC separately excited motor

• Figure below shows a three phase Full

converter drive circuit connected to a DC
separately excited DC motor.
• It is a two quadrant drive without any field
reversal. The operation of this circuit is
explained with the help of the following
important points and with voltage waveforms
shown below.
Each thyristor conducts for a duration of 120 degrees and two thyristors conduct at a time one from the
Positive group and the other from the Negative group , applying respective line voltage to the motor.
 At any given instant of time, thyristors conduct in pairs and there are six such pairs. They are : (T6,
T1), (T1, T2), (T2, T3), (T3, T4), (T4, T5) and (T5, T6).
 Each SCR conducts in two consecutive pairs.
 Transfer of current takes place from an outgoing to an incoming thyristor when the respective line
voltage is of such a polarity that it not only forward biases the incoming thyristor but it also leads to
reverse biasing of the outgoing thyristor when the incoming thyristor turns on. In other words
incoming thyristor commutates the outgoing thyristor. i.e T1 commutates T5,T2 commutates T6,T3
commutates T1 and so on.
 The table below gives the details of conducting thyristor pairs, Incoming and outgoing thyristors and
the corresponding Line voltages applied across the load.
 For α > 60° the waveforms are different. The voltages go negative due to the inductive load. The
previous SCR pair continues to conduct till the next in the sequence is triggered. For e.g. SCRs T6
and T1 continue to conduct up to (90+ α) when T2 is triggered. When T2 is triggered it commutates
T6 and then the pair (T1,T2) will continue.
 For α = 90° the area under the positive & the negative cycles are equal and the average voltage is
zero.
 For α < 90° the average voltage is positive and for α > 90° the average voltage is negative. The
maximum value of α is 180°
• The output voltage is always a six pulse stream with a ripple frequency of 300 Hz
irrespective of the firing angle α.
Table: Firing sequence of SCRs in the 3 φ full converter

• For a better understanding of this topic the vector diagram of the three Phase voltages
(w.r.to Neutral) and the six line to line voltages as obtained from a Star connected source
are shown in the figure below.
• From the above Phasor diagram the Phase and Amplitudes of the three phase voltages and
the six line to line voltages can easily be worked out and are given in the table below.
 Table: Phase/ Amplitudes of the three phase voltages and the six line voltages

• The voltage and current waveforms in this converter for α = 60° are shown in the figure below.
The instants of firing the thyristors is marked for α = 60° alone for a clear understanding .
• The ripple in the output voltage is six pulses per cycle. Since there are six thyristors in the
circuit, they are fired at a faster rate (once in 60 ° ) and the motor current is mostly continuous.
• Therefore the filtering requirement is less than that in the semi converter system. The operation
is explained for the marked firing angle of α = 60°
Procedure:
• Thyristor T1 turns on at ωt = (30° + α) . Prior to this SCR T6 was switched ON. Therefore
during the interval ωt = (30° + α) to ωt = (30° + α +60°), thyristors T1 and T6 conduct and
the Voltage eAB gets applied to the motor terminals.
• Thyristor T2 gets triggered at ωt = (30° + α +60°) and immediately SCR T6 gets reverse
biased and thus gets switched off.
• The current flow changes from T6 to T2 and so the voltage eAC now gets applied to the
motor terminals.
• This process repeats for every 60° whenever a new thyristor in the sequence gets triggered.
The thyristors are numbered in the sequence in which they are triggered.

Applying the same logic the waveform for α = 90 and 120 is worked out and shown along
with that of 60 firing angle. It can be seen that the instantaneous voltages that get applied to
the motor become negative for half the period and the average value becomes zero for α = 90.
For firing angle of 120 it can be seen that the amplitude of the negative peaks is larger and
the average output voltage is negative.
• As the firing angle α changes from 0 to 90° the output load voltage varies from maximum to
zero and the converter is working in Rectifier mode.
• For firing angles of α from 90° to 180° the voltage varies from zero to negative maximum
voltage and the converter is working in Inverter mode.
Expression for the Average output voltage:
By observing the waveforms of the output voltage and their symmetry, the average value of
output voltage can be obtained by integrating eAB (ERY in the following equation to be
corrected as eAB) over the time limits ωt = (30°+α) to (90°+α) and averaging over the time
period of 60 ( π/3 Radians )
 Torque Speed relationships with Full converter connected to a DC
separately excited motor
Assuming motor current to be continuous, the motor armature voltage as derived above for the
full converter is given by:
Ea (α ) = (3√3 Em/π)(cos α)
Applying this value of Ea (α ) for the full converter in the general expression for speed ω
which we already have for a DC separately excited motor
ω = [Ea / Kaφ+ – [Ra/ (Kaφ)2+ τ
we finally get :
ω = *(3√3 Em/π)(cos α) / Kaφ+ – [Ra/ (Kaφ)2] τ
The first term in the above equation for the Speed gives the No-load speed (τ = 0 ) which
therefore depends on Ea(α).
As could be seen, the relationship is identical to that of a single phase full converter connected
to a DC separately excited motor we have seen earlier(except that the amplitude of Ea(α) is
different) and so the torque speed characteristics are identical (Same curves can be redrawn
here )
 Three Phase Semi Converter drive connected to a DC separately excited motor:
Figure below shows the power circuit of a three
Phase Semiconductor drive connected to a DC
separately excited motor. It consists of three
SCRs, three diodes and an additional
freewheeling diode. It is a one quadrant drive
with field reversal capability. The field
converter can also be a single phase or three
phase semi converter.
• The voltage waveform for this converter is shown in the figure below for a firing angle α =
90° and for continuous current. The operation of this converter is explained with the help of
the waveform shown below and the following important points.
• Since there are only three SCRs, they fire at 120° interval ( It may be recalled that this
interval was 180° for single-phase full converters and was 60° for three phase full converters)
• Though SCRs get forward biased when their respective phase voltages are positive maximum,
they conduct only when they are fired.
• Diodes start conducting as soon as they are forward biased. And the diodes which get
lowest phase voltage get forward biased.
• Hence It can be seen that only three Line voltages EAC, EBA and ECB get applied to the
load when the corresponding diodes are forward biased.
• Applying the above basic principles the line voltages that get applied to the load are
sketched directly from the three Phase voltages for firing angle α= 90°.
• The conduction periods of the diodes and the thyristors are shown in terms of instants of
time t1 to t6. As shown, the diodes D1, D2 and D3 conduct during the intervals t4 to t6,t6
to t8 and t2 to t4 respectively.
• If thyristors T1,T2 and T3 were also diodes they would have conducted during the periods
t1 to t3, t2 to t5 and t5 to t7 respectively.
• Therefore the references for the triggering angles for T1,T2 and T3 are taken as the
instants t1,t3 and t5 respectively. They are the crossing points for the phase voltages eA,
eB, and eC.
 Operation of the converter

• As shown, thyristor T1 gets triggered at ωt = (30°+α) and during the interval ωt = (30°+α) to
ωt = ωt4, thyristor T1 & Diode D3 conduct thus applying the voltage eAC to the motor
terminals.
• At ωt4 ,eA becomes zero and then becomes negative with respect to both eB and eC.
• During this period the freewheeling diode Df becomes forward biased and the motor current
flows through that until the next thyristor T2 is triggered at ωt = (30°+α+ 120°).
• Then during the interval ωt =(30°+α+ 120°) to ωt = ωt6, thyristor T2 & Diode D1 conduct
applying the voltage eBA to the motor terminals.
• At ωt6 ,eB becomes zero and then becomes negative with respect to both eA and eC.
• During this period the freewheeling diode Df again becomes forward biased and the motor
current flows through that until the next thyristor T3 is triggered at ωt = (30°+α+ 240°).
• Then during the interval ωt = (30°+α+ 240°) to ωt = ωt8, thyristors T3 & Diode D2 conduct
applying the voltage eCB to the motor terminals.
Expression for the average output voltage
• By observing the waveform of the output
voltage and it’s symmetry, the average
value of output voltage can be obtained by
integrating eAC over the time limits ωt=
(30°+α) to 210 and averaging over the time
period of 120.
• It may be noted that the upper limit is taken
as 210 since it is always fixed and is
independent of α for all the three line
voltages.
Torque Speed relationships with Semi converter connected to a DC separately excited motor:
Assuming motor current to be continuous, the motor armature voltage as derived above for the
semi converter is given by
Ea (α ) = (3√3 Em/2π)(1+cos α)
Applying this value of Ea (α ) for the full converter in the general expression for speed we
already have for a DC separately excited motor

ω = *Ea / Kaφ+ – [Ra/ (Kaφ)2+ τ

we finally get :
ω = *(3√3 Em/2π)(1+cos α) / Kaφ+ – [Ra/ (Kaφ)2+ τ
The first term in the above equation for the Speed gives the No-load speed (τ = 0 ) which
therefore depends on Ea(α).
As could be seen the relationship is identical to that of a single phase semi converter connected to
a DC separately excited motor we have seen earlier( except that the amplitude of Ea (α ) is
different) and the torque speed characteristics are identical ( Same curves can be redrawn here)
The variation of Ea as a function of α in Semi and Full converters:
The variation of Ea as a function of α for continuous motor current is shown in the figure below
for both Semi and Full converters.
• These curves also represent the theoretical no-
load speed as a function of firing angle for the
separately excited motors.
• The second term represents the decrease in
speed as the motor torque increases. Since the
motor armature resistance is small the decrease
in speed is small (i.e. good regulation).
• In large motors, the motor current at no-load is
not small and hence if a three phase converter
is used, the motor current is more likely to be
continuous even at no-load condition.
• Therefore three phase drives provide better
speed regulation and performance compared to
single phase drives.
 Torque Speed relationships with Full converter connected to DC series motor
In phase controlled converters for Series motors, the
current is mostly continuous and the motor terminal
voltage as derived earlier for the full converter is:
Ea (α ) =(3√3 Em/π)(cos α) As could be seen the relationship is
In terms of average voltages, KVL around the motor identical to that of a single phase semi
armature gives: converter connected to a DC series
Ea (α ) = Eb + IaRa = Kaφ.N + IaRa motor we have seen earlier( except
And therefore the average speed is given by : that the amplitude of Ea(α) is
ω = [ Ea (α ) -- IaRa ]/ Kaφ. different) and the torque speed
In series motors Torque is given by: characteristics are identical (Same
T = Kaφ. Ia= Ka. Kf.If.Ia curves can be redrawn here )
= Kaf .I 2
Hence from the above equation the average speed can
be written as:
ω = [(3√3 Em/π)(cosα)/(Kaf.Ia)] -- [(Ra . Ia/ Kaf .Ia)]
ω = [(3√3 Em/π)(cosα)/√(Kaf.T)] -- [(Ra/ Kaf)]
 Summary:
Important conclusions and concepts:
• In Full converter as the firing angle α changes from 0 to 90° the output voltage varies from
Positive maximum Voltage to zero and the converter works in Rectifier mode. And as s the
firing angle α changes from 90° to 180° the output voltage varies from zero to negative
maximum voltage and the converter works in Inverter mode.ie. Where as in a semi converter
as the firing angle α changes from 0 to 180° the output voltage varies from Positive
maximum Voltage to zero and the converter works in Rectifier mode throughout.
• Hence in both Single Phase and Three phase Full converters work in two quadrants and
Semi converters work in single quadrant.
• The ripple frequency of the output of a 3φ Half Wave Rectifier is 150 Hz
• The ripple frequency of the output of a 3φ Full Wave Rectifier is 300 Hz
• The ripple frequency of the output of a 3φ Semi converter is 150 Hz except for α = 0° when
it is 300 Hz.
• The ripple frequency of the output of a 3φ Full converter is 300 Hz
• The motor current in three phase converters may be discontinuous at large firing angles if
the current demand is low and the speed is not low.
• In large motors, the motor current at no-load is not small and hence if a three phase converter
is used, the motor current is more likely to be continuous even at no-load condition. Therefore
three phase drives provide better speed regulation and performance compared to single phase
drives.
• The ripple in the output voltage of a three phase Full converter is six pulses per cycle. Since
there are six thyristors in the circuit, they are fired at a faster rate (once in 60° ) and the motor
current is mostly continuous. Therefore the filtering requirement is less than that in the three
phase semi converter and single phase converter.

Important formulae and equations:

• Torque Speed relationships with Full converter connected to DC Separately excited motor :
• Terminal Voltage Ea (α ) = (3√3 Em/π)(cos α)
• Speed ω = *(3√3 Em/π)(cos α) / Kaφ+ – [T.Ra/ (Kaφ)2]

Torque Speed relationships with Full converter connected to DC series motor :

o Terminal Voltage Ea (α ) =(3√3 Em/π)(cos α)
o Speed ω = [(3√3 Em/π)(cosα)/√(Kaf.T)] -- [(Ra/ Kaf)]
Torque Speed relationships with Semi converter connected to DC Separately excited
motor :
o Terminal voltage Ea (α ) = (3√3 Em/2π)(1+cos α)
o Speed ω = *(3√3 Em/2π)(1+cos α) / Kaφ+ -- [T.Ra/ (Kaφ)2]

• Torque Speed relationships with Semi converter connected to DC series motor :

o Terminal voltage Ea (α ) = (3√3 Em/2π)(1+cos α)
o Speed ω = [(3√3 Em/2π)(1+cosα)/√(Kaf.T)] -- [(Ra/ Kaf)]
Example-1: A 80 kW, 440V, 800 rpm DC. Motor is operating at 600 rpm and developing
75 % rated torque when controlled by a 3-Ø, six-pulse thyristor converter. If the back emf
at rated speed is 410 V, determine the triggering angle of the converter. The input to the
converter is 3-Ø, 415 V 50 Hz a.c. supply.
Solution:
Given data: EbR = 410 V, NR = 800 rpm, N2 = 600 rpm. Rated Power = 80kW, Rated
Voltage ER= 440 V
 Exapmle-2: The speed of a 150 HP, 650 V, 1750 rpm, separately excited d.c motoris controlled
by a 3-Ø, 460 V, 50 Hz supply. The rated armature current of the motor is 170 A. The motor
parameters are Ra = 0.099 Ω, La = 0.73 mH, and KaØ =0.33 V/rpm. Neglecting the losses in
converter system, determine:
(a) No-load speeds at firing angles α = 0 and α = 30. Assume that at no-load, the armature
current is 10% of the rated current and is continuous. (b) The firing angle to obtain rated speed
of 1750 rpm at rated motor current.
(c) The speed regulation for the firing angle obtained in part (b)
Solution: Given data : Rated voltage EaR = 650 V , Rated speedNR =1750 RPM ,Input Supply
3-Ø, 460 V, rated armature current IaR = 170 A, Ra = 0.099 Ω, La = 0.73 mH, rated power = 150
HP and KaØ = 0.33 V/rpm
Important Point to be noted:Since the units of KaØ is given as V/rpm the governing equation
for back emf has to be taken as Eb = KaØ.N where N is speed in rpm. Further since the flux Ø is
embedded in the constant we can take the flux and hence the field current as constant. Thus the
given KaØ constant can be used as it is.
(a) No-load condition speeds for firing angles of α = 0 and α = 30:
Though not specifically mentioned, the converter is taken as a fully controlled converter whose
output voltage is given by:
where as per our normal convention Em = maximum Phase voltage.
Input voltage is normally taken as line voltage when not specified.
Hence VL= 460 V. Then supply phase voltage is,
Example-3: The speed of a 25 Hp, 320 V, 960 rpm separately excited D.C. motor iscontrolled
by a 3-Φ Full Converter. The field current is also controlled by a threephase Full Converter
and is set to the maximum possible value. The A.C. input is a 3-Ø, star-connected 210 V, 50
Hz supply. The armature resistance is Ra = 0.2 Ω, the field resistance is Rf = 130 Ω, and the
motor voltage constant is Ka = 1.2 V/A Rad/s. The armature and field current are continuous
and ripple free. Determine:
(a) The firing angle of the armature converter if the field converter is operated at the
maximum field current and the developed torque is 110 N-m at 960 rpm.
(b) The speed of the motor if the field circuit converter is set for the maximum field current,
the developed torque is 110 N-m and the firing angle of the armature converter is 0.
(c) The firing angle of the converter if the speed has to increase to 1750 rpm, for the same load
requirement in part (b). Neglect the system losses.
Solution
(a) Since the input is from a 3-Ø, star-connected supply, the given 210 Volts value is
r.m.s.value of line voltage. But for calculating the Armature voltage we need maximum value
of Phase voltage.
So we have take the Torque and Speed relations as T = Ia Kaf If and Eb = ω Kaf If
 FOUR QUADRANT OPERATION OF DC DRIVES

CONTENTS
 Introduction to Four Quadrant Operation
 Motoring operations
 Electric Braking – Plugging, Dynamic and Regenerative Brakingoperation.
 Four quadrant operation of D.C motors by Dual Converters
 Closed loop operation of DC motor (Block Diagram Only)
 Summary
 Important concepts and conclusions
 Illustrative Examples
Introduction to Four quadrant operation of electric
drives:
• An electrical drive has to operate in three modes. i.e.
starting, steady state and braking.
• To achieve this in both directions (forward and reverse)
four quadrant operation as shown in the figure below is
required which shows the torque and speed coordinates
for forward and reverse motions.
• Power developed by a motor is given by the product of
speed and torque.
Sign Conventions:
• Positive speed is FORWARD and negative speed is
REVERSE. • First with reference to
• Sign of Power is the product of the signs of Torque and the figure above and
Speed. When it is positive it is MOTORING and when it then with a practical
is negative it is BRAKING. example of Hoist (Lift)
• With this convention the four quadrant operation of
Motors is explained below.
 In Q-1 both power & speed are positive (forward).
Motor works as a motor delivering mechanical
energy to the load. Hence Q-1 operation is
designated as forward Motoring.
 In Q-2 power is negative but speed is positive
(forward). Motor works as a brake opposing the
motion. Hence Q-2 operation is designated as
Forward Braking.
 In Q-3 power is positive but speed is negative
(reverse). Motor works as a motor delivering
mechanical energy to the load. Hence Q-3 operation  For a better understanding
of the four quadrant
is
 designated as Reverse Motoring. operation of the drives and
the related notations a
 In Q-4 both power and speed are negative (reverse).
practical example of a Hoist
Motor works as a brake opposing the motion. Hence
(Lift) operating in four
Q-4 operation is designated as quadrants is considered and
 Reverse Braking. explained in next slide.
 Directions of motor and load torques and
direction of speed are marked with arrows.
 A hoist consists of a rope wound on a drum
coupled to the motor shaft.
 One end of the rope is connected to the carriage
which carries men and/or material from one
level to another level.
 Other end of the rope is connected to a
counterweight to balance the carriage so as to
distribute the load on the motor in both
directions.
 Weight of the counterweight is chosen such that
it is higher than the empty carriage but lesser
than the fully loaded carriage.
Speed and Torque Sign Conventions: Are explained
again with reference to the directions of Speed and
Torque shown in the figure above.
Speed and Torque Sign Conventions: Are explained
again with reference to the directions of Speed and
Torque shown in the figure.
 Forward direction of motion or forward Speed is
considered to be the one which gives Upward
motion to the carriage which is a result of
Anticlockwise movement of the pulley (looking
into the page)
 Similarly Reverse direction of motion or
Reverse Speed is considered to be the one which
gives Downward ward motion to the carriage
which is a result of Clockwise movement of the
pulley ( looking into the page)
 Similarly the Torque is considered to be Positive
when acting Anticlockwise and Negative when
acting Clockwise.
 The sign of the Power becomes the product of
the sign of Torque and Speed.
  Load torque characteristics are also shown in the
diagram and are assumed to be constant. Tl1 in
quadrants 1 and 4 represents the speed torque
 characteristic of the loaded carriage.
 This torque is the difference of torques between loaded
hoist and the counter weight and is positive since
loaded carriage weight is higher than the counter
weight.
 Tl2 in quadrants 2 and 3 represents the speed torque
characteristic of the empty carriage.
 This torque is the difference of torques between empty
hoist and the counter weight and is negative since
empty carriage
In Quadrant -1 weight is lesser than the counter weight.
The operation the loaded cage moves upwards corresponding to positive motor speed which in
this case is anticlockwise movement of the pulley (looking into the page). This motion will be
obtained if the motor produces positive torque in anti clock wise direction equal to the magnitude
of the load torque Tl1. Since both Torque and Speed are Positive Power is also positive and this
operation is Forward Motoring.
In Quadrant-4
operation the loaded cage moves downwards
corresponding to a negative motor speed which in this
case is clock wise movement of the pulley (looking into
the page). Since the weight of a loaded cage is higher
than the counterweight, it will come down due to the
gravity itself. In order to limit the speed of the cage to a
safe value, motor must produce a positive torque T equal
to the load torque Tl1 in anticlockwise direction. Since
Torque is positive and Speed is Negative Power is
Negative corresponding to Reverse Braking.
In Quadrant -2
operation the empty cage moves upwards corresponding to a positive motor speed which in this
case is anticlockwise movement of the pulley. (Looking into the page) Since the weight of
counterweight is higher than the weight of an empty cage, it will automatically move upwards. In
order to limit the speed of the cage to a safe value, motor must produce a braking torque T equal
to the load torque Tl2 in clockwise (negative) direction. Since Torque is negative and Speed is
positive the Power is Negative corresponding to Forward Braking.
In Quadrant -3
operation, empty cage is lowered.
Since an empty cage weight is lesser
than the counter weight, the motor
must produce a negative torque i.e. in
clockwise direction.
Since both Speed and Torque both are
negative, Power is positive and this
operation becomes Reverse Motoring.
 Starting
• Maximum current that a DC motor can safely carry is mainly limited by the maximum current that can
be commutated without sparking.
• For normally designed machines twice the rated current can be allowed and in specially designed
machines it can be up to 3.5 times the rated current.
• During starting when the motor is standstill, the motor back emf will be zero and the only resistance
that can limit the current is the armature resistance, which is quite small for almost all DC motors.
• Hence if a DC motor is started with full rated voltage applied to its terminals then a very large current
will flow and damage the motor due to heavy sparking in the commutator and heating of the winding.
Hence the current is to be limited to a safe value during starting.
• In closed loop speed controllers where Speed and
current controllers are used the current can be
limited to a safe value during starting. But in
systems without such controllers a variable
resistance controller such as the one shown in
figure below is used during starting to limit the
current.
• As the back emf increases with gradual increase in speed, section by section resistances will be
removed either manually or remotely with the help of contactors so as to keep the current within
the maximum and minimum limits
 Braking:
An electrical drive has to operate in three modes i.e. steady state, starting and braking during
both forward and reverse directions. Braking operation is required in two cases.
 For reducing the speed (deceleration) while the drive is operating in Forward (Quadrant-1) or
Reverse (Quadrant-3) motoring modes. Steady state is reached when the motoring torque is
equal to the load torque
 While driving an Active load. That means when the load assists the drive motion [for e.g.
moving a loaded hoist in the down ward direction (Reverse braking: quadrant-4) or moving an
unloaded hoist in the upward direction (Forward braking: quadrant -2)]. Steady state is reached
when the braking torque is equal to the load torque.
In both the cases braking can be achieved by mechanical braking. But it has lot of disadvantages:
Frequent maintenance like replacement of brake shoes/lining, lower life, wastage of braking
power as heat et. These disadvantages are overcome by Electrical braking but many a times
mechanical braking also supplements the electrical braking for reliable and safe operation of the
drive.
During electric braking the motor works as a generator developing a torque which opposes the
rotational motion. There are three types of electrical braking.
During electric braking the motor works as a generator developing a torque which opposes the
rotational motion. There are three types of electrical braking.
1. Regenerative braking
2. Dynamic or Rheostatic braking and
3. Plugging or Reverse voltage braking.
Regenerative Braking:
In this, the generated energy is supplied to the source. For
this to happen, the following conditions should be
satisfied:
ǀEbǀ > ǀEaǀ and negative Ia
The concept of regenerative braking can be explained by
considering a fully controlled Rectifier connected to a DC
separately excited motor as shown in the figure (a) below.
The polarities of output voltage, back emf and armature
current are shown in the figure (a) above for the motoring
operation in the forward direction. The Fig: Two quadrant operation of a Fully
converter output is positive with firing angle in the range Controlled rectifier feeding a DC separately
0° ≤ α ≤ 90°. excited motor
Direction of power flow can be reversed if the direction of current flow is reversed. But this is
not possible because the converter can carry current in only one direction. Then the only method
available for reversal of power flow is by the following steps.
1. Reverse the Converter output voltage Ea
2. Also reverse the Back emf Eb with respect to the converter terminals
3. And make lEbl > lEal . as shown in fig (b). Out of these three steps
Step 1. i.e. the rectifier voltage Ea can be reversed by making α> 90. Step.3.i.e. the condition
lEbl > lEal can be satisfied by choosing a value of α in the range 90 > α < 180. Step2. The
reversal of motor emf with respect to rectifier terminals can be done by any of the following
changes.
A. The motor armature terminals can be
reversed w.r.to the converter terminals using
a reversing switch with the motor still
running in the forward direction. (with
contactors or thyristors as shown in the figure
below) This gives forward regeneration.
B. The field current may be reversed with the motor running in the forward direction and this
also gives forward regeneration without any changes in the armature connections.
 Regenerative braking cannot be obtained
 If the drive runs in the forward direction only and there is no
arrangement for the reversal of either the armature or the field.
 If the converter shown above is a Semi converter.
Dynamic Braking:
• In dynamic braking, the motor armature is disconnected from
the source voltage and connected across a high wattage
resistance RB .The generated energy is dissipated in the
Braking and armature resistances. The braking connections are
shown below for DC separately excited motor and DC series
motor.
• In the case of a series motor, it can be seen that the
field terminal connections are reversed such that the
field current continues to flow in the same direction
so that the field assists the residual magnetism.
Figure below shows the Speed- Torque curves for
both type of motors and the transition from
Motoring to Braking.
 Dynamic Braking
In dynamic braking, the motor armature is
disconnected from the source voltage and
connected across a high wattage
resistance RB .The generated energy is
dissipated in the Braking and armature
resistances. The braking connections are
shown below for DC separately excited
motor and DC series motor.
In the case of a series motor, it can be
seen that the field terminal connections
are reversed such that the field current
continues to flow in the same direction
so that the field assists the residual
magnetism. Figure below shows the
Speed-Torque curves for both type of
motors and the transition from
Motoring to Braking.
 Plugging:
In a DC separately excited motor Supply
voltage is reversed so that it assists the Back
EMF in forcing the Armature current in the
reverse direction. In a Series motor Instead of
supply voltage, armature alone is reversed so
that the field current direction is not changed. In
addition, like in dynamic braking, a Braking
resistor RB is also connected in series with the
Armature to limit the current as shown in the
figure below.
Speed torque curves can be obtained from the
same basic equations by replacing Ea with –Ea
and are shown in the figure below. Plugging is
highly inefficient because in addition to the
generated power additional power from a
supply source is also wasted in the Braking
resistance.
Four quadrant operation of DC Motors using a Single fully
controlled converter:
As studied earlier, a fully controlled converter can provide a
reversible output voltage but current in only one direction. In
terms of conventional Voltage- Current diagram shown in the
figure below it can work in quadrants 1 and 4. A converter can
be used say in the first quadrant for motoring operation alone
in one direction (and in the third quadrant for motoring
operation in other direction) during steady state conditions.
But during transient requirements such as starting and braking it
cannot operate in second (or fourth) quadrant where it is required
to extract energy from the load for quick braking. (For faster
system response)) If four quadrant operation of a motor is
required i.e. reversible rotation and reversible torque in the Torque
Speed Plane as shown in the figure below.
A single converter along with changeover contactors to reverse the armature or field connections
along with firing angle changeover control [(0° ≤ α ≤ 90° )or(90° ≤ α ≤ 180° )] can be used so as
to change the relationship between the converter voltage and the direction of rotation of the
 AC DRIVE SYSTEMS

• INDUCTION MOTOR CONTROL

• SYNCHNONOUS MOTOR CONTROL

 CONTROL OF INDUCTION MOTOR Part-2: CONTROL OF INDUCTION
THROUGH STATOR VOLTAGE MOTOR THROUGH STATOR
 Review of Basic Induction Motor Concepts FREQUENCY:
 Development of Induced Torque, concept of  Variable frequency characteristics
Rotor slip, Electrical Frequency on the Rotor  Variable frequency control of Induction
 Power and Torque in Induction Motor Motors by voltage & current
 Losses and Power flow diagram source inverters and Cycloconverters
 Derivation of Expressions for Developed  PWM control
Torque, Slip at maximum Torque ,Maximum  Comparison of VSI and CSI operations
Developed Torque, and Starting Torque  Speed- Torque characteristics
 Variable voltage characteristics  Numerical problems on Induction Motor
 Speed-Torque characteristics drives
 Control of Induction Motors by AC Voltage
 Closed loop operation of Induction Motor
Controllers
drives( block diagrams only)
 Waveforms
 Summary:
 Summary
 Important concepts and conclusions
 Important concepts and conclusions
 Important formulae and equations  Illustrative Examples
 Illustrative Examples
Speed control of Induction motors - Basic Methods:
Stator side:
1. Stator Voltage control
2. Stator variable frequency control
Rotor side:
 Rotor resistance control
 Slip-energy recovery
Stator voltage control:
 From the expression for the torque developed by an induction motor, we can see that it is
directly proportional to the square of the applied terminal voltage at a constant value of supply
frequency and slip. By varying the applied voltage, a set of torque-speed curves as shown
below can be obtained. When the applied voltage changes by n times the resulting torque
changes by n2 times.
 If constant torque is required at different voltages, the slip increases with decreasing voltage
to accommodate the required rotor current. But the power factor deteriorates at low voltages.
 Fig(b) shows the torque- speed curves along with a constant load and varying load (with
speed ).From this it can be seen that speed control is possible only in a limited range.
 Limitations of Stator voltage control
• The portion of the speed control beyond the maximum torque is unstable and is not suitable for
speed control.
• Normal squirrel cage motors will have low rotor resistance and therefore will have a large unstable
region. Hence speed control is possible only in a limited band.
• The starting current is also very high for these motors (because of low rotor resistance). Hence the
equipment used for control of these motors must be able to handle/withstand such large starting
currents.
• The power factor also will be poor at large slips.
• Therefore special rotor design with high resistance is required to be able to take advantage of speed
control with stator voltage variation. This shifts the point of slip for maximum torque to the left and
decreases the unstable region.
• The unstable region can be reduced or even completely eliminated by properly designing the rotor.
This increases the range of speed control substantially, reduces the starting current and improves the
power factor.
• However motors designed with high rotor resistance to achieve higher speed control range will have
higher rotor losses at large slips and will have to dissipate the resulting large heat in the Rotor itself.
• But slip ring motors allow the insertion of the high resistance externally. Hence the losses will be
dissipated in the external resistors only and Rotor heating will be avoided.
 • Method of stator voltage control:
• AC voltage controllers can be used for varying
the applied input stator voltage. By controlling
the firing angle of the thyristors connected in anti
parallel in each phase the RMS value of the
stator voltage applied to each phase can be varied
to get the desired speed control.

• Four quadrant operation with plugging is obtained by the use of the circuit shown in the figure
below. Thyristor pairs A,B and C provide operation in quadrants 1 &4 (as shown by the solid
line) . Thyristor pairs A’,B and C’ changes the phase sequence and thus provide operation in
quadrants 2&3( as shown by the dotted line).
Precaution:
While changing from one set to another set of thyristor pairs, i.e from ABC to A’BC’ or vice
versa, care should be taken to ensure that the incoming pair is activated only after the outgoing
pair is fully turned off. This is to avoid short circuiting of the supply by the conducting thyristor
pairs. Protection against such faults can be provided only by the fuse links and not by the current
control.
Limitations:
A review of the AC controllers reveals that:
 The output voltage from an AC controller is dependent not only on the delay angle of the gate
firing pulses but also on the periods of current flow which in turn are dependent on the load
power factor. An induction motor will draw a varying power factor current and this will
influence the voltage being applied to it. Whenever the load current is continuous, the controller
will not have any influence on the circuit conditions at all.
 Control is achieved by distortion of the voltage waveforms and by the reduction of the current
flow periods. Significant amounts of stator and rotor harmonic currents will flow and eddy
currents will be induced in the iron core. These will cause additional motor heating and alter the
motor performance compared with sinusoidal operation.
The practical results of these limitations are:
 The motor performance can be predicted only after a full understanding of the motor, thyristor
converter and the load.
 A closed loop speed control based on a tachogenerator speed feedback is essential to ensure
stable performance.
 The system gains most practical application when the load is predictable and the load torque
required at low speeds is relatively low.
Important formulae and equations:
 Synchronous speed of rotating magnetic field : nS = 120.fS/P
 Voltage induced in the rotor : eind = (v x B) l
 Torque induced in the rotor : T ind = k.BR X BS

Slip s on per unit basis: S= (Nsync—N m ) / Nsync

 The magnitude of the rotor induced voltage ER in terms of the rotor induced voltage at rotor
locked condition ER0 : ER = s.ER0
 The magnitude of the rotor Reactance XR in terms of the rotor Reactance at rotor locked
condition XR0 : XR = s.XR0 (since fr = s.fs and XR= s.2π fsLR)
 The rotor frequency can be expressed as :
fr = (P/120). ( n sync -- n m.)
 Important relationships between Air gap power PAG, converted power Pconv, Rotor induced
Torque T ind ,Rotor copper losses Prcl and the slip s :
T ind = Pconv/ ωm
T ind = PAG/ ωs
Prcl = s.PAG
Pconv = (1-s) PAG
Expressions for Torque considering Rotor circuit only
Torque–Speed relations using an
Equivalent circuit with both
Stator and Rotor circuit
parameters.
 CONTROL OF INDUCTION MOTOR THROUGH STATOR FREQUENCY:
• Variable frequency control:
• Speed control By Change of frequency
(a) The controlled rectifier varies the DC voltage to the inverter at the same time as
the inverter output frequency is varied. The section between the DC source and the
Inverter is known as the DC link and it includes a series Inductance and large
capacitance which smoothes the DC voltage to an almost constant value, EDC. In
this if the inverter is a six step Inverter the motor voltage is controlled by adjusting
the DC link voltage.
(b) The above system cannot regenerate since current flow cannot be reversed. If
regeneration is required it can be obtained by replacing the phase controlled rectifier
with a Dual Converter as shown in figure (b).
(c) A system in which the DC link voltage is constant is shown figure (c). In this
scheme the Inverter is a PWM based system and it varies both the voltage and the
frequency.
(d) In the fourth scheme the variation of voltage is obtained by a chopper. Due to
the chopper the harmonic injection into the AC supply is reduced. This scheme is a
combination that is used when a high frequency output is required and hence a
PWM inverter is not possible.
 Control of Induction Motors by Current Source Inverter:
An Inverter belongs to the CSI category if looking from the load side the AC terminals of the
Inverter function as a Current Source. A current source has large internal Impedance and hence
the terminal voltage of a CSI changes substantially with change in load.
If used in a multi motor drive a change in load would affect the other motor drives and hence a
CSI is not suitable for multi motor drives. But since the inverter current is independent of load
impedance it has inherent protection against short circuits across its terminals.
In a Current Source Inverter the DC source is connected to the Inverter through a large series
Inductor LS which would limit the current to be almost constant. The output current waveform
would roughly be a square wave since current is constant and the output voltage would be
approximately triangular.
It is easy to limit the over current conditions in this system but the output voltage can swing
widely in response to changes in load conditions. A thyristor based Current Source Inverter (CSI)
is shown in the figure (a) below. This is a stepped wave inverter whose operation is already
explained. Diodes D1- D6 and capacitors C1-C6 provide commutation of thyristors T1-T6 which
are fired with a phase difference of 60 ° in sequence of their numbers. Figure (b) below shows the
nature of output current waveforms. The inverter behaves as a current source inverter due to the
presence of the large Inductor in the DC link.
The major advantage of CSI is its reliability. In case of VSIs a commutation failure would cause the
switching devices in the same leg to conduct simultaneously. This causes a shorting of the source
voltage and hence the current through the devices would rise to very high levels. Expensive high
speed semiconductor fuses are required to be used to
protect the devices.
 In case of CSIs simultaneous conduction of two devices in the same leg will not lead to sudden
rise of current due to the presence of the large Inductance. This allows time for commutation to take
place and normal operation will get restored in the subsequent cycles. Further less expensive HRC
fuses are good enough for protection of thyristors.
 As seen in the CSI current waveforms, the motor current rise and fall are very fast. Such a fast rise
and fall of current through the motor leakage Inductance of the motor produces large voltage spikes.
Therefore a motor with low leakage reactance is used. Even then voltage spikes could be large. The
commutation capacitors C1-C6 reduce the voltage spikes to some extent by limiting the rise and fall
of current. But large values of capacitors are required to substantially reduce the voltage spikes.
Large values of commutation capacitors have the advantage that cheap converter grade
thyristors can be used but then they reduce the frequency range of the inverter and hence the
speed range of the drive.
 Further, due to large values of Inductors and capacitors, the CSI drive is expensive and will have
more weight and volume.
 Assignment Work of the Industrial Drives
Submission Date: On Viva day
CONTROL OF INDUCTION MOTORS FROM ROTOR SIDE:
 Static Rotor Resistance Control
 Slip Power Recovery
 Static Scherbius Drive
 Static Kramer drive
 Their Performance
 Speed -Torque Characteristics
 Advantages
 Applications
 Problems
 Summary
 Important concepts and conclusions
 Illustrative Examples
 CONTROL OF SYNCHRONOUS MOTORS
 Introduction
 Separate control and self control of Synchronous Motors
 Operation of Self controlled Synchronous Motors by VSI and CSI
Cycloconverters
 Load commutated CSI fed Synchronous Motor:
 Operation , Waveforms
 Speed- Torque Characteristics
 Applications & Advantages
 Numerical problems
 Closed loop operation of Synchronous motor drives (Block Diagram only)
 Variable frequency control, Cycloconverter, PWM, VSI, CSI
A synchronous motor is one in which the alternating current flows in the armature winding and DC
excitation is supplied to the field winding. The armature winding is on the stator and is usually a
three phase winding.
The armature is identical to that of the stator in an Induction motor but there is no Induction into
the Rotor. The field winding is on the rotor which is a solid forging and the slots are milled on the
surface in which the DC field windings are placed. The balanced three phase armature currents
establish a rotating magnetic field at the synchronous speed corresponding to the supply frequency
(Ns = 120f/P) just like in an Induction motor.
If the Rotor which is supplied with a DC excitation is also made to rotate at the same synchronous
speed, then the magnetic fields of stator and rotor are stationary relative to each other and a steady
Torque is developed due to the tendency of the two magnetic fields to align with each other and
this torque sustains the synchronous speed of the rotor. The process of initially bringing the rotor to
the synchronous speed is called Starting.
Unlike an Induction motor Synchronous motor runs only at synchronous speed until the load
Torque exceeds the Pull out torque which is the Torque beyond which the motor slips out of
synchronism and comes to a halt. There are several types of synchronous motors like cylindrical
Rotor motors, salient pole motors, Reluctance motors, Permanent magnet motors etc. But to
understand the basic control methodology we will briefly study the equivalent circuit of a
 Introduction to speed control of synchronous motors
• In synchronous motors also,in steady state, the speed is directly proportional to
the supply frequency and the control methodology is same like in Induction
motors. Constant flux operation below base speed is achieved by constant V/f
control.
• Above base speed once the rated voltage is reached, the terminal voltage is kept
constant and frequency is increased. The pull out Torque ( Tmax ) is constant
during the constant flux operation where as it decreases with increase in
frequency for higher speeds.
• Unlike an Induction motor the synchronous motor either runs at the synchronous
speed or it does not run at all. Hence the variable frequency control adopts any
of the following two methods.
1. Ture Synchronous Mode or Separate Control Mode
2. Self control Mode
 Separate Control Mode:
 This is an open loop control mode in which the stator supply frequency is controlled
from an Independent oscillator. Hence the frequency is gradually increased from its
initial value to the final desired value so that the difference between the synchronous
and rotor speed is always very small.
 This enables the rotor to track the changes in synchronous speed and catch up without
pulling out. When the desired synchronous speed is reached, the rotor pulls into step,
after hunting oscillations.
 This method can be used for smooth starting and regenerative braking. This method is
best suited for multiple synchronous, reluctance or Permanent magnet (PM) motor
drives where close speed tracking is essential among a number of machines in
applications such as fiber spinning mills, paper and textile mills where accurate speed
tracking is required.
 The block diagram of such an open loop control system using this separate control
method for multiple synchronous motors is shown in the figure below.
Fig: Open loop speed control of multiple PM synchronous
motors.
 Here all the machines are connected to the same Inverter and they move in response to
the command frequency f*at the input to the Ramp/delay circuit.
 The Input speed command is given through a ramp generator with a finite delay to
ensure that the rotor gradually picks up speed and pulls into synchronism with the
stator magnetic field and settles at the final synchronous speed.
 The frequency command f* after passing through the ramp/delay circuit generates the
required V and f control signals just like in a VSI with a PWM Inverter as shown in the
figure.
 The V control is applied to the DC converter through a flux control block so as to
generate the required Voltage to generate a constant flux with varying frequency.
 The Rectifier output then gets applied to the PWM inverter through L& C filter as
required for a VSI type drive. The frequency command is directly applied
 to the PWM inverter.
 The synchronous motor can be built with damper winding to prevent oscillations.
 Self controlled mode
 In Self controlled mode, the stator supply frequency is changed in proportion to the
rotor speed, so that the rotating magnetic field produced by the stator always moves at
the same speed as the rotor (Or rotor field).
 This ensures that the rotor runs at synchronous speed at all operating points. (In all
Load conditions) Consequently, a self controlled synchronous motor does not pull-out
out of step and does not suffer from hunting oscillations & instability associated with a
step change in torque or frequency when controlled from an independent oscillator
(Separate control Mode).
 Hence Synchronous motors working in Self controlled mode of operation do not
require a damper winding.
 Absolute Position Sensors are mounted on the Rotor shaft to track the rotor position
and speed. These sensors are called rotor position sensors.
 The frequency and Phase of the Inverter output power are controlled by taking
feedback from the Absolute position sensor. Hence, the stator supply frequency can be
made to track the frequency of these signals.
Alternatively, since the voltage induced in the stator phase has a frequency proportional to
rotor speed, self control can also be realized by making the stator supply frequency track
the frequency of induced voltages.
The basic block diagram of a self controlled synchronous motor fed from a three phase
inverter and working with Rotor Position sensors is shown in the figure below.
When an inverter is used the input is a DC source. The stator winding of the machine is fed
from the inverter which generates a variable voltage variable frequency sinusoidal supply.
Here the frequency and phase angle δ of the control signal required to generate the
required input to the synchronous motor is produced by comparing the Position output and
frequency (fref) of the absolute position sensor , thus giving it the self control
characteristic.
Here the phase angle of the pulse train from the position sensor can be delayed by an
external δref command as shown in the figure.
Operation of the drive is similar to that of a DC motor. The rotor position sensor and
inverter now perform the same function as brushes and commutator in a DC motor.
Due to similarity in operation of a DC motor, an inverter fed Synchronous motor
drive as shown in this figure is also known as a Commutator Less DC Motor
( CLDM ). If the synchronous motor is a permanent magnet motor or a reluctance
motor or wound field motor with a brushless excitation, then it is a known as a Brush
Less and Commutator Less DC Motor or simply a Brush Less DC Motor (BLDC ) .
This type of Self controlled systems driving synchronous motors offer the linear
Torque speed characteristics of DC motors and are finding increasing applications in
In this kind of control the machine behavior is decided by the torque angle and
voltage/current. Such a motor can be considered as a DC motor with its commutator replaced
by a fully controlled converter connected to the stator. Such a self controlled motor has the
properties of a DC motor both under steady state and dynamic conditions. Hence it is called a
Commutator Less Motor (CLM).These motors have better stability performance. Alternately
the firing pulses for the inverter can be obtained from the phase angle of the stator voltages in
which case the rotor position sensor can be dispensed with. When synchronous motors are
over excited (field current is large) they will work with a leading power factor and can supply
the reactive power required for commutation of thyristors. In such a case the induced voltages
in the synchronous motor provide the required voltages for commutation of the thyristors in
the inverter just as in a line commutated Inverter. Here the firing angles are synchronized with
the motor induced voltages and hence they serve both for control as well as commutation.
Hence the frequency of the inverter will be same as that of the motor induced voltages. This
type of inverters are called load commutated Inverters (LCI). Hence the commutation is
simple due to the absence of diodes, capacitors and auxiliary thyristors. But this natural
commutation is not possible at low speeds upto 10% of base speed as the motor voltages are
not sufficient to provide satisfactory commutation. At that time forced commutation must be
employed.
 Load commutated CSI fed synchronous motor:
The circuit diagram of a self controlled synchronous motor drive employing a load
commutated thyristor Inverter is shown in the figure below. This drive consists of two parts:
Source side converter and load side converter.
The source side converter is a 3 phase 6 pulse
line commutated fully controlled converter. When
the firing angle range is 0° < αs < 90° the
converter acts as a line commutated fully
controlled rectifier. During this mode the output
voltage Vds and output current Ids are both
When the firing angle range is 90° < αs < 180° the converter acts as a line commutated fully
positive.
controlled inverter. During this mode the output voltage Vds is negative and output current
Ids is positive. When the synchronous motor operates at a leading power factor, thyristors of
the load side converter are commutated by the motor induced voltages just as the thyristors in
a line commutated converter are commutated by the supply voltages. This is called Load
commutation (here load is synchronous motor). Firing(triggering) angles are referred to the
induced voltages just like the triggering angles in a line commutated inverter are referred to
the supply voltages.
When the firing angle range is 0° < αl < 90° the load side converter acts as a line
commutated fully controlled rectifier. During this mode the output voltage Vdl and output
current Id are both positive. When the firing angle range is 90° < αl < 180° the load side
converter acts as a line commutated fully controlled inverter. During this mode the output
voltage Vdl is negative and current Id is positive. For 0° < αs < 90° & 90° < αl < 180°
and with Vds > Vdl the source side converter acts like a line commutated Rectifier and
load side Converter acts like a line commutated Converter causing power to flow from the
source to the motor thus giving motoring operation. TheWhen the firing angles are
changed such that 90° < αs < 180° and 0° < αl < 90°. the Load Side Converter acts like a
line commutated Rectifier and Source Side Converter acts like a line commutated Inverter
causing power to flow from the motor to the source thus giving regenerative braking
operation. magnitude of Torque depends on (Vds -- Vdl). The motor speed can be
controlled by control of line side converter firing angles.
When working as an Inverter, the firing angle has to be less than 180° to take care of
commutation overlap and turn off of thyristors. It is common to define a commutation lead
angle for load side converter as
βl = 180° -- αl
If commutation overlap is ignored, the input AC current of the converter will lag behind
the input AC voltage by an angle αl. Since motor input current has an opposite phase to
converter input current, the motor current will lead its terminal voltage by an angle βl.
Therefore the motor operates at a leading power factor.
Lower the value of βl, higher the motor power factor and lower the Inverter rating.
In a simple control scheme ,the drive is operated at a fixed value of commutation lead
angle βlc for the load side converter working as an Inverter and at βl = 180°(or αl = 0°)
when working as a rectifier.
When good power factor is required to minimize converter rating, the load side converter
when working as an inverter is operated with constant margin angle control.