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AC motors?
AC power has become popular and advantageous because of easy generation,
transmission with less losses to long distances due to stepping up voltage and stepping
down the voltage to a desired level. In Industries 70% of the motors and drives used are
Induction motors, hence ac motors in general means induction motors. Induction motors
were preferred in industries due to the advantages of its rugged construction, less
maintenance and can be operated in explosive atmospheres also. Therefore Induction
motors ruled out all the motors in industries in every application. But DC motors were still
used in certain applications where induction motors cannot fulfill the need. so, dc motors
have its own significance in industries. This is because some special characteristics they
possess.
Advantages of DC motors:
Speed control over a wide range both above and below the rated speed: The
attractive feature of the dc motor is that it offers the wide range of speed control
both above and below the rated speeds. This can be achieved in dc shunt motors
by methods such as armature control method and field control method. This is one
of the main applications in which dc motors are widely used in fine speed
applications such as in rolling mills and in paper mills.
High starting torque: dc series motors are termed as best suited drives
for electrical traction applications used for driving heavy loads in starting conditions.
DC series motors will have a staring torque as high as 500% compared to normal
operating torque. Therefore dc series motors are used in the applications such as in
electric trains and cranes.
Accurate steep less speed with constant torque: Constant torque drives is one
such the drives will have motor shaft torque constant over a given speed range. In
such drives shaft power varies with speed.
Free from harmonics, reactive power consumption and many factors which makes
dc motors more advantageous compared to ac induction motors.
Disadvantages of DC motors:
Cannot operate in explosive and hazard conditions due to sparking occur at brush
( risk in commutation failure)
Applications :
Some of the applications of dc motors are Steel mills, paper mills, cranes and elevators,
electric trains and much more etc..
There is a type of motor that are designed to run on both single phase AC source as well as DC
source of supply voltages known as the Universal motor.
The characteristics of universal motor are very much similar to those of DC series motors, but
the series motor develops less torque when operating from an AC supply than when working
from an equivalent DC supply.
Also, certain modifications are required in the construction of a series motor specifically
designed for DC operations to run satisfactorily under single phase AC supply:
The field core has to be constructed of a material having low hysteresis loss.
The rotor and the stator have to be laminated to reduce eddy current losses.
Also the pulsating nature of AC may cause the commutator segments and brushes to wear out
and produce sparking. This can be eliminated by using high resistance leads to connect the
coils to the commutator segments.
The field winding is provided with small number of turns. The field-pole areas is increased so
that the flux density is reduced.This reduces the iron loss and the reactive voltage drop.
The number of armature conductors has to increased in order to get the required torque with
the low flux.
A compensation winding is usedin order to reduce the effect of armature reaction, thereby
improving commutation and reducing armature reactance.
Electrical machine
Definition: An electrical machine is a device which converts mechanical energy into electrical
energy or vice versa. Electrical machines also include transformers, which converts AC
current from one voltage level to another voltage level.
Speed control of dc series motor can be done either by armature control or by field
control.
Field Diverter : A Rheostart is connected parallel to the series field as shown in fig(a). This
variable resistor is also called as a diverter, as desired value of the current can be
diverted through this resistor and hence current through field coil can be decreased.
Hence flux can be decreased to desired amount and speed(N) can be increased.
Armature Diverter : Rheostat (Divider) is connected across the armature of the coil as
shown in fig (b). For a given constant load torque, if armature current is reduced, then flux
must increase. As armature torque Ta Ia. This will result in an increase in current taken
from the supply and hence flux will increase and subsequently speed of the motor will
decrease.
Field Armature
Tapped Field Control
This tapped field control method is shown in fig (c). In this method, field coil is tapped
dividing the number of turns. Thus we can select different value of by selecting a
different number of turns. In this method flux is reduced and speed is increased by
decreasing the number of the turns of the series field winding. The switch S can be short
circuit any part of the field winding, thus decreasing the flux and raising the speed (N) with
full turns of coil.
Tapped Field
Paralleling Field Coils: This is used for fan motors several speed can be obtained by
regrouping the field coils in series with the DC armature.
Variable Resistance In Series With Armature Method
In this method, an introducing resistance (R) is series with the armature of motor.The
voltage across the armature can be reduced. So the speed reduces in proportion with it. It
is seen that for a 4 pole motor, the speed of the motor can be obtained easily.
Series-Parallel Control Method: This type of the method can be widely used in electric
traction, where two or more mechanisms coupled series motors are employed. If required
low speed motors are joined in series, and for higher speed motors are joined in parallel.
When motors are connected in series, the motors have the same current passing through
them, although voltage across each motor is divided. When in parallel, the voltage across
each motor is same, although current gets divided.
Braking:.
Regenerative Braking
Regenerative braking takes place whenever the speed of the motor exceeds the
synchronous speed. This baking method is called regenerative baking because here the
motor works as generator and supply itself is given power from the load, i.e. motors. The
main criteria for regenerative braking is that the rotor has to rotate at a speed higher than
synchronous speed, only then the motor will act as a generator and the direction of
current flow through the circuit and direction of the torque reverses and braking takes
place. The only disadvantage of this type of braking is that the motor has to run at super
synchronous speed which may damage the motor mechanically and electrically, but
regenerative braking can be done at sub synchronous speed if the variable frequency
source is available.
Plugging Type Braking
Another type of braking is Plugging type braking. In this method the terminals of supply
are reversed, as a result the generator torque also reverses which resists the normal
rotation of the motor and as a result the speed decreases. During plugging external
resistance is also introduced into the circuit to limit the flowing current. The main
disadvantage
of
this
method
is
that
here
power
is
wasted.
Dynamic Braking
Another method of reversing the direction of torque and braking the motor is dynamic
braking. In this method of braking the motor which is at a running condition is
disconnected from the source and connected across a resistance. When the motor is
disconnected from the source, the rotor keeps rotating due to inertia and it works as a
self excited generator. When the motor works as a generator the flow of the current and
torque reverses. During braking to maintain the steady torque sectional resistances are
cut
out
one
by
one.
1. The braking system should be robust, simple and easy for driver to control and operate. It
should require less maintenance and should be reliable.
2. The system should apply brakes simultaneously over all the vehicles.
3. Brake actuation time should be as small as possible.
4. To avoid damage to the goods and discomfort to the passengers, normal service
application of brakes should be very gradual and smooth.
6. In order to obtain uniform deceleration, braking force applied to the axle should be
proportional to axle load.
7. The braking system should be inexhaustible i.e. repeated quick application of brake
should be possible without needing any relaxation, recuperation or normalizing time in
between consecutive operations.
8. Kinetic energy of the train should as far as possible be stored during braking which could
subsequently be utilized for accelerating the train.
9. There should be automatic slack adjustment for constant piston stroke as a result of wear
on the rim and the brake blocks in the case of mechanical braking.