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Loss Minimization in Wound-Field Cylindrical Rotor Synchronous Motor Drives

Christos Mademlis, Jiannis Xypteras, and Nikos Margaris
AbstractThe loss minimization problem in wound-eld cylindrical rotor synchronous motor drives (SMDs) is investigated. From the theoretical analysis results a system of two loss model controllers (LMCs) for determining the optimal air-gap ux and optimal excitation current that minimizes the losses. The suggested LMCs are simple, and their implementation does not affect signicantly the cost and complexity of the drive. Although the conception of the suggested LMCs is based on the loss model of the synchronous motor, it is shown that their implementation does not require knowledge of the loss model. All the theoretical results are veried experimentally. Index TermsAdjustable-speed drives, efciency optimization, loss minimization, synchronous motor.
Fig. 1. Optimal wound-eld cylindrical rotor SMD.

NOMENCLATURE Stator resistance. Rotor resistance. Magnetizing reactance. Stator leakage reactance. Rotor leakage reactance. Supply frequency. Air-gap ux. Stator voltage. Air-gap voltage. Stator current. Magnetizing current. Excitation current. Electromagnetic torque. Total power losses. Copper losses. Iron losses. Stray losses. Mechanical losses. Iron loss coefcient. Stray loss coefcient. Magnetizing curve coefcients. I. INTRODUCTION HE ELECTRIC motors consume a considerable rate of the industrial electricity, and because of the energy cost, signicant efforts are taken to improve their efciency. These
Manuscript received November 9, 1996; revised June 9, 1997. This work was supported by the Ministry of Industry, Energy, and Technology of Greece under Research Grant 1639. Recommended by Associate Editor, L. Xu. The authors are with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54006 Thessaloniki, Greece (e-mail: mademlis, xypteras@vergina.eng.auth.gr). Publisher Item Identier S 0885-8993(98)01948-6.

efforts focus mainly on the improvement of the materials, design, and construction techniques [1]. However, there will always be signicant margins for efciency improvement, especially by intervening in their operational principle with automatic control techniques. These techniques can be easily implemented on adjustable speed drives, which are fed through an inverter. In these cases, the energy saving is considerable, particularly when the motor operates at light load. Several simple and effective control methods have been proposed recently, to minimize the loss of dc and ac motor drives [2][6]. All these methods are based on the air-gap ux weakening and attempt to make the air-gap ux an increasing function of the load torque. This can be achieved by using mainly two control methods, the one based on search controllers (SCs) and the other based on loss model controllers (LMCs). Although synchronous motors are widely used in adjustable speed drives and in many applications they compete with the induction motors [7], [8], loss minimization methods have not been developed yet, except for a few cases related to permanent magnet motor [9], [10]. However, the loss minimization methods for dc and induction motor drives should be extended to synchronous motor drives (SMDs) as well. In the block diagram of the optimal SMD, shown in Fig. 1, two SCs or two LMCs are used. The SCs measure the input power to the drive and adjust the stator voltage and the excitation current, while search for the minimum input power. On the other hand, the LMCs measure the speed and the armature current and through the synchronous motor loss model, they determine the optimal stator voltage and the optimal excitation current. In this paper, a loss minimization method for a wound-eld cylindrical rotor SMD at steady state is presented. In Section II, the relationships between the synchronous motor variables

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(a) Fig. 2. Per-unit equivalent circuit of the cylindrical rotor synchronous motor.

(b)

are given. In Section III, the loss model of the synchronous motor is presented. The loss minimization conditions of the SMD are derived in Section IV. The derived two loss minimization conditions are investigated in Sections V and VI and compared each other in Section VII. The implementation of the optimal SMD with SCs is described in Section VIII, and the limitations of the drive performance are discussed. The implementation of the optimal SMD with LMCs is described in Section IX. Finally, in Section X, the theoretical results of the above sections are tested experimentally. II. RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN SYNCHRONOUS MOTOR VARIABLES In Fig. 2, the per-phase equivalent circuit of the synchronous motor is given in the p.u. system. In this circuit, the effects of iron and stray losses are ignored. Fig. 2(a) shows the transformer-like equivalent circuit. In Fig. 2(b), the rotor circuit is reected to the stator side. The reection ratio is . From the equivalent circuit shown in Fig. 2(b), the following equations are derived:
Fig. 3. Approximate phase diagram of the cylindrical rotor synchronous motor.

Equation (5) shows that the magnetizing current depends and it is little affected by mainly on the stator voltage the excitation current . The approximate vector diagram in Fig. 3 results from (6). From this diagram, we obtain (7) and (8)

(1) Finally, it is well known that the magnetization curve is given by (2) and and the magnetizing reactance is (10) (3) and the electromagnetic torque of the motor is given by Since the resistance and the leakage reactance of the armature winding are very small compared to the magnetizing reactance ( ) [15], (1)(3) can be, respectively, approximated by (4) (5) (6) (11) III. LOSS MODEL OF THE SYNCHRONOUS MOTOR The main losses of the synchronous motor are the following. 1) Copper Losses: These are due to the ow of the electric current through the stator and rotor windings and are given by (12) (9)

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2) Iron Losses: These are losses due to hysteresis and eddy currents and are given by the following empirical formula [11], [12]: (13) where . In the equivalent circuit of Fig. 2, iron in losses could be represented by an equivalent resistance . parallel to magnetizing reactance 3) Stray Losses: These arise on the copper and iron of the motor and are given by (14) This expression holds for dc motors [6], [11] and is also acceptable for induction [13] and synchronous motors [14], [15]. In the equivalent circuit of Fig. 2, stray losses could be in series to the represented by an equivalent resistance armature resistance . 4) Mechanical Losses: These are due to friction and windage losses and are proportional to square of the rotating speed [11] (15)

Since the electromagnetic torque is constant, it is deduced that (21) From (11) and (21), we obtain (22) therefore

(23) Also, from (7) it is derived

(24) Substituting (23) in (24) yields

5) Harmonic Losses: These are additional losses due to nonsinusoidal stator voltage that supplies the synchronous motor. The presence of harmonic currents increases the stator, rotor, and damper winding copper losses. The presence of harmonic voltages increases iron losses [16]. Since mechanical losses are independent from the electrical variables, they are not controlled by ux weakening. Additionally, harmonic losses are not directly controlled by ux weakening. However, these losses are indirectly controlled by the decreasing of the harmonic voltages, because of the ux weakening. Therefore, the losses that can be minimized by ux weakening are (16) where (17) and (18) IV. LOSS MINIMIZATION CONDITIONS The synchronous motor is a double-fed machine, and its and the excitation current inputs are the stator voltage . The loss minimization condition at steady state ( and constant) with respect to excitation current is derived without setting any condition to the stator voltage. From (16), the loss minimization condition, at steady state, is given by (19) Condition (19) is satised when (20)

(25) Substituting (25) in (20) gives (26) Finally, substituting (26) in (22), the following equation results:

(27) Evidently, from (27) two loss minimization conditions are derived as follows: First Minimization Condition: (28) Second Minimization Condition: (29) V. INVESTIGATION OF THE FIRST MINIMIZATION CONDITION Substituting (28) in (7), (11), and (22), the following equations result: (30) (31) and (32)

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From (30), we obtain (33) Substituting (33) in (20) yields and (34)

VI. INVESTIGATION OF THE SECOND MINIMIZATION CONDITION The second minimization condition (29) is satised when (42)

(43) From (32) and (34), we obtain (35) Condition (35) is satised when Substituting (42) in (7) and (11), the excitation current the electromagnetic torque are given, respectively, by Equation (42) determines the optimal magnetizing current. Notice that (42) is the same as (36). Combining (10) and (42), the optimal air-gap ux is given by (44) and

(36)

Equation (36) gives the optimal magnetizing current. As mentioned in Section II, the magnetizing current is practically independent from the excitation current . Therefore, the magnetizing current is adjusted according to (36) by varying the stator voltage. From (10) and (36), the optimal air-gap ux is obtained by

(45) and (46) Substituting (42) and (45) in (16), we obtain

(37) (47) Substituting (36) in (30), the optimal excitation current results From (47), we conclude that the losses are minimized when . The loss minimization condition, at steady state, with is given by respect to

(38)

Also, from (31) the optimal stator current is (39) Substituting (36), (38), and (39) in (16), the minimum loss, which is obtained from the rst minimization condition, is given by (40) Finally, substituting (38) in (8) and using (28), the optimal load angle is or (41) (51) (48) Since the electromagnetic torque is constant, from (46) we obtain (49) Substituting (49) in (48) and after some algebraic operations, the optimal value is given by (50)

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(a)

(b)

Fig. 4. (a) Power loss versus stator voltage in a 1-kW drive and (b) efciency ratio obtained by the second to the rst minimization conditions.

The optimal excitation current is obtained by substituting (50) in (45) (52) Also, substituting the optimal value in (11), we obtain (53) Combining (42), (47), (50), (51), and (53), the loss minimum, which is derived from the second minimization condition, is given by

VIII. IMPLEMENTATION OF THE SECOND MINIMIZATION CONDITION WITH SCS The obvious way for the implementation of the second minimization condition, which leads to the absolute minimum loss, is the use of SCs. As it is shown in Fig. 1, two SCs are used. They measure the input power to the drive. The rst SC adjust the air-gap ux by varying the stator voltage and the second adjusts the excitation current , so that the input power is minimized. However, experiments show that the performance of the optimal SMD with SCs is not satisfactory. Fig. 5(a) and (b) shows that the drive does not reach a steady state. Thus, both air-gap ux and excitation current oscillate around their optimal values and consequently cause undesirable torque disturbances. It should be noted that, in the case of Fig. 5, the motor operates at light load, where the minimum of the input power is more distinct and the best SCs performance is expected, whereas in heavy loads, torque disturbances overcome stability limits and cause the motors instability. This performance was expected from the relevant literature. Generally, the SCs approach have several disadvantages, and they cannot successfully nd the minimum of the input power [3][6]. IX. IMPLEMENTATION OF THE SECOND MINIMIZATION CONDITION WITH LMCS Substituting (17) and (18) in (44) and (52), we obtain respectively the optimal air-gap ux

(54) Finally, from (8), (51), and (52), the optimal load angle is given by (55) VII. COMPARISON OF THE TWO LOSS MINIMIZATION CONDITIONS Comparing (40) and (54), we conclude that (56) Since , the absolute minimum is obtained from the second minimization condition. The existence of two minimization conditions and the fact that the absolute minimum is achieved with the second condition are experimentally veried. Fig. 4(a) shows the loss reduction obtained in an 1-kW SMD with the two minimization conditions and Fig. 4(b) shows the efciency ratio obtained by the second in relation to the rst minimization conditions.

(57)

and the optimal excitation current

(58)

based on the second minimization condition.

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(a) Fig. 5. Performance of the optimal SMD with SCs (!c 0.8 p.u. and and stator current.

(b)

= 0:3

p.u.): (a) air-gap ux and excitation current and (b) input power

From (57), we get the equation of the air-gap ux LMC (59) where (60) (61) and (62) Similarly, from (58) we get the equation of the excitation current LMC (63) where (64) and (65) The square-root term of the right side of the air-gap ux LMC (59) is the amplitude of the frequency response of a rst-order low-pass lter with transfer function (66) The lter pole depends on the motor speed, but, as proved in [3], this lter can be approximated by a rst-order low-pass lter with a constant pole, provided that both lters have the same cutoff frequency. Equation (59) shows that the air-gap ux is proportional to the stator current. This means that excitation should be

supplied when there is a torque demand. The existence of the low-pass lter is closely related to the existence of iron and stray losses. As the speed increases, iron losses increase also. In order to reduce them the air-gap ux should be reduced. This is expressed by the lter cutoff frequency . However, air-gap ux reduction beyond a certain speed value would increase stray losses due to armature reaction. To avoid such an effect, the air-gap ux should remain constant. This is expressed by the lter corner frequency . From the above interpretation, it becomes clear that the airgap ux LMC parameters affect the LMC response, each one at low, at medium, and at at a different speed range, high speeds. Consequently, the air-gap ux LMC parameters are practically decoupled with respect to speed, and therefore they may be tuned easily. To calculate the optimal air-gap ux from (59) requires the measurement of the stator current and the motor speed. Since the loss minimization occurs at steady state, the reference speed can be used instead of the actual speed. Since the airgap ux LMC parameters are decoupled from each other with respect to speed, they can adjusted experimentally as follows. 1) A three-phase wattmeter is used for the measurement of the active and reactive input power of the drive. 2) The reactive input power is kept equal to zero by adjusting the excitation current automatically. This means that the power factor of the drive is equal to unity, and the rst minimization condition is satised. 3) The motor rotates at low speed, about 20%30% of its nominal speed. Under this condition , (59) becomes (67) is adjusted so that the minimum and the gain wattmeter indication is obtained. 4) The speed is increased up to 35%45% of its nominal value. Under this condition, (59) becomes (68) and the minimum indication on the wattmeter is now obtained by adjusting the parameter .

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(a) Fig. 6. Comparison of the optimal and V/f (with cos

(b)

' = 1) controlled SMD: (a) power saving and (b) efciency improvement.
TABLE I 1-kW MOTOR PARAMETERS (p.u.)

5) The speed is increased to its maximum value, and the minimum indication is obtained by adjusting the . parameter 6) Steps 3)5) are repeated until the desired accuracy is obtained. Afterwards, the excitation current control loop, which adjusts the reactive power to zero, is replaced by the excitation current LMC. In this controller, only the parameters and have to be adjusted, since the parameter was determined in Step 4). The excitation current LMC parameters can adjusted experimentally as follows. 7) The motor rotates at low speed, about 20%30% of its nominal speed. Under this condition , (63) becomes (69) is adjusted in order to obtain the and the gain minimum wattmeter indication. 8) The motor rotates at nominal speed, and the minimum wattmeter indication is obtained by adjusting the parameter . 9) Steps 7) and 8) are repeated until the desired accuracy is obtained. During Steps 3)9), the load torque is maintained steady and equal to 0.20.3 per unit (p.u.) to provide a more accudepends on the rate location of the minimum. The gain magnetizing reactance and its value is affected by saturation. Therefore, is a decreasing function of the load torque, and Step 3) must be repeated for medium- and higher load torques. and are resistance ratios On the other hand, the gains and are not seriously affected by temperature variations. The time constant is affected by saturation. However, successful approximation of the minimum is possible since the loss curves shown in Fig. 4(a) are smooth and at around the minimum. In practice, the minimum is reached for a wide range of air-gap ux values so an approximate value of is sufcient for a satisfactory LMC performance. From the above, it is concluded that the adjustment of the LMCs parameters is an easy task. Furthermore, it is concluded that in practice the knowledge of the loss model is not required.

TABLE II LMCS PARAMETERS

In addition, the LMC minimizes not only the synchronous motor losses, but the whole drive losses as well. Due to the experimental determination of the LMCs parameters, the losses in all the drive stages are implicitly included.

X. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS The effectiveness of the suggested LMCs operation has been experimentally tested with the use of a 1-kW drive. The parameters of the motor are given in Table I. The control unit of the drive performs as the LMC, search controller, or V/f controller. The LMC parameters given in Table II have been adjusted experimentally in accordance with the rules of Section IX. Fig. 4(a) shows the minimum achieved (noted by asterisk) with the suggested LMCs. The minimum achievement is satisfactory. Fig. 6 shows the loss reduction and the ratio of the optimal efciency to the nominal one (with unit power

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(a) Fig. 7. Optimal values of (a) power factor and (b) load angle for various speeds and load torques.

(b)

(a) Fig. 8. Performance of the optimal SMD with LMCs (!e power and stator current.

(b)

= 0:8

p.u. and

T = 0:3

p.u.): (a) air-gap ux and excitation current and (b) input

factor) in case of the 1-kW drive for various speeds and load torques achieved with the suggested LMCs. Fig. 7(a) and (b) shows the variation of the optimal power factor and load angle for various speeds and load torques, respectively. We notice that, in this drive the optimal power factor values are less than unity and the optimal load angle values are almost constant. Fig. 8 shows the performance of the suggested LMCs. Although the optimal air-gap ux and the optimal excitation current are a priori known from (59) and (63), respectively, the ux and the excitation current command decreases at a low rate. This strategy arises from the fact that an abrupt decrease in the air-gap ux or in the excitation current causes strong currents in the stator, loss increment, electromagnetic torque disturbances, torque angle increment, and, consequently, possible instability. For similar reasons, the air-gap ux is always kept greater than 0.4 p.u., independently of the air-gap ux LMC command. Comparing Fig. 8 with Fig. 5, it is concluded that the optimal SMD with LMCs performs better than the optimal SMD with SCs. Finally, Fig. 9 shows the LMCs response to an abrupt torque demand. The air-gap ux reaches its nominal value immediately and also, the excitation current the value which corresponds to unit power factor. After equilibrium is reestab-

Fig. 9. Response of the optimal SMD with LMCs to load torque variations 0:7 p.u. 0:3 p.u.). (!e = 0:8 p.u. T = 0:3 p.u.

lished, these quantities reduce slowly to reach their new optimal values. As soon as the torque demand is withdrawn, the air-gap ux and the excitation current tend to their former optimal values. XI. CONCLUSION In this paper, the loss minimization problem in woundeld cylindrical rotor SMD is investigated in detail. From

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the theoretical analysis two loss minimization conditions are ) derived. The rst loss minimization condition ( is obvious and know from the synchronous motor theory. However, the absolute minimum loss results from the second minimization condition. This loss minimization condition is implemented satisfactory by a system of two LMCs. These controllers determine the optimal air-gap ux and the optimal excitation current that minimizes the losses. The suggested LMCs are simple, and their implementation does not affect signicantly the cost and the complexity of the drive. Although the conception of the suggested LMCs is based on the loss model of the synchronous motor, it is shown that their realization does not require knowledge of the loss model. REFERENCES
[1] J. C. Andreas, Energy-Efcient Electric Motors. New York: Marcel Dekker, 1982. [2] N. Margaris, Method and device for determining the optimal excitation value which minimizes the electromagnetic losses of electric machines, U.S. Patent 5 075 612, Dec. 24, 1991. [3] N. Margaris, T. Goutas, Z. Doulgeri, and A. Paschali, Loss minimization in dc drives, IEEE Trans. Ind. Electron., vol. 38, no. 5, pp. 328336, 1991. [4] I. Kioskeridis and N. Margaris, Loss minimization in induction motor adjustable-speed drives, IEEE Trans. Ind. Electron., vol. 43, no. 1, pp. 226231, 1996. [5] , Loss minimization in scalar-controlled induction motor drives with search controllers, IEEE Trans. Power Electron., vol. 11, no. 2, pp. 213220, 1996. [6] A. Kusko and D. Galler, Control means for minimization of losses in ac and dc motor drives, IEEE Trans. Ind. Applicat., vol. IA-19, no. 4, pp. 561570, 1983. [7] B. K. Bose, Power Electronics and AC Drives. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1986, pp. 5267. [8] R. Lessmeier, W. Schumacher, and W. Leonhard, Microprocessorcontrolled AC-servo drives with synchronous or induction motors: Which is preferable?, IEEE Trans. Ind. Applicat., vol. IA-22, no. 5, pp. 812819, 1986. [9] R. S. Colby and D. W. Novotny, Efciency-optimizing permanentmagnet synchronous motor drive, IEEE Trans. Ind. Applicat., vol. IA-24, no. 3, pp. 462469, 1988. [10] S. Morimoto, Y. Tong, Y. Takeda, and T. Hirasa, Loss minimization control of permanent magnet synchronous motor drives, IEEE Trans. Ind. Applicat., vol. 41, no. 5, pp. 511517, 1994. [11] M. Kostenko and L. Piotrovsky, Electrical Machines. Moscow, Russia: Editions Mir, 1974, ch. 7. [12] M. Jufer, Electromecanique. Paris, France: Dunod, 1979, ch. 1. [13] S. D. Umans and H. L. Hess, Modeling and analysis of the Wanlass three-phase induction motor conguration, IEEE Trans. Power Apparatus, vol. PAS-102, no. 9, pp. 29122926, 1983. [14] S. A. Nasar, Electric Machines and Power Systems. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1995, vol. 1, pp. 231234.

[15] I. J. Nagrath and D. P. Kothari, Electric Machines. New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill, 1985. [16] J. M. D. Murphy and F. G. Turnbull, Power Electronic Control of AC Motors. Oxford: Pergamon, 1988, pp. 233238.

Christos Mademlis was born in Arnea Chalkidikis, Greece, on February 7, 1964. He received the Diploma degree in electrical engineering and the Ph.D. degree in electrical machines from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, in 1987 and 1997, respectively. Since 1990, he has been with the Electrical Machines Laboratory, Electrical, and Computer Engineering Department, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, as a Research Assistant.

Jiannis Xypteras was born in Plomari Lesvos, Greece, on March 17, 1937. He received the Diploma degree in electrical engineering from the Fakult t f r Electrotechik of the RWTH Aachen, a u Germany, and the Ph.D. degree in eddy currents from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, in 1965 and 1978, respectively. From 1965 to 1980, he was with German and Greek factories of electrical machines, and for several years he worked as the Chief of development departments. Since 1984, he has been with the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, as an Associate Professor and Director of the Electrical Machines Laboratory. From 1990 to 1995, he was the Director of the Electrical Energy Division in the same university. His current research interests include design and development of electrical machines, vibration and noise problems, electromagnetic elds, thermal elds, and eddy currents.

Nikos Margaris was born in Athens, Greece, on February 10, 1949. He received the Diploma in physics, the Postgraduate degree in electronics, and the Ph.D. degree in automatic control from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, in 1972, 1975, and 1982, respectively. Since 1977, he has been with the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, teaching graduate and postgraduate courses in electronics, automatic control, power electronics, and circuit theory. From 1992 to 1994, he was the Director of the Electronics and Computer Division and from 1993 to 1995 the Vice President of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department. His current research interests include the loss minimization in variable- and constant-speed drives and the study of nonlinear oscillations.