Basics of Industrial Motor Control

BEF35803
ELECTRIC DRIVES
 3.0 CONTENTS
1. Control Devices.
2. Normally Open and Closed Contacts.
3. Starting Methods.
4. Manual Across-the-line Starters.
5. Magnetic Across-the-line Starters.
6. Inching and Jogging.
7. Reversing the Direction of Rotation.
8. Plugging.
 3.0 CONTENTS
9. Reduced-voltage Starting.
10. Primary Resistance Starting.
11. Autotransformer Starting.
12. Fundamentals of Electric Drives.
13. Typical Torque-speed Curves.
14. Shape of the Torque-speed Curve
15. Current-speed Curves.
16. Regenerative Braking.
Tutorials
 3.1 CONTROL DEVICES
• A control circuit is composed of a number of
basic components connected together to
achieve the desired performance.
• The basic components are the following:
1) Disconnecting switches
2) Manual circuit breakers
3) Cam switches
4) Pushbuttons
5) Relays
3.1 CONTROL DEVICES
6) Magnetic contactors
7) Thermal relay and fuses
8) Pilot lights
9) Limit switches
10)Other special switches
11)Resistor, reactors, transformer,
and capacitors
 3.1 CONTROL DEVICES
• Disconnecting • Manual circuit breakers
switches Opens and closes a circuit.
To isolate the motor from
the power source.

Figure 3.1 – Three phase fused Figure 3.2 – Three phase circuit breaker
disconnecting switch
 3.1 CONTROL DEVICES
• Cam switches • Pushbuttons
To control the motion A switch activated by
and position of machine finger pressure.
tools.

Figure 3.3 – Three phase, surface Figure 3.4 – Mechanical-interlocked

mounted cam switch pushbuttons
 3.1 CONTROL DEVICES
• Control relays
An electromagnetic
switch that operates
when the relay coil is
energized.
Figure 3.5 – Single phase relay
• Thermal relay
A temperature sensitive
device that operates
when the motor currents
exceed a pre-set limit.
Figure 3.6 – Three phase thermal relay with
variable current setting
 3.1 CONTROL DEVICES
• Magnetic contactors
A large control relay
designed to operate a
power circuit.
• Pilot lights
Indicates the state of a
remote components.

Figure 3.7 – Three phase magnetic Figure 3.8 – Pilot light

contactors
 3.1 CONTROL DEVICES
• Limit switches • Other limit switches
A low-power snap- Sensitive to pressure,
action device that temperature, liquid level,
opens and closes a or direction of rotation.
contact.

Figure 3.9 – Limit switch with one NC

Figure 3.10 – Liquid level switch
contact
3.1 CONTROL DEVICES
• Proximity detectors
A sealed devices that can detect objects without coming
in contact with them.

Figure 3.11 – Proximity detector to monitor the loading of a

conveyor belt
3.2 NORMALLY OPEN AND CLOSED
CONTACTS
• Control circuit diagrams always show
components in a state of rest.
• Contacts that are open when not energized are
called normally open contact (NO).
• Contacts that are closed when not energized are
called normally closed contact (NC).

Figure 3.12 – NO and NC symbols

3.3 STARTING METHODS
• A three-phase, squirrel-cage motors can be
started by connecting them directly across the
line.
• Across-the-line starting is simple and
inexpensive.
• It has several disadvantages:
1) High starting current
2) Mechanical shock
• The fuses must be designed to carry the starting
current during the acceleration period.
3.3 STARTING METHODS
• A motor control circuit contains two basic
components:
1) A disconnecting switch
2) A starter
• Sometimes mounted together to make a
combination starter.
• The fuses in the disconnecting switch are rated at
about 3.5 times full-
• load current
• They do not protect the motor against overload.
3.4 MANUAL ACROSS-THE-LINE
STARTERS
Manual 3-phase starters
• Composed of a circuit breaker and three thermal
relays.
• All mounted in an appropriate enclosure.
• The thermal relays trip the breaker whenever the
current in one of
the phases exceeds the rated value for a pre-set
time.
3.4 MANUAL ACROSS-THE-LINE
STARTERS
Manual single-phase starter
• Built along the same principles with the 3-
phase starters.
• Only contain one thermal relay.

Figure 3.13 - Manual starters for single-phase motors rated

3.5 MAGNETIC ACROSS-
THE-LINE STARTERS
• Employed when a motor has to be controlled from
a remote location.
• Also used when the power rating exceeds 10kW.

Figure 3.14 - Three-phase, across-the-line magnetic starter

3.5 MAGNETIC ACROSS-
THE-LINE STARTERS
• The disconnecting switch is external to the starter.
• The starter has three main components: a magnetic
contactor, a thermal relay, and a control station.

Figure 3.15 - Schematic diagram of a 3-phase, across-the-line magnetic starter

3.5 MAGNETIC ACROSS-
THE-LINE STARTERS

Figure 3.15 - Schematic diagram of a 3-phase, across-the-line magnetic starter

3.5 MAGNETIC ACROSS-
THE-LINE STARTERS
1) The magnetic contactor
• Has three heavy contacts A and one auxiliary
contact AX.
• Contacts A carry the starting current and the
nominal full-load current.
• Contact AX carries the current from relay coil A.
3.5 MAGNETIC ACROSS-
THE-LINE STARTERS
2) The thermal relay
• Protects the motor against sustained overload.
• Consists three individual heating elements,
connected in series with the three phases.
• A small NC contact opens when the thermal relay
gets too hot and stays open until the relay is
manually reset.
3.5 MAGNETIC ACROSS-
THE-LINE STARTERS
3) The control station
• Composed of start-stop pushbuttons
• To start the motor:
1) Close the disconnecting switch.
2) Depress the start button to energize Coil A, causing
contacts A and AX to
close.
3) The full line voltage appear across the motor.
• To stop the motor:
• Push the stop button, which open the circuit and the coil
3.6 INCHING AND JOGGING
• Used to adjust the position of a motorized part
very precisely.
• The motor is energized in short spurts so that it
barely starts before it again comes to a halt.
• A double-contact pushbutton J is added to the
usual start-stop circuit to permit conventional
start-stop control and jogging.
3.6 INCHING AND JOGGING

Figure 3.16 – Control circuit and pushbutton station for start-stop job operation.
3.6 INCHING AND JOGGING
• Imposes severe duty on the main power contacts
A.
• Continually make and break current that are 6
times greater than normal.
• Should no be repeated too quickly. It may cause
the main contacts to weld together due to intense
heat of the breaking arc.
• Repeated jogging also overheat the motor.
3.7 REVERSING THE
DIRECTION OF
• TheROTATION
direction of rotation of a 3-phase motor
can be reversed by interchanging any two
lines.
• This is realized by using manual three-
position cam switch.
3.7 REVERSING THE DIRECTION
OF ROTATION

Figure 3.17 – Simplified schematic diagram of a reversible magnetic starter

3.7 REVERSING THE DIRECTION
OF ROTATION
For forward direction
1) The cam switch engages contact 1.
2) Relay coil A energized.
3) Contactor A closed.
For reversed direction
1) The cam switch engages contact 2.
2) Relay coil B energized.
3) Contactor B closed.
3.8 PLUGGING
• A plugging circuit is used to prevent the motor
from running in reverse.
• It uses a zero-speed switch to open the line as
soon as the machine has come to rest.
3.8 PLUGGING

Figure 3.18 – Simplified schematic diagram of a starter with plugging control

3.8 PLUGGING
The plugging circuit operates as follows:
1) Contactor A is used to start the motor. NC contact
3,4 opens before NO contacts 1, 2 closes.
2) Contactor B is used to stop the motor. NC contact 7,
8 opens before NO contacts 5, 6 closes.
3) NO contact F-C (the zero-speed switch) closes as
soon as the motor turns in the forward direction.
4) Contacts AX1 and BX1 are sealing contacts.
5) Contacts AX2 and BX2 are electrical interlocks.
3.9 REDUCED-VOLTAGE STARTING
• Some industrial application have to started
gradually.
• In some application, a motor cannot be directly
connected to the line
because the starting current is too high.
• This is realized by reducing the voltage applied to
the motor
3.9 REDUCED-VOLTAGE STARTING
Several types of reduced-voltage
starting methods:
1) Primary resistance starting.
2) Autotransformer starting.
3) Part-winding starting.
4) Wye-delta starting.
3.10 PRIMARY RESISTANCE
STARTING
• This is realized by placing three resistors in
series with the motor during start up.
• It gives a very smooth start with complete
absence of mechanical shock.
• The resistors are short circuited after a delay
that depends on the setting of a time delay
relay.
3.10 PRIMARY
RESISTANCE STARTING

Figure 3.19 – Simplified schematic diagram of the power section of a reduced-

voltage primary resistor stator
3.10 PRIMARY
RESISTANCE STARTING

Figure 3.20 – Control circuit for primary resistance starting

 3.10 PRIMARY
RESISTANCE STARTING
Figure 3.21 – Typical torque-speed curves
of a 3-phase, squirrel-cage induction
motor: (1) full-voltage starting;
(2) primary resistance starting with voltage
reduced to
0.65 pu
Figure 3.22 – Typical current-speed curves
of a 3-phase squirrel-cage induction motor:
(1) full-voltage starting;
(2) primary resistance starting with voltage
reduced to
0.65 pu
 3.10 PRIMARY
RESISTANCE STARTING
Example 1
A 150 kW (200 HP), 460 V, 3-phase, 3520 r/min, 60 Hz induction motor has a
locked-rotor torque of 600 N.m and a locked-rotor current of 1400 A. Three
resistor are connected in series with the line so as to reduce the voltage across
the motor to 0.65 pu. Calculate:
1) The apparent power absorbed by the motor under full-voltage, locked-rotor
conditions. (Answer: 1115.44 kVA).
2) The apparent power absorbed by the motor when the resistors are in the
circuit. (Answer: 471.27 kVA).
3)The apparent power drawn from the line, with the resistors in the circuit.
(Answer: 725.04 kVA).
4)The locked-rotor torque developed by the motor. (Answer: 253.5 N.m).
3.10 PRIMARY
RESISTANCE STARTING
Example 2
In Example 1, if the locked-rotor power factor
of the motor alone is 0.35, calculate the value
of the series resistors and the power they
dissipate. (Answers: 409.18 kW, 0.165 Ω).
3.11 AUTOTRANSFORMER
STARTING
• Have taps to give several levels of output voltages.
• It advantage over a resistance starter:
 For a given torque, it draws much lower line
current.
• It disadvantage to a resistance starter:
 Cost more.
 Transition from reduced- to full-voltage is
not quite as smooth.
3.11 AUTOTRANSFORMER
STARTING

Figure x – Typical autotransformer equivalent circuit

3.11 AUTOTRANSFORMER
STARTING

Figure 3.23 – Simplified schematic diagram of an autotransformer starter

3.11 AUTOTRANSFORMER
STARTING

Figure 3.24 – Typical reduced-voltage Figure 3.25 – Typical reduced-voltage

(0.65 pu) torque- speed curves of a 3- (0.65 pu) current- speed curves of a 3-
phase, squirrel-cage induction motor: phase, squirrel-cage induction motor:
(2) primary resistance starting; (3) (2) primary resistance starting; (3)
autotransformer starting autotransformer starting
 3.11 AUTOTRANSFORMER
STARTING
Example 3
A 200 HP (150 kW), 460 V, 3-phase, 3520 r/min, 60 Hz induction moor
has a locked-rotor torque of 600 N.m and a locked-rotor current of 1400
A. Two autotransformers, connected in open delta, and having a 65% tap,
are employed to provide reduced-voltage starting. Calculate:
1)The apparent power absorbed by the motor. (Answer: 471 kVA).
2)The apparent power supplied by the 460 V line. (Answer: 471 kVA).
3)The current supplied by the 460 V line. (Answer: 592 A).
4)The locked-rotor torque. (Answer: 252 N.m).
3.12 FUNDAMENTALS OF
ELECTRIC DRIVES
• In practice, a motor operates at various torques
and speeds, both in forward and reverse.
• Apart from to operating as a motor, the machine
often has to function for brief period as a
generator or brake.
3.12 FUNDAMENTALS OF
ELECTRIC DRIVES

Figure 3.26 – Electric drives can operate in four distinct quadrants

3.12 FUNDAMENTALS OF
ELECTRIC DRIVES
In quadrant 1
1) Torque and speed are positive (act in the same
direction).
2) Functions as a motor.
3) Delivers mechanical power to load.
4) Similar explanation for quadrant 3 except the
torque and speed are reversed.
3.12 FUNDAMENTALS OF
ELECTRIC DRIVES
In quadrant 2
1) Positive torque but with negative speed.
2) Functions as a generator.
3) Absorbs mechanical power from the load.
4) The mechanical power is converted into electric
power and fed back into the line.
5) In dynamic braking, the electrical power is
dissipated in an external resistor.
3.12 FUNDAMENTALS OF
ELECTRIC DRIVES
In quadrant 2
6) Depending on connection, a machine may also
function as a brake.
7) As a brake, the machine absorbs electrical power
from the line and mechanical power from the
shaft.
8) Inefficient for large power drives.
9) Similar explanation for quadrant 4 except the
torque and speed are reversed.
 3.13 TYPICAL TORQUE-
SPEED CURVES

Figure 3.27 – Typical torque-speed curve of a squirrel-cage induction motor operating

at fixed voltage and frequency
3.13 TYPICAL TORQUE-
SPEED CURVES

Figure 3.28 – Typical torque-speed curve of a dc motor