Syllabus

Synchronous Motor Drives

Speed control of three phase synchronous motors
Voltage and current source fed synchronous motor
Cyclo converter fed synchronous motors
Effects of harmonics on the performance of AC

motors - PMSM

Synchronous Machine
The stator is similar in construction that of a induction motor.
The rotor can be Salient or Non-Salient (cylindrical rotor).
Field excitation is provided on the rotor by either permanent or
electromagnets with number of poles equal to the poles of the RMF
caused by stator.
Non-excited rotors are also possible as in case of reluctance
motors.
The rotor gets locked to the RMF and rotates unlike induction
motor at synchronous speed under all load condition.

Synchronous Motor
The synchronous motor rotates at the synchronous
speed i.e. the speed of the RMF.
Stator is similar in construction to that of an
induction motor, so same principle is applied to the
synchronous motor rotor.
Field excitation is provided on the rotor by either
permanent or electromagnets with number of poles
equal to the poles of the RMF caused by stator.

Synchronous Machine Construction

(a) CRSM

(b) SPSM

Synchronous Motors
Therefore, at this instant the rotor experiences a
counterclockwise torque tending to make it rotate in the
direction opposite to that of the stator poles.
The net torque on the rotor in one revolution will be
zero, and therefore the motor will not develop any
starting torque.
The stator field is rotating so fast that the rotor poles
cannot catch up or lock onto it. The motor will not
speed up but will vibrate.
Because it not self-started, two methods are normally
used to start a synchronous motor:
Use a variable-frequency supply
Start the machine as an induction motor.

Types of synchronous motor

1. Wound field motor
a. Cylindrical rotor
b. Salient pole rotor
2. Permanent magnet motor
3. Hysteresis motor
4. synchronous reluctance motor

Synchronous Motor-Principle
The rotor acting as a bar magnet will turn to line up with the rotating
magnet field. The rotor gets locked to the RMF and rotates unlike
induction motor at synchronous speed under all load condition.

Electrical Frequency
Electrical frequency produced is locked or synchronized to the
mechanical speed of rotation of a synchronous generator,

fe
where,

nm P
120

fe = electrical frequency in Hz
P = number of poles
nm= mechanical speed of the rotor, in r/min

Voltage Regulation
A convenient way to compare the voltage behaviour of two generators is
by their voltage regulation (VR). The VR of a synchronous generator at a
given load, power factor, and at rated speed is defined as

VR

Vnl V fl
V fl

100%

Where Vfl is the full-load terminal voltage, and Vnl (equal to Ef) is the
no-load terminal voltage (internal voltage) at rated speed when the load is
removed without changing the field current. For lagging power factor
(PF), VR is fairly positive, for unity PF, VR is small positive and for
leading PF, VR is negative.

Wound field synchronous motor

The rotor has dc field winding, which is supplied from a

dc source through slip rings and brushes. It contains

Cylindrical or Salient pole construction.
Cylindrical rotor Wound field motor
Salient pole wound field motor
The cylindrical rotor have higher mechanical strength

and are

employed in high power & high speed

applications. Mostly salient pole motors are prepared

due to low cost.

Cylindrical rotor Wound field

motor
Equivalent circuit of cylindrical rotor

Xs synchronous reactance
E Excitation EMF

Power input to motor is,

Where is phase angle of Is with respect to V.
Developed power in motor after neglecting the stator loss
Now,

Then

Sub the above eqn in developed power in motor ,

The stator produces a rotating magnetic field by moving at a syn speed

Where, f & P frequency and no of poles

Rotor field must move at the same speed as stator speed to produce the
steady state torque.

E- constant. Pm and T are proportional to sin .

The angle (power or torque angle)

Characteristics of Cylindrical rotor

Wound field motor

Salient pole wound field motor

Equivalent circuit of Salient pole wound field motor, it contains
different synchronous reactance in direct & quadrature axis.

From the phasor diagram,

and

Then the eqn becomes,

Xsd & Xsq -- synchronous reactance of direct & quadrature axis.
Isd & Isq -- direct & quadrature components of Is

Sub Isd & Isq in above eqn,

Developed power in motor is given by

Sub Is.cos eqn in developed power,

And we know that,
Then the eqn is,

Characteristics of salient pole wound

field rotor

STARTING SYNCHRONOUS MOTORS

1 Starting by Reducing Electrical Frequency
If stator B rotate at low enough speed, there will be

no problem for rotor to accelerate & will lock in with

stator.
Speed of BS then can be increased gradually to

normal 50 or 60 Hz
Shortcoming: how to provide a variable electrical

frequency source, this needs a dedicated generator.

This requirement is obviously impractical.

Start with Variable-Frequency Supply

By using a frequency converter, a synchronous motor can be brought from standstill to its
desired speed.

The motor is start with a low-frequency supply.

This will make the stator field rotate slowly so that the rotor poles can follow the stator poles.

Afterwards, the frequency is gradually increased and the motor brought to its desired speed.

This method is expensive since the frequency converter is a costly power conditioning unit.

STARTING SYNCHRONOUS MOTORS

2- Starting With an External Prime Mover
Attaching an external motor to it to bring syn. Machine up
to full speed
Then syn. Machine be paralleled with its power system as a
generator
Now starting motor can be detached from machine shaft,
then its slow down
BR fall behind Bnet & machine change its mode to be motor
Once paralleling completed syn. Motor can be loaded down
in an ordinary fashion

STARTING SYNCHRONOUS MOTORS

3- Starting by Using damper or Amortisseur
Windings
most popular method is to employ amortisseur or
damper winding
armortisseur windings are special bars laid into
notches carved in face of a syn. motors rotor & then
shorted out on each end by a large shorting ring
To understand what a set of amortisseur windings
does in a syn. motor, examine salient 2 pole rotor.

Start as an Induction Motor

For this purpose, a damper or amortisseur

winding, which resembles the cage of an
induction motor, is mounted on the rotor.
To start the motor the field winding is left
unexcited.
If the motor terminals are now connected
to the ac supply, the motor will start as an
induction motor.

The motor will speed up and will approach synchronous speed.

The rotor is then closely following the stator field poles, which are rotating at
the synchronous speed.

Now if the rotor poles are excited by a field current from a dc source, the
rotor poles will be locked to them.

The rotor will then run at synchronous speed.

Permanent magnet syn motor

(PMSM)

Field excitation is obtained by mounting permanent magnets on the rotor.

This eliminates dc source; losses associated with the field winding and
frequent maintenance associated with slip rings and brushes in a wound field
motor.
Power factor cannot controlled field excitation cannot be controlled.
The permanent motors designed to operate at unity power factor at full
load.
The power developed by the motor,
The torque is,
PMSM eliminates field copper loss, higher
power density, lower inertia and more robust.

Hysteresis synchronous motor

In hysteresis motor, stator has single or three phase
arc winding. Rotor consists of a single thin walled
cylinder made of hard steel. Below syn speed the
motor works as induction motor.

As hysteresis loss is proportional

to frequency and eddy current loss is
proportional to square of frequency.

The rotor has smooth non-salient

construction, its operation smooth
and quiet. Small rating motors used in
tape recorders, fans and high inertia
applications.

Synchronous reluctance motor

Salient pole motor without field winding. Then
the expression for torque at syn torque is equal to
0.

Due to the absence of field excitation, the air gap flux is

produced only by magnetising current drawn from the source.
magnetising current is larger & power factor is lower compared to
other syn motors.

Control of synchronous motors on

adjustable (variable) frequency supply
Synchronous Speed is directly proportional to frequency.
Rated voltage is reached at the base speed. For higher
speeds, the machine is operated at a rated terminal voltage
and variable frequency, and pull-out torque decreases with
an increase in frequency.
Types
(1). True synchronous mode (or) separate controlled
mode
(2). Self- synchronous mode (or) self controlled mode

True synchronous mode (or) separate controlled mode

In

separate

controlled

mode,

the

stator

supply

frequency is controlled by independent of oscillator.

Freq changed from initial to desired value the
difference b/w syn speed and rotor is small.
when the desired syn speed is reached, the rotor pulls

into step, after hunting oscillations.

Variable freq control not only allows the speed control,

also used for smooth starting & regenerative braking. A

motor with damper winding is used for pull- in to
synchronism.

True synchronous mode (or) separate controlled mode

Used for control of
multiple synchronous
reluctance
permanent

magnet

motorsspinning,

or
fiber

textile

paper mills.
Freq command f* applied to VSI through a delay ckt. So that rotor
speed is able to track or sense the changes in the frequency.
The flux controller changes this stator voltage with freq to maintain
a constant flux below rated speed (( (v/f))

&

Self- synchronous mode (or) self

controlled mode

Self controlled mode- if it gets its operating freq from the inverter
whose thyristors are fixed from a rotor position sensing unit. This
unit measures the rotor position with respect to stator reference
and sends pulses to the thyristors.

Principles of separate control

Separate control of syn motor fed square wave inverter

Separate control of syn motor fed PWM inverter

Self control of synchronous motor

Self control of syn motor fed square wave inverter

Self control of syn motor fed PWM inverter

Chopper fed synchronous motor

The DC chopper placed in between the diode rectifier and inverter.

Inverter has many advantages through it seem complex circuitry.
Usage of 3 simple converters makes it possible to reduce the link
inductance by having synchronous control of the chopper.

VSI fed synchronous motor

VSI fed drives can also be developed to have self control, using rotor
position sensor or phase control methods. But these drives might
impose fewer commutation problems both on machine as well as on
the system design.
A normal voltage source inverter with 180* conduction of thyristors
requires forced commutation and load commutation is not possible.
There are 3 combinations are possible to provide a variable voltage
variable frequency supply to a syn motor.
(1). Using PWM inverter and diode rectifier
(2). Using square wave inverter and phase controlled rectifier
(3). Using square wave inverter & chopper & diode rectifier

Using PWM inverter and diode rectifier

Using square wave inverter and phase controlled rectifier

Using square wave inverter & chopper &

diode rectifier

Three simple converters are used to give the desired

result. It is possible to reduce the size of link inductance by
having a synchronous control of the chopper.
Separate control VSI fed syn motor
Self control - VSI fed syn motor

self controlled VSI fed synchronous

motor using square wave inverter

self controlled VSI fed synchronous

motor using PWM inverter

separately controlled CSI fed

synchronous motor using Square wave
inverter

separately controlled CSI fed

synchronous motor using PWM inverter

Cycloconverter fed synchronous motor

synchronous motor power factor

control

Closed loop control of

synchronous motor