Synchronous Motor

Md. Arafat Rahman

Lecturer, Department of EEE, RUET
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 Working Principle of Synchronous Motor
 3-phase synchronous motor have two Rotor poles NR and SR .
 The direct current given in Rotor sets up a two-pole field which is stationary
 The stator winding will also have two poles NS and SS
 The stator winding produces a rotating magnetic field

 SS and NR attract
each other and so do NS and SR
the rotor tends to move in the
clockwise direction

 NS and NR repel each other and so do Hence, A synchronous motor has no self-starting torque
the poles SS and SR
i.e., A synchronous motor cannot start by itself .
 Therefore, the rotor tends to move in the
anticlockwise direction 2
Zero Initial Rotation

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 Working Principle of Synchronous Motor
 If the rotor poles are rotated by some external means at such a speed that they interchange their
positions along with the stator poles, then the rotor will experience a continuous unidirectional torque.

 Suppose the stator field is

rotating in the clockwise
direction and the rotor is also
rotated clockwise by some
external means at such a speed
that the rotor poles interchange
their positions along with the
stator poles.

 It is clear that torque on the rotor will be clockwise. After a period of half-cycle, the stator poles
reverse their polarities and at the same time rotor poles also interchange their positions. The result is
that again the torque on the rotor is clockwise.
Hence a continuous unidirectional torque acts on the rotor and moves it in
the clockwise direction.
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 Starting problems in a synchronous motor

The torque alternates rapidly in magnitude and direction.

So that the net Starting torque is zero.
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 Three basic approaches can be used to safely start a
synchronous motor

1. Reduce the speed of the stator magnetic field to a low enough value that the rotor can
accelerate and lock in with it during one half-cycle of the magnetic field 's rotation. This can be
done by reducing the frequency of the applied electric power.

2. Use an external prime mover to accelerate the synchronous motor up to synchronous speed,
go through the paralleling procedure, and bring the machine on the line as a generator. Then,
turning off or disconnecting the prime mover will make the synchronous machine a motor.

3. Use damper windings or amortisseur windings.

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 Motor Starting by Using Amortisseur Windings
 Amortisseur windings or Damper winding are special bars laid into notches carved in the face
of a synchronous motor's rotor and then shorted out on each end by a large shorting ring.

(1) To start with, 3-phase supply is given to the stator winding while the rotor
field winding is left unenergized. The rotating stator field induces currents
in the damper or squirrel cage winding and the motor starts as an induction
motor.
(2) As the motor approaches the synchronous speed, the rotor is excited with
direct current. Now the resulting poles on the rotor face poles of opposite
polarity on the stator and a strong magnetic attraction is set up between
them. The rotor poles lock in with the poles of rotating flux. Consequently,
the rotor revolves at the same speed as the stator field i.e., at synchronous
speed.
(3) Because the bars of squirrel cage portion of the rotor now rotate at the same
speed as the rotating stator field, these bars do not cut any flux and,
therefore, have no induced currents in them. Hence squirrel cage portion of
the rotor is, in effect, removed from the operation of the motor.

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Damper or Amortisseur Windings

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Magnetically Locked

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 The Equivalent Circuit of a Synchronous Motor
A synchronous motor is the same in all respects as a synchronous generator, except that the direction
of power flow is reversed. Since the direction of power flow in the machine is reversed, the direction
of current flow in the stator of the motor may be expected to reverse also.

The full equivalent circuit of a three-phase synchronous motor Per Phase Equivalent Circuit of Synchronous Motor

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 Phasor Diagram of Synchronous Generator Phasor Diagram of Synchronous Motor
taking 𝐕Ф as a reference phasor taking 𝐕Ф as a reference phasor
Under-excited
Over-excited

Lagging pf
Lagging pf

EA=KФ 𝝎 Normally-excited
Normally-excited

Unity pf Unity pf

Under-excited Over-excited

Leading pf
Leading pf
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Phasor Diagram of Synchronous Generator Phasor Diagram of Synchronous Motor
Taking 𝐈𝐀 as a reference phasor Taking 𝐈𝐀 as a reference phasor

Under-excited
Over-excited Lagging pf

Normally-excited
Normally-excited Unity pf
Unity pf

Leading pf Over-excited

Under-excited
Leading pf

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 Field Excitation for Synchronous Generator & Synchronous Motor
𝐄𝐀
𝐈𝐀

Synchronous Motor 𝐕Ф

Synchronous Generator 𝐕Ф

𝐈𝐀 **Real power and Terminal voltage is constant** 𝐄𝐀

 Red is over-excited, supplies lagging ( when load is  Red is over-excited, motor is capacitive and
lagging pf ) current to the power system (infinite bus). To supplies reactive power to the power system.
keep the terminal voltage 𝐕Ф constant, Generator supplies  Blue is under-excited, motor is inductive and
reactive power to the system just like a capacitor. absorbs reactive power from the system.
 Blue is under-excited, supplies leading current (when load  Black is normally excited (unity PF.) It absorbs
is leading pf ) to the power system. To keep the terminal only the real power.
voltage 𝐕Ф constant, Generator receive reactive power  Note that in all cases 𝐄𝐀 lags 𝐕Ф which is typical
from the system just like an inductor. motor operation.
 Black is for unity power factor or normally excited  In general: An over-excited synchronous machine
generator. It supplies only the real power. (motor or generator) will supply vars to the system
 Note that 𝐄𝐀 leads 𝐕Ф in all cases which is typical (like a capacitor) while the under-excited
generator operation. synchronous machine will absorb vars from the
system (like an inductor). 13
Real Power versus Torque Angle curve for Synchronous
Generator & Synchronous Motor

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Magnetic Field Diagram of Synchronous Generator &
Synchronous Motor
Taking initial torque Counterclockwise

Synchronous Generator Synchronous Motor

𝐁𝐑 leads 𝐁𝑺 𝐁𝑺 leads 𝐁𝑹
Induced Torque Clockwise Induced Torque Counterclockwise
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 Synchronous Generator to Synchronous Motor from a Magnetic Field Perspective

𝐄𝐀 l𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐕Ф
𝐁𝐑 corresponds to produces 𝐄𝐀
𝐁𝐑 l𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐁𝐧𝐞𝐭
𝐁𝐧𝐞𝐭 corresponds to produces 𝐕𝚽
𝐁𝐒 corresponds to 𝐄𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭 = −𝒋𝐗 𝐒𝐈𝐀

The induced torque in the

generator is a counter torque,
opposing the rotation caused by
the external applied torque.

Figure: (a) Phasor diagram of a Synchronous Generator operating at

a lagging power factor. (b) The corresponding magnetic field
diagram.

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Synchronous Generator to Synchronous Motor from a Magnetic Field Perspective

EA lies behind VФ
BR lies behind Bnet If the prime mover suddenly loses
power and starts to drag on the
machine 's shaft, the rotor slows
down and falls behind the net
magnetic field in the machine.
Then 𝐁𝐑 i𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐁𝐧𝐞𝐭

The induced torque's direction

Figure: (a) Phasor diagram of a Synchronous Motor. (b) The reverses and becomes
corresponding magnetic field diagram. counterclockwise and the machine
is acting as a motor.

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 Steady State Operation of Synchronous Motor: Torque-Speed Characteristic Curve
 Synchronous motors supply power to loads that are
basically constant-speed devices. Synchronous motors Speed Regulation (SR) is zero percent
are usually connected to Infinite bus. The terminal
voltage and the system frequency will be constant
regardless of the amount of power drawn by the motor.

 The speed of rotation of the motor is locked to the

applied electrical frequency, so the speed of the
motor will be constant regardless of the load.

 The steady-state speed of the motor is constant from no

load to the maximum torque that the motor can supply
called the Pullout Torque.

Figure: The torque-speed characteristic of a synchronous motor.

Since the speed of the motor is constant. Its speed regulation is
zero.

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 Torque Angle Change for applying load

 Magnetically always locked with increasing torque angle before 90 degree

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 Slipping Pole

 The maximum or pullout torque occurs when,  = 90˚

 The pullout torque may typically be 3 times the full-
load torque of the machine.
 When the torque on the shaft of a synchronous motor exceeds
the pullout torque, the rotor can no longer remain locked to the
stator and net magnetic fields. Instead, the rotor starts to slip
behind them. As the rotor slows down, the stator magnetic
field "laps" it repeatedly, and the direction of the induced
torque in the rotor reverses with each pass. The resulting
huge torque surges, first one way and then the other way, cause
the whole motor to vibrate severely. Finally the motor stops to
work.

The loss of synchronization after the pullout torque is exceeded is known

as slipping poles.
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Power flow diagram of Three phase Synchronous Motor

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 Effect of Changes in shaft load on Armature Current, Power Factor and
Power Angle when synchronous motor operates initially with a leading PF

P  IAcosθ  EAsin
EA=KФ 𝝎

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 Effect of Changes in shaft load on Armature Current, Power Factor and
Power Angle when synchronous motor operates initially with a leading PF

P  IAcosθ  EAsin EA=KФ 𝝎

 If a load is attached to the shaft of a synchronous motor, the motor will develop enough torque to keep
the motor and its load turning at a synchronous speed a synchronous motor operating initially with a
leading power factor.
 If the load on the shaft of the motor is increased, the rotor will initially slow down. As it does, the torque
angle  becomes larger, and the induced torque increases. The increase in induced torque eventually
speeds the rotor back up, and the motor again turns at synchronous speed but with a larger torque angle 
 Therefore, EA must be constant as the load changes. The distances proportional to power EAsin and
Iacosθ will increase, but the magnitude of EA must remain constant the power-factor angle changes too,
becoming less and less leading and then more and more lagging.
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Effect of Changes in shaft load on Armature current, Power Factor and Power
Angle when synchronous motor operates initially with a lagging PF

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Effect of Changes in shaft load on Armature current, Power Factor and Power
Angle when synchronous motor operates initially with a lagging PF

Assuming that a synchronous motor operates initially with a lagging PF

represented by the thick phasors.
The effect of increasing the shaft load to twice its initial value are represented by
the light lines. These are drawn in accordance to PIacosi and PEfsin. When
the shaft load is doubled, both Iacosi and Efsin are doubled. If the excitation is
not changed, increasing the shaft load causes the locus of Ef phasor to follow a
circular path, thereby increasing its torque angle  with increasing shaft load. As
the new IaXs must be perpendicular to the new Ia phasor, an increase in shaft load
causes a decrease in I, resulting in an increase in PF.
If load is further increased, the torque angle  will be increased more and finally
the rotor fails to lock with stator field, i.e., motor will stop rotating.

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Effect of Changes in shaft load on Power Factor

 Increasing load at Unity power factor, the new power factor

decreases become lagging
 Increasing load at Lagging or Leading power factor, the new
power factor changes to Unity

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 Example 6.1: A 208V, 45 hp, 0.8 PF-Leading, Delta-connected, 60-Hz synchronous machine has a synchronous
reactance of 2.5 ohm and a negligible armature resistance. Its friction and windage losses are 1.5 kW, and its
core losses are 1.0 kW. Initially, the shaft is supplying a 15 hp load, and the motor's power factor is 0.80 leading.
(a) Sketch the phasor diagram of this motor, and find the values of IA , IL and EA .
(b) Assume that the shaft load is now increased to 30 hp. Sketch the behavior of the phasor diagram in response
to this change.
(c) Find IA , IL and EA after the load change. What is the new motor power factor ?
Answer: Initially, The motor's output power is ,
To find EA , apply KVL,

The electric power supplied to the machine is,

Since the motor's power factor is 0.80 leading,

the resulting line current flow is,

The resulting phasor diagram (a) 27

(b) & (c) As the power on the shaft is increased to 30 hp, the shaft slows momentarily, and the internal generated
voltage EA swings out to a larger angle  while maintaining a constant magnitude. After the load changes, the
electric input power of the machine becomes,

The resulting phasor diagram (b)

The final power factor will be

cos (-15) or 0.966 leading.
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Effect of Changes in Field Current on Motor Operation

P  IAcosθ  EAsin
EA=KФ 𝝎

Q  IAsinθ

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Effect of Changes in Field Current on Motor Operation

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 Effect of Changes in Field Current on Motor Operation

Suppose, A synchronous motor operating initially with a lagging power factor.

An increase in field current increases the magnitude of EA but does not affect the real power
supplied by the motor.
The power supplied by the motor changes only when the shaft load torque changes
as the value of EA increases, the magnitude of the armature current IA first decreases and then
increases again.
At low EA, the armature current is lagging, and the motor is an inductive load. It is acting like an
inductor-resistor combination, consuming reactive power Q.
As the field current is increased, the armature current eventually lines up with VФ and the motor
looks purely resistive.
 As the field current is increased further, the armature current becomes leading, and the motor
becomes a capacitive load. It is now acting like a capacitor-resistor combination, consuming
negative reactive power -Q or, alternatively, supplying reactive power Q to the system.

Home Work : Math 6.2 (Chapman 4e)

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 V curves of Synchronous Motor
 A plot of IA versus IF for a synchronous motor is called a
synchronous motor V curve. There are several V curves
drawn, corresponding to different real power levels.

 For each curve, the minimum armature current occurs at

unity power factor, when only real power is being supplied
to the motor. At any other point on the curve, some reactive
power is being supplied to or by the motor as well.

 For field currents less than the value giving minimum IA,
the armature current is lagging, consuming Q.

 For field currents greater than the value giving the

minimum IA, the armature current is leading, supplying Q to
the power system as a capacitor.

 By controlling the field current of a synchronous motor,

the reactive power supplied to or consumed by the power
system can be controlled.

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Example 6.3: The infinite bus in the following figure operates at 480 V. Load 1 is an induction motor consuming 100 kW at
0.78 PF lagging, and load 2 is an induction motor consuming 200 kW at 0.8 PF lagging. Load 3 is a synchronous motor
whose real power consumption is 150 kW.
(a) If the synchronous motor is adjusted to operate at 0.85 PF lagging, what is the transmission line current in this system?
(b) If the synchronous motor is adjusted to operate at 0.85 PF leading, what is the transmission line current in this system?
(c) Assume that the transmission line losses are given by PLL =IL2R L line loss, where LL stands for line losses. How do the
transmission losses compare in the two cases?
Answer: (a) The reactive power of load 1,2,3 are,

The total Reactive Power is

The total Real Power is Finally, the line current is,

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(b) The real and reactive powers of loads 1 and 2 are unchanged, as is the real power of load 3. The
reactive power of load 3 is,

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(c) The transmission losses in the first case are,

The transmission losses in the second case are,

 The second case the transmission power losses are 28 percent less
than in the first case, while the power supplied to the loads is the
same.

𝟏𝟑𝟒𝟒𝟕𝟎𝟎𝑹𝑳 − 𝟗𝟔𝟏𝟎𝟕𝟎𝑹𝑳
= 𝟎. 𝟐𝟖
𝟏𝟑𝟒𝟒𝟕𝟎𝟎𝑹𝑳

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 The Synchronous Capacitor or Synchronous Condenser
 A synchronous motor operated in overexcited mood at no load
is known as Synchronous Capacitor or Synchronous Condenser.
 It supplies the reactive power Q for a power system.
 It improves the power factor.
 It absorbs zero real power from the system as the distances
proportional to power (IAcosθ & EAsin) are zero.
 Synchronous Capacitors are less economical to buy and use
than the conventional static capacitors The phasor diagram of Synchronous Condenser

The V curve of a synchronous capacitor The corresponding machine phasor diagram

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 QUESTIONS (Chapman 4e)
6-1. What is the difference between a synchronous motor and a synchronous generator?
6-2. What is the speed regulation of a synchronous motor?
6-3. When would a synchronous motor be used even though its constant-speed characteristic was
not needed?
6-4. Why can't a synchronous motor start by itself?
6-5. What techniques are available to start a synchronous motor?
6-6. What are amortisseur windings? Why is the torque produced by them unidirectional
at starting, while the torque produced by the main field winding alternates direction?
6-7. What is a synchronous capacitor? Why would one be used?
6-8. Explain, using phasor diagrams, what happens to a synchronous motor as its field
current is varied. Derive a synchronous motor V curve from the phasor diagram.
6-9. Is a synchronous motor's field circuit in more danger of overheating when it is operating at
a leading or at a lagging power factor? Explain, using phasor diagrams.
6-10. A synchronous motor is operating at a fixed real load, and its field current is increased. If the
armature current falls, was the motor initially operating at a lagging or a leading power factor?
6-11. Why must the voltage applied to a synchronous motor be derated for operation at
frequencies lower than the rated value?
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