EXPERIMENT 3 Part 1

TORQUE- SPEED CHARACTERISTICS OF A DC SERIES MOTOR

Objective:

The objectives of the experiment are:

 To determine the torque- speed characteristic curve of a series wound DC motor

Introduction
A series DC motor is a motor whose filed windings consists of a relatively few turns connected in
series with the armature circuit. The equivalent circuit for a series DC motor is shown in Fig 4.1.
IL IA

Rf

Ra

VT
IF
Field EA Armature
winding winding

Figure 4.1 DC Series Motor equivalent circuit

In a series dc motor, the armature current, the field current, and the line current are all the same.
The Kirchhoff's voltage law equation for this motor is

The DC series motor behaves differently than the DC shunt motor. As demonstrated in the previous
lab, the shunt winding produces an almost constant speed of operation (low speed regulation) while
in this experiment, you will see that the series winding produces a machine with very high speed
regulation.

Induced Torque in a Series DC motor

The terminal characteristics of a series DC motor are very different from that of the shunt DC motor.
The basic behavior of a series DC motor is due to the fact that the flux is directly proportional to the
armature current, at least until saturation is reached. As the load on the motor increases, its flux
increases too. As seen earlier, an increase in the flux in the motor causes a decrease in its speed. The
result is that a series DC motor has a sharply drooping torque-speed characteristic.
The flux in this machine is directly proportional to its armature current (at least until the metal

saturation). Therefore, the flux in the machine can be given by

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Where c is a constant of proportionality. The induced torque in this machine is thus given by

In the series motor, the armature and field windings, both carry the same current. In other words, the
torque in the motor is proportional to the square of its armature current. When the motor is lightly
loaded, the magnetic field in the armature is weak as the motor is drawing a minimum current.
When the motor is heavily loaded the motor draws a maximum current and the armature field is
strong. As a result of this relationship, it is easy to see that a series motor gives more torque per
ampere than any other DC motor. The series motor under heavy load at low speed will produce a
very large amount of torque. Thus the series motor is very useful for starting large, high-inertia
loads. Applications include starter motors in cars, locomotive drives (electric trains and buses), and
traction motors.

Notice that for an unsaturated series DC motor, the speed of the motor varies as the reciprocal of
the square root of the torque as in the following equation.

One disadvantage of the series motors can be seen immediately from this equation; when the
torque on the motor goes to zero, its speed goes to infinity. In practice, the torque can never go
entirely to zero because of the mechanical, core, and stray losses that must be overcome. Under
heavy load, the motor operates at very low speeds , however, if no other load is connected to the
motor, the motor speed can excessively high and can seriously damage itself. Never completely
unload a series DC motor, and never connect one to a load by a belt or other mechanism that
could break. If that were to happen and the motor were to become unloaded while running, the
results could be serious.

Equipment
Qty Description Serial . No
1 DC Multifunction Machine (Series motor) EM-3330-1B
1 Magnetic Powder Brake Unit EM-3320-1C
1 Brake Controller EM-3320-1N
1 DC Power Supply Module EM-3310-1A
1 Three-phase Power Supply Module EM-3310-1E
1 Three-pole Current Limit Protection Switch Module EM-3310- 2A
1 Digital DCA Meter EM-3310-3A
1 Digital DCV Meter EM-3310-3B
Procedure:
1. Place the DC Series Wound machine, magnetic powder brake unit, and brake controller on the
laboratory table. Mechanically couple the DC Series Wound Machine to the magnetic Powder
Brake Unit using a Coupling. Securely lock

Machine Bases using delta screws. Install the Coupling Guard and the Shaft End

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 Guard. Electrically connect the Powder Brake Controller to the Magnetic Powder Brake Unit
using the supplied cable. CAUTION: The series motor must never run with no mechanical
load because the motor speed increases to a very high value which can damage the motor
(motor runaway).
Complete this laboratory exercise as quickly as possible to avoid the rise in temperature
under load condition.
2. Install the required modules in the Experimental Frame. Construct the circuit in accordance with
the circuit in Figure and the connection diagram in Figure 4. Have your instructor to check your
completed circuit. Note: The thermal switches of DC Series Wound Machine and Magnetic
Powder Brake Unit must be connected together.
3. Make yourself familiar with the operation of Brake Controller by referring to the Operation
Manual.
Before using the Brake Controller and Magnetic Powder Brake Unit, you must first calibrate the
torque display of the Brake Controller to 0 kg.m by adjusting the zero adj knob located on the
rear panel of Magnetic Powder Brake Unit with the power on.

4. On the DC Power Supply Module, set the V adj knob to min. position.
5. Sequentially turn on the Brake Controller, Magnetic Powder Brake Unit, 3-P Current Limit
Protection Switch, Three-Phase Power Supply and DC Power Supply Modules.

6. Press the START button on the DC Power Supply Module.

7. Manipulate the Brake Controller to operate in Mode/Closed Loop/Constant Torque mode and
set the output torque T to 0.05 kg.m. If the controller doesn’t operate normally, reboot it by
pressing the RESET button. If the rotor is locked by a heavy brake torque, immediately press
the red emergency OFF button on the ThreePhase Power Supply Module and terminate this
exercise.
8. On the DC Power supply Module, slowly turn the V. adj knob to increase the motor voltage E up
to rated value of 220Vdc. Note: The motor speed (obtained from the Brake Controller) must not
exceed 2,800 rpm.
9. Record the motor speed, N (obtained from the Brake Controller), the motor current, I
(from DCA meter) and the motor voltage E (from DCV meter) in Table 4.1

10. Slowly turn the V. adj knob on the DC Power Supply Module to the min position.
11. Manipulate the Brake Controller to release the braking. That is to say, release the braking by
pressing the ESC or BACK button on the Brake Controller.

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12. Repeat step 6 through 11 for the other torque settings listed in table 4.1. Note: The motor
current, I must not exceed 130% of the rated current, 1.65A x 1.3 = 2.145A.

13. When finished, slowly return the V. adj knob on the DC supply module to min position.
14. Sequentially, turn off the DC Power Supply, Three Phase Power Supply, 3-P Current Limit
Protection Switch Modules, Magnetic Powder Brake Unit and Brake
Controller.

15. Using the result in Table 4.1, plot the N vs T curve and I vs T curves on the graphs.
16. From the results and graph, discuss and conclude your experiment in the given part.
EXPERIMENT 4
TORQUE- SPEED CHARACTERISTICS OF A DC SERIES MOTOR

Table 4.1 Measured values with varying Torque

τ
0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25
(kg.m)
E (V)

If (A)

N (rpm)

Figure 4.2 N vs τ curve

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 Figure 4.3 I vs τ curve

Exercise Questions:

1. What is the value of IA for each value in Table 4.1. Discuss.

2. Give the torque-speed relationship for a DC series motor. Discuss.
3. From the relationship, discuss on how to control the speed of DC Series motor.
4. Based on the experiment, what is your conclusion from the finding.
APPENDIX- 1

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 Figure 4.2 Circuit diagram for torque -speed characteristics test APPENDIX- 2

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 Figure 4.3 Connection diagram for torque-speed characteristics test

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