Module 5

CONTROL OF INDUCTION MOTORS FROM ROTOR SIDE

• Rotor Resistance Control:

The speed of an Induction motor can be controlled by the introduction of an external

resistance in the Rotor circuit as shown in the figure below.

Fig: External Rotor resistances connected in a Slip Ring Induction Motor

The speed-Torque characteristics of an Induction motor with such a control are shown in
the figure below.

Fig: Induction Motor Torque-Speed Characteristics with variation of Rotor Resistance.

 Considering only the Rotor circuit parameters the basic relations to study the speed-
torque characteristics of an induction motor are given below.
• Torque developed by the motor Td: Td = k [s E2 2 R2/ R22 + (sX2)2]
• Slip at maximum Torque Sm = R2 / X2
• Maximum developed torque Tmax: Tmax = kE22/2X2
• Starting Torque Tst : Tst = k [E2 2 R2/ R22 + X22]

The above relations along with the torque-speed characteristics of an induction motor
shows that:
• For a given Load torque, the motor speed is reduced (since slip s Increases) as the
rotor resistance is increased. However, the no load speed remains the same with the
variation of the Rotor Resistance.
• The increase in rotor resistance does not affect the value of the maximum torque but
increases the value of slip at which it occurs.
• With increase in Rotor resistance the starting torque increases and the starting current
reduces. Hence the Torque to current ratio improves.

Advantages and disadvantages of Rotor resistance control:

• External resistors can be added only during the accelerating period to increase the
starting torque and can be removed later during the steady state. This minimises the
losses with dissipation in external resistors.
• The rotor temperature rise is substantially lower than it would have been if the higher
resistance were incorporated in the rotor winding as in the case of squirrel cage
motors. This allows the optimum utilisation of the motor torque capabilities.
• It provides a constant torque operation with high Torque to current ratio.
• Though Rotor copper losses increase with decrease in speed most of it is dissipated in
the external resistors. The copper losses inside the motor remains constant for a given
fixed torque. Because of this, a motor of smaller size can be employed.
• Motor efficiency decreases and the rotor copper losses increase with the
decrease in speed. This is the main disadvantage and hence to overcome this,
static rotor resistance control is adopted.
• Static Rotor Resistance control with a Chopper:

Instead of mechanically varying the Rotor Resistance or electrically by using contactors

it can be varied electronically by using a chopper as shown in the figure below. This gives a
stepless and smooth variation of resistance and hence the speed of the motor. In this system the
external resistor is introduced in the rotor circuit after converting the slip power into DC using
a three phase bridge rectifier instead of directly connecting in the rotor circuit. Along with the
resistor a chopper is also connected in parallel. By switching the chopper ON and OFF at a
high frequency the effective value of the resistance is controlled smoothly. As Ton is changed
from 0 to its full time period of T the resistance changes from R to 0. In terms of the duty ratio
δ of the chopper the effective value of the resistance RE introduced into the rotor is given by :
RE = (1- δ).R
A filter inductor Ld is provided in series between the rectifier and the external resistor to
smoothen the current Id. A higher ripple in Id produces higher harmonics in the rotor current
and hence the rotor copper losses will increase. The diode bridge is the main contributor for
the ripple and not the chopper switch since it operates at a relatively higher frequency.

The diode bridge output EDC changes from its maximum value at standstill to about 5% at
near motor rated speed. Here a thyristor is not suitable as a switch since reliable commutation
at a higher switching frequency can be obtained only by external commutating circuits which
would be bulky and expensive.
The DC voltage EDC is small because Induction motors are usually designed with stator to
rotor turns ratio of greater than 1. Hence a transistor switch is good enough for low power
drives and GTO can be used for ratings beyond the capability of transistors. Self commutation
capability of these devices ensures reliable commutation at all operating points and makes the
Semiconductor switch compact.

Fig: Induction Motor Speed control using a chopper

• Slip Power Recovery.

It is seen that in the rotor resistance control method, the slip power,which increases with
decreasing speed, gets dissipated in the resistance and hence the efficiency of the system gets
reduced at lower speeds. The mechanical power that can be obtained from the air gap power
is with a per unit conversion efficiency of (1-s) and the overall motor efficiency would still be
lesser than this. The air gap power is almost totally dissipated as heat in the Rotor circuits at
lower speeds and hence the efficiency would be very poor. Therefore the rotor resistance
method of speed control is very inefficient except for a very small speed range close to the
synchronous speed. However, instead of dissipating the slip power in the resistance, if it can
be conveniently returned to the mains or effectively utilized to increase the drive power then
the drive system becomes more efficient. This is achieved by means of two widely used slip
power recovery methods known as Scherbius and Kramer drives. They are also called as
cascade drives.

• Static Scherbius drive:

The static Scherbius drive system for the speed control of a wound rotor Induction motor
is shown in the figure below. This is also known as sub synchronous converter cascade since it
is capable of providing speed control only in the sub synchronous speed range.

Fig: Static Scherbius drive

The DC link converter consists of a three phase diode bridge rectifier which operates at
slip frequency and feeds the rectified slip power to a phase controlled three phase inverter
through a smoothing Inductor. The inverter returns the rectified slip power to the AC supply.
The rectifier and the inverter are both naturally commutated by the alternating e.m.fs appearing
at the slip rings of the rotor circuit and supply bus bars respectively. The problem of matching
the frequencies of the injected e.m.f and the rotor e.m.f is eliminated by rectifying the rotor
voltage and using the variable back e.m.f available from the controlled three phase inverter as
the externally injected speed control voltage.
 If commutation overlap is negligible the DC output voltage of the uncontrolled three
phase rectifier is given by :
EDC = 3Erm/π = 3√2 Er/π = 1.35 Ers

where Erm is the maximum value of Rotor side line voltage at stand still
where Er is the RMS value of Rotor side line voltage at stand still
where Ers is the RMS value of Rotor side line voltage in running condition with slip ‘s’

For a line commutated three phase bridge inverter with negligible commutation
overlap the average back e.m.f is given by:
Eb = 1.35.EL.cosα

where α is the inverter firing angle (α > 90°) and EL is the AC line to voltage.
Neglecting the drop across the inductor,
EDC+ Eb= 0 or 1.35 Ers + 1.35.EL.cosα = 0
And the slip s= a|cosα|
where a is the effective stator to rotor turns ratio of the motor.
Therefore, speed control is obtained by simple variation of the Inverter firing angle. If
‘a’ is unity the no-load speed of the motor can be controlled from near standstill to full speed
as |cosα| is varied from almost unity to zero.

Important features of Scherbius drive:

 Since power is fed back to the source, unlike in rotor resistance control where it is wasted in
external resistors, drive has a high efficiency. The efficiency is even higher than the static
voltage control for the same reason.
 Drive Input power is the difference between motor input power and the power fed back.
Reactive power is the sum of the motor and inverter reactive powers. Therefore this drive has a
poor power factor throughout its range of operation.

Operating Modes of Static Scherbius Drives:

The following are the operating modes of Static Scherbius Drives.
• Sub-synchronous Motoring – In this mode of operation the slip and torque both are positive
and hence the injected voltage is in phase with rotor current. The power flows into the stator
and feedback into the rotor circuit.
• Super-synchronous Motoring – When the speed of the motor is above the synchronous
speed, then the slip is negative. Thus, the voltage and current are out of phase with each
other.The power feeds into the rotor from the drive circuit along with input power flowing into
the stator.
• Sub-synchronous Generating – For sub-synchronous speed, the torque is required to be
positive, although the slip is positive. The power is fed into the rotor through the slip ring.
• Super-synchronous Generating – When the speed of the motor above the synchronous
speed, then the slip and torque becomes negative. Thus, the injecting voltage is in phase with
the rotor.
• Static Kramer Drive:

In the Static Kramer drive the slip power is converted to DC by a Diode bridge and
fed to a DC motor which is mechanically coupled to the Induction motor. Torque supplied to
the motor is the sum of the torque produced by the Induction and DC motors. Speed control
of the Induction motor is obtained by controlling the field current of the DC motor. A
schematic diagram of this type of Static Kramer drive is shown in the figure below.

Fig: Static Kramer drive circuit

Figure (a) below shows the variations of Vd1 and Vd2 with speed for two values of field
current. Steady state operation is obtained when Vd1 = Vd2 i.e. at points A and B for field
currents If1 and If2. With this method speed control is possible from synchronous speed to
around half of synchronous speed. Below this the speed cannot be brought down. This
limitation is mainly because: To increase the Speed on the lower side either
• The slope of the line Vd1 vs. Speed is to be decreased. For this, the maximum DC
voltage Vd1 is to be reduced but it is not possible from the Diode Bridge.
• or the slope of the line Vd2 vs. Speed is to be increased. i.e. the maximum value of
Vd2 is to be increased. This is also not possible because for a given DC motor with
the maximum ratings the maximum value of speed and hence the maximum back
e.m.f Vd2 are fixed.
This can be clearly seen in figure (a) below.

Fig: (a) Field control with Diode Bridge (b) Firing angle control of Thyristor
Bridge with constant Motor field.
When larger speed range is required, the above limitation is overcome (lower limit can be
brought down) by replacing the Diode Bridge with a Thyristor bridge.With this the
maximum value of Vd1 can be brought down and the slope of the line Vd1 vs. Speed can be
reduced. This increases the lower speed limit as shown in figure (b) above. As can be seen,
with this change, the speed can now be controlled almost up to standstill.