ECE 3650 Electrical Machines Athula Rajapakse

1
Synchronous Motors

A synchronous motor is represented using the same equivalent circuit as a generator. However,
in the synchronous motor equivalent circuit, the current is marked in the reversed direction,
following the motor convention.





Fig. 1
For the equivalent circuit shown in Fig. 1,
a s a t f
I jX R V E ) ( + =
(48)

The phasor diagrams of the synchronous motor under lagging, unity and leading power factors
are shown in Fig. 49.






Lagging pf Unity pf






Leading pf
Fig. 2

In the motor operation, the internal voltage E
f
always lags behind the terminal voltage V
t
. Under
lagging power factor conditions, | E
f
|<| V
t
| and under leading power factor conditions | E
f
|>| V
t
|.


j X
s
I
a

+
E
f

_

+
V
t

_

R
a
T
e

e
m

T
L

I
f

u
I
a

V
t

E
f

-R
a
I
a

-jX
s
I
a

o
I
a

V
t

E
f

-R
a
I
a

-jX
s
I
a

o
u
I
a

V
t

E
f

-R
a
I
a

-jX
s
I
a

o
ECE 3650 Electrical Machines Athula Rajapakse
2
Torque-Speed Characteristics

Using the equivalent circuit, it is possible to calculate the converted power (from electrical to
mechanical). This is equal to the real power input to the ideal source in the equivalent source. If
the armature winding resistance is assumed negligible, the converted power is equal to the input
real power:
) sin(
| || |
3 ) cos( | || | 3 o u
s
f t
a t con
X
E V
I V P = =
(49)

If the losses are neglected, the mechanical power output is equal to the converted power. The
torque can be calculated by
) sin(
| || |
3 o
e
t
s m
f t
ind
X
E V
=
(50)

Since a synchronous machine can operate only at its synchronous speed, its torque-speed
characteristic is represented by a vertical straight line as shown in Fig 3. The pull out torque
(maximum torque) is given by
s m
f t
ind
X
E V
e
t
| || |
3
max _
=
(occurs at o = 90
o
) (51)














Fig. 3

If the load torque greater than the pull out torque, pole slipping can occur
- Stator magnetic field laps rotor repeatedly
- Torque surges in one way and the other way
- Huge vibration that may lead to mechanical damage
e
syn
speed
Torque
t
pull out

t
rated

ECE 3650 Electrical Machines Athula Rajapakse
3
Effect of Load Change with Constant Excitation

If a synchronous motor is connected to an infinite bus and its field excitation current is held
constant, the magnitudes of the terminal voltage |V
t
| and the internal voltage |E
f
| remain constant.
If the mechanical load on the machine is increased, increased load is met by increasing the load
angle (according to (49). The change in load angle results in changes to the armature current
magnitude and power factor (or more specifically to the product (I
a
cos(u)) . This is illustrated in
the phasor diagrams in Fig. 4. In drawing these phasor diagrams, R
a
has been assumed
negligible.






























Fig. 4


u
1

I
a1

V
t

E
f


jX
s
I
a1
o
3

P
1
P
2
P
3

I
a2

I
a3

P
1

P
2

P
3

u
I
a

V
t

E
f

I
a
cos(u) P
jX
s
I
a

o
X
s
I
a
cos(u)=E
f
sin(o) P
u
ECE 3650 Electrical Machines Athula Rajapakse
4
Effect of Changing Excitation at a Constant Load

Again consider a synchronous motor connected to an infinite bus so that V
t
is constant. If the
field excitation current is changed while keeping the mechanical load driven by the motor
constant, causes the machine power factor (or the reactive power) to change. This is illustrated in
the phasor diagram shown in Fig. 5 (assume R
a
is negligible). Since t
out
and e
m
are constant, P
out

remains constant therefore, the quantities I
a
cos(u) and E
f
sin(o) must remain constant during the
change of |E
f
|. As a result,
- When |E
f
| increases, |I
a
| first decreases and then increases
- The machine power factor changes from lagging to leading














Fig. 5

Synchronous Machine V curves

Plot of I
a
Vs I
f
under constant load and constant V
t
(shown in Fig. 53) are called synchronous
motor V-curves.















Fig. 6
u
1

I
a3

V
t

E
f1
I
a
cos(u) P
jX
s
I
a3
o
3

P
I
a2

I
a1

P
E
f
I
f

E
f2 E
f3
P
1

P
2

P
3

P
3
> P
2
> P
1

Unity pf
line
Leading pf
Lagging pf
I
f

I
a

Over excited
Q- generated
Under excited
Q- consumed
ECE 3650 Electrical Machines Athula Rajapakse
5
Synchronous Condenser (Capacitor)
Consider a synchronous motor connected to an infinite bus as before. If there is no mechanical
load attached to the motor, it will not draw any real power from the supply (except for the power
required to overcome the friction and windage). If the field is over excited (i.e. |E
f
| >|V
t
|) the
synchronous motor can supply reactive power like a capacitor.

When a synchronous motor is run at no load, just to provide reactive power, the synchronous
motor is called a synchronous condenser or synchronous capacitor.

Starting of synchronous motors

A Synchronous motor operates only at the synchronous speed. Therefore starting needs special
mechanism. Some possible methods are:
- Reduce the speed of stator magnetic field initially by using a variable frequency supply.
o Need to keep V/f constant to avoid core saturation
- Use an external prime mover to accelerate under no load, bring the machine online as a
generator and then disconnect the prime mover.
o Exciters can be used as starting motors
- Use damper windings (amortisseur windings) and start as an induction motor.
o Large starting currents may not be suitable for large machines














Fig. 7
ECE 3650 Electrical Machines Athula Rajapakse
6
Example
A 208 V, 45 kVA, 0.8 pf leading, A-connected, 60 Hz synchronous motor has a synchronous
reactance of 2.5 O per phase 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
motors power factor is 0.85 leading.

a) Sketch the phasor diagram of this motor and find E
f
, the line current I
L
and I
a
.
b) Assume that the shaft load is increased to 30 hp. Sketch the new phasor diagram of the
motor.
c) Find I
a
, I
L
, and E
f
after the load change

Example
The synchronous motor in the previous example is supplying a 15 hp load with an initial power
factor of 0.85 lagging. The field current I
f
at this condition is 4.0 A.

d) Sketch the initial phasor diagram of this motor.
e) If the motor flux is increased by 25%, sketch the new phasor diagram of the motor. What
are the E
f
, I
a
and pf of the motor now?
f) Assume that the flux in the motor varies linearly with the field current I
f
. Make a plot of
I
a
Vs I
f
for the synchronous motor with a 15 hp load.