Differences Between Shunt and Series DC Motors on Drilling Rigs

Last Updated: 22 December 2014 | Written by Gary Barnes |

| Hits: 6

User Rating: 5 / 5
Please rate
Vote 5

Rate

A typical drilling rig will be equipped with either shunt or series wound motors, rarely a mixture a of both.
The type of motor chosen is made at the system design stage and is unlikely to change through the
lifetime of the rig. This article describes the parameters which inform the decision to use either.

Theory of Operation
DC Motors consist of an armature and field. It is the interaction of the magenetic flux from each of these
which generates the motor torque. For high power DC motors the armature and the field fluxes will be
produced by electric windings, but on (very) small motors the field flux is more liklely to be produced by a
permanent magnet. The type of DC motors used on drilling rigs originated from the traction industry, i.e.
trains. In the early days the motor speed and torque would have been controlled by adjusting the field
current as this operates at a much lower current and voltage than the armature, and so controlling
equipment would have been cheaper. With the advent of high power thyristors it became possible to
control the armature current more efficiently which then led to the SCR control systems that are
commonly found on drilling rigs.

Shunt Motors

Fig 1: Shunt Motor Connection

Shunt motors have a field coil which is independant from the armature winding. It is usually fixed at
around 50.5A (for a standard GE752 motor, 57A for the Hi-Torque version) and requires a DC voltage of
about 110VDC to achieve this. The armature current and voltage is regulated between 0-800A (1050A
intermittently for Drawworks, 1400A for a Hi-Torque motor on Top Drive), 0-750VDC and is controlled by
an SCR (thyristor bridge). The resistance of the armature is very low, and it would appear that Ohm's Law

would indicate that, with a fully phased-up SCR bridge at 750VDC connected across it, the current flow
would be very high, but this is not the case. How can this be? The reason is that the motor rotates, and
this generates a back-EMF in the armature which opposes the forward drive of the SCR which makes the
apparent resistance much higher. If, however, the motor is loaded the speed drops and the back EMF
reduces and the current can increase for the same voltage. If the motor is stalled completely then there is
no back EMF and only the armature resistance (plus cable resistance) is in circuit to limit the current
unless the SCR regulator limits it by reducing the voltage (which is what happens in real life).
If the field flux is weakened, less back EMF is generated at a given speed and so less SCR voltage is
required to maintain a particular speed for a given load, but there is a trade-off in that less torque is
generated. Conversely if the field is strengthened I need more SCR voltage to maintain a particular
speed, but I get more torque. The amount torque and speed achieved for a given set of armature and field
conditions is a characteristic of the particular model of motor.
For a fixed field, the SCR voltage is very nearly linearly proportional to the speed of the motor, so the
designer can use this in his regulator design as his speed feedback. An encoder, tacho or other feedback
device is not required. If I want to connect the motors in parallel (as a Mud Pump drive, for example) I
have a problem because if the motors are not perfectly and exactly matched in every respect (which is
impossible to achieve) one motor will begin to absorb more of the load than the other, which will tend to
reduce the back EMF, meaning that it will absorb even more current until the current limit of the SCR acts
to limit it. The current limit for parallel motors might be 1600A (800A per motor), so if one motor is
absorbing the lot it's not going to last very long. For this reason parallel motor systems with shunt motors
have a current balancing system which adjusts the field current of one (or both) of the motors to
compensate (see the article onTroubleshooting Mud Pump Field Supplies for more details).

Series Motors

Fig 2: Series Motor Connection

Series motors differ from shunt motors in that instead of having a separate, fixed, field supply, the field
winding is connected in series with the armature. This has a big cost advantage to the designer in that no
separate field excitation is required. The downside is that the SCR armature voltage is now not linearly
proportional to speed because the field flux varies with the armature current and load. This can be

overcome by using an independant speed feedback device (tacho or encoder) or by utilising a speed
calculator circuit which factors in the changing field flux dependant on armature current.
The huge advantage of series motors is that when connected in parallel they will naturally load share.
This is because if the load increases in one motor so does the field flux which increases the back EMF
making the armature draw less current, and vice-versa. They are naturally self-regulating. The danger
with this system is that if one of the motors becomes mechanically disconnected from the load it will be
subjected to the full armature voltage and will overspeed. For this reason a protective circuit such as Mud
Pump Sprocket Slip Detection is used to ensure that both motors are loaded. (The description 'Sprocket
Slip' refers to the drive chain and sprockets found on dual motor Mud Pumps where at high speed the
drive chain can rise off the sprockets if too slack).

Conclusion
So there you have it, not much to choose between either, except that with series motors you save on field
supplies and field-regulated load sharing, but you do need sprocket slip protection. For the SCR system
designer there is another factor for consideration where reversing drives (e.g. Rotary Table, Drawworks)
are used. To reverse a DC motor either the field or armature voltage must be reversed, not both. With
shunt motors this is fairly easy to achieve by field or armature reversing but with series motors the
switching required is a little more involved. With shunt motors the design engineer can implement field
weakening or strengthening to suit a particular application, e.g. winch controls, which is not practical with
series motors, and will not be a consideration if the field supply has fixed voltage and/or current.

Troubleshooting Power Limit Problems (Ross Hill, Hill Graham SCR Systems)
Last Updated: 22 December 2014 | Written by Gary Barnes |

| Hits: 13

User Rating: 5 / 5
Please rate
Vote 5

Rate

It is an unfortunate characteristic of SCR systems that the Power Factor (the relationship between real
and reactive power) is poor - often down as low as 0.4 - which maeans that the KW capacity of the
engines is under-utilised. This often leads to frustration because the rig runs out of power, yet the engines
may be only delivering half of their full-load capacity. This article explains how the Power Limit system
works and what can be done to ensure it is working at its optimal level.
In general terms, the KW the system consumes is provided by the engine. The other limitation on power
delivery is the current capacity of the generator, which is often expressed as a VA or KVA value. SCR
systems are designed with something like a 0.7 Power Factor rating; in other words, the KW of the engine
will be 0.7 x the KVA rating of the generator. This goes some way to compensating for the poor Power
Factor, but often is insufficient during operations where where the Mud Pumps are heavily loaded.
However, measures are still available to ensure that the system is delivering what it can within these
physical limitations, one one thing to ensure is that the Power Limit system is working optimally.

Theory of Operation

Fig 1: Caterpillar 3412 Engine and Generator

The purpose of the Power Limit is to prevent rig blackouts in the event of sudden increases in load. The
original philosophy also was to allow the minimum number of engines to be run and maximise efficiency
but most drilling operators prefer not to run up against these limits and demand as much power as is
available. The Power Limit system measures the KW load of the highest loaded engine, and the current
load of the highest loaded generator and compares this to a pre-set reference to determine if Power
Limiting of the SCRs should occur. Furthermore, some systems have an initial 60% KW limit, which then
opens up to 100% once this threshold has been reached under ramped control. This is to allow the
engine turbo-chargers to spin up. Once above this threshold only the 100% limit is in operation, unless
the load dips below 60% in which the ramp is re-set.
One other addition to the basic Power Limit is a 90% switch setting, which reduces the overall KW limit to
90%. The thinking here was to compensate for engines which had become old and a bit tired or due a
maintenance overhaul.
The Power Limit system ONLY affects the SCR output; there is no control over other AC loads.

Power Limit Calibration

It follows, therefore, to ensure the Power Limit card is correctly calibrated. The procedure for calibrating
the Power Limit system is beyond the scope of this article, and should not be undertaken by unqualified
personnel. This is a job for your service engineer. For a typical system with CAT D399 engines, the
engine will have a 930KW rating, and the generator will be rated at 1500KVA which equates 1443A
maximum load. When fully in Power Limit, at least one of the generator section meters should show either
maximum KW (930KW in our typical system) or maximum current (1443A in our example). If not, there
may be a problem with the calibration of the Power Limit system, but there may not - the calibration may
have been set deliberately low to compensate for equipment which is a bit old and tired and can't quite
deliver nameplate ratings.

Load Sharing

Fig 2: Power Factor Triangle

Hopefully, when the rig is fully loaded, the load will be shared equally amongst the engines and
generators. All the engines should have KW values within 50KW of each other. The generator KVAR
meters should also be showing values within 50 KVARs of each other. If not - remember that the Power
Limit system only looks at the highest loads - it will be the highest loaded engine or generator (they may
not be the same unit) which dictates when Power Limit occurs. The KW load sharing is usually not
adjustable, but it is absolutely vital that, when a generator is put on line, the voltage adjust potentiometers
are adjusted to balance up the KVAR. Once adjusted they should remain balanced unless there is a
problem with the KVAR/voltage regulation on any one generator which may be caused by a faulty exciter
or exciter controller. Either way, if load sharing is poor, Power Limiting will prevent the rig developing full
power.

Power Factor Correction

Power factor correction has been deployed on a number of systems in the form of capacitor banks to
compensate for the poor power factor. Although this might make the numbers look better, there is some
doubt as to whether or not it increases the useable power from the limited amount of generating capacity
available. About 1500KVARs of reactive load is required to make a significant difference.

Troubleshooting Mud Pump Field Supplies (Ross Hill, Hill Graham SCR Systems)
Last Updated: 22 December 2014 | Written by Gary Barnes |

| Hits: 24

User Rating: 5 / 5
Please rate
Vote 5

Rate

One of the most common problem encountered with Ross Hill or Hill Graham type Mud Pump Field
supplies is field unbalance tripping, which causes the main DC contactors to open and requires a reset.
The problem is more likely to occur under heavy load conditions, and resluts in the complete loss of the

Mud Pump, so is a particular nuisance. This article describes some of the measures you can take to
identify and resolve the problem.

Theory of Operation
The active field supply is used to achieve balanced load sharing between two shunt DC motors connected
in parallel to a single SCR. It actually consists of two field supplies: one which is fixed (a diode rectifier),
and the other (an SCR rectifier) which is varied to achieve load balancing. The field current controls the
back EMF produced in each motor armature, which opposes the forward drive voltage from the SCR. The
bigger the difference, the more current that flows in the armature. A weaker field will produce less back
EMF (for a given speed) and hence more armature current. A stronger field will produce more back EMF
which will oppose the armature current thus reducing current flow.

Fig 1: Current Flow in the Active Field Supply HED

The Active Field Supply Regulator PCB can only control one of the field supplies, and it takes as it's basic
current reference the current in the fixed field supply, and will initially simply match it. The difference in the
current flowing in each motor armature is measured using a Hall Effect Device (HED). One of the
armature connections to each motor is passed through the HED in opposite directions so that when the
currents are matched the net output from the HED is zero, i.e. the currents cancel each other out. If the
currents are unbalanced the resulting output from the HED is used to provide a trim to the active current
regulator to adjust the field current in one of the motors.
Under normal operation, the output from the HED will be close to zero, but if the regulator circuit is unable
to correct the imbalance the output from the HED will rise until it exceeds the threshold level set on the
Active Field Regulator PCB which then causes the drive to trip.

Troubleshooting
While nuisance tripping is a problem, it occurs because the system is working to protect itself, so
disabling the tripping interlock is not advisable.

After checking connections and tightness of terminations, the first thing to check is the output from the
HED. Generally, on Ross Hill or Hill Graham systems the HED output is scaled either at 650mV/1000A,
or 360mV per 1000A depending on which type of HED is fitted. The 650mV HEDs were fitted on older
systems (pre 1980-ish) and are black or dark grey in appearance. Later rigs had 360mV/1000A HEDs and
are light grey, or bluish-grey. Note that the Active Field Regulator should be calibrated for the type of HED
fitted. The only sure-fire way of checking if the HED is working correctly is to verify it with another
instrument such as a DC clamp meter,
The trip level is around 200A current unbalance. If the HED is tripping before this level is reached there
may be a problem with the calibration of the Active Field Regulator PCB. If, however, the trip is occurring
because of a current imbalance then the cause must be investigated. Here are some possibilities:

Current flow in armature cables through HED wrong

This would only occur if the cables were disconnected or replaced. If the direction of current flow is the
same in both cables the HED signal would reach the 200A tripping level with only 200A on showing on the
SCR door. This is an unlikely cause if no major work has been undertaken.

Output from the HED inverted or crossed

This causes the field regulation to work the wrong way, so that the active field is weakened when it should
be strengthened and vice-versa, The result of this is that at no load the fields operate without tripping, but
as soon as a small load is applied and a small current unbalance is detected the Active Field Regulator
PCB acts to make the unbalance worse. Tripping occurs at low loads.

Mismatched motors
The motors which are connected in parallel must be of a similar make and model. The regulation system
can only work to compensate for variations in the manufacture of similar motors, not compensate for a
total mismatch. If balancing problems are experienced after changing one motor this may be the cause.

Faulty cables, connections or motor

If the Mud Pump works for long periods of time at high loads before suddenly tripping there may be a
problem with the cables, connections or motor, which is exacerbated by temperature as the equipment
warms up. This can be seen by monitoring the HED output. You should see the output from the HED
gradually creep up. To work out which motor is likely to be faulty, measure the DC voltage on the field
terminals. The one with the higher voltage is likely to be the suspect one.
If the tripping occurs with little or no output from the HED there may be an intermittent connection in either
the HED circuit, the motor field or armature connections. If the trip occurs without latching or indication the
fault may be in the trip interlock circuit to the contactors (note that some systems are fitted with nonindicating, non-latching circuits).

Faulty active field

The active field supply is a half-controlled SCR bridge and as such, is suspect to failures of thyristors,
pulse transformers, etc in the same way that the main SCR bridge is. It is also not uncommon for
excessive supply waveform distortion to cause the field thyristors to spontaneously switch off. If this is
occurring there will be a split second between the field shutting down and the trip occurring because the
field supply current takes a while to collapse. Another symptom of this is when tripping only occurs when
there are additional loads on the system such as another Mud Pump under load or Rotary Table or Top
Drive loads.