University of Jordan

School of Engineering
Department of Mechatronics Engineering
Actuators Lab

Experiment 4
Electric motor protection circuit
Name ID
Mohammad Al-Fetyani 0160291
Salah Awwad 0160928
Muhammad Al-Brham 0162708
Tawfiq Abu Shalash 0162570
Instructor Eng. Nazmi Ashour
Date of Project 26/02/2019
1. Objectives
A. Learning how the 3-phase electric motor protection circuit works and how does it get
constructed.
B. Learning the working principles of each component in the protection circuit.
2. Parts
A. Phase failure relay or phase controller
B. 3-pole circuit breaker
C. Contactor
D. Overload relay
E. Push button switches.
All parts used in this experiment are shown in the figures below.

Figure 1. Parts used in the protection circuit

 Figure 2. Circuit breaker.

Figure 3. Push button switches.

3. Procedure
A. Connect the 3-pole circuit breaker with 3-phase power supply.
B. Connect the output from circuit breaker with the contactor and with the phase
controller as shown in above figure.
C. Get a connection between L1 point in phase failure (PF) device and connect to the
common point for relay in phase failure which is 2.
D. Connect PF point 3 with overload relay NC point 96.
E. Connect the contactor to the overload relay.
F. Connect red switch (off) to the green switch which have normally open contacts.
G. Do connection between green switch and contactor side normally open contacts point.
H. Connect the overload relay to the motor and provide 3-phase supply to the breaker.
Figure 4 shows in lab connection of the circuit Figure 5 shows wiring diagram of the circuit.

Figure 4. 3-phase electric motor protection circuit,

Figure 5. 3P wiring diagram for electric motor protection circuit.
4. Discussion
Circuit Breaker - three pole breaker
In below diagram shown wiring of 3-pole breaker. For 3P power supply we use to 3-pole circuit
breaker for switching supply. It is used before circuit wiring to make the circuit safe, to be able
to switch off/on any time.

Figure 6. Diagram and symbol wiring of 3 pole breaker.

Magnetic contactor (MC)

For 3P induction motor start/stop we always use MC contactor. Contactor make easy to
handle the 3P motor controlling. It is a type of electric relay which can switch the 3 electric
connections easily. The parts of the magnetic contactor are coil, iron core, 3 contacts points
and NC, NO points.
The contactor or motor starter function is simple when the AC power goes to the contactor
coil, the coil creates a strong magnetic field, and the field pulls the iron core into the coil and
creates electrical contacts.
NC means a normally closed electrical circuit or we can say that it is normally close to the
contacts and NO means normally open contacts. In the normal state, when the contactor coil
is not energized, the NC point is a normal near state, and when the coil is supplied with electric
power, these NC contacts form NO contacts between them, after breaking the NC contact coil
they close the circuit. The same for NO contacts change on the supply coil to the NC contacts.
O/L Overload Relay
The overload relay is a safety device that causes our electric motor to not be burned during
high current flowing to the induction motor. There are two popular types of O / L relays that
are a thermal overload relay and an electronic overload relay.
Thermal overload relay is sensitive to temperature changes due to heat produced in the
bimetallic strip from overload currents and at a threshold temperature of the thermal element
employed, the relay operates by opening the normally closed (N.C.) contacts. A small overload
current would take much longer for relay to trip the contactors compared to a high overload
current where the heating is fast and much less time is taken to trip. This is a problem and
may endanger the intended protection function.
Electronic overload relay is sensitive to the strength of the magnetic field produced by the
current instead of relying on the heat produced, which can sometimes be suspicious and
unreliable. Relays using this principle do not react to changes in ambient temperature, which
is more reliable.
Phase controller or phase failure relay
If two of the lines supplying power to a three-phase motor are reversed, it will cause the motor
to reverse the direction of rotation. This can be a serious problem with some types of
equipment. Unintended reversal of direction can cause gear teeth to shear, chains to break,
and the impeller of submersible pumps to unscrew off the end of the motor shaft. It can't only
cause dam age to equipment but also injury to operators or personnel near the machine.
The phase failure relay is a phase voltage monitoring device designed for use with magnetic
controls to automatically prevent the operation of three-phase motors or other equipment or
attempt to run them in open phase or single-phase conditions, thus eliminating burn-out and
the resulting time often incurred because of the disappearance of the phase.
5. Conclusion
In this experiment we leant the working principles of the 3-phase protection circuit, how it is
constructed and how each component collaborates to the circuit. Also, we learnt why it so
important to implement the circuit and what might happen if we did not.
Moreover, we understood the difference between thermal overload relay and electric overload
relay and what is the difference between NC and NO.