SHORT NOTES ON SYNCHRONOUS MOTOR

A Synchronous Motor is an AC electric motor in which the speed of the rotor is

the same as that of the rotating magnetic field in the motor. The synchronous
motor runs at synchronous speed (i.e, Ns= 120f/P).

• The construction of the synchronous motor is similar to an alternator or

synchronous generator.

• Consists of a stator and a rotor.

Stator has axial slots in which 3 phase windings are placed ,which is same
type as that in an alternator or induction motor wound for a specific number of
poles.

• When this winding is energized with AC it produces a magnetic flux that

rotates at a speed called the synchronous speed.

• It is the same speed at which the synchronous machine would have to

be driven to generate an AC voltage at line frequency.

• The speed of the rotating magnetic field can be derived from the
following formula: Ns = 120 f / P

• Rotor :- Construction is same as of an alternator rotor.

• The field winding is excited by the separate D.C supply through the slip
ring. The construction of rotor can be divided into projected pole and
cylindrical pole type.

• Usually made with salient poles.

When excited with DC supply it produces fixed north and south magnetic
poles.
 ROTOR

Working Of Synchronous Motor

• A synchronous motor works on the principle of magnetic attraction or

magnetic locking between two magnetic fields of opposite polarity; one
is the rotating magnetic field of the stator and the other is the magnetic
field of the rotor.

• The stator is wound for the similar number of poles as that of rotor, and
fed with three phase AC supply. The 3 phase AC supply produces
rotating magnetic field in stator.

• The rotor winding is fed with DC supply which magnetizes the rotor pole

and produces stationary magnetic field.

Operating Principle

• Let’s consider a simple 3-phase synchronous motor having two stator

poles (NS, SS) and two rotor poles (Nr, Sr) as shown in the figure below.
•

• AC supply generate RMF that revolves in the air gap.

• Initially, the rotor is stationary and the stator RMF revolves at

synchronous speed in the clockwise direction.

• The rotor and stator poles can be in two positions. If the same poles are
near each other as shown in the figure. The poles will repel each other
generating an anticlockwise torque in the rotor.

• If the opposite poles are near each other, they will attract each other
generating a clockwise torque in the rotor.

• In both cases, the torque in the rotor reverses in a single RMF cycle.

• The stator RMF revolves at a very fast speed as compared to the rotor
and inter change their position.

• The rotor cannot attain the synchronous speed at one due to its inertia.

• The rotor experiences attraction and repulsion at the same time.

• Hence, the rotor will undergo to a rapidly reversing torque, and the
motor will not start.

• Therefore, synchronous motors are not inherently self-starting motors.

• It means that the motor won’t start unless the rotor is brought up to
the speed of the RMF (synchronous speed) using any means.

• If we bring up the speed of the rotor by external methods and

synchronise with the rotating magnetic field and the external aid
removed, the rotor will continue to follow the stator field .

•
• Characteristics of synchronous Motor.

• Synchronous Motors are constant speed Motors and run only at

synchronous speed.

• Are not self-starting and require starting equipment to initially bring

them to their rated speed

• The motor can be operated at different P.F.(leading and lagging) by

changing the excitation.

• Over-excited motors can operate at Leading P.F

• Compared to Induction Motors , they are sensitive to sudden changes of

load and cause stability problems like hunting

• Are reasonably efficient.

• Ability to correct the P.F. by varying the excitation make the motors
useful in large power installation.

• Methods of Starting a synchronous Motor

• By a small induction motor (Pony motor) coupled to the rotor of the

Synchronous motor .

• The function of this induction motor is to bring the rotor of the

synchronous motor to the synchronous speed.

• when the rotor is closer to the synch. speed, the field supply is
connected and simultaneously, the pony motor is switched off. The
synch. motor will be pulled into the synch. speed.
Method of starting synchronous motor.

• 2 ) By induction motor action –Short-circuited copper bars placed on the

rotor( similar to the squirrel cage rotor of an induction motor).These
windings are known as damper winding.

• When 3 phase supply is given to the stator winding of synchronous

motor an emf will be induced in the rotor at start according to Faradays
law of electromagnetic induction and the synch motor will start as an
induction motor.

• As it nears the synch speed, the torque due to the induction motor
action becomes nearly zero and on switching the field supply to the
rotor, the synch. motor will be pulled into the synch. speed. Most of the
modern motors have this arrangement.

• Procedure for starting motor.

• First, main field winding is shorted due to following reasons.

• First, it protects the slip ring insulation from the high ac voltage
induced in the field during starting.

• Second, the current circulating in the field winding would provide a

small additional accelerating torque

• Initially a reduced voltage is applied to the stator winding by an auto

transformer.

2. The motor starts as an induction motor.

When the motor reaches a steady speed which is less than the
synchronous speed (as judged by sound) a weak DC excitation is
applied after removing the short circuit across the field winding.

If excitation is sufficient, then the machine will be pulled into

synchronism.

Now full voltage is applied to the stator winding and the motor runs
at synchronous speed.
 The damper winding is used to start the motor and hence can be
used for starting purposes only.

Because once the rotor rotates at synchronous speed the relative

motion between the damper winding and rotating magnetic will be
equal, and hence induced emf on the damper winding and current will
be zero. The damper winding will be out of the circuit.

Type of Torque in the Synchronous Motor

• Starting Torque:-The torque is being developed at the starting time of

the motor. It is also called as breakaway torque. The starting torque of
the synchronous motor is purely depending on the method of starting
the motor.

• Pull-in Torque:- When the synchronous motor is started and the speed is
2 to 5% below the synchronous speed, during that time the stator pulls
the rotor into synchronism, that torque is called pull-in torque.

• Running Torque:-The full load torque of the motor is called running

torque. The running torque is depending on the motor specifications.

• Pull-out Torque.

• The maximum torque which the motor can develop without pulling out
of step or synchronism is called the pull-out torque. Normally, when load
on the motor is increased, its rotor progressively tends to fall back in
phase by some angle (called load angle) behind the synchronously-
revolving stator magnetic field though it keeps running synchronously.
Motor develops maximum torque when its rotor is retarded by an angle
of 90º electrical (Half pole pitch)

• Let we assume the motor is running at the maximum torque, beyond

that slight increase in load causes the motor pulls out the synchronism,
that maximum torque is called pull out torque.
At load angle 90 degree the motor produces the maximum torque. Further
increasing the loads, the magnetic locking between the stator and rotor
become weak. Then the motor stops. Therefore, the maximum torque is
produced by the motor without loss of synchronism is called pull out Torque.

The DC motor and the Induction motor adjust themselves to a change in load
by an automatic change in speed.
The synchronous motor cannot do this as it can run at only at synchronous
speed.

As the synchronous motor is loaded, the adjustment takes the form of shift of
the relative angular position of the rotor with respect to the stator,

Therefore, an increase in load is accompanied by a falling back of the rotor

pole with respect to stator and subsequent increase in the tangential pull
(torque) exerted on the rotor.

It is obvious that a point will be reached at which the increasing distance

between the stator and rotor poles causes the tangential component to
decrease instead of increasing.

The motor stops since it can run only at sync.speed.

The torque at which this happens is called the Pull-Out Torque.

When a synchronous motor runs on no load, the relative positions of stator

and rotor poles coincide .

As the load on the motor is increased, the rotor

progressively falls back in phase by some angle, but the rotor continues to run
synchronously.

This angle is known as load angle. (α )

The torque developed by the motor depends on this angle (α )

The greater the load applied, the greater the torque angle.

The magnetic coupling between each stator and rotor pole distorts according
to the load applied.
If the load on the motor becomes excessive, the magnetic coupling breaks and
the rotor comes out of synchronism and slows down until it stops.

Behaviour Of Synchronous Motor On Loading.

When a d.c. motor or an induction motor is loaded, the speed of the motors
drops. This is because the load torque demand increases than the torque
produced by the motor.

Hence motor draws more current to produce more torque to satisfy the load
but its speed reduces.

In case of synchronous motor speed always remains constant equal to the

synchronous speed, irrespective of load condition.

Back EMF in Synchronous motor

When the rotor of synchronous motor is rotating at synchronous speed, with a

fixed DC excitation in the rotor windings, the rotor flux cuts the stator
windings, inducing a voltage in each phase winding.

By Lenz’s law, this voltage (Eb) opposes the applied voltage called back emf.

The phase relationship between this induced voltage and the applied voltage
depends on the relative positions of each stator and rotor pole, which in turn
depend on the load applied to the motor.

Comparison of Eb in a DC motor with Eb in a Synchronous motor

• In the dc motor, armature develops an emf which opposes the supply

voltage V called back emf Eb.

The resultant voltage across the armature circuit is V -E b.

If Ra is the armature resistance the expression for armature current is given by

when the load is increased on the dc motor, the speed of the motor reduces
and back emf also reduces.
 • In case of synchronous motor also, once rotor starts rotating at
synchronous speed, the stationary stator (armature) conductors cut the
flux produced by rotor. The only difference is conductors are stationary
and flux is rotating.

• Due to this there is an induced e.m.f. in the stator which according to

Lenz’s law opposes the supply voltage.

This induced e.m.f. is called back e.m.f. in case of synchronous motor. It is

obtained as Ebph i.e. back e.m.f. per phase. This emf is alternating in nature

• As the synchronous speed is always constant, the frequency is constant

and hence magnitude of such back e.m.f. can be controlled by changing
the flux produced by the rotor.

• The back e.m.f. in case of synchronous motor depends on the excitation

given to the field winding and not on the speed, as speed is always
constant.

• As stator construction is similar to the armature of a three phase

alternator, the impedance of the stator is called synchronous impedance
of synchronous motor consisting of Ra as the stator winding resistance
and Xs as the synchronous reactance.

• All the values are expressed on per phase basis.

• Zs = Ra + j Xs per phase.

• When the synchronous motor is loaded its speed cannot decrease like in
a DC motor.

• The armature current for synchronous motor is the vector difference of

V and Eb divided by impedance of armature circuit.

• Therefore armature current of synchronous motor per-phase,

•

• Where,

• Zs = Synchronous impedance

• Ra = Stator winding resistance per-phase

• Xs = Synchronous reactance of stator per-phase

• V = Supply voltage per-phase

• Eb = Back emf per-phase

• Power Stages in the motor

•
Effect of load on the line current with constant excitation

• Synchronous Motor on No-Load (without losses)

• When the motor running on no-load with field excitation. In the

motor the rotor is free to rotate. Therefore there exists a strong
magnetic locking between the stator and rotor axis .

• The back emf Eb is equal and opposite to the supply voltage V as shown
in the below phasor diagram.
The vector difference of V & Eb is zero so the current drawn from the supply
is also zero. Hence, Ia = 0.

An ideal synchronous motor takes no power as there is neither load nor

losses. In practice, this is impossible, as every motor has mechanical losses
and iron losses along with small copper losses on it.

Due to losses, the magnetic locking is in such a way that the rotor axis lies
behind the stator axis with a small angle.

The rotor axis falls back with respect to the stator axis by angle α. This angle
α decides the amount of current required to produce the torque on the
rotor and to supply various losses.

Hence this angle is called a load angle or power angle or coupling angle or
angle of retardation.

| Eb | = | V |. Back emf Eb will not be located in exact opposition with V, but

displaced from its initial position by angle α . Hence the vector difference
between Eb and V is not zero but gives rise to a resultant phasor Er.

But V̅ - E̅b = I̅a Zs = E̅r, this resultant decides the amount of current Ia is drawn
to produce the torque.
Therefore the armature current is

Under the no-load condition, α is very small and hence E̅r is also very small.
Hence at no-load, the current drawn by the motor is very small.

Eb in the stator windings is now (180 − α) °E out of phase with the applied
voltage V .

Because of the relatively high inductance of the stator windings, the line
current Ia in each winding lags each resultant voltage ER by nearly
90°Electrical and is represented by ϴ.

This causes the line current Ia to lag the applied voltage by an angle φ.

As load angle α increases, the resultant voltage Er increases, and the current
drawn by the motor also increases. The current drawn by the motor has to
produce torque to drive the load and losses in the motor.

Because of the increase in the value of Er , the line current Ia increases and
the phase angle Φ increases.

Therefore, for fixed excitation, any increase in the load on a synchronous

motor will cause an increase in the line current, at a lower power factor.
• The angle α goes on increases as the load on the motor increases, the
magnetic flux lines producing the force of attraction between the two
get more and more stretched.

• This weakens the force maintaining the magnetic locking by the motor
increases.

• As α reaches up to 90o electrical i.e. half a pole pitch, the stretched flux
lines get broken and hence magnetic locking between the stator and
rotor no longer exists. The motor comes out of synchronism.

• So torque produced at α equal to 90o electrical is the maximum torque,

a synchronous motor can produce, maintaining magnetic locking i.e. to
run at synchronism.

Types of Excitation of motor.

• A synch. motor is said to be normally excited when V = Eb.

• A synch. motor is said to be under-excited if Eb is less than V

• A synch. motor is said to be over-excited if Eb is more than V

Effect of varying excitation of synchronous motor with constant load

• In a synchronous motor, the change in field excitation affects neither the

speed nor its output. But it affects the power factor and armature
current for constant supply voltage and constant input power.

• For proper operation of any electromagnetic device, the required

magnetic flux must be produced. The synchronous motor is also an
electromagnetic device that converts electrical energy into mechanical
energy with the aid of a rotating magnetic field.
• NORMAL EXCITATION

• A synchronous motor is operated at a constant supply voltage and

loaded with a constant mechanical load. Also, normal excitation is given
i.e., the induced back emf is equal to the supply voltage.

• At this condition, the current drawn by the armature lags behind the
applied voltage V by an angle ϕ, which is the power factor angle.

• The armature current lags behind the resultant voltage E R by an angle θ,

where θ is the internal angle.

• The power drawn per phase from 3-phase supply is VI cos ϕ.

• Since the applied voltage and load is constant, so the active component
of the current drawn from the supply, I cos ϕ remains constant for a
constant load.

• As the speed of the motor remains constant, an increase in excitation

causes an increase in generated voltage Eb. Similarly, a decrease in
excitation causes a reduction in generated voltage Eb. Accordingly the
current Ia drawn by the motor also varies.

•
• Under excitation

• When the field excitation is reduced, the generated voltage E (Back emf)
decreases(E<V). The decrease in excitation shifts the resulting voltage
ER in a clockwise direction.

• Since the phase angle between the resultant voltage and the armature
current is equal to θ is fixed, the armature current phasor is shifted in
the clockwise direction.

• This shifting causes the power factor angle ϕ to increase, which means
the power factor decreases.

• To maintain a constant I cos ϕ, the armature current increases.

• Hence when the synchronous motor is operated in reduced excitation, it

draws more current from the supply at the lower lagging power factor.

• Over excitation

• When the excitation is increased, the generated back emf voltage E

become more than the supply voltage(E>V).

• Due to this the resultant voltage Er also increases and results in the
phase shift of Er in the anti-clockwise direction and Ia also moves in the

anti clockwise direction. As angle θ between Er and Ia is constant,

hence Ia also increases and changes its phase to keep Ia cos ϕ constant

• The phase of Er changes so that Ia becomes leading with respect to the

applied voltage V in over excited condition.

• So power factor of the motor becomes leading in nature. So overexcited

synchronous motor works on leading power factor

• An over-excited synchronous motor running at no load is known as

asynchronous condenser.

• Critical excitation

• The field excitation is increased, such that the phase angle between the
voltage V and the current Ia is zero.
• Such excitation is called critical excitation.

• The current is in phase with the applied voltage V.

• The current drawn will be minimum with the unity power factor.

• If the excitation is increased beyond that limit, then the synchronous

motor draws the current with the leading power factor.

•
The variation in field current causes the variation in armature current. The
curves drawn between these two parameters are known as the ‘V curve’ due
to their shape being similar to the English letter ‘V’. When such a curve is
plotted for different constant loads, we get different ‘V curves of synchronous
motor
With a low value of field current, the armature current is large and lagging.
This region is known as under excitation region, where the field current is
lower than the normal value.

As the field current is increased, the power factor increases, so the armature
current decreases to a minimum value. At the value of minimum armature
current, the power factor will be unity and this region is known as the normal
excitation region of the motor.

• If the field current is increased further, the power factor increases and
becomes leading. So the armature current begins to increase.

• This region of the leading power factor is known as over excitation

region. In this region, the field current is more than the normal value.

• If we plot the relationship

• Between the armature

• current and field excitation

• For different constant loads

• We get a set of V curves

 •

Inverted V curves of synchronous motor

If the variation of power factor is plotted against the variation in field current
for a different constant load, the curves obtained are known as the Inverted V
curves of a synchronous motor. The over-excited motor runs with a leading
power factor and the under-excited motor runs with a lagging power factor.
Under the normal excitation, the motor operates at the unity power factor.
The peak point on each curve indicates the unity power factor
“Phase swinging” or “Hunting”

The hunting in a synchronous motor is an oscillating action of the rotor in

which the rotor of the synchronous motor is pulled periodically ahead of or
behind its normal position as it rotates.

A steady state operation of synchronous motor is a condition of equilibrium

in which the electromagnetic torque is equal and opposite to load torque.

When the load is applied to the shaft of the synchronous motor, its rotor
poles lag behind by a certain angle (called load angle α )with respect to the
poles of the forward rotating magnetic field.

If there is a sudden change in load torque, the equilibrium is disturbed and

there is resulting torque which changes the speed of the motor.

• If the load from the shaft is suddenly thrown-off, the rotor poles are
pulled into their original position, but due to the inertia of the rotor, the
rotor travels too far ahead of the poles of RMF. Thus, they pulled back
again, and so on. Consequently, an oscillating action is set up about the
equilibrium position of the rotor. This oscillating action of the rotor
about its equilibrium position is known as hunting. Sometimes, hunting
is also referred to as phase swinging.
• Consider a synchronous motor whose rotor is rotating at a synchronous
speed. Let, rotor be at an equilibrium position with a load angle α

• as shown in the below figure.

• When this load on the motor suddenly falls then angle ' α ' also changes
accordingly to the new load. But in this process, the rotor overshoots,
and the shaft of the motor starts oscillating from its position ( swinging
forward and backward like a pendulum ) . These oscillations make the
motor cause 'hunting' for the right position. This phenomenon is also
known as phase swinging ( or Hunting )

• If this frequency of oscillations is equal to the natural frequency then

mechanical resonance is set up and the amplitude of the swing of the
rotor poles relative to the poles of the rotating field becomes so great
that the machine is thrown out of synchronism.

• Hunting can be reduced by using damper winding wound on the pole

face.
•

• During hunting the speed of the rotor changes from synchronous

speed ,there is relative motion between the RMF and the damper
winding and current is induced in damper winding conductors.

• According to Lenz’s law, these currents are in such direction that they
tend to oppose and damp the tendency of rotor to oscillate while
rotating and thereby pull the rotor back into synchronism.

• Thus the hunting is prevented.