Induction motor
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
An induction motor (IM) is a type of AC motor where power is supplied to the rotating device by induction. An electric motor converts electrical power to mechanical power in its rotor (rotating part). There are several ways to supply power to the rotor. In a DC motor this power is supplied to the armature directly from a DC source. But in an AC motor this power is induced in the rotating device. An induction motor can be called a rotating transformer because the stator (stationary part) is essentially the primary side of the transformer and the rotor (rotating part) is the secondary side. Induction motors are widely used, especially polyphase induction motors, which are frequently used in industrial drives.
Induction motors are now the preferred choice for industrial motors due to their rugged construction, lack of brushes (see DC Motors) and — thanks to modern power electronics — the ability to control the speed of the motor.
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[edit] Principle of operation & comparison to synchronous motors
The basic difference between an induction motor and a synchronous AC motor is that in the latter a current is supplied onto the rotor. This then creates a magnetic field which, through magnetic attraction, links to the rotating magnetic field in the stator which in turn causes the rotor to turn. It is called synchronous because at steady state the speed of the rotor is the same as the speed of the rotating magnetic field in the stator.
The induction motor does not have any supply onto the rotor, instead a secondary current is induced onto the rotor. Conductors in the rotor induce a current as the rotating magnetic field created by the stator windings sweep past them much in the same way as in a transformer. This current in the rotor conductors will therefore induce a magnetic field which will be attracted to the rotating magnetic field in the stator and the rotor will turn. For this to happen, the speed of the rotor and the speed of the rotating magnetic field in the stator must be different, otherwise the rotor conductors will not 'see' a moving magnetic field and no current will be induced. If this happens the rotor slows slightly until a current is re-induced and then the rotor continues as before. This difference between the speed of the rotor and speed of the rotating magnetic field in the stator is called slip. It is unitless and is a ratio of the relative speed of the magnetic field as seen by the rotor to the speed of the rotating field. Due to this an induction motor is sometimes referred to as an asynchronous machine. The relationship between frequency, f, number of pole pairs, p, and synchronous speed, n, is given by f = p*n.
from this relationship
Speed of rotating field, n = f/P (revs.s-1)
where f is the supply frequency and P is the number of pole pairs.
Speed of rotor = n(1-S) (rev.s-1)
Where S is the slip.
Slip is calculated using the following formula: %slip = ( n - r ) / n * 100
where n is the synchronous speed and r is the rotor speed
[edit] Construction
The stator consists of wound 'poles' that carry the supply current that induces a magnetic field in the conductor. The number of 'poles' can vary between motor types but the poles are always in pairs (i.e. 2,4,6 etc). There are two types of rotor:
- Squirrel-cage rotor
- Slip ring rotor
The most common rotor is a squirrel-cage rotor. It is made up of either solid copper (most common) or aluminum bars that span the length of the rotor, and are connected through a ring at each end. The rotor bars in squirrel-cage induction motors are not straight, but have some skew to reduce noise and harmonics.
The motor's phase type is one of two types:
- Single-phase induction motor
- 3-phase induction motor
A drawing of an induction motor can be seen here [1]
[edit] Speed control
The rotational speed of the rotor is controlled by the number of pole pairs (number of windings in the stator) and by the frequency of the supply voltage. Before the development of cheap power electronics, it was difficult to vary the frequency to the motor and therefore the uses for the induction motor were limited.
There are various techniques to produce a desired speed. The most widely used technique is PWM (Pulse Width Modulation), in which a DC signal is switched on and off very rapidly, producing a sequence of electrical pulses to the inductor windings. The duty cycle of the pulses, also known as the mark-space ratio, determines the average power input to the motor. For example, a 100 V DC signal that is cut into on- and off- pulses of equal width, has an average voltage of 50 V. If the on- pulses are a third of the duration of the off pulses, the average would be 25 V. The frequency of the pulses determines the motor speed.
The general term for a power electronic device that controls the speed as well as other parameters is called an 'inverter'. A typical unit will take the mains AC supply, rectify and smooth it into a "link" DC voltage, and, by using the method described above, converts it into the desired AC waveform.
Because the induction motor has no brushes and is easy to control, many older DC motors are being replaced with induction motors and accompanying inverters in industrial applications.
[edit] See also
Electric motors | ||
|---|---|---|
| Broad Motor Categories | Synchronous motor • AC motor • DC motor | Image:Motors01CJC.jpg |
| Conventional Electric Motors | Induction • Brushed DC • Brushless DC • Stepper • Linear • Unipolar • Reluctance | |
| Novel Electric Motors | Ball bearing • Homopolar • Piezoelectric • Ultrasonic • Electrostatic | |
| Motor Controllers | Adjustable-speed drive • Amplidyne • Direct Torque Control • Direct on line starter • Electronic speed control • Metadyne • Motor controller • Variable-frequency drive • Ward Leonard control | |
| See also | Barlow's Wheel • Nanomotor • Traction motor • Lynch motor • Mendocino motor • Repulsion motor • Inchworm motor • Booster (electric power) • Brush (electric) | |
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![[1]](http://aungwin.htut.googlepages.com/inductionmotor2.jpg){kind=link}
