Introduction to Electrical

Drives

(The material on this slide is used with permission from Dr. Muhammad Aizzat Zakaria)
Definition of Electrical Drives
• Drives – system employed for
Drives -> Motion Control
motion control

• Motion control requires prime

movers Prime Mover

• Electrical Drives – Drives that

Electrical Drives -> Electric
employ Electric Motors as prime Motor as Prime Mover
movers

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Advantages of Electrical Drives
 Flexible control characteristic
 particularly when power electronic converters are employed
 Wide range of speed, torque and power
 High efficiency – low no load losses
 Low noise
 Low maintenance requirements, cleaner operation
 Electric energy easily transported
 Adaptable to most operating conditions
 Available operation in all four torque-speed quadrants

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Conventional Electric Drives

 Ward-Leonard system - introduced in 1890s

 Disadvantages:
 Bulky
 Expensive
 Inefficient
 Complex

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Modern Electric Drives

Power Source Power Processing Unit Motor Load

feedback
Control Control
Reference Unit

 Small (compact)  Flexible

 Efficient  Interdisciplinary

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Electric Drives Application
• Line Shaft Drives
• Oldest form
• Single motor,
multiple loads
• Common line
shaft or belt
• Inflexible
• Inefficient
• Rarely used

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Electric Drives Application
• Single-Motor,
Single-Load Drives
• Most common
• Eg: electric saws,
drills, fans,
washers, blenders,
disk-drives, electric
cars.

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Electric Drives Application
• Multimotor Drives
• Several motors,
single mechanical
load
• Complex drive
functions
• E.g.: Assembly
lines, robotics,
military airplane
actuation.

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Basic Components of Electric Drives
Power
Power Source Motor Load
Processing Unit

feedback
Control Control
Reference Unit

 Power Source
 Motor
 Power Processing Unit (Electronic Converter)
 Control Unit
 Mechanical Load
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Basic Components of Electric Drives - Motor
Electrical Mechanical
Motor
energy energy

• Obtain power from electrical sources

• DC motors - Permanent Magnet or wound-field (shunt, separately excited,
compound, series)
• AC motors – Induction, Synchronous (wound –rotor, IPMSM, SPMSM), brushless
DC
• Selection of machines depends on many factors, e.g.:
• application • environment
• cost • type of source available
• efficiency
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Basic Components of Electric Drives – Power
Source
• Provides energy to electric motors
• Regulated (e.g.: utility) or Unregulated (e.g.: renewable energy)
• Unregulated power sources must be regulated for high efficiency
– use power electronic converters
• DC sources
• batteries
• fuel cell
• photovoltaic
• AC sources
• single- or three- phase utility
• wind generator

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Basic Components of Electric Drives – Power
Processing Unit
• Provides a regulated power supply to motor
• Enables motor operation in reverse, braking and variable speeds
• Combination of power electronic converters
 Controlled rectifiers, inverters –treated as ‘black boxes’ with certain
transfer function
More efficient – ideally no losses occur
Flexible - voltage and current easily shaped through switching control
Compact
Several conversions possible: AC-DC , DC-DC, DC-AC, AC-AC

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Basic Components of Electric Drives – Power
Processing Unit
• DC to AC:

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Basic Components of Electric Drives – Power
Processing Unit
• DC to DC:

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Basic Components of Electric Drives – Power
Processing Unit
• AC to DC:

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Basic Components of Electric Drives – Power
Processing Unit
• AC to AC:

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Basic Components of Electric Drives – Control
Unit
• Supervise operation
• Enhance overall performance and stability
• Complexity depends on performance requirement
• Analog Control – noisy, inflexible, ideally infinite bandwidth
• Digital Control – immune to noise, configurable, smaller bandwidth
(depends on sampling frequency)
• DSP/microprocessor – flexible, lower bandwidth, real-time
• DSPs perform faster operation than microprocessors (multiplication
in single cycle), complex estimations and observers easily
implemented
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Basic Components of Electric Drives –
Component Selection
• Several factors affecting drive selection:
• Steady-state operation requirements
• nature of torque-speed profile, speed regulation, speed range, efficiency, quadrants of
operations, converter ratings
• Transient operation requirements
• values of acceleration and deceleration, starting, braking and reversing performance
• Power source requirements
• Type, capacity, voltage magnitude, voltage fluctuations, power factor, harmonics and its
effect on loads, ability to accept regenerated power
• Capital & running costs
• Space and weight restrictions
• Environment and location
• Efficiency and reliability
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DC or AC Drives?
AC Drives
DC Drives
(particularly Induction Motor)
Motor • Requires maintenance • Less maintenance
• Heavy, expensive • Light, cheaper
• Limited speed (due to • High speeds achievable (squirrel-
mechanical construction) cage IM)
• Robust
Control Unit Simple & cheap control even for Depends on required drive
high performance drives performance
• Decoupled torque and flux control • Complexity & costs increase with
• Possible implementation using single performance
analog circuit • DSPs or fast processors required in high
performance drives
Performance Fast torque and flux control Scalar control – satisfactory in some
applications
Vector control – similar to DC drives

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Torque Equation for Rotating Systems
• Motor drives a load through a transmission system
(e.g. gears, V-belts, crankshaft and pulleys)
• Load may rotate or undergo translational motion
• Load speed may be different from motor speed
• Can also have multiple loads each having different speeds, some may rotate and
some have translational motion

Te , m TL
Represent motor-load
system as equivalent Motor Load
rotational system

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Torque Equation for Rotating Systems
Torque equation for equivalent motor-load system:

d  J m 
TL
Te  TL  (1)
dt
where:
Te , m J = inertia of equivalent motor-load system, kgm2
m = angular velocity of motor shaft, rads-1
Te = motor torque, Nm
TL = load torque referred to motor shaft, Nm
With constant inertia J,

d m  d 2
Te  TL  J J 2 (2)
dt dt
• First order differential equation for angular frequency (or velocity)
• Second order differential equation for angle (or position)
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Components of Load Torque
• Load torque can be divided into:
• Friction torque – present at motor shaft and in various parts of load.
• Viscous friction torque Tv – varies linearly with speed (Tv  m). Exists in lubricated
bearings due to laminar flow of lubricant
• Coulomb friction torque TC – independent of speed. Exists in bearings, gears coupling and
brakes.
• Windage torque Tw – exists due to turbulent flow of air or liquid.
• Varies proportional to speed squared (Tw  m2).
• Mechanical Load Torque TL - torque to do useful mechanical work.

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Mechanical Load Torque
• Torque to do useful mechanical work TL – depends on application.

• Load torque is function of speed

TL  mk
where k = integer or fraction

• Mechanical power of load:

2
P  TLm and m  nm
60
Speed
Angular speed in rpm
in rad/s
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Mechanical Load Torque

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Mechanical Load Torque
• Torque independent of
speed , k = 0
• Hoist
• Elevator
• Pumping of water or gas
against constant pressure

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Mechanical Load Torque
• Torque proportional to
square of speed , k = 2
• Fans
• Centrifugal pumps
• Propellers

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Mechanical Load Torque
• Torque inversely proportional
to speed , k = -1
• Milling machines
• Electric drill
• Electric saw

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Steady State Operating Speed
Motor T- characteristic – variation of motor torque with speed
with all other variables (voltage and frequency) kept constant.
SPEED

Synchronous motor

Induction motor

Separately excited
Series DC motor / shunt DC motor

TORQUE

Loads will have their own T- characteristics.

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Steady State Operating Speed
• At constant Torque By using power
speed, Te= TL Te TL electronic
converters, the
• Steady state motor characteristic
speed is at can be varied
point of
intersection Steady state
Speed, r
between Te
and TL of the
steady state
torque
characteristics
r3 r1 r2
Speed

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Steady State Stability
• Drives operate at steady-state speed (when Te = TL) only if the speed is of stable
equilibrium.
• A disturbance in any part of drive causes system speed to depart from steady-
state point.
• Steady-state speed is of stable equilibrium if:
 System will return to stable equilibrium speed when subjected to a
disturbance
• Steady-state stability evaluated using steady-state T- characteristic of motor
and load.
• Condition for stable equilibrium: dTL dTe
 (9)
dm dm
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Steady State Stability
• Evaluated using steady-state T- characteristic of
motor and load. d  m 
Te  TL  J
dt
• Assume a disturbance causes speed drop to r’
• At the new speed r’,
Te’ > TL’ m Steady-state point A
at speed = r
Te TL
motor accelerates
dTL dTe
r 
operation restored to steady- dm dm
r ’
state point

Steady-state speed is of T
TL’ Te’
stable equilibrium 31
Steady State Stability
• Let’s look at a different condition!
d  m 
• Assume a disturbance causes speed drop to r’ Te  TL  J
dt
• At the new speed r’,

Te’ < TL’ m Steady-state point B

at speed = r
TL Te
motor decelerates
dTL dTe
r 
operation point moves away r ’
d m d m
from steady-state point

Point B is at UNSTABLE TL’

T
Te’
equilibrium
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Torque-Speed Quadrant of Operation
 •Direction of positive
Te
m m
Te
P = -ve P = +ve
Quadrant 2 Quadrant 1
Forward braking Forward motoring
Quadrant 3 Quadrant 4
Reverse motoring Reverse braking Te
P = +ve P = -ve
Te
m
(forward) speed is
arbitrary chosen
•Direction of positive
torque will produce
positive (forward) speed
T
P  Tem
Electrical energy
MOTOR
m P = + ve
Mechanical energy
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References
• El-Sharkawi, M. A., Fundamentals of Electric Drives, Brooks/Cole Publishing
Company, California, 2000.
• Dubey, G.K., Fundamentals of Electric Drives, 2nd ed., Alpha Science Int. Ltd., UK,
2001.
• Krishnan, R., Electric Motor Drives: Modelling, Analysis and Control, Prentice-Hall,
New Jersey, 2001.
• Nik Idris, N. R., Short Course Notes on Electrical Drives, UNITEN/UTM, 2008.
• Ahmad Azli, N., Short Course Notes on Electrical Drives, UNITEN/UTM, 2008.

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