CHAPTER 7

SYNCHRONOUS MACHINES
Chapter Contributors
Chris A. Swenski
William H. Yeadon

This chapter covers some of the ac synchronous motors commonly encountered in

the industry. While it could be said that the electronically commutated motors dis-
cussed in Chap. 5 are also synchronous motors, this chapter is confined to the typical
ac versions. While larger polyphase machines are well covered by others, little infor-
mation is available on these smaller motors.

7.1 INDUCTION SYNCHRONOUS MOTORS*

These motors are built in a manner very similar to that for induction motors. They
may have polyphase windings or be designed as single-phase motors, such as
capacitor-start, split-phase, or shaded-pole types.
The rotors have a dual construction that allows for induction motor starting char-
acteristics and salient-pole synchronous running conditions.
These rotors may be made from induction motor stampings with some of the
teeth removed, as shown in Fig. 7.1. They are then die-cast in the same manner as an
induction motor rotor (Fig. 7.2).
Some motors use a permanent magnet in conjunction with an induction motor
rotor. Figures 7.3 and 7.4 show such a motor. This is a four-pole shaded-pole motor.
Here the field coils are connected such that they directly produce two like poles and
induce two opposite poles at 90° in the unwound space between the coils. In these

* Sections 7.1 to 7.3 contributed by William H. Yeadon, Yeadon Engineering Services, PC.

7.1
7.2 CHAPTER SEVEN

FIGURE 7.1 Induction synchronous motor lami-

nation.

FIGURE 7.2 Four-pole induction synchronous

rotor assembly.

figures, the rotor is shown to be enclosed by the stator. Figure 7.3 shows the
permanent-magnet part of the rotor, while Fig. 7.4 shows the induction rotor end.
The rotor is shown alone in Figs. 7.5 and 7.6, with a piece of magnetic viewing film
over the permanent-magnet portion. Figure 7.5 demonstrates the position of the
magnetic poles, of which there are four on the rotor. Figure 7.6 shows that the induc-
tion rotor portion is a laminated structure with copper-wire bars swedged over
copper-plate end rings.
 SYNCHRONOUS MACHINES 7.3

FIGURE 7.3 Shaded-pole synchronous motor, permanent-magnet rotor end.

FIGURE 7.4 Shaded-pole synchronous motor, induction rotor end.

7.4 CHAPTER SEVEN

FIGURE 7.5 Shaded-pole synchronous motor showing magnetized poles.

FIGURE 7.6 Shaded-pole synchronous motor rotor showing induction motor bars and
end rings.
 SYNCHRONOUS MACHINES 7.5

7.2 HYSTERESIS SYNCHRONOUS MOTORS

These motors have a rotor made of a cobalt alloy or another material that can be
magnetized semipermanently by the stator field. They have a rather weak second-
quadrant demagnetization curve which can be easily demagnetized. The demagneti-
zation curves of some of these materials are shown in Figs. 7.7, 7.8, and 7.9.
Figure 7.10 shows a motor utilizing a wound-field distributed stator (Fig. 7.11)
and a cobalt hysteresis ring rotor (Fig. 7.12). This motor is connected and run like a
permanent-split-capacitor (PSC) motor. It produces a speed-torque curve like the
one shown in Fig. 7.13.

FIGURE 7.7 0.32-MGOe hysteresis material. BR = 10.4 kG, BD = 7.0 kG, HC = 88 Oe, HD = 45 Oe,
BHmax = 0.315 MGOe, BD/HD = 155.6. (Courtesy of Arnold Engineering Company.)
7.6 CHAPTER SEVEN

FIGURE 7.8 0.054-MGOe hysteresis material: hardened A151050. BR = 37.00 kG, BD = 2.0 kG,
HC = 56 Oe, HD = 27 Oe, BHmax = 0.054 MGOe, BD/HD = 24.1. (Courtesy of Arnold Engineering
Company.)
 SYNCHRONOUS MACHINES 7.7

FIGURE 7.9 0.36-MGOe hysteresis material. BR = 9.5 kG, BD = 6.0 kG, HC = 116 Oe, HD = 60 Oe,
BHmax = 0.360 MGOe, BD/HD = 100.0. (Courtesy of Arnold Engineering Company.)
7.8 CHAPTER SEVEN

FIGURE 7.10 Wound-field motor.

FIGURE 7.11 Distributed wound stator.

 SYNCHRONOUS MACHINES 7.9

FIGURE 7.12 Cobalt hysteresis ring rotor.

Many timer motors and value actuators use a hysteresis ring but use the shaded-
pole type of stator to provide starting torque. Figures 7.14, 7.15, and 7.16 show a
timer motor which utilizes this principle. The shaded-pole stator provides the start-
ing torque, but it also makes the motor unidirectional.

7.3 PERMANENT-MAGNET
SYNCHRONOUS MOTORS

Many of these motors are used in clocks or timing devices. Figure 7.17 shows a typi-
cal clock motor. Note that the stator portion has an uneven distribution of magnetic
poles (Fig. 7.18). The purpose of this is to give the rotor a preferred starting point
while providing an apparent shift in field during starting due to the uneven reluc-
tance of the stator. Some of these motors have a spring return mechanism to reverse
the rotation just in case it starts turning the wrong way.
Other PM synchronous motors are essentially PM stepper motors run as PSC
motors. The motor shown in Fig. 7.19 has a stator consisting of two sets of coils with
the teeth offset from each other by one-half tooth pitch (Fig. 7.20). The rotor has
magnetized poles along its length, as shown by magnetic viewing film (Fig. 7.21).
One stator half serves as the main field winding. The other serves as the auxiliary
phase. They are connected as in PSC motors, with a capacitor in series with the aux-
iliary winding.
7.10

(a) (b) (c)

FIGURE 7.13 Synchronous motor speed-torque curves: Oz ⋅ in versus (a) rpm, (b) Win, (c) PF, (d) amps,
(e) horsepower, and (f) efficiency.
7.11

(d) (e) (f)

FIGURE 7.13 (Continued) Synchronous motor speed-torque curves: Oz ⋅ in versus (a) rpm, (b) Win, (c) PF,
(d) amps, (e) horsepower, and (f) efficiency.
7.12 CHAPTER SEVEN

FIGURE 7.14 Timer or actuator motor by Cramer Motor Company. (Courtesy of MH

Rhodes, Inc.)

FIGURE 7.15 Timer stator. (Courtesy of MH Rhodes, Inc.)

 SYNCHRONOUS MACHINES 7.13

FIGURE 7.16 Timer rotor.

FIGURE 7.17 Typical clock motor.

7.14 CHAPTER SEVEN

FIGURE 7.18 Uneven distribution of magnetic stator poles.

FIGURE 7.19 Permanent-magnet synchronous motor.

 SYNCHRONOUS MACHINES 7.15

FIGURE 7.20 Half-tooth-pitch offset consisting of two sets of coils with offset teeth.

FIGURE 7.21 Rotor with magnetized poles.

7.16 CHAPTER SEVEN

7.4 PERFORMANCE CALCULATION

AND ANALYSIS*

P. H. Trickey suggests a method for calculating the performance of these syn-

chronous motors which is summarized here.
Generally, this method applies to motors using cobalt ring rotors. Motor parame-
ters are calculated using the same methods as for ac induction motors, except for
rotor losses. Winding resistance, iron losses, friction and windage losses, and stator
leakage reactance use exactly the same methods as induction motors. Air gap leak-
age reactance is calculated as one-half the value of zigzag and one-third the value of
belt leakage that would have been obtained using a rotor with the same number of
slots as the stator.
The hysteresis power is equal to the stator input power minus the stator losses,
friction and windage losses, and rotor parasite losses. Stator losses include I2r1 plus
core losses. Parasitic losses include hysteresis and eddy current losses of minor loops
resulting from flux variation at tooth slot openings, losses resulting from harmonics
of a nonsinusoidal winding distribution, and double-frequency backward field hys-
teresis and eddy current losses.

Variables

B = slot span, ° electrical kp = pitch factor

b = slot opening ks = slot leakage constant
C = series conductors per phase kw = total winding distribution fac-
C1 = flux form coefficient tor
Cx = correction factor kzz = zigzag leakage coefficient
Ct1 = maximum ampere-turns per k1 = stator (primary) slot constant
inch (teeth) k2 = secondary slot constant
Cy1 = maximum ampere-turns per Lg = physical length of air gap
inch (yoke) Lmet = mean end-turn length of coil
D1 = stator ID Ls = stator stack length
D2 = rotor OD lg = effective length of air gap
F = slot correction coefficient Lt1 = length of teeth
f = frequency, Hz Ly1 = length of yoke
G1 = minimum air gap MTL = mean turn length
HP = output power, hp m = number of phases
h1 = straight portion of end-turn me = length of remaining portion
extension of coil extension
I = primary current (assumed) Ns = synchronous speed
Id = direct axis current n = coils per group
Iq = quadrature axis current Pb = belt leakage permeance factor
kd = distribution factor PF = power factor
kg = gap factor p = number of poles

* Section contributed by Chris A. Swenski, and William H. Yeadon, Yeadon Engineering Services, PC.
 SYNCHRONOUS MACHINES 7.17

Rs = rotor skew, in Wph = watts per phase

r1 = resistance per phase, Ω
Sp = span (average coil throw)
SF = saturation factor
SFd = direct axis saturation factor
SFq = quadrature axis saturation
factor
Str = number of strands of wire in
parallel
s1 = stator (primary) slots
s2 = rotor (secondary) slots
T = torque, oz⋅in
Tp1 = primary tooth pitch
Tp2 = secondary tooth pitch
Tf1 = width of primary tooth face
Tf2 = width of secondary tooth face
Vph = volts per phase
Win = total input, W
WL = Loss, W
Wout = output, W
w = total series conductors
w2 = axial rotor stack length
Xd = total direct axis reactance
Xfctr = reactance factor
Xpc = primary end reactance
Xps = primary slot reactance
Xq = total quadrature axis reac-
tance
X1 = total leakage reactance
X1d = primary direct axis reactance
X1q = primary quadrature axis reac-
tance
Y = end-winding length coeffi-
cient
θp = total pole pitch
θpd = direct axis pole pitch
θpq = quadrature axis pole pitch
ξ = efficiency
φ2 = flux factor

Note: See figures for those variables not listed here, but used in the following
equations.

Calculation of Constants
Pitch factor kp:
kp = sin (pitch ⋅ 90°)
where pitch is expressed as a fraction of the full pitch, such as 5⁄6, etc.
Distribution factor kd:
sin (B/2)
kd = 
n sin (B/2n)
Total winding distribution factor kw:
kw = kpkd
Slot correction coefficient F:

   + 
y d3/y2
F = 0.28 − 0.14 1 + 0.08
y2 2.87(y /y ) + 0.08
1 2

Slot leakage constant ks:

d 2d2
ks = F + 1 + 
d d + y1
7.18 CHAPTER SEVEN

Gap factor kg (see Fig. 7.22):

Semiclosed slot
θp(4.4G1 + 0.75b)
kg = 
θp(4.4G1 + 0.75b) − b2
Open slot
θp(5G1 + b)
kg = 
θp(5G1 + b) − b2
Tunnel slot
kg = 1.03
Effective gap length lg:
lg = Lgkg
Zigzag reactance correction factor Cx:
Tp1Ls
Cx =  − 1
Tf1lg
Primary and Secondary Slot Constant Calculations k1 and k2

Note: See figures for variable descriptions. k1 represents the primary (stator) slot
constant, while k2 represents the secondary (rotor) slot constant. They are found
using the same set of equations, being careful to use the equation which most closely
resembles that of the slot in question.
Round-bottom slot constant k1 or k2 (note that F is different for the two constants):
Slot shape A (see Fig. 7.23)
d 2d2
k1 or k2 = F + 1 + 
d d + y1

(a) (b) (c)

FIGURE 7.22 Gap factor variables: (a) semiclosed, (b) open, and (c) tunnel.
 SYNCHRONOUS MACHINES 7.19

Slot shape B (see Fig. 7.24)

d 2d2
k1 or k2 = F + 1 + 
d d + y1
Square-bottom slot constant k1 or k2:
Open slot (see Fig. 7.25)
d d
k1 or k2 = 1 + 3
d y1
Bridged slot (see Fig. 7.26)
d1 d
FIGURE 7.23 Round-bottom slot, shape A. k1 or k2 =  + 3
0.02 y1
Flat-bottom slot constant k1 or k2:
Slot shape A (see Fig. 7.27)
d d
k1 and k2 = 1 + 3
d y1
Slot shape B (see Fig. 7.28)
d d2 d
k1 and k2 = 1 + 1.5  + 3
d d+r y1
Slot shape C (see Fig. 7.29)
d 4d2 d
k1 and k2 = 1 +  + 3
d 3d + y1 y1
FIGURE 7.24 Round-bottom slot, shape B.

Variables to Calculate
Primary tooth pitch Tp1:
D1π
Tp1 = 
s1
Secondary tooth pitch Tp2:
D2π
Tp2 = 
s2
Total pole pitch θp:
FIGURE 7.25 Square-bottom open slot.
π(D1 + D2)
θp = 
2p
Zigzag leakage coefficient kzz:
Open slot
(Tf 1 − Tf 2 )2
kzz = 
4(Tp1 + Tp2)
7.20 CHAPTER SEVEN

FIGURE 7.26 Square-bottom bridged slot. FIGURE 7.27 Flat-bottom slot, shape A.

FIGURE 7.28 Flat-bottom slot, shape B. FIGURE 7.29 Flat-bottom slot, shape C.

Closed slot
1.063Wph
kzz = 
G1s1
Direct axis pole pitch θpd (see Fig. 7.30):
4πD1Sp(1.1 + 0.1p)
  k +
20pk 20pCx
θpd = s + zz  + Pb
s1 s 1 2s1Ls
where belt leakage permeance factor Pb is

Pb = 0 for three-phase

 
D1
Pb = 0.95  for two-phase
pmk1
 SYNCHRONOUS MACHINES 7.21

FIGURE 7.30 Rotor cross section showing θpd and θpq. Dimensions in inches,
not degrees, measured along the circumference of the rotor.

Quadrature axis pole pitch θpq (see Fig. 7.30):

4πD1Sp(1.1 + 0.1p) (sin 1.5)[(Sp + pπ)/s1]
   k  + 
20pk 20pCx
θpq = s + 1.25 zz+ 
s1 s 1 2s L k 1 s p

2.03θp(Ls + 2G1)

+ Q 
G1k1Ls) 
where

   
sin (θRs/2) 2 R
Q = 1 −  and θRs = s 180°
πθRs/360 θp

Saturation Calculations
Saturation factor SF:
total ampere − turns
SF = 
airgap ampere − turns
 7.22 CHAPTER SEVEN

Flux factor Φ2:

Φ2 =


{[ 
I2 − 
(Win
/Vphm)2
⋅ r1] −
(Win/V
ph) X1}
2
+ {(V
ph − (W
in/Vphm
) r1) −[I2 
 − (W 
in/V 2
phm) ⋅ X1]}2
45.0 × 106

⋅ 
Ckw 
Area of the Air Gap:
Direct axis area Agd
θpd π(D1 + D2)
  
Agd = 
θp 2p (L + 2G F ) s 1 2

Quadrature axis area Agq

θpq π(D1 + D2)
  
Agq = 
θp 2p (L + 2G F ) s 1 2

Direct axis saturation factor SFd:

Cy1Ly1 + Ct1Lt1 + 491.41(F2/Agd)lg
SFd = 
491.41(F2/Agd)lg
Quadrature axis saturation factor SFq:
Cy1Ly1 + Ct1Lt1 + 491.41(F2/Agq)lg
SFq = 
491.41(F2/Agq)lg

Direct and Quadrature Axis Reactances

Reactance factor Xfctr:
f(Ckw)2w2m
Xfctr = 
p(108)
Total direct axis reactance Xd:
Xd = Xfctr[(CmC1/SFd) + θpd]
Total quadrature axis reactance Xq:
Xq = Xfctr[(Cf/SFq) + θpq]
Primary direct axis reactance X1d:
X1d = Xfctrθpd
Primary quadrature axis reactance X1q:
X1q = Xfctrθpq
 SYNCHRONOUS MACHINES 7.23

Primary Resistance
Mean turn length MTL:
MTL = 2Ls + 2Lmet
Primary resistance r1:
(C)(MTL)(resistance/1000 ft)
r1 = 
12,000Str

Reactances
Primary slot Xps
w2f Lsk1ks)
Xps = 8 ⋅ 
10 s1
Primary end Xpc (see Fig. 7.31):
w2f (h1 + 0.5me)k2p
Xpc = 8 ⋅ 
10 p
Zigzag Xzz:
w2f πD1Lsks
Xzz = 8 ⋅ 
10 s1(s1 + s2)G1kg

FIGURE 7.31 Dimensions for end-turn leakage reactance.

Primary Leakage Reactance. The primary leakage reactance X1 is the sum of the
preceding reactances:
X1 = Xps + Xpc + Xzz

Friction and Windage Losses. Friction and windage losses are obtained by testing
similar machines (same frame size, bearing size, rpm, enclosure and cooling fan).
7.24 CHAPTER SEVEN

Output Calculations
Speed Ns:
120f
Ns = 
p
Losses WL
WL = (I2mr1) + (Fe loss) + (F + W)
Output power HP:
inputs − losses
HP = 
745.7
Input Win:
Win = HP(745.7) + losses
Torque T:
HP(1,008,000)
T =  oz⋅in
rpm
Output Wout:
Wout = HP(745.7)
Efficiency ξ:
HP(745.7)
ξ = 
HP(745.7) + (I2mr1) + (Fe loss) + (F + W)
Power factor PF:
HP(745.7) + losses
PF = 
mVphI
Variables for direct and quadrature axis current calculations θ,δ,ψ:
θ = cos−1 PF
PF + (r1/xq) sin θ

δ = tan−1 
sin θ + (Vph/Ixq) − (r1/xq) cos θ 
ψ=θ+δ

where δ = torque angle

Direct axis current Id:
Id = I(sin ψ)
Quadrature axis current Iq:
Iq = I(cos ψ)