A paper presented at the 29th Annuzal Con-

vention of the Americant Intstitute of Electrical

Engineers, Boston, Mass., June 28, 1912.
Copyright, 1912. By A. I. E. E.

MOTOR STARTING CURRENTS AS AFFECTING

LARGE TRANSMISSION SYSTEMS

BY P. M. LINCOLN

From time to time those responsible for the operation of

electrical systems have displayed a disposition to place a definite
limit upon the size of motors which they will allow upon their
circuits. Th;s tendency seems to be more pronounced in alter-
nating-current than in direct-current systems, but is observable
in both. Moreover, in alternating-current systems the tendency
is not confined to central stations for city supply, but is spread-
ing to the larger transmission systems that deal in wholesale
power.
So far as the writer has been able to analyze, the reasoning
that has led to these restrictions is about as follows:
1. A desire to avoid tying up too much load to a single piece
of apparatus, thereby endangering a comparatively large in-
come by the loss of a single motor.
2. A fear that the starting currents and the fluctuations in
the operating currents of relatively large motors will cause
fluctuations in voltag.
3. A fear, more or less undefined, that the cumulative effect
of starting many large motors at nearly the same hour will
cause so large a draft of current as to be beyond the ability of
the generating plant to take care of it.
It may be of interest to analyze further these reasons and see
just how much bearing they may have upon a typical large
transmission system which presumably deals in wholesale power
only.
The writer recognizes the first of the above reasons as an
entirely legitimate one. It is, no doubt, desirable to keep the
1789
 1790 LINCOLN: MOTOR-STARTING CURRENTS [June 28
power supply as much subdivided as possible, thereby avoiding
the danger of a relatively large lois of revenue by crippling of a
single motor. Its application, however, is wholly commercial
in its nature. There are many cases where these same commer-
cial considerations may make it desirable to advocate rather
than deprecate the use of large motors, since on no other basis
can some kinds of business be secured. Take for example an
existing cotton mill or other industry that is already equipped
with an engine connected to its load by shafting and belts.
The most natural way of applying electric drive to such a
case is simply to substitute one large motor in place of the
engine. Commercial considerations will often demand that a
given load be taken in this manner or not at all. This case is
cited merely to indicate that commercial considerations are not,
and of necessity cannot be, controlling in fixin-g the size of motors
or in any ruling which looks toward the limitation of the size
of motors which might be permitted on a given system. The
size of the motor is simply a matter of expediency. If the advan-
tages of subdivision can be obtained along with electric drive
well and good, but if circumstances forbid these advantages, also
well and good. The decision as dictated by commercial consid-
erations will be to take the business however it can be obtained,
entirely independent of the size of the motor that may thereby
be placed on the system.
The second reason mentioned above, namely, the desire of
avoiding voltage fluctuations, is also one that must be recognized
as having a logical basis. However, this reason is one which
appeals with much more force to the typical city supply system,
whose main func ion is the supply of lighting, than to the large
transmission system for the supply of wholesale power. In any
event the logic of any ruling having this object in view demands
not simply a limitation in the size of the motor but a considera-
tion as well of other conditions that surround the installation
of this motor. The point involved is simply the question of the
voltage fluctuation which will be caused when a given motor is
started or stopped or when its load fluctuates. The voltage
fluctuation depends not only upon the size of the motor, but also,
among other things, upon the size and regulation of the trans-
formners supplying the motor and upon the size, voltage and
lelngth of the transmission line connecting it with the source of
power. A logical restriction which has for its object the elimina-
tion of voltage fluctuation, should depend even more upon these
1912] LINCOLN: MOTOR-STARTING CURRENTS 1791

other features than upon the size of the motor. A five-h.p.

motor, for instance, supplied along with some lighting customers,
by a three-kw. transformer at the end of a comparatively long
and low-voltage transmission might be more of a menace to
lighting in its neighborhood than a 100-h.p. motor close to the
power station and supplied by large-capacity, high-voltage
transmission lines alnd good regulating transformers.
Any restriction which has as its basis the elimination of volt-
age fluctuation is, as indicated above, much more applicable
to a central city supply station than to a large transmission
system dealing in wholesale power. It is highly important for
the city supply station to maintain voltage as steady as possible,
since a large part of its revenue is derived from the supply of
lights. With the transmission system supplying wholesale power,
however, the conditions are far different, the revenue from
lighting being a very small proportion of its total revenue. The
responsibility for voltage fluctuations at customer's premises is,
therefore, by no means as heavy as it is with the city supply
system.
In general there are two effects that must be borne in mind
when considering the question of voltage fluctuations that may
be caused by the presence of motors, and these two considerations
hold whether the primary object of the circuit in question is the
supply of lighting or the supply of wholesale power. These two
effects are: first, the transient fluctuation of voltage due to
starting current or to a change in running current, and second,
the permanent voltage which is due to the permanent assump-
tion or rejection of load by these motors. In dealing with the
wholesale supply lines much of the first-mentioned variety of
voltage fluctuation may be forgiven, since it is confined to a few
relatively short and predetermined periods of the day, namely,
the regular morning, noon and evening starting and quitting
hours of the mills and factories that are supplied with power.
This is particularly true since the customers who make use of
wholesale power supplies directly for lighting, invariably recog-
nize that they are applying it to a use not priluarIly intended
and are willing to make allowances therefore. It is sometimes
necessary to take some special means to care for the permanent
voltage change where the power circuits are used directly for
lighting, since the difference in voltage between loaded and
unloaded line may reach such a value as to be destructive to the
lamps. However, where the typical individual mill draws a
1792 LINCOLN: MOTOR-STARTING CURRENTS [June 28
starting current from the line that is less than the runniing cur-
rent (as will be shown later in this discussion), it is evident that
the questionm of motor starting current and transient voltage
fluctuation caused thereby is of secondary importance.
The third cause for contemplating the limitation of the size
of motors mentioned in the opening paragraph, namely, the fear
that the draft of starting current of many motors starting about
the same time may be beyond the capacity of the power plant,
is the question whose investigation has led to the preparation
of this paper. The conditions which led up to this investiga-
tion are, briefly, as follows:
A certain large transmission system operating in the south
at one time in the course of its growth experienced considerable
difficulty in picking up its load at the time of the usual morning
start of the mills. In this case, as is usual with southern trans-
mission systems, most of the load consisted of cotton mills,
which started up nearly the same hour of the morning all over
the system. From certain effects noted it seemed that the start-
ing currents taken by the motors at these periods were the cause
of the failure to pick up the load and it was largely this consider-
ation that led this particular system to consider a restriction
in the size of the motors which might be allowed upon its circuits.
This attitude led in turn to taking up for systematic investiga-
tion the general question of starting conditions which might
actually be found in the mills that were taking power from this
company's lines. An investigation of this character was, there-
fore, undertaken.
The method of making this investigation was extremely simple.
Graphic recording meters were placed in the supply circuits of
the mill under test. Meters showing the draft of both current
and kilowatts were used in each case. so that both the kilovolt-
amperes and the kilowatts of the mill could be secured. The
effect during starting periods of the mill could thereby be readily
observed and record thereof made. Nine typical mills were
selected and tests of this character made upon each of them.
A number of starts, both morning and noon, were made, in order
to avoid the possibility of observing some condition which was
not entirely typical.
A summary of the results which were obtained upon these nine
mills by these tests is contained in the following table.
In addition to this summary, some of the more representative
records made by the graphic meters are reproduced herewith.
19121 LINCOLN: MOTOR-STARTING CURRENTS .1793

Total Capacity Percentage Excess of demand

capacity of largest of total in starting period
Mill Number of motors Type of motor in capacity in over running period
No. of motors in h.p. motors h.p. largest - - -
motors in kv-a. In kw.

Wound
1 ;37 981 secondary 100 10.2 None Nonie
Wound
2 257 2440 secondary 125 5.0 None None
Squirrel
3 31 1284 cage 150 11.7 None None
Squirrel
I4 37 3055 cage 150 4.9 None None
Squirrel
5 24 457 cage 35 7.7 None Nonie
Wound
6 24 2626 secondary! 175 6.7 None None
Squirrel
7 2 150 cage 75 50.0 25 25%
Wound
8 12 11'25 secondary 175 15.5 None None
Squirrel
9 3 300 cage 200 66.7 50%C/ None

It was recognized that in obtaining records of the starting

conditions there was a possibility of error owing t-o the time lag
of the graphic meters behind the actual current. and kilowatt
conditions which produced the meter indications. This matter
was given careful attention in the taking of these particular
records. The speed of the pen was adjustable in the graphic
meters used, and this speed was so fixed that on the one hand the
pen did not move so fast as to overshoot the amperes per kilo-
watt it was endeavoring to follow and on the other hand it had
sufficient speed so as not to have too great a discrepancy between
actual amperes or kilowatts and the position of the pen at the
same time. The range of adjustment was such as to allow
a speed of pen which would travel over the entire range in less
than five seconds. Since the process of starting a large motor
is one which always requires a period several tilnes as long as
this, and further since the travel of the pen is never but a fraction
of the entire scales we may rest assured that the graphic meter
indications which are shown here give a reasonably accurate
indication of the starting conditions which we are observing.
Figs. 1 A and 1 B show, for instance, the starting conditions
in a cotton mill, equipped with total of 1284 h.p. in motors.
This is the mill given as No. 3 in the foregoing summary. In
this mill there are two motors of 150 h.p. each and three of 100
1794 LINCOLN: MOTOR-STARTING CURRENTS [June 28
h.p. each. All motors in this particular mill are of the squirrel
cage type. An inspection of the records reproduced in Figs.
1 A and 1 B shows at once that the maximum demand during
KY. -A.

1IP. M. 12

FIG. A

the starting period as compared to the demand during, the

running period is less than 70 per cent in kilovolt-amperes and
about 50 per cent in kilowatts.
KW.

1IP.M. 12-M.

FIG. 1B

Figs. 2 A and 2 B show the conditionis in another mill, No.

8 in the summary. Here the maximum demand during starting
period is about 70 per cent of the running kilovolt-amperes and
 t~ ~10
19121 LINCOLN: MOTOR-STARTING CURRENTS 1795

about 62 per cent of the running kilowatts. The motors in this

case are of the wound-rotor type instead of squirrel cage as in
the preceding case. The result of this difference in type of
motor is shown in the fact that the kilovolt-amperes and kilo-
watts during the starting period come nearer together than is
the case with the squirrel-cage motor. On the other hand a com-
KV--

(3~~~~~~~14

7 A.M A WM
6A
FIG. 2A

parison of the charts indicates that the kilowatts of the wound-

rotor motor taken during the startilng period are higher than for
the squirrel-cage type. It is, of course, possible to obtain much
more rapid acceleration with the wound-rotor type than with the
squirrel-cage type, and this power placed in the hands of a mill
operator who is in a hurry to get started in the morning may

KVV.
960
__

,__ ,__
.__ 32L

FIG. 2B

lead to drafts of current during the starting period that are

considerably greater with the wound-rotor type than with the
squirrel-cage type This is a fact which does not seem to have
been properly appreciated by those who are using motors for
considerably
mill purposes. greater with the wound-ro~tortpthnwhte
Fig~s. 3 A and 3 B illustrate mill No. 6 in the foregoing
summary. The capacity of the largest motor in this mill is
1796 LINCOLN: MOTOR-STARTING CURRENTS [June 28
the same as in No. 8 just described, but the total capacity of all
motors is more than double that in mill No. 8. Although the
actual kilovolt-amperes and kilowatts taken for starting a
single motor are about the same they become a smaller propor-
tion of the running conditions.
KV.-A.

7 A.M. 6 A.M 5 A.M.

FIG. .3A

Figs. 4 A and 4 B show by far the most severe condition of

any that was found in these tests. This mill is No. 9 in the
summary, and is provided with only two motors, one a 200-h.p.
and the other 100-h.p., both of the squirrel-cage type. In this
case, therefore, the largest motor amounts to two-thirds the
KW.
4- ~ ~ ~ 1

=X ~ ~~~ ~ ~~~~ __._ I(8

[ 1~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 0
7 A.M AM 5A
FIG. 3B

total motor capacity. However, even in this most severe case

the kilovolt-amperes during the starting period exceed the run-
ning kilovolt-amperes by only 50 per cent and the kilowatts dur-
ing the starting period does not exceed the running kilowatts at
all. If this mill had had a total of 500 h.p. instead of only
300 h.p., the starting kilovolt-amperes would not have exceeded
1912]

I P. M.
_~ ~ ~ ~
LINCOLN: MOTOR-STARTING CURRENTS

the running kilovolt-amperes. We might note that if this mill had

been increased to a total of 500 h.p., its total capacity would
have been only about 20 per cent of mill No. 4 and only about 25
per cent of mills No. 2 and No. 6. The foregoing records are
typical of those for all of the other mills taken. On account

FIG. 4A
12-M.
KV. -A.
GOS

fXAA

of this similarity no further records are here reproduced. There

are sorne conclusions which may readily be drawn from an inspec-
tion of these records and the foregoing summary of the nine mills
that were observed. L
1797

3~~~~~~~~~~~01

In the first place it is evident that so long'as the largest motor

K.
576

1 M. 12-M.
FIG. 4A

io ta ill is lessthayn a certain percentagehe rep total capacity

in motors, the power demanded for starting purposes will always
be less than for running purposes and this will be true no matter
whether the demand be measured in kilovolt-amperes or in kilo-
watts. The evidence of the foregoing records indicates that the
largest motor may be at least 25 per cent of the total capacity
1798 LINCOLN: MOTOR-STARTING CURRENTS [June 28
in a given mnill and still this relation will hold. Possibly the
largest motor may be even higher than this percentage of the
total, but 25 per cent is certainly a safe figure, judging by the
actual records taken.
It is further evident that so long as the current during the
starting period is less than during the runninlg period the draft
of starting current cannot be a menace so far as ability to pick up
load is concerned. A power plant that can pick up and carry
the running current can also pick up and carry the startilng
current, provided this starting current is less than the running
current. What is true of one mill is, of course, still more true
when many of these mills are carried upon a given transmission
KV.-A.

8332
6490

_-w1 __ _

---

7 A.M. 6 A.M.
FIG. 5

system. The foregoing summary shows three mills that have

total capacity of more than 2000 h.p., one of them exceeding 3000
h.p. Twenty-five per cent of the total capacity of any one of
these mills will mean a single motor having a capacity of 500
to 750 h.p. Therefore, in any one of these mills a motor of 500
h.p. could have been started and still the draft of current during
running conditions would have been more than that during
starting conditions. If the starting of a 500-h.p. motor can be
accomplished in one mill without exceeding a safe limit, there
is no reason why the same thing cannot be done in another
independent of the total capacity. In other words, so far as
picking up the load is concerned, this particular system can
certainly take care of single motors as large at least as 500 h.p.
19121 LINCOLN: MOTOR-STARTING CURRENTS 1799

The writer does not mean to say that he advocates motors of

so large a size as this, since he believes that they are objection-
able for other reasons, but so far as the ability to pick up the
load is concerned there seems to be no doubt that motors of this
size are entirely feasible. In fact, if necessary, the writer sees
no rcason why from this standpoint the size of the maximum
motor cannot be increased considerably if such a step were ever
found necessary.
While the foregoing records were being taken on individual
mills there were also similar instruments recording the output
of one of the high-tension lines feeding this system. Fig. 5 is
a typical record of one of these transmission lines at the power
plant. This record was taken during a typical morning start.
The shape and character of this record does not indicate any
possibility of distress on account of current draft during starting
period.
A further consideration of these graphic records indicates almost
to a certainty that it was not the motor starting currents that
caused the failure to pick up load, but the high rate at which incre-
ments of real kilowatt-load are assumed by the power during the
starting period. The source of power in this case was water
power, and it is well known that waterpower plants are by
nature much more sluggish in their ability to assume incre-
ments of real load than are steam plants. It seems very
probable, therefore, that the cause of the inability to pick up
load was due to the high rate of real kilowatt assumption,
coupled, probably, with an unusually sluggish adjustment of
governors.
This probability seems all the more certain when we consider
the method of starting up cotton mills. The method used in
such mills is first to start all motors some five or 10 minutes
before the blowing of the morning or noon whistle. However,
the starting of the motors does not put into operation the looms
and other mill machinery that these motors drive. Each motor
drives a more or less extensive system of countershafting to
which the individual looms and other machinery are connected
by tight and loose pulleys. Therefore, until the starting whistle
blows, each motor operates only a relatively short section of
countershafting. As soon as the starting whistle blows, each
operator starts his own group of machines as rapidly as possible
and it is during this period that the real kilowatt load rises so
rapidly. An inspection of the accompanying graphic records
clearly indicates the period at which the real load is thrown on.
1800 LINCOLN: MOTOR-STARTING CURRENTS tJune 28
From the data that have been given herein, the writer beleves
that the following conclusion is entirely logical-
That the only logical restriction in size of motor is one that
will prevent it becoming more than 25 per cent of the capacity
of the largest mill on the system. Such a restriction as this
usually leads to so large a motor that no restriction whatever is
necessary.