Module-III

DC Motor Drives

Reference: Gopal K. Dubey, “ Fundamentals of Electrical Drives” Second Edition, Narosa Publishing House.

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 Introduction
• DC drives are widely used in applications requiring adjustable speed, good
speed regulation and frequent starting, braking and reversing.

• Some important applications are rolling mills, paper mills, mine winders, hoists,
machine tools, traction, printing presses, textile mills, excavators and cranes.

• Fractional horsepower DC motors are widely used as servo motors for

positioning and tracking.

• Although, since late sixtees, it is being predicted that AC drives will replace DC
drives, however, even today the variable speed applications are dominated by
DC drives because of lower cost, reliability and simple control.
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 DC Motors and their Performance
• The commonly used Types of DC Motor are
shown in Fig. 5.1.
• In a separately excited motor, the field and
armature voltages can be controlled
independent of each other.
• In a shunt motor, field and armature are
connected to a common source.
• In case of a series motor, field current is
same as armature current, and therefore,
field flux is a function of armature current.
• In a cumulatively compound motor, the mmf
of the series field is a function of armature
current and is in the same direction as mmf
of the shunt field. 3
• The steady state equivalent circuit of armature of a dc machine is shown in Fig.
5.2.
• Resistance Ra is the resistance of the armature circuit. For separately excited and
shunt motors, it is equal to the resistance of armature winding and for series and
compound motors it is the sum of armature and field winding resistances.
• Basic equations applicable to all Types of DC Motor are

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Where, Φ – is the flux per pole, Webers;
Ia – the armature current, A;
V – the armature voltage V;
Ra – the resistance of the armature circuit, ohms;
ωm – the speed of armature, rad/sec;
T – the torque developed by the motor, N-m;
and Ke – the motor constant.
• From Eq. (5.1) to (5.3)

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 Shunt and Separately Excited Motors
• In case of shunt and separately excited motors, with a constant field current, the
flux can be assumed to be constant. Let

Then from Eqs. (5.1), (5.3) and (5.4) to (5.6)

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• The speed-torque and torque-current characteristics of a separately excited motor
for rated terminal voltage and full field are shown in Fig. 5.3.
• The speed-torque curve is a straight line. The no load speed ωm0 is determined by
the values of armature voltage and field excitation.
• Speed decreases as torque increases and speed regulation depends on the armature
circuit resistance (Eq. (5.10)).
• The usual drop in speed from no
load to full load, in case of a
medium size motor, is of the order
of 5%.
• Separately excited motors are
employed in applications requiring
good speed regulation and
adjustable speed.
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 Series Motor
• In series motors, the flux is a function of armature current. In unsaturated region
of magnetization characteristic, Φ can be assumed to be proportional to Ia. Thus,

Substituting in Eqs. (5.3), (5.4) and (5.5) gives

where armature circuit resistance Ra is now the sum of armature and field winding resistances.
The speed-torque and torque-current characteristics of a series motor at rated terminal voltage
and full field are shown in Fig. 5.3.
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• Series motors are suitable for applications requiring high starting torque and
heavy torque overloads.
• Since torque is proportional to the armature current squared, for the same
increase in torque, increase in motor current is less compared to that in a
separately excited motor where torque is proportional to armature current.
• Thus, during heavy torque overloads and starting, power overload on the source
and thermal overloading of the motor are kept limited to reasonable values.
• According to Eq. (5.14), as speed varies inversely as the square root of torque,
machine runs at a large speed at light load.
• Generally, mechanical strength of a Types of DC Motor permit it to operate upto
about twice rated speed.
• Hence, the series motor should not be used in those drives where there is a
possibility of the load torque being dropped to the extent that the speed may
exceed twice rated value.
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 Compound Motor
• Speed-torque and torque-current characteristics of a cumulative compound motor
are also shown in Fig. 5.3.
• The no load speed depends on the strength of shunt field and slope of the
characteristic on the strength of series field.
• Cumulative compound motors are used in those applications where a drooping
characteristic similar to that of a series motor is required and at the same time the
no load speed must be limited to a safe value; typical examples are lifts and
winches.
• It is also used in intermittent load applications, where the load varies from almost
no load to very heavy loads.
• This apart from equalising load on the supply, permits the use of a smaller size
motor. Pressing machine is a typical example of this type of application.
• The characteristics of Fig. 5.3, which are obtained at rated terminal voltage and
full field are known as natural speed-torque characteristics. Rated (or full load)
speed is known as the base speed. 10
 Speed control of DC motors using Power Converters
 Controlled Rectifier Fed DC Drives:
 Controlled Rectifier Fed DC Drives are used to get variable DC voltage from an
AC source of fixed voltage. Controlled Rectifier Fed DC Drives are also known
as Static Ward-Leonard drives.

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• Figure 5.25 shows commonly used Controlled Rectifier Fed DC Drives and
quadrants in which they can operate on Va-Ia plane.
• As thyristors are capable of conducting current only in one direction, all these
rectifiers are capable of providing current only in one direction.
• Rectifiers of Figs. 5.25(a) and (c) provide control of dc voltage in either
direction and therefore, allow motor control in quadrants I and IV. They are
known as Fully Controlled Rectifiers.
• Rectifiers of Figs. 5.25(b) and (d) are called Half Controlled Rectifiers as they
allow dc voltage control only in one direction and motor control in quadrant I
only.
• For low power applications (up to around 10 kW) single-phase rectifier drives
are employed. For high power applications, three-phase rectifier drives are used.
Exception is made in traction where single phase drives are employed for large
power ratings.
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Single Phase Fully Controlled Rectifier Control of DC Motor:
• The Single Phase Fully Controlled Rectifier Control of DC Motor is shown in Fig.
5.26 (a). Motor is shown by its equivalent circuit. Field supply is not shown.
• When field control is required, field is fed from a controlled rectifier, otherwise
from an uncontrolled rectifier. The ac input voltage is defined by

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• In a cycle of source voltage, thyristors T1 and T3 are given gate signals from α to
π, and thyristors T2 and T4 are given gate signals from (π + α) to 2π.

• When armature current does not flow continuously, the motor is said to operate in
discontinuous conduction.

• When current flows continuously, the conduction is said to be continuous. The

drive under consideration, predominantly operates in discontinuous conduction.

• The motor terminal voltage and current waveforms for the dominant
discontinuous conduction and continuous conduction modes are shown in Figs.
5.26 (b) and (c).
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• In discontinuous conduction mode of Single Phase Fully Controlled Rectifier Control of DC
Motor, current starts flowing with the turn-on of thyristors T1 and T3 at ωt = α.

• Motor gets connected to the source and its terminal voltage equals Vs.

• The current, which flows against both, E and the source voltage after ωt = π, falls to zero at β.

• Due to the absence of current T1 and T3 turn-off, Motor terminal voltage is now equal to its
induced voltage E.

• When thyristors T2 and T4 are fired at (π + α), next cycle of the motor terminal voltage Va
starts.

• In continuous conduction mode of Single Phase Fully Controlled Rectifier Control of DC

Motor, a positive current flows through the motor, and T2 and T4 are in conduction just before
α.
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• Application of gate pulses turns on forward biased thyristors T1 and T3 at α.
Conduction of T1 and T3 reverse biases T2 and T4 and turns them off.

• A cycle of Va is completed when T2 and T4 are turned-on at (π + α) causing

turn-off of T1 and T3.

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Discontinuous Conduction:
• In a Single Phase Fully Controlled Rectifier Control of DC Motor terminal
voltage Va, the drive operates in two intervals (Fig. 5.26(b)):

• Duty interval (α ≤ ωt ≤ β) when motor is connected to the source and Va = Vs.

• Zero current interval (β ≤ ωt ≤ π + α) when ia = 0 and Va = E.
Drive operation is described by the following equations:

Solution of Eq. (5.72) has two components—one due to the ac source (Vm/Z) sin (ωt – Φ), and
other due to back emf ( – E/Ra). Each of these components has in turn a transient component.
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Where,

and τa is given by Eq. (5.25).

Constant K1 can be evaluated subjecting Eq. (5.74) to the initial condition ia(α) = 0. Substituting value of
K1 so obtained in Eq. (5.74) yields

Since ia(β) = 0, from Eq. (5.77)

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•

β can be evaluated by iterative solution of Eq. (5.78).

• Since voltage drop across the armature inductance due to dc component of

armature current is zero.

where Va and la are respectively dc components of armature voltage and current respectively.
From Fig. 5.26(6)

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Continuous Conduction:
• From Fig. 5.26(c)

From Eqs. (5.7), (5.8), (5.79) and

• Speed torque curves for the drive are shown in Fig. 5.27.
• The ideal no load operation is obtained when Ia = 0.
• When both thyristor pairs (T1, T3) and (T2, T4) fail to fire, Ia will be zero.
• This will happen when E > Vs throughout the period for which tiring pulses are present.
• Therefore, when α < π/2, E should be greater or equal to Vm and when α > π/2, E should be
greater or equal to Vm sin ωt. Therefore, no load speeds are given by 20
• Maximum average terminal voltage (2Vm/π) is chosen equal to the rated motor voltage. Ideal
no load speed of the motor when fed by a perfect direct voltage of rated value will then be
(2Vm/πK).
• For torques less than rated, a low power drive mainly operates in discontinuous conduction.
• In continuous conduction, the speed-torque characteristics are parallel straight lines, whose
slope, according to (5.84), depends on the armature circuit resistance Ra.
• Effect of discontinuous conduction is to make speed regulation poor.

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• This behavior can be explained from
waveforms of Figs. 5.26(b) and (c).
• In continuous conduction, for a given α, any
increase in torque causes ωm and E to drop so
that Ia and T can increase.
• Average terminal voltage Va remains
constant.
• In discontinuous conduction, any increase in
torque and accompanied increase in Ia causes
β to increase and Va to drop. Consequently,
speed drops by a larger amount. 22
Single Phase Half Controlled Rectifier Control of DC Separately Excited Motor:
• Single Phase Half Controlled Rectifier Control is shown in Fig. 5.29(a). In a cycle of source
voltage defined by

• T1 receives gate pulse from α to π and T2 from (π+ α) to 2π.

• Motor terminal voltage and current waveforms for the dominant discontinuous and continuous
conduction mode are shown in Figs. 5.29(b) and (c) respectively.
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Discontinuous Conduction:
• A cycle of motor terminal voltage consists of three intervals (Fig. 5.29(b)):
• Duty interval (α ≤ ωt ≤ π): Armature current is given by Eq. (5.77).

• Substitution of ωt = π in this equation gives ia(π).

• Freewheeling interval (π ≤ ωt ≤ β): Operation is governed by the following
equation:

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Solution of (5.87) subject to ia(π) as the initial current yields

• Zero current interval (β ≤ ωt ≤ π + α): Equation (5.73) is applicable. Since ia(β) = 0, one
gets from (5.88)

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• β can be calculated by the solution of Eq. (5.89). Now

From Eqs. (5.7), (5.8), (5.79) and (5.90)

Boundary between continuous and discontinuous conduction is reached when β = π + α.

Substituting β = π + α in (5.89) gives the critical speed ωmc, which separates continuous
conduction from discontinuous conduction for a given a.

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Continuous Conduction:
• From Fig. 5.29(c)
From Eqs. (5.7), (5.8), (5.79) and (5.93)

• A Single Phase Half Controlled Rectifier Control is cheaper

and gives higher power factor compared to single-phase
fully-controlled rectifier. But then it only provides control in
quadrant I.

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Three phase Fully Controlled Rectifier Control of DC Separately Excited
Motor:

Three phase Fully

Controlled Rectifier
Control (6 pulse) fed
separately excited dc
motor drive is shown
in Fig. 5.32(a).

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• Thyristors are fired in the sequence of their numbers with a phase difference of
60° by gate pulses of 120°duration.
• Each thyristor conducts for 120°, and two thyristors conduct at a time—one from
upper group (odd numbered thyristors) and the other from lower group (even
numbered thyristors) applying respective line voltage to the motor.
• Transfer of current from an outgoing to incoming thyristor can take place when
the respective line voltage is of such a polarity that not only if forward biases the
incoming thyristor, but also leads to the reverse biasing of the outgoing when
incoming turns-on.
• Thus, firing angle for a thyristor is measured from the instant when the respective
line voltage is zero and increasing.
• For example, the transfer of current from thyristor T5 to thyristor T1 can occur as
long as the line voltage VAc is positive. Hence, for thyristor T1, firing angle α is
measured from the instant VAC = 0 and increases as shown in Figs. 5.32(b) and
(c).
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• If line voltage VAB is taken as the reference voltage, then

where Vm is the peak of line voltage.

Motor terminal voltage and current waveforms for continuous conduction are shown in Figs.
5.32(b) and (c) for motoring and braking operations, respectively.
Devices under conduction are also shown in the figure.
The discontinuous conduction is neglected here because it occurs is a narrow region of its
operation.
For the motor terminal voltage cycles from α + π/3 to α + 2π/3 (from Figs. 5.32(b) and (c)).

From Eqs. (5.7), (5.8), (5.79) and (5.97)

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• When discontinuous conduction is ignored, speed-torque curves of Fig. 5.33
are obtained. The Va vs α curve has same nature as shown in Fig. 5.28(a) for
single-phase case. Consequently, drive operates in quadrants I and IV.

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Three Phase Half Controlled Rectifier Control of DC Separately
Excited Motor:
• For rectifier circuit, shown in Fig. 5.25(d), under continuous conduction

From Eqs. (5.7), (5.8), (5.79) and (5.99)

Va vs α curve has same nature as

shown in Fig. 5.31(a).
Consequently, drive operates
only in quadrant I.
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