Experiment No.

5
The Cage Rotor Induction Motor

Objective

• To study the construction and fundamental principle of induction motor.

• To investigate the relationship between the speed, current, output power, power factor
and efficiency of a cage-rotor induction motor and the torque produced by the motor.

Related Articles
Three-phase AC induction motors are commonly used in industrial applications. This type of
motor has three main parts, rotor, stator, and enclosure. The stater and rotor do the work, and
the enclosure protects the stator and rotor.

Figure 5-1. The three-phase induction motor, showing the three fundamental parts. (Picture courtesy by
Siemens)

The stator is the stationary part of the motor's electromagnetic circuit. The stator core is made
up of many thin metal sheets, called laminations. Laminations are used to reduce energy losses
that would result if a solid core were used.
Stator laminations are stacked together forming a hollow cylinder. Colls of insulated wire are
inserted into slots of the stator core. When the assembled motor is in operation, the stator
windings are connected directly to the power source. Each grouping of coils, together with the
steel core it synchronous speed of the rotating magnetic field and the rotor speed is much smaller.
This speed difference is called slip. Slip is necessary to produce torque. Slip is also dependent on
load. An increase in load causes the rotor to slow down, Increasing slip. A decrease in load causes
the rotor to speed up, decreasing slip.

Motors are designed with speed-torque characteristics to match the requirements of common
applications. Because motor torque varies with speed, the relationship between speed and
torque is often shown in a graph, called a speed-torque curve. This curve shows the motor's
torque, as a percentage of full-load torque, over the motor's full speed range, shown as a
percentage of its synchronous speed. Starting torque, also referred to as locked rotor torque, is
the torque that the motor develops each time it is started at rated voltage and frequency. When
voltage is initially applied to the motor's stator, there is an instant before the rotor turns. As the
motor picks up speed, torque decreases slightly until a point is reached where it increases again.
The torque available at this point is called pull-up torque. For a NEMA B motor, this is slightly
lower than starting torque, but greater than full-load torque. As speed continues to Increase, it
will reach up to a maximum value at approximately 200% of full-load torque. This maximum value
of torque is referred to as breakdown torque. Torque decreases rapidly as speed increases beyond
breakdown torque until it reaches full-load torque at a speed slightly less than 100% of
synchronous speed. Full-load torque is developed with the motor operating at rated voltage,
frequency, and load.

Speed-torque curves are useful for understanding motor performance under load. At full load,
the motor runs at rated speed. When mechanical load Increases, motor speed decreases until the
motor torque again becomes equal to the load torque. If the two torques are in balance, the
motor will run at constant speed.

The current and speed relationship of an induction motor resembles a V-shaped curve having a
minimum value at synchronous speed. This minimum is equal to the magnetizing current which
is needed to create flux in the machine. Since flux is purposely kept constant, it means that
magnetizing current is the same at all synchronous speeds.
 Equipment Initial Settings

Test Bed • Speed range 1800 rev/min

• External/Internal torque switch to INT
• Torque reverse switch to give positive
meter deflection.

• Torque meter range to 2.5 Nm

• Break torque control to minimum

FH90 Cage Rotor Induction Motor Instrumentation Test machine

Frame

V3 A.C. Voltmeter 250 V range

A3 A.C. Ammeter 2 A range

W1 A.C. Wattmeter 500 W ranges for both meters.

Procedures
1. Set up the equipment and connect the wiring diagram as shown in Figure 5-1 or Figure
5- 2.
2. Switch on the power to the Test Bed, firs at the main switch and then press the green ON
push button to activate the contactor.
3. Adjust the brake control so that the motor develops an indicated torque of
approximately 0.8 Nm. Allow the motor to warm up for approximately 10 minutes. Reset
the broke control to minimum after the warmup period.
4. In steps, as Indicated in the results table, increase the torque on the motor, and record
corresponding values of torque, speed, power, voltage and current, until the motor
stalls. Note that, obtaining readings in the range from maximum torque to stalled
condition requires careful experimentation. (Note: When the power factor is less than
0.5, the Indication on one of the two wattmeters will be reversed, and it will be
necessary to reverse the connections to the voltage coll and regard this reading as a
negative value. Therefore, the Input power is the algebraic sum of W. and Wb.)
5. Finally, measure the starting torque and current using the rotor-lodding pin provided.
Deactivate the contactor by pressing the red OFF push button and insert the pin into the
hole located in the right-hand dynamometer boss. It may be necessary to rotate the
shaft to align the holes in the shaft and the boss and adjust the Perspex safety guard so
 that the enlarged section of the slot coincides with the pin. Disconnect the lead between
the dynamometer supply and the dynamometer. Activate the contactor by pressing the
green ON push button and read the torque and current values.

Caution:
This procedure must be completed as quickly as possible in order to avoid overheating of the
windings of the meter, and care must be taken to check the zero of the torque measuring
system.