REPORT

Experiment no.1
Circuit diagram:

AIM: To observe the working mechanism of semicontrolled DC drive.

THEORY: The seperately exited DC machine was supplied by Semicontrolled rectifier. The
armature and field voltage can be controlled by varying the firing angle of rectifier. The
semicontrolled rectifier doesnt allow voltage to go in negative direction. The minimum firing
angle is decided by the back emf. The firing angle above this minimum firing angle can only
controll the output voltage.
OBSERVATION: The voltage output of DC drive was observed as unidirectional pulsating
AC. With the variation of the firing angle avg. output voltage varies. By controlling armature
voltage speed of motor was controlled below its rated speed. Due inductive property of coil
the current waveform appears smooth. The mechanical load on the motor was altered by
changing the electrical loading of the generator coupled to the motor. As the load increases
the generator armature current increases which means more torque is required for same field
flux. The motor draws more armature current to balance the load torque. Back emf acts as the
feedback to motor. The slight decrease in speed is observed with increasing load.
Here, we have used semi-controlled converter that does not allows motor terminal
voltage to become negative. As the back emf decreases with the increase in the loading, rise

time and decay time of armature current increases making armature current to flow for longer
time. With insertion of inductor in series with armature of DC motor the supply current tends
to be continuous. By inserting the sufficient value of inductor the armature current can be
made continuous. During freewheeling interval the voltage across the armature is observed to
be zero. During non-conducting period its value is equal to back emf of motor.
CONCLUSION: The SE DC machine acts as self regulated motor. By controlling armature
voltage we can control speed below rated speed.

SOLUTION
Ques. Explain why the full field and reduced voltage is applied to dc motor while starting?
Ans. At the time of starting, the speed of the rotor is zero, and hence the back emf of the
motor is zero. Therefore, if directly rated voltage is applied to the armature winding in
presence of rated field, the motor will draw very heavy current (up to 10 times the rated
current). This could be stated by applying KVL in the armature circuit.
V = Eb + IaRa
Eb = NPZ / 60A
N=0 implies Eb=0
Therefore, at starting, Ia = V/Ra
This value of high current could damage the armature winding due to excessive heat
production. Also, the rated field is given at starting in order to increase the back emf more
effectively at time of start and produce good torque.

Ques. Armature reaction improves the speed regulation. Is this statement true. Justify.
Ans. As the load increases on the motor, the speed of the motor decreases. But, the
armature current also increases. Hence, the armature reaction increases and the effective
field flux decreases. And as the flux decreases the speed increases. Hence the motor gains
back its original speed. Therefore, speed regulation of the motor is good i.e. change in
loading does not affect or had negligible effect on the speed of rotation.

Ques. What may happen if the field gets open circuited during motoring?
Ans. In case of shunt or separately excited dc motor if the field gets open circuited, the
motor will rotate at enormously dangerous speed. This could be given by:
= (V IaRa)/K
if goes to 0, then will be extremely high.

But, in case of series motor, if the field winding gets open circuited the armature also gets
open circuited. And motor will stop as there would be no current in the circuit.

Ques. In the dc series motor the field winding is in series with the armature. Can a
separately excited motor be converted to series motor by connecting the field in series.
Explain.
Ans. In separately or a shunt excited motor the number of turns and resistance of the field
winding is much greater than that of series motor field winding. Thus, if this high resistance
field winding is inserted as field in case of series motor then the armature current will
reduce. And field flux and the net torque will also reduce.

Ques. Which type of motor is most suitable for traction application?

Ans. In case of traction, a high torque is required at the time of starting. Therefore, a series
motor is needed. As in a series motor torque is proportional to square of current. And also
we are able to obtain very high torques at very low speeds.

Ques. Why the maximum speed of operation is about 150% of the rated speed?
Ans. The maximum speed of operation is about 150% of the rated speed because for
obtaining speeds above the rated speed the field needs to be decreased and if we decrease
the field below a certain limit the armature reaction becomes more dominant which causes
commutation failure.
In case of constant load torques as the field decreases the armature current increases. And
as the armature current rises above the rated value, it causes overloading of the motor and
thus heating of the motor.

Ques. What are the limitations of a separately excited dc motor?

Ans.

It does not have a high starting torque at heavy loads as in case of series motors.
In case of disconnection of field winding the motor will rotate at extremely
dangerous speed.
It is not suitable for speed dependent load torques as in case of traction.

Ques. How the relative speed between two field in DC motor is maintained stationary w.r.t.
each other?
Ans. The field of DC motor is stationary and excited with DC supply , thus the stator field is
stationary. Now in case of rotor this can only be achived by using commutator. The
commutator in DC motor acts as inverter. Commutator consist of stationary brushes and
rotating contact segment. Coils are connected to each segment. The brush are arranged in
such manner that the coil along MNA goes under commutation. The coils under same pole
carries current in same direction. As soon as coil passes to another pole span it goes under
commutation and current direction in that coil gets changed. Thus the current direction in
coil depends on position of coil(i.e. under which pole it is) . Now as the coils under same
pole carries current in same direction the field produce by them will always remain in same
direction and hence stationary w.r.t. stator.

Que. Whether the speed is independant of direction of rotation ? If it isnt then what could
be the reason?
Ans. This depends on the construction of machine. In some machine to align brushes with
MNA they are shifted by some angle. In this case depending on the armature current
direction the coils under the shift will magnetize or demagnetize the main field. If the
direction of rotation is in same direction as shift then the coils under shift will aid the main
field. Thus increasing the resultant main field flux. Now change the direction of rotation.
Now the direction of rotation is in direction opposite to the shift. The coils under the shift
will now oppose the main field. Thus decreasing the resultant main field flux. Hence the
speed of the motor will be more compared with previous case.
In another case if brushes are not shifted the speed will be independant of the direction
of rotation.