Assignment 1

Electrical powertrain (part b)

1. Explain working of Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor (PMSM).

Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor (PMSM):
A permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM) - is a synchronous electric motor
whose inductor consists of permanent magnets.

Construction & Working of PMSM:

Figure 1 shows a cross section of simple permanent magnet synchronous machines. It consists
of the stationary member of the machine called stator. Stator laminations for axial air gap machines
are often formed by winding continuous strips of soft steel. Various parts of the laminations are
the teeth slots which contain the armature windings. Yoke completes the magnetic path.
Lamination thickness depends upon the frequency of the armature source voltage and cost.
Armature windings are generally double layer (two coil side per slot) and lap wound. Individual
coils are connected together to form phasor groups. Phasor groups are connected together in
series/parallel combinations to form star, delta, two phase (or) single windings.
AC windings are generally short pitched to reduce harmonic voltage generated in the windings.
Coils, phase groups and phases must be insulated from each other in the end-turn regions and the
required dielectric strength of the insulation will depend upon the voltage ratings of the machines.
 Figure 1: Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor (PMSM).
In a permanent magnet machine, the air gap serves a role in its length largely determines the
operating point of the permanent magnet in the no-load operating condition of the machines.
Also, longer air gaps reduce machines windage losses.
The permanent magnets form the poles equivalent to the wound field poles of conventional
synchronous machines. Permanent magnet poles are inherently ―salient‖ and there is no
equivalent to the cylindrical rotor pole configurations used in many convectional synchronous
machines.
Many permanent magnet synchronous machines may be cylindrical or ―smooth rotor physically
but electrically the magnet is still equivalent to a salient pole structure. Some of the PMSM rotors
have the permanent magnets directly facing the air gap.
Rotor yoke is the magnetic portion of the rotor to provide a return path for the permanent magnets
and also provide structural support. The yoke is often a part of the pole structure.
Damper winding is the typical cage arrangement of conducting bars, similar to induction motor
rotor bars and to damper bars used on many other types of synchronous machines. It is not
essential for all permanent magnet synchronous machines applications, but is found in most
machines used in power applications.
The main purpose is to dampen the oscillations about synchronous speed, but the bars are also used
to start synchronous motors in many applications.

2. Explain the working of Brushless DC Motor.

Brushless DC (BLDC) Motor:
Brushless DC Motors or BLDC Motors have become a significant contributor of the modern drive
technology. Their rapid gain in popularity has seen an increasing range of applications in the fields
of consumer appliances, automotive industry, industrial automation, chemical and medical,
aerospace and instrumentation.
Even though they have been used for drives and power generation for a long time, the sub kilowatt
range, which has been dominated by Brushed DC Motors, has always been a grey area. But the
modern power electronics and microprocessor technology has allowed the small Brushless DC
Motors to thrive, both in terms price and performance.
A Brushless DC Motor is similar to a Brushed DC Motor but as the name suggests, a BLDC
doesn’t use brushes for commutation but rather they are electronically commutated. In conventional
Brushed DC Motors, the brushes are used to transmit the power to the rotor as they turn in a fixed
magnetic field.

Figure 1: BLDC Motor Layout.

Construction of BLDC Motor:

The main design difference between a brushed and brushless motors is the replacement of
mechanical commutator with an electric switch circuit. Keeping that in mind, a BLDC Motor
is a type of synchronous motor in the sense that the magnetic field generated by the stator and
rotor revolve at the same frequency.
Brushless Motors are available in three configurations: single phase, two phase and three-phase.
Out of these, the three phase BLDC is the most common one.
The following image shows the cross-section of a BLDC Motor.
 Figure 2: Cross-section of a BLDC Motor.

Stator:
The structure of the stator of a BLDC Motor is similar to that of an induction motor. It is made up
of stacked steel laminations with axially cut slots for winding. The windings in BLDC are slightly
different than that of the traditional induction motor.
Generally, most BLDC motors consists of three stator windings that are connected in star or ‘Y’
fashion (without a neutral point). Additionally, based on the coil interconnections, the stator
windings are further divided into Trapezoidal and Sinusoidal Motors.

Figure 3: Waveforms in a BLDC Motor.

Rotor:
The rotor part of the BLDC Motor is made up of permanent magnets (usually, rare earth alloy
magnets like Neodymium (Nd), Samarium Cobalt (SmCo) and alloy of Neodymium, Ferrite and
Boron (NdFeB).
Based on the application, the number of poles can vary between two and eight with North (N) and
South (S) poles placed alternately. The following image shows three different arrangements of the
poles.
 Figure 4: Rotor Pole Configurations in a BLDC Motor.

In the first case, the magnets are placed on the outer periphery of the rotor. The second
configuration is called magnetic-embedded rotor, where rectangular permanent magnets are
embedded into the core of the rotor. In the third case, the magnets are inserted into the iron core
of the rotor.
Position Sensors (Hall Sensors):
Since there are no brushes in a BLDC Motor, the commutation is controlled electronically. In
order to rotate the motor, the windings of the stator must be energized in a sequence and the
position of the rotor (i.e., the North and South poles of the rotor) must be known to precisely
energize a particular set of stator windings.
A Position Sensor, which is usually a Hall Sensor (that works on the principle of Hall Effect)
is generally used to detect the position of the rotor and transform it into an electrical signal.
Most BLDC Motors use three Hall Sensors that are embedded into the stator to sense the rotor’s
position.
The output of the Hall Sensor will be either HIGH or LOW depending on whether the North or
South pole of the rotor passes near it. By combining the results from the three sensors, the exact
sequence of energizing can be determined.

Working Principle:
Consider the following setup of three windings in the stator designated A, B and C. For the sake
of understanding, let us replace the rotor with a single magnet.
 Figure 5: Three Stator Winding Setup 1.
We know that when a current is applied through a coil, a magnetic field is generated and the
orientation of the field lines i.e., the poles of the generated magnet will depend on the direction
of the current flowing through the coil.
Using this principle, if we supply current to the coil A so that it will generate a magnetic field
and attract the rotor magnet. The position of the rotor magnet will shift slightly clockwise and
will align with A.

Figure 6: Three Stator Winding Setup 2.

If we now pass current through coils B and C one after the other (in that order), the rotor magnet
will rotate in clock wise direction.
To increase efficiency, we can wind the opposite coils using a single coil so that we get double
attraction. Further increasing the efficiency, we can energize two coils at the same time so that one
coil will attract the magnet and the other coil will repel it. During this time, the third will be idle.
For a complete 3600 rotation of the rotor magnet, six possible combinations of the coils A, B and
C are applicable and are shown in the following timing diagram.

Figure 7: Possible Combinations of Coils A, B & C for a 3600 Rotation of Rotor Magnet.

Based on the above diagram, we can confirm that at any time, one phase is positive, one phase is
negative and the third phase is idle (or floating). So, based on the inputs from the Hall Sensors, we
have to switch the phases as per the above diagram.

3. Explain Variable DC Voltage Drive.

Variable DC Voltage Drive:

In the field of motion control, it’s often necessary to vary the speed of an electric motor and even
reverse its direction of rotation. When the application called for this kind of motor control, usual
motor technology of choice was that of DC motors. It was easy to regulate the motor by simply
varying the input voltage and polarity. In elevator and similar applications this worked well.
The three-phase rectifier often consists of six diodes, two for each line phase, the two-wire output
of which is filtered by two in-line series inductors and two capacitors connected together in series
with the pair in parallel across the output. The midpoint between the two capacitors is grounded,
a fact that determines how an oscilloscope is to be connected to view the dc voltage, as we shall
see.

Figure 1: Output Power Versus Speed of a DC Drive with Armature Voltage and Field Current.

The inverter, a dc-to-ac converter, receives this pure dc. The inverter generally consists of six
insulated-gate bipolar transistors (IGBT’s), which create the pulsed-width-modulated output that
powers the motor.
In examining a VFD, the first step is usually to verify the power input (all three legs must be present
with no appreciable difference in voltage or current). Next, attention turns to viewing the two-wire
DC bus waveform on an oscilloscope.
A point to note is that neither side of the dc bus, negative nor positive, is at ground potential because
of the grounded midpoint mentioned earlier. The hooking of a probe ground clip to either side, even
before touching the probe tip to anything, will cause a tremendous fault current through the circuit
under test, through the probe’s ground lead, back through the oscilloscope and eventually to the
service entrance panel. There is a potential for costly damage. To avoid this hazardous situation,
there are two possible strategies.
One is to use a hand-held, battery-powered oscilloscope. It is not line powered and is isolated from
ground, so there can be no fault current when connecting either of the probe leads to a wire or
terminal that is not at ground potential. This type of instrument is routinely used to display a
VFD’s DC bus.
A line-powered bench oscilloscope with a standard probe cannot be connected to a signal source
having both sides floating at some potential with respect to ground. But there is a way to use a
ground-referenced oscilloscope: Employ a differential probe set. This probe set is designed to
make point-to-point measurements where both sides are at a different potential with respect to
ground.
The differential probe set amplifies or attenuates the difference between two signals. It then presents
that electrical energy to the oscilloscope through one of the analogue input channels. It does so
without regard for whether or not either side is referenced to ground. This isolates the oscilloscope
ground plain from any voltage level that could cause a large fault current.

4. Explain Variable AC Voltage Drive.

Variable AC Voltage Drive:
It is much tougher to regulate the speed and direction of ac motors. AC motors don’t slow down if
they see a reduced input voltage — they simply overheat. The speed of an ac motor is determined
by the ac line frequency, not by the amplitude of the input voltage. So, reducing the voltage of an
AC induction motor that is powering a load is not a good control scheme.
Thus, for a long time, it was impractical to operate AC induction motors at anything other than a
constant speed. A successful strategy for controlling the speed of ac motors did finally emerge,
and today it prevails. Consequently, this development pushed dc motors out of the mainstream
and into niche applications.
Worldwide, variable frequency drives (VFD’s) are everywhere. They can vary AC motor direction,
torque and/or speed by changing the frequency or duty cycle of the electrical energy the motor sees.
The typical VFD for an industrial AC motor typically operates by first rectifying the line voltage
(often 440 V three-phase for industrial applications). The resulting DC power travels via the DC
bus to an inverter. The inverter generates a pulse-width-modulated waveform. This AC power signal
runs the motor, which is usually a three-phase induction motor in industrial settings.
AC motor speed is based on the number of poles built in and the frequency of the AC voltage applied.
In order to change the speed, AC controllers are used to change the frequency of the applied signal
by changing the 60 Hz signal to DC and then changing the signal back to AC of varying and
controllable frequency and voltage. These controllers are known as inverters. Most use pulse-width
modulated (PWM) technology, but current-source inverters (CSI) are also available (at higher HP
ratings). Flux-vector drives have a more accurate control strategy than strictly controlling the output
volts and frequency for PWM inverters.

Figure 1: Variable Frequency Drive System.

In all adjustable frequency drive (or variable frequency drive) systems, the voltage at the drive
motor varies directly with output frequency, up to the rated frequency of the motor. There are
two exceptions; during acceleration, some drives boost the input voltage above the constant
volts-per-hertz ratio to produce faster acceleration; and, when drives operate above rated motor
frequency, they maintain constant motor voltage.

Figure 2: Output Power Versus Speed of Adjustable Frequency Drive.

Current Source Inverters (CSI):
CSI drives regulate current rather than voltage. As the frequency of the AC signal applied increases
or decreases to control motor speed, the inverter regulates the amount of current that flows through
the motor to prevent motor damage. CSI drives can regenerate power back to the input AC line so
that the braking of an overhauling load does not depend on the thermal capabilities of dynamic
braking resistors. They are popular in ratings more than 200 HP.

Pulse-Width Modulated (PWM) Drives:

In a PWM drive, motor speed is controlled by the frequency of the inverter’s output. However, motor
current is controlled by rapidly switching the inverter on and off many times during each cycle. The
current waveform is controlled to prevent motor overheating. A typical converter section consists of
a full-wave rectifier section, which is unregulated but constant. The inverter section is controlled to
pulse the power semiconductors on and off at carrier frequencies from 2 to 20 kHz.

Flux-Vector Control Drives:

It is an advanced control strategy for PWM drives. The AC voltage impressed on the windings of a
squirrel cage induction motor consists of two vectors, a torque vector and a magnetic flux vector.
Values can be calculated when drive frequency, shaft position, and instantaneous root mean square
(rms) voltage are known. An advantage is its ability to deliver a wide and controlled speed range,
such as 2,000:1.