Electromagnetic Noise and its Reduction

Technique in Induction Motor

Amar Singh Choudhary , Entry No. 2013EEP2327
Manoj Kumar Yadav, Entry No. 2013EEP2336
M Tech I
st
Year (PEEMD), Department of Electrical Engineering, IIT DELHI


Abstract Noise in induction motor is mainly
due three sources which consist of Mechanical,
Aerodynamic and Magnetic Source. The
magnetic noise is due to vibrations induced in
stator core due to electromagnetic forces
resulting due to existence of harmonic fields in
air gap. The electromagnetic noise constitutes
major part of noise when the frequency of
Vibration induced due to electromagnetic forces
resonates with the natural frequency of stator
core. In view of this it is very important to take
care of the various reasons which ultimately lead
to electromagnetic noise in induction motor from
design stage itself to avoid situation of expensive
re-work in manufacturing. This paper deals with
basics of reasons which results in
electromagnetic noise, the design considerations
to reduce it in induction machines.

I. INTRODUCTION
Induction motor is widely used prime mover in
industrial applications because of lower cost, easier
maintenance, and so on. Noise in any industrial
complex is not only irritating but has harmful
effects on productivity and health of working
personnels. The audible noise produced by
induction motors consists of three sources . The
first one aerodynamic or ventilation noise, which is
most responsible for the noise level of 2 or 4 pole-
motors relative to fan speed. The second is the
mechanical noise, generated by the bearings etc .
These first two sources of noise are relative in
nature e i,e despite of best design they may vary
depending on positioning, maintenance of
mechanical parts of induction motor. The last is the
electromagnetic noise, which is generated by the
vibration of the stator due to electromagnetic forces
due to interaction of harmonic flux in the air gap.
This noise becomes a point of concern when the
frequency of vibration induced to shear stress on
stator core due to forces of electromagnetic origin
resonates with the natural frequency of stator core.
The electromagnetic noise has two specific features
as follows:
1) Its frequency range is from 700Hz to 4 KHz ,
where the human ear has peak sensitivity.
2) It increases dramatically with increasing stator
current.Sometimes it results in a terrible sound
at a certain frequency.

Considering above facts it is very much pertinent to
study the basic concepts of air gap flux interaction
,identification of constituents of flux which plays
major role in production of unbalanced
electromagnetic stresses on stator core and thereby
vibration which results in electromagnetic noise
and techniques employed to reduce it.


II. DOMINANT ELECTROMAGNETIC
FORCE

The electromagnetic force is generated due to the
interaction of stator and rotor flux in the air gap
flux. Let there are stator flux B
s
and rotor flux B
r

in the air gap of IM. The stator flux B
s
can be
expressed as follows.
B
s
F
s
*P
s
*P
r
............. (1)
Where F
s
is stator magnetomotive force, and P
s

and P
r
are stator and rotor permeance, respectively.
The rotor flux B
r
can be expressed as follows.
B
r
F
r
*P
s
*P
r
............. (2)
Where F
r
is rotor magnetomotive force. The sum
of (1) and (2) is air gap flux B
g
. Since the radial
force wave F
r
in the air gap is proportional to
square of B
g
is given.
F
r
(B
s
+ B
r
)
2

B
s

2
+ B
r

2
+ 2*B
s
* B
r

F
rs
+ F
rr
+ F
rrs
........ (3)
Where F
rs
= B
s

2
, F
rr
= B
r
2
, F
rsr
= 2*B
s
* B
r
.
F
rs
is a force wave generated by interaction
between stator fluxes. Since B
s
is mainly
constituted of fundamental wave, the frequency of
F
rs
is twice the frequency of source voltage which
is very low and hence , the F
rs
is not dominant
force. F
rr
is a force wave generated by interaction
between rotor fluxes. At no-load, the slip (s) is
nearly equal to zero, i.e the fundamental current of
rotor is nearly equal to zero . Therefore, the main
component of B
r
is high order of harmonic rather
than the fundamental component. Therefore, F
rr
consists of higher harmonic fluxes cant be a cause
of dominant force at no-load. Under loaded
condition, as the fundamental rotor current grows
up, the fundamental component of B
r
becomes
main component. the the frequency producing F
rr

is low as same as F
rs
, so F
rr
cant be a cause of
dominant force, too.

So F
rsr
is the force wave generated by interaction of
stator flux ,B
s
and rotor flux ,B
r
in the airgap as the
main cause of dominant electromagnetic vibration.
Substituting F
s
, F
r ,
P
s
and P
r
, we get the
expression for F
rsr
which will have three terms of
higher force poles as follows: 2(R-S-2P),2(R-S) and
2(R-S+2P) where R is no. of rotor slots, S is no. of
Stator slots and P is the no. of pairs of poles in
induction motor and having frequency of f * [R(1-
s)/P-2], f * [R(1-s)/P], and f * [R(1-s)/P+2]
respectively.

The radial electromagnetic force has its maximum
value at the point where the zig-zag leakage flux is
the highest, and that occurs when a rotor slot
opposes a stator tooth. Under load, the induced
rotor current creates a stronger magnetic field
which also leads to significant tangential forces
applied to the stator teeth. . At a particular stator
tooth, as explained above the forcing frequencies of
magnetic forces are calculated as f
force
plus
sidebands i.e f
force
2 f

where
f
force
= f *R(1-s)/P -------(4)

where
f - line frequency [Hz]
n - speed [rot/min]
p - number of pairs of poles
R - number of rotor slots
s - slip [per unit]

The space distribution of this force wave harmonic
due to stator and rotor slot combination could be
expressed in terms of patterns per circumference
known as modes of vibration (m) as shown in fig .1.

Modes of stator core vibration m can be computed
as
m = Z kP --------(5)
where Z = R-S , and k takes integer values 0,1,2,3,
etc.


The Natural frequency of Stator core vibration
corresponding to these modes of vibration is
calculated by representing core as a beam supported
on both Ends. The length of the beam is equal to
the circumferential length of the mean diameter of
the stator for one-half of the mode wave length. The
core resonant frequency at a particular
mode of vibration is given as (6):

.......(4)
Where
h - depth of stator core behind slot
D - stator outer diameter
G - ratio between the weight of core plus the
teeth weight and weight of core
So the natural frequency of core for a particular
mode of vibration when resonates with the forcing
frequency of Air gap force wave, the
electromagnetic noise gets amplified .
The overall illustrative view of variation of , air-
gap permeance per unit area (black), stator (blue)
and rotor (green) magnetomotive forces, and radial
Maxwell force (red) distributions along the air-gap
during one rotor rotation (3 pole pairs) as shown in
fig 2.


III. METHODS TO REDUCE MAGNETIC
NOISE

The magnetic noise in induction motors can be
reduced by employing various methods such as by
changing motor design parameters such as stator-
rotor slot dimension and numbers, by increasing
active material in the stator, by employing wedges
in slots to reduce the effect of slotting on airgap
permeance variation and by predicting the
effectively the effect of manufacturing tolerances
on noise variation.

(1) BY CHANGING NUMBER OF STATOR -
ROTOR SLOTS:
It is clear from the expression of forcing frequency
(4) and modes of vibration of force wave (5) that they
changes with the change in the numbers of stator
slots(S) and Rotor slots(R) of given pole machine.
Hence it is clear that R and S have a strong inuence
on magnetic noise. R and S change the spatial orders
of the exciting force harmonics poles i.e modes of
vibration of force wave, and R changes their forcing
frequencies. R is therefore a degree of freedom with
higher impact than S, which goes in the right sense as
it is less expensive to manufacture a new squirrel-cage
rotor than a stator that requires rewinding the
machines. It is to noted that the trade-off is achieved
for rotor and stator slot numbers to achieve not only
low levels of noise but other negative effects such
as standstill and crawling etc during motor start-up.

Illustrative example to understand the effect of
selection of different number of rotor slots of
induction motor with given stator slots and pole
pairs on electromagnetic noise is given table I.

Table I. COMPARISONS OF NOISE LEVELS
FOR DIFFERENT ROTOR SLOTS
UNDER LOADED CONDITION
Rotor
Slots
(R)
Forcing
Frequency
(F)-Hz
Mode of
vibration
(m)
Natural
frequency
of stator
core (f
o
)
Noise
level
(dB)
41 934.1 7 3606 82.5
42 954.1 6 2620 87.8
43 974.3 5 1786 95.6
44 994.1 4 1104 119

(2) BY USING MAGNETIC WEDGES TO
COVER SLOTS:
The magnetic noise can be substantially contributed
by variation of air gap permeance due to slotting of
stator and rotor . This effect of slotting can be
reduced by using magnetic wedges as shown in fig
2.

(3) BY INCREASING THE ACTIVE
MATERIAL OF THE STATOR MATERIAL:
Magnetic noise can also be reduced by increasing
the active material in the stator, either by building
the motor for that particular power rating on a
longer core length, or by increasing the frame size
to reduce the magnetic forces on the stator and rotor
components. Larger machines have also an
increased overall stiffness of the stator teeth and
back iron, leading to lower noise and vibration.

(4) BY USING PRECISION MANUFACTURING
FACILITIES:
It is observed that the motors having the same
rotor stator slot combination, the same slot
geometric dimensions, and the same mechanical
and electrical design, one motor may show higher
noise and vibration than the other due to
manufacturing tolerances. Errors in parts
specification or loose manufacturing tolerances in
stator and rotor components, may lead to uneven
air gap in the motor. Uneven air gap can be caused
by one or more of following:

a) Out of round stator bore
b) Out of round rotor core
c) Bent rotor shaft
d) Out of round bearings housings and frame.

An uneven air gap causes unbalanced magnetic
pull, which may cause higher magnetic forces in the
direction of minimum air gap, as shown in fig3.
This leads to higher structural Deformation of stator
and resultant noise. An uneven air gap not only
creates higher magnetic forces but also creates
additional harmonics known as eccentricity fields,
hence manufacturing variation can not only create
different amplitudes of magnetic forces but also
different harmonics combinations. The effect of
manufacturing variation on noise is more
pronounced in the case of slower speed machines
than on the 2-pole or 4-pole machines. This is due
to fact that the air gap in 8-pole or 10-pole motors is
much lower than 2-pole or 4-pole motors, since the
margin error during manufacturing is much less.

To achieve precision in manufacturing to avoid
large manufacturing tolerances significant advances
is made in motor manufacturing



Precision laser cutting machines can be used to
manufacture stator and rotor punchings, which
gives more precise tolerance control and minimizes
manufacturing variation. Precision CNC controlled
lathes are used for rotor machining for tight
tolerance control. Rotor balancing at full speed
rather than lower speeds also results in uniform air
gap during operation.

IV. CONCLUSIONS
The electromagnetic noise in induction motor plays
substantial role in overall noise of motor during
operation. So to avoid noise beyond bearable limits
it is needed to take due care in selection of design
parameters etc. To achieve minimum possible noise.
In this paper the basics of dominant electromagnetic
force wave responsible for noise discussed. The
identification of forcing frequency and modes of
vibration of electromagnetic force waves is carried
out. Also the various technique used to reduce the
magnetic noise is discussed in detail.

V. REFERENCES

1. Do-Jin Kim; Jae-Woo Jung; Jung-Pyo Hong; Kwang-Jin Kim; Chul-Jun
Park, "A Study on the Design Process of Noise Reduction in Induction
Motors," Magnetics, IEEE Transactions on , vol.48, no.11, pp.4638,4641,
Nov. 2012.
2. Huang, K. S.; Liu, Z. G.; Li, H.; Yang, J.; Turner, D. R.; Jiang, L.; Wu,
Q.H., "Reduction of electromagnetic noise in three-phase induction
motors," Power System Technology, 2002. Proceedings. PowerCon 2002.
International Conference on , vol.2, no., pp.745,749vol.2,2002
3. Kobayashi, T.; Tajima, Fumio; Ito, M.; Shibukawa, S., "Effects of slot
combination on acoustic noise from induction motors," Magnetics, IEEE
Transactions on , vol.33, no.2, pp.2101,2104,Mar,1997.
4. Hirotsuka, I.; Tsuboi, K.; Ishibashi, F., "Effect of slot-combination on
electromagnetic vibration of squirrel-cage induction motor under loaded
condition," Power Conversion Conference - Nagaoka 1997., Proceedings
of the , vol.2, no., pp.843,848 vol.2, 3-6 Aug 1997