Journal of Electrical Engineering: Theory and Application (Vol.1-2010/Iss.1) Alberti et al. / Lamination Design of a Set of Induction Motors / pp.

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Lamination Design of a Set of Induction Motors

Luigi Alberti, Nicola Bianchi, and Silverio Bolognani Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Padova, via Gradenigo 6/A, I-35131 Padova (ITALY), email: edlab@die.unipd.it.
Submitted: 24/01/2010 Accepted: 11/02/2010 Appeared: 16/02/2010 c HyperSciences.Publisher

Abstract: In several applications, the geometry of induction motor (IM) lamination is not optimized for achieving optimal performance of a given power rating, but to achieve adequate performance for various power ratings. This is, for example, to limit the cost of the lamination stamp or to adopt commercial lamination. In this paper a suitable procedure proper for this cases is used to design a set of IMs. The procedure considers a normalized motor, independent of the motor length and number of winding turns. It is based on a combined nite element and analytical analysis of the motor yielding a rapid and accurate performance prediction at the same time. In the paper, experimental tests on some IM prototypes conrm the accuracy of the predictions achieved by the proposed analysis. Keywords: Induction motor, Finite element computation, Industry applications

1. INTRODUCTION In applications requiring various power ratings, the electrical motors are commonly designed adopting the same lamination but rearranging the stack length and the number of turns per phase. In fact, a single geometry allows to limit the cost of the lamination stamp. Further, the design of the electrical motor is even limited to the selection of commercial laminations. This paper deals with the design of a set of induction motors (IMs). All the motor in the set are formed by the same lamination and the stack length and the winding turns are changed so as to obtain the desired power rating. All motor parameters are computed with nite elements (FE) for a motor with unity stack length and one conductor per slot. In this way, a normalized motor is considered so as to be not constrained by actual power rating. Referring to this normalized IM, it is possible a rapid scaling of the performance to various motor size, that is to various power ratings, without requiring any further FE simulation. The model adopted in this paper is described in detail in Alberti (2008). In this paper, the authors apply that model to the design of two dierent sets of IMs. It is shown how the model proposed in Alberti (2008) can be used also to solve the mechanical transient of the machine and for a thermal ow verication. Experimental test on some IM prototypes are reported to prove the accuracy of the predictions achieved by the proposed analysis.
This research was supported by Electric Drives Laboratory, Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Padova.

The paper is organized as follows. Firstly the steps to achieve the adopted model are summarized. Then two dierent lamination are considered and the procedure is adopted to analyze various power ratings. A particular cure is given to the design constraints. The analysis results are presented and compared with experimental tests on IM prototypes. As will be shown, the experimental measurements conrm the accuracy of the achieved prediction. 2. MODEL OF THE MOTOR In this section, the adopted model for the IM is briey described. For a complete and detailed description of the model see Alberti (2008). Following the suggestions of analysis and design procedures of the IM presented and discussed in literature, the adopted strategy combines the analytical and FE procedures together, taking advantage of both of them. The analytical approach, see Veinott (1959); Liwschitz (1961), is preferred for its rapidity. It is advantageous for rapid estimations, parametric analysis or optimization algorithms. The FE analysis, Williamson (1983, 1986), is appreciated for its accuracy. It considers properly the iron saturation at various magnetizing currents as well as the current density distribution within the rotor slot at dierent rotor frequency. The model of the IM is based on the classical equivalent circuit, in which the twodimensional parameters are achieved by means of the FE analysis, and the threedimensional parameters are computed analytically. A schematic representation is given in Fig. 1. The parameters within the motor box (labeled FEA) are the two

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Journal of Electrical Engineering: Theory and Application (Vol.1-2010/Iss.1) Lamination Designof of a Set of Induction Motors Alberti et al. / Lamination Design a Set of InductionMotors / pp. 18-23

dimensional parameters that are computed by means of the FE simulations. The other parameters are the three dimensional parameters. The iron losses resistance is on the border, since the ux density in stator teeth Bt and in stator back iron Bbi are extracted from the FE eld solution and are used to compute analytically the iron losses.

Table 1. Dependence of parameters.

R n2 Lstk cs L n2 Lstk cs V ncs Lstk ncs Lstk I 1/ncs T Lstk Wm Lstk P Lstk Resistance Inductance Voltage Flux linkage Current Torque Magnetic energy Power, Losses

Fig. 1. Model of the threephase induction motor 2.1 Steps of the analysis procedure The analysis procedure is based on the following steps. (1) At rst, the lamination geometry is selected. In order to link the electromagnetic quantities only with the lamination under test, they must be independent from the power rating, stack length and the applied voltage, i.e. from the number of turns per slot. Thus, all the integral quantities that are derived from the FE analysis refer to a winding with one conductor per slot (i.e. ncs =1) and a unity stack length (i.e. Lstk =1 m). (2) The noload performance of the IM are analyzed by using FE simulations. Assuming a rotor slip equal to zero, the rotor frequency is zero and FE magnetostatic simulations are carried out. Since the ux lines in an IM are mainly within the laminations, a twodimensional analysis is generally satisfactory to determine the saturation eects, and FE analysis allows an accurate study of the iron saturation phenomenon. The magnetizing characteristic, is an intrinsic characteristic of the lamination and the winding arrangement. This can be used to analyze a series of motors that adopt the same lamination and winding arrangement, without the need to simulate each motor separately. (3) During the same noload simulations, the maximum ux density in stator teeth Bt and in the stator back iron Bbi are computed. Since these values are a function of the slot current density, that is, of the stator ux linkage, it is possible to establish a relation between the iron losses and the ux linkage amplitude. (4) The further step is the analysis at locked rotor. FE analysis is carried out again to account accurately for the rotor current distribution. A set of simulations are carried out at dierent frequencies so as to determine the dependence of the rotor parameters on the rotor frequency. From the rotor Joule losses Pjr and the magnetic energy Wm the rotor parameters are computed.

(5) Since the previous analyses are twodimensional, a threedimensional correction has to be carried out. The threedimensional parameters that are computed analytically and added to the equivalent circuit (see Fig. 1) are (i) the stator resistance rs , (ii) the stator coil end winding leakage inductance lew , (iii) the rotor cage ring resistance rring and (iv) the rotor cage ring leakage inductance lring . Eects of skewed rotor bars are also introduced in the circuit as an additional leakage inductance. (6) Finally, when all parameters of the equivalent circuit are got, the motor performance can be predicted. A further check of the operating points is carried out using a direct FE analysis, where the sources are derived from the analytical model. For a given rotor speed, the stator current is computed from the equivalent circuit and it is imposed directly into the FE simulation so as to compute directly the rotor current and torque. These quantities can be compared with those derived from the equivalent circuit of the motor. (7) In order to extend the results to the actual power rating and supplied voltage, the length of the iron stack and the number of turns of the winding have to be chosen. (8) For each motor size, the actual performance are then computed. The link between the adopted quantities and the actual quantities is summarized in Table 1. The characteristics of the torque and mechanical power versus speed are computed. Among the others, the starting performance of the motors can be computed: torque, starting time, together with the losses and the temperature rise according to the operating cycle. 2.2 Choice of the analysis quantities A specicity of the adopted analysis is the choice of the main quantities of the analysis, more closely bound to the lamination geometry. Quantities that are chosen are the current density within the slot Jslot , the ux linkage referring to one turn per slot and unity stack length, and so on. Conversely, actual quantities such as number of turns, current, and voltage are not considered. Thus the results obtained by the FE simulations are independent of the actual power and voltage of the motor: the results can be adopted for any IM formed by the same lamination geometry and winding arrangement. 3. PERFORMANCE PREDICTION OF AN IM WITH STANDARD LAMINATION In this Section, a commercial lamination is considered and used to build three dierent power rating 2pole IMs.

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Journal of Electrical Engineering: Theory and Application (Vol.1-2010/Iss.1) Lamination Designof of a Set of Induction Motors Alberti et al. / Lamination Design a Set of InductionMotors / pp. 18-23

Fig. 2 shows the lamination geometry and the ux lines for two dierent simulations. Fig. 3 and Fig. 4 show the normalized equivalent circuit parameters computed from the FE simulations.

Table 2. The characteristics of the three IM considered in this section

Power rating (kW) Lstk (mm) ncs

2.2 3.0 3.7

100 120 130

46 38 33

Motor torque (Nm)

Fig. 2. Flux plots of the considered lamination, simulations at fr =0 Hz and fr =5 Hz respectively.

1.50 1.00 0.50 0.00 0 2.25 1.50 0.75 0.00 8 10 slot (A/mm2 ) Slot current density J 2 4 6

m (Vs)

25 20 15 10 5 0

130 mm 120 mm 100 mm

0.05 slip
(a) Torque comparison

0.1

8 10 slot (A/mm2 ) Slot current density J

12 10 8 6 4 2 0

Motor current (A)

130 mm

120 mm 100 mm

lm (mH)

0.05 slip
(b) Current comparison

0.1

Fig. 3. Normalized ux linkage and magnetizing inductance vs. slot current density (ncs =1 Lstk =1 m).

Electrical power (W)

l2D (H)

100 90 80 0 9.0 8.0 7.0 6.0 10 20 30 40 50 Rotor frequency (Hz)

8000 6000 4000 2000 0 0

130 mm

120 mm 100 mm

rr,bar (m)

0.1 slip

0.2

0.3

(c) Electrical power comparison

10

20

30

40

50

Rotor frequency (Hz)

Fig. 4. Normalized two dimensional parameters vs. rotor frequency (ncs =1, Lstk = 1 m). Table 2 reports the main data of the motors: the considered power ratings, the stack length Lstk and the number of conductors ncs . The normalized equivalent circuit is particularized for each motor computing the actual three dimensional parameters and it is solved to compute the performance of each motor. The main performances are reported in Fig. 5 where prediction and measurements are compared. Fig. 5(a) shows the comparison of the three motor torque characteristics. The same comparison is reported

Fig. 5. Prediction and measurements comparison for different stack length. Measurements are reported with circles in Fig. 5(b) for the motor current, and in Fig. 5(c) for the electrical power. Measurements are reported with circles. A very good agreement can be noted for all the characteristics. 4. DESIGN OF A SET OF IMS FOR ELEVATOR SYSTEM In this section the design of a set of IMs for elevator systems is considered. The IM stator contains two three phase windings of dierent number of poles: one for low speed (typically 8 or 16 poles) and the other for high speed (2 or 4 poles). This requires a large slot area, higher than

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Journal of Electrical Engineering: Theory and Application (Vol.1-2010/Iss.1) Lamination Designof of a Set of Induction Motors Alberti et al. / Lamination Design a Set of InductionMotors / pp. 18-23

the slot area of the common stator laminations. A study is required for each winding. A 5kW IM has been properly designed for this application. Fig. 6 shows the stator and the rotor of the IM. Fig. 7 shows a picture of the stator lamination.

the maximum temperature rise of the windings, i.e. the average losses have to be compatible with the cooling system capability. A step by step analysis including the actual dynamics of the IM during each start and stop of the elevator is particularly time consuming. It requires a lot of time, especially if it is linked with an optimization of the motor geometry. A faster analysis can be carried out based on the following considerations, obtaining a good approximation of the average losses. In order to avoid abrupt departure of the elevator system, a large inertia is present at the mechanical shaft, as depicted in Fig. 8. Hence, the electric dynamics is neglected, and only the mechanical dynamics is considered. Thus, the IM is assumed to work in successive steady state operating points. In addition, since the thermal time constant is signicantly higher than the electrical one, in the estimation of the temperature rise the average losses of the motor can be considered instead of the instantaneous ones.

Fig. 6. Rotor and stator of a 5 kW induction motor for the elevator system. Courtesy of EME spa.

Fig. 7. The stator lamination of the considered motor series. A large cross sectional area of the slots is evident. In addition, as in the most of applications, there are constraints on the external geometry of the machine. This is xed by the mechanical structure of the application. Moreover, the operating cycle is intermittent: the IM has to guarantee a given number of startings and stops per hour as sketched in Fig. 8. As far as the IM design is concerned, the main consequence is that the conductor cross-sectional area and the iron paths are designed forcing high electric and magnetic loadings. This requires an accurate magnetic model of the IM to get good predictions of its performance. This justies the choice of an FE analysis that properly considers iron saturation and irregular geometry. However, the time required for the computation (mainly due to the FE simulations) has to be reasonably short. A further requirement to the elevator system is to be able to set o at full load, that is, with an adequately high starting torque. A direct consequence is that the IM design requires an accurate analysis of the rotor cage geometry. 4.1 Coupled magneticthermal analysis The intermittent operating cycle allows the electric and magnetic loading of the motor to be increased up to

Fig. 8. Typical installation of elevator system. A large inertia is present at the mechanical shaft. For a given load (i.e. xing a torque Tload constant with the speed) and knowing the IM torque to speed characteristic, obtained from the electromagnetic analysis, the speed m is given by Tm Tload dt (1) m (t + dt) = m (t) + Jm where Tm = Tm (m ) is the IM torque at such a speed m and Jm is the total inertia, reported at the motor shaft.

The motor is assumed to remain at the speed 1 [m (t + 2 dt) + m (t)] for the time dt. At such a speed the losses are PJoule (m ) and Piron (m ). Finally, the total power loss during the motor start are computed as (PJoule + Piron )dt (2) PL,start = dt where dt means the total starting time tstart .

It is worth noticing that, once the FE analysis is completed, all elaborations and optimizations require a few seconds to be achieved. 4.2 Torque and current characteristics Experimental tests are carried out in order to conrm the prediction. Fig. 9 shows the ux plots with both

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Journal of Electrical Engineering: Theory and Application (Vol.1-2010/Iss.1) Lamination Designof of a Set of Induction Motors Alberti et al. / Lamination Design a Set of InductionMotors / pp. 18-23

Motor torque and current

winding connections. The IM symmetry allows the study of half a machine only to be carried out, reducing the FE computation time, see Bianchi (2005). Fig. 10(a) shows the torque and the current versus slip curves, considering the fourpole winding connection. Fig. 10(b) shows the same characteristic for the 16pole winding connection. Solid lines refer to the results of the equivalent circuit obtained from the proposed analysis that combines FE and analytical computations while circles are measured values. The test at unity slip has been carried out at lower voltage and then current and torque are reported at nominal voltage. A reasonable agreement can be noticed, in spite of the high magnetic and electric loadings. A high dependence on the rotor cage temperature has been observed. The slight discrepancy between simulations and tests is because the simulations are carried out at given temperature while the latter might be changed during the test. As a further comparison, the squares in Fig. 10(a) and 10(b) are the FE checks where stator current and rotor frequency are computed by means of equivalent circuit and imposed as sources in FE analysis.

140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 0 0.2

Measure FE check Torque (Nm) Current (Nm)

0.4 slip

0.6

0.8

(a) 4pole connection

Motor torque and current

100 80 60 40 20 0 0 0.2 0.4 slip

(b) 16pole connection
Measure FE check Torque (Nm) Current (Nm)

0.6

0.8

Fig. 10. Torque and current versus slip curves of the 5kW IM

Fig. 9. Flux plots of the motor with 4pole and 16 pole winding connections. On the left hand side, simulations at fr =0 Hz. On the right hand side, simulations at fr =5 Hz. 4.3 Dierent mechanical loads The IM model is used to predict the performance of the elevator system assuming dierent load conditions. As above, these analysis are very rapid since they are based on analytical computation without any additional FE simulations. Fig. 11 shows the rotor speed rise during motor starting computed by (1). Two dierent loads are considered in order to highlight their impact on start up. For each load three dierent inertias are considered: Jm equal to 1.5, 2.5, 2 and 3.5 kgm . From Fig. 11, it could be noted the dierent running speeds related to the dierent load torques and the dierent starting times for each inertia. 4.4 External heat ow verication. When the operating cycle is xed, it is also possible to verify that the average losses during the starting and

Fig. 11. Simulation of dierent start transients of the motor. operating time are carried out by the cooling system. It should be veried that PL,start tstart + PL,on ton Ptherm (3) tstart + ton + tof f

4.5 Turn o time estimation for intermittent operations. For a xed mechanical load, the starting time and the total losses during starting can be computed as described in Section 4.1. With given external heat ow Ptherm , the operating cycle can be estimated imposing the time in which the motor is switched o, as

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Journal of Electrical Engineering: Theory and Application (Vol.1-2010/Iss.1) Lamination Designof of a Set of Induction Motors Alberti et al. / Lamination Design a Set of InductionMotors / pp. 18-23

PL,start tstart + PL,on ton Ptherm (tstart + ton ) Ptherm (4) where PL,start is computed by (2), with tstart = dt, and PL,on are the total losses at the operating point, and ton is the motor operation time. Table 3 reports an example of various tof f times computed from (4), as a function of dierent ton . tof f = 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 0
Jm = 1.5 kgm2 Jm = 2.5 kgm2 Jm = 3.5 kgm2

S.p.a., Rovereto (TN) Italy, for their collaboration in experimental tests. REFERENCES L. Alberti, N. Bianchi, and S. Bolognani, A Very Rapid Prediction of IM Performance Combining Analytical and Finite-element Analysis, IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications, vol. 44, no. 5, pp. 15051512, Sep./Oct. 2008. C. Veinott, Theory and Design of Small Induction Motors. New York: McGrawHill Book Company, 1959. M. Liwschitz-Garik and C. C. Whipple, Alternating Current Machines. Van Nostrand Company, 1961, iD: Macchine elettriche; ID: Corrente alternata. S. Williamson and J. Ralph, Finiteelement analysis of an induction motor fed from a constantvoltage source, IEE Proc., Pt. B, vol. 130, no. 1, pp. 1824, Jan. 1983. S. Williamson, A. Smith, M. Begg, and J. Smith, General techniques for the analysis of induction machines using nite elements, in Proc. of International Conference on Evolution and Modern Aspect of Induction Motors, Turin, Italy, July 811 1986, pp. 389395. N. Bianchi, Electrical Machine Analysis using Finite Elements, ser. Power Electronics and Applications, CRC, Ed. Boca Raton, FL, USA: CRC Press, Taylor & Francis Group, 2005. Luigi Alberti received the M.S. and the Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Padova, Padova, Italy, in 2005 and 2009 respectively. He is curently an Research Associate in the Electric Drives Laboratory, Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Padova. His research activities are concentrated on the electromechanical analysis and design of electrical motors, particularly for electric drive applications. He is also a Consultant to various electromechanical industries. Nicola Bianchi received the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Padova, Padova, Italy, in 1991 and 1995, respectively. Since 1998, he has been with the Electric Drives Laboratory, Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Padova, as an Assistant Professor. He is a coauthor of several papers on the subject of electrical machines and drives and the author of the international text Electrical Machine Analysis using Finite Elements (CRC Press, Taylor & Francis Group) and two Italian textbooks. His research activity is in the eld of design of electrical motors for electric drive applications. Silverio Bolognani received the Laurea degree in electrical engineering from the University of Padova, Padova, Italy, in 1976. In 1976, he joined the Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Padova, where he is currently a Full Professor of electrical drives and is engaged in research on advanced control techniques for motor drives and the design of ac electrical motors for variablespeed applications. He is the author of more than 100 papers on electrical machines and drives. Prof. Bolognani is the President of the IEEE Industry Applications SocietyIndustrial Electronics SocietyPower Electronics Society North Italy Joint Chapter.

Total losses (kW)

Tload =100 Nm Tload =20 Nm

10

20

30

40

50

time (s) Fig. 12. Total motor losses during starting. Fig. 12 shows the total motor losses during starting. Also in this case, the prediction of the IM performance are based on the equivalent circuit that has been derived previously. Therefore, since they require only an analytical computation, they are achieved in a few seconds. As in Fig. 11, it could be noted the impact of the inertia on the starting time and the impact of the load torque on the total losses. Table 3. Turn o time estimation for a given mechanical load. Various operation times ton are considered.
Pon = 530 W Ptherm = 400 W Tload = 20 Nm Jm = 2.5 kgm2 n = 1451 rpm PL,start = 8031 W tstart = 9.54 s

ton (s) tof f (s)

10 185

20 188

30 192

40 195

50 198

60 201

5. CONCLUSIONS In this paper the design o a set of induction motor has been considered. A combined nite elementanalytical model well suited for this purpose has been adopted. After a briey description of the model two practical examples have been considered. For both the applications the potentialities of the used method are highlighted. In particular, besides the motor performance, also the mechanical transient and thermal verication of the motor are predicted. For all the considered applications, experimental test have been carried out. The match between prediction and measurements, conrm the accuracy of the adopted model in the various applications. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Authors are also grateful to Mr. L. Donazzan, EME S.p.a., Arsi (BL), Italy, and Eng. L. Giordanino, SICOR e

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