SYNCHRONOUS MOTOR STARTING BY REDUCING THE SUPPLY FREQUENCY

If the rotating magnetic field of the stator in a synchronous motor rotates at a low enough speed, there will be no problem for the rotor to accelerate and to lock in with the stator’s magnetic field. The speed of the stator magnetic field can then be increased to its rated operating speed by gradually increasing the supply frequency f up to its normal 50- or 60-Hz value.

This approach to starting of synchronous motors makes a lot of sense, but there is a big problem: Where from can we get the variable frequency supply? The usual power supply systems generally regulate the frequency to be 50 or 60 Hz as the case may be. However, variable-frequency voltage source can be obtained from a dedicated generator only in the olden days and such a situation was obviously impractical except for very unusual or special drive applications.
But the present day solid state power converters offer an easy solution to this. We now have the rectifier- inverter and cyclo-converters, which can be used to convert a constant frequency AC supply to a variable frequency AC supply. With the development of such modern solid-state variable-frequency drive packages, it is thus possible to continuously control the frequency of the supply connected to the synchronous motor all the way from a fraction of a hertz up to and even above the normal rated frequency. If such a variable-frequency drive unit is included in a motor-control circuit to achieve speed control, then starting the synchronous motor is very easy-simply adjust the frequency to a very low value for starting, and then raise it up to the desired operating frequency for normal running.

When a synchronous motor is operated at a speed lower than the rated speed, its internal generated voltage (usually called the counter EMF) E_A = K

ϕω will be smaller

than normal.

As such the terminal voltage applied to the motor must be reduced proportionally with the frequency in order to keep the stator current within the rated value. Generally, the voltage in any variable-frequency power supply varies roughly linearly with the output frequency.

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