ME 2143-1/ME 2143E-1

MOTOR CHARACTERISTICS
(EA-02-18)

SEMESTER 4
2014/2015

DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE

INSTRUCTIONS
o You must read this lab manual before you attend the lab.
o You should attend the lab only on the day assigned to you. Free jumping
to alternate days is not allowed.
o The lab report must be submitted as a group of 2-3 students at the end of
the lab.
o The lab report should contain: Results and Observations, Discussions and
Conclusion.

!!! WARNING !!!

High voltages are present in this Experiment!
DO NOT make any connections with the power on!
The power should be turned off after completing each set
of measurements.
Safety Precautions:
1. Ensure appropriate attires: no slippers, sandals or open-toe footwear
allowed.
2. Long hair should be properly tied.
3. Make sure hands are dry when conducting experiment. KEEP WATER
BOTTLES AWAY FROM EXPERIMENT AREA.
4. Make sure all power supplies are switched off before commencing with
connections.
5. Make circuit connections with test leads. Use only ONE hand when
making connections to avoid closing circuit with your body.
6. Signal tutor or technician to check and verify your wire connections are
correct.
7. Switch on power supply and proceed with data collection for experiment.
8. After each set of readings, switch off power supply before making any
changes to wire connections.
9. When disconnecting test leads, remove the main power supply
connections first, i.e. DC positive voltage output or AC voltage live
output.

1.0

Objectives

To be familiar with the wiring and basic characteristics of the following motors:
I.
D.C. Shunt Motor
II.
A.C. 3-Phase Squirrel Cage Induction Motor.
To examine the relationship between Torque, Speed, Voltage, and Current for the motors in
no-load and loaded configurations.

2.0

Apparatus
For the DC Motor Experiments:
LAB VOLT 8211 - D.C. Compound Motor
LAB VOLT 8911 - Electrodynamometer
1 A, 0-240VDC, DC Power Supply
Machine Enclosure
For the 3-Phase AC Motor Experiments:
LAB VOLT 8221 - 3-phase AC Squirrel Cage Motor
LAB VOLT 8911 - Electrodynamometer
LAB VOLT 8821 - Integrated AC Power Supply Module
Machine Enclosure
Other Common Meters and Accessories:
Test Leads
Multimeters
Tachometers

3.0

Introduction DC Motors

A DC motor consists of a stator, a rotor, and other mechanical parts, such as the bearings,
shaft, and the housing. The stator contains the field windings (or permanent magnets) that
establish the magnetic field. The rotor (also called as Armature) is the rotating part inside
the stator. The rotor has its own windings.
A voltage E A is induced in the armature due to the motion of its conductors relative to the
magnetic field. This voltage is usually referred to as back emf and is given by
E A K m

(1)

where:
K is a machine constant that depends on the winding and structural details of
the motor,
is the magnetic flux produced in the stator (Webers),
and m is the motor angular speed (rad/s)
Another important relationship for the D.C. motors involves the terminal voltage, the back
EMF generated by the rotation of the armature, the resistance of the armature circuit and the
armature current. By Kirchoff's Voltage Law, we have
3

VT R A I A E A

(2)

where:
VT is the terminal voltage applied to the motor terminals,
RA is the resistance of the armature circuit in ohms which, in the case of a
series motor, includes the resistance of the series field coils and
IA is the current in the armature in amperes.
Combining the two equations gives:
K m VT R A I A

(3)

Re-arranging this equation gives:

VT I A R A
(4)
K
The torque developed by a D.C. motor can be calculated from the equation

Tdev KI A

(5)

where:
Tdev is the torque developed by the motor (Nm),
IA is the current in the armature (A).
In a series motor, the field winding and the armature are in series connection. Therefore the
armature current IA is the same as field current IF. The flux is directly proportional to the
field current when the motor is operating in the linear range. Thus for series motors, the flux
can be assumed to be proportional to the armature current. As the flux is dependent on the
armature current in a series motor, at low current on light loads, the speed of the series motor
can become excessive. For that reason a series motor should never be operated on light loads
on full voltage.
In a shunt motor, as the field windings and the armature is in parallel connection. The
armature current IA is different from the field current IF. While the armature current IA is
dependent on the load, the field current is independent of the load conditions. As a result, the
flux for a shunt motor can be considered to remain constant. In theory, the field produced by
the armature current in the armature conductors can affect the field strength but the shunt
field flux can be considered to remain unaffected by the load. As the flux for a shunt
connected motor is independent of the armature current the only effect the load can have on
the speed is to increase the effect of the voltage drop in the armature.
One of the outcomes of this experiment will be experimental proof of the curves showing the
relationship between speed, torque and current in a D.C. shunt motor. An understanding of
these curves tell you the characteristics of the motors. Comparing these curves for the various
D.C. motor configurations will help you select the correct motor for a given purpose.

4.0

Experiment on DC Shunt Motor

WARNING!! High voltages are present in this Experiment! DO

NOT make any connections with the power on! The power must be
turned off after completing each set of measurements. Use only one
hand when making connections with the test leads.
4.1

Connect the DC Compound motor as shown in Figure 1. Please note the terminal
numbers when making the connections.

Fig. 1 DC Shunt connection

4.2

No-Load Test
a) Set the control knob of the electrodynamometer at its full ccw position, i.e. minimum
load.
b) Turn on all relevant power supplies. Start the motor by adjusting the 0-240 V, 3 Amp
power supply to 240 V. Wait for one minute. Adjust the variable resistor until the noload motor speed is about 1500 rpm. Re-adjust the supply to 240 V. Then reduce the
supply in steps of 20 V until 60 V.
c) At each step record the speed, line current and field current. Enter the data in the noload table.
d) When completed data collection, switch off all relevant power supplies.
e) Plot a graph of the field current against speed, and voltage against speed.

Table 1: DC Shunt Motor No Load Test Results

Volts (V)

Speed (rpm)

Field Current, IF (A)

Line Current, IL (A)

4.3

Load Test
a) Adjust the 1 Amp DC power supply to 240 volts to start the motor. The supply should
be maintained at 240 VDC for this test. Wait for one minute.
b) With the control knob of the electrodynamometer turned fully ccw, read the minimum
load data from the meters and enter it into the table.
c) Adjust the control knob of the electrodynamometer to increase the load applied to the
motor in steps of 0.1 Nm until a maximum of 1.0 Nm. The load applied can be read
directly off the scale marker on the stator housing of the electrodynamometer. At each
step record the speed, line current and field current. Enter the data into the Load Test
Table. Continue to increase the load until the load reaches 1 Nm or the motor current
reaches 1.1A.
d) When data collection is completed, turn the control knob of the electrodynamometer
slowly in ccw direction until it is fully ccw. (Turning the knob too fast would cause
the load to start rocking, which is undesirable.) Reduce the motor supply voltage to
minimum (0V) and switch off all relevant power supplies.
e) Plot a graph of torque against speed, and line current against speed.

Table 2: DC Shunt Motor Load Test Results

Volts (V)

Speed (rpm)

Torque (Nm)

Field Current, If (A)

Line Current, It (A)

5.0

Experiments on AC Three-Phase Induction Motor

5.1

Illustration of Induction Motor Operating Principle

AC induction motors are ideal for most industrial and commercial applications because of
their simple construction and low number of parts, which reduce maintenance cost.
Three-phase AC power is supplied to the windings of the stator of the induction motor. A
rotating sinusoidal magnetic field is produced. The speed of rotation of the stator magnetic
field is described as the synchronous speed ns and is given by
ns

120 f
P

(6)

where:
ns is the synchronous speed (rpm)
f is the frequency of the AC supply (Hz)
P is the number of poles in the motor.
For example, in Singapore the AC supply has a frequency of 50 Hz. For most common AC
motor, which has 4 poles, the synchronous speed can be calculated as:
ns

120 50
1500 rpm
4

The rotor of the induction motors can be either wound rotor type or squirrel cage type.
Wound-rotor induction motors have a three-phase winding, similar to the stator winding, on
the rotor. Wound-rotor induction motors can be controlled to operate at different torques and
speeds. However, they are usually significantly more expensive than squirrel cage rotor
motors.
Squirrel cage motors are the most common type of induction motor. In a cage rotor design,
there are solid conductors (usually cast using aluminum) in slots on the rotor. The ends of the
conductors are short-circuited at each end of the rotor using an "end-ring". There is no power
supplied to the rotor. This is a great advantage when compared with other motors.
AC motors should ideally be operating in the synchronous speed. When operating under load,
there would be a drop in operating speed nm . The speed of the stator field relative to the rotor
is ns nm .
The normalized slip s is defined to be the relative speed as a fraction of synchronous speed:
s

ns nm
ns

(7)

Normalized slip s varies from 1 when the rotor is stationary to 0 when the rotor turns at
synchronous speed.

In this section of the experiments, we will study the characteristics of the Squirrel cage
motors by observing the change of the speed with respect to the change of the load and
plotting the torque and speed curve of the motor.

5.2

Experiment Procedures

WARNING!! High voltages are present in this Experiment! DO

NOT make any connections with the power on! The power must be
turned off after completing each set of measurements. Use only one
hand when making connections with the test leads.

4
VARIABLE
AC

OUTPUT

Figure 2: 3-Phase AC Induction Motor Connection

a) Connect the 3-phase AC induction motor as shown in Figure 2. Please note the
terminal numbers when making the connections. Set the control knob of the
electrodynamometer at its full ccw position, i.e. minimum load. (VERIFY)
b) Turn on all relevant power supplies. Start the motor by adjusting the variable AC
output to 400 VAC. Wait for one minute. With the control knob of the electrodynamometer turned fully ccw, read the no-load data from the meters and enter it into
the table.

c) Adjust the control knob of the electrodynamometer to increase the load applied to the
motor to 0.1 Nm. The load applied can be read directly off the scale marker on the
stator housing of the electrodynamometer. At each step record the speed and line
current. Enter the data into the Load Test Table. Continue to increase the load until
the load reaches 1 Nm or the motor current reaches around 0.46A.
d) When completed data collection, turn the control knob of the electrodynamometer
slowly in ccw direction until it is fully ccw. (Turning the knob too fast would cause
the load to start rocking, which is undesirable.)
e) Reduce the motor supply to 0V and switch off all relevant power supplies.
f) Plot graphs of torque against speed and line current against speed for the motor.

Table 3: AC 3-P Motor 400VAC Results

Volts (V)

6.0

Torque (Nm)

Speed (rpm)

Line Current (A)

Report
The lab report should contain:
1. Results and Observations: You must include the completed tables and graphs in this
section. You may describe your observation of the experimental results.
2. Discussions and Conclusion: You may comment on the experiments and conclude the
report with statements on the relationship between Torque, Speed, Voltage, and
Current of the motors in no-load and loaded configurations.
Please indicate clearly your name and student number on the lab report.
-

End -

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