MAKERERE UNIVERSITY

Department of Mechanical Engineering

College of Engineering, Design Art and Technology

ELE3114: ELECTRICAL MACHINES AND DRIVES I

14 April 2022
Tutorial
DC Machines
1. Explain the constructional details, working principle and applications of dc machines and
review the armature winding connections (lap windings vs wave windings, full pitch vs
short pitch coils, concentrated vs distributed windings).
2. What is the significance of commutator and brushes in a dc machine?
3. Compare lap and wave winding. Where each type is used and why?
4. When do you use concentric winding?
5. Define the following in relation to the armature winding of a DC Machine: Pole pitch,
front pitch, back pitch, resultant pitch, average pitch and commutator pitch. Illustrate
them on both Lap and Wave windings with the help of neat sketches.
6. State the types of dc motors. What is the basis of the classification?
7. What is the significance of back emf in a dc motor?
8. In large DC machines electro-magnets are preferred over permanent magnets, why?
9. Using only well labelled schematic equivalent circuit diagrams illustrate the difference
between a long shunt compound DC generator and a short shunt compound DC motor.
10. What are the five conditions to be fulfilled for a DC shunt generator to build-up emf?
11. Explain the different methods of braking of dc motors.
12. What are the advantages of Hopkinson’s test over Swinburne’s test and what are its
limits?
13. In relation to the voltage-current characteristics of a compound DC generator, explain
the following concepts:
(i) Over Compounding
(ii) Flat Compounding
(iii) Under Compounding
(iv) Differential Compounding

14. A four-pole DC machine has an armature of radius 12.5cm and an effective length of
25cm. The poles cover 75% of the armature periphery. The armature winding consists of
33 coils, each coil having seven turns. The coils are accommodated in 33 slots. The
average flux density under each pole is 0.75T. If the armature is lap-wound,
a) Determine the armature constant 𝐾𝑎 .
b) Determine the induced Armature Voltage (𝐸𝑎 ) when the armature rotates at
1000 rpm
c) Determine the current in the coil and the electromagnetic torque developed
when the armature current is 400 A.

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 d) Determine the power developed by the armature

15. If the armature is wave-wound, repeat parts (a) to (d) in Qn. 6 above. The current rating
of the coils remains the same as in the lap-wound armature.
16. A dc machine has a 4-pole wave-wound armature with 46 slots and 16 conductors per slot
if the induced voltage in the armature is 480 V at 1200 rpm, determine the flux per pole.
Ans: 16.3 mWb
17. Explain the term armature reaction in relation to separately excited DC generators. What
are the advance effects of Armature reaction? What are the methods to reduce the effects
of armature reaction?

18. A 100kW, 230V, shunt DC generator has 𝑅𝑎 = 0.05Ω and 𝑅𝑓 = 57.5Ω. If the generator
operates at rated voltage, calculate the induced voltage at full-load and then at half full-
load. Neglect brush-contact drop. Ans: 252 V, 241 V

19. A 50kW ,250V short shunt compound DC generator has the following data: 𝑅𝑎 = 0.06Ω,
𝑅𝑠𝑒 = 0.04Ω and 𝑅𝑓 = 125Ω. Calculate the induced Armature voltage at rated load and
terminal voltage. Take 2V as the total brush-contact drop. Ans: 272.12 V

20. Repeat Qn.11 for a long shunt compound connection. Ans: 272.2 V

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21. A 10kW, 250V Shunt DC Generator, having an armature resistance of 0.1Ω and a field
resistance of 250Ω,delivers full-load at rated voltage and 800 rpm. The machine is now
run as a motor while taking 10kW at 250V. What is the speed of the motor? Neglect
brush-contact drop. Ans: 774.8 rpm
22. A DC machine is connected across a 240-volt line. It rotates at 1200 rpm and is
generating 230 volts. The armature is 40 Amps.
a) Is the machine functioning as a generator or as a motor?
b) Determine the resistance of the armature circuit.
c) Determine power loss in the armature circuit resistance and the
electromagnetic power.
d) Determine the electromagnetic torque in newton-meters.
e) If the load is thrown off, what will the generated voltage and the rpm of the
machine be assuming
i) No armature reaction
ii) 10% reduction of flux due to armature reaction at 40A armature
current
23. A 25 kW, 250 V dc machine is separately excited. The field current is held constant at a
speed of 3000 rpm.The open circuit voltage is 250 V. Calculate the terminal power,
electromagnetic power and torque at terminal voltage of (a) 255 V, and (b) 248 V. The
armature resistance is 0.05 ohms. Speed is held constant at 3000 rpm.
24. A dc shunt motor rated 10 kW connected to 250 V supply is loaded to draws 35 A
armature current running at a speed of 1250 rpm. Given Ra = 0.5 ohms
(a) Determine the load torque if the rotational loss is 500 W.
(b) Determine the motor efficiency if the shunt field resistance is 250 Ohms.
(c) Determine the armature current for the motor efficiency to be maximum and
its value. What is the corresponding load torque and speed?

Synchronous Machines
1. Elaborate the statement that an unloaded synchronous motor can be made to act as a
capacitor or as an inductor.
2. Briefly explain the procedure of starting a synchronous motor using damper windings.
3. State any four differences between synchronous motors and induction motors.

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4. Draw a well labelled phasor diagram of an overexcited synchronous motor under leading
power factor assuming the effect of armature resistance is not negligible.

5. Including the effect of armature resistance 𝑅𝑎 , show that with motor terminal voltage 𝑉 ,
synchronous impedance 𝑍𝑠 , impedance angle 𝜃 , power angle 𝛿 and induced voltage 𝐸;
the power developed by a round-rotor synchronous motor is given (on a per phase basis)
by

𝐸𝑉 𝑅𝑎
𝑃=− cos(𝛿 + 𝜃) + 𝐸 2 2 .
𝑍𝑠 𝑍𝑠

6. A 480-V 400-kVA 0.85-PF-lagging 50-Hz four-pole delta-connected synchronous

generator is driven by a 500-hp diesel engine and is used as a standby or emergency
generator. This machine can also be paralleled with the normal power supply (a very
large power system) if desired. What are the four conditions required for paralleling the
emergency generator with the existing power system? What is the generator’s rate of
shaft rotation after paralleling occurs?

7. A three phase 10 kVA, 400 V, 4-pole, 50 Hz star connected synchronous machine has
synchronous reactance of 16 ohms and negligible resistance. The machine is operating
as generator on 400 V bus-bars (assumed infinite).

a) Determine the excitation emf (phase) and torque angle when the machine is
delivering rated kVA at 0.8 pf lagging.
b) While supplying the same real power as in part (a), the machine excitation is
raised by 20%. Find the stator current, power factor and torque angle.
c) With the field current held constant as in part (a), the power (real) load is
increased till the steady-state power limit is reached. Calculate the maximum
power and kVAR delivered and also the stator current and power factor. Draw
the phasor diagram under these conditions.

8. A 40 kVA, 600 V star-connected synchronous motor has armature effective resistance of

0.8 ohms and synchronous reactance of 8 ohms. It has stray loss of 2 kW. The motor is
operating at 600 V bus-bar while supplying a shaft load of 30 kW, it is drawing rated
current at leading pf.
a) Calculate the motor efficiency.
b) What is its excitation emf and power angle?
c) With this excitation calculate the maximum power output (gross) and
corresponding net output and the power angle

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 Induction Machines

1. Give a brief account of squirrel-cage induction motor. Explain qualitatively as to how it

develops torque and the nature of its torque-slip characteristic. Why is it called
asynchronous motor?
2. What methods are used in starting squirrel cage induction motor? Which method is used
in what size of motor? Which is the most common method and what is its superiority?

3. Compare and contrast the squirrel-cage and slip-ring induction motors.

4. The following results were obtained from a 3-phase, 100 hp, 460 V, 8-pole, 60 Hz star-
connected squirrel-cage induction motor that runs at 873 rpm:

No-Load test: 460 V (line), 60 Hz, 40 A, 4.2 kW

Blocked-Rotor test: 100 V, 60 Hz, 140 A, 8.0 kW

DC test on stator Resistance/phase = 0.076 ohms

The standstill reactances of the stator and rotor as seen on the stator side are estimated to
be in the ratio of 1:1.
(a) Determine the parameters of the circuit model (exact version).
(b) Find the parameters of Thevenin equivalent as seen from the rotor circuit.
(c) Calculate the maximum torque and the slip at which it occurs.
(d) calculate the stator current, its pf and motor efficiency.

5. A three phase, 460V, 1740 rpm, 50Hz, four-pole wound-rotor induction motor has the
following parameters per phase in ohms referred to the stator side:

R1 = 0.25, X1 = 0.5, Xm =30, Rm = ∞ , X2 = 0.5 and R2 = 0.2

The total motor rotational losses are 1700W. With the rotor terminals short circuited, find:
i) Starting current; ii) Full load current; iii) Starting torque; iv) Slip at which Maximum
torque is developed; v) Maximum Torque; vi) How much external resistance per phase
should be connected in the rotor circuit so that the maximum torque occurs at rotor
speed of 1230 rpm?
6. Analyze the differences among the Torque-speed characteristics for the various classes
of squirrel-cage induction motors based on their applications.

7. A 7.5 kW, 440 V, 3-phase, star-connected, 50 Hz, 4-pole squirrel-cage induction motor
develops full load torque at a slip of 5% when operated at rated voltage and frequency.

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 Rotational losses (core, windage and friction) are to be neglected. The per phase motor
impedance data is as follows:
𝑟1 = 1.24 Ω
𝑥1 = 𝑥2′ = 1.46 𝛺
𝑥𝑚 = 22.7 𝛺
Calculate:
(i) the maximum motor torque at rated voltage and the slip at which it will occur.
(ii) the starting torque
Hint: solve for 𝑟2′ and then choose the larger value
8.

9. Describe briefly the principle of operation of the following motors:

i) Hysteresis motors
ii) Shaded Pole Motors
iii) Stepper Motors

10. Describe briefly how Double-revolving-field theory explains torque production in single-
phase induction motors.

11. For a 240V, single phase induction motor the parameters of the equivalent circuit
below are 𝑅1 = 𝑅2′ = 8Ω, 𝑋1 = 𝑋2′ = 12Ω, and , 𝑋𝑚 = 100Ω. At a slip of 6%,
Calculate: (i) input current, (ii) input power (iii) developed power, and (iv)
developed torque (at rated voltage). The motor speed is 1830 rpm.

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