- Induction motors
- Wound-rotor induction motors
- Single-phase induction motors
- Linear induction motors
- Induction motors for speed and position control
- Synchronous motors
- Permanent-magnet motors
- Hysteresis motors
- Reluctance motors
- Single-phase synchronous motors
- Direct-current commutator motors
- Alternating-current commutator motors
The magnetic field for a synchronous machine may be provided by using permanent magnets made of neodymium-boron-iron, samarium-cobalt, or ferrite on the rotor. In some motors, these magnets are mounted with adhesive on the surface of the rotor core such that the magnetic field is radially directed across the air gap. In other designs, the magnets are inset into the rotor core surface or inserted in slots just below the surface. Another form of permanent-magnet motor has circumferentially directed magnets placed in radial slots that provide magnetic flux to iron poles, which in turn set up a radial field in the air gap.
The main application for permanent-magnet motors is in variable-speed drives where the stator is supplied from a variable-frequency, variable-voltage, electronically controlled source. Such drives are capable of precise speed and position control. Because of the absence of power losses in the rotor, as compared with induction motor drives, they are also highly efficient.
Permanent-magnet motors can be designed to operate at synchronous speed from a supply of constant voltage and frequency. The magnets are embedded in the rotor iron, and a damper winding is placed in slots in the rotor surface to provide starting capability. Such a motor does not, however, have means of controlling the stator power factor.
A distinctive feature of synchronous motors is that the speed is uniquely related to the supply frequency. As a result, several special types of synchronous motors have found wide application in devices such as clocks, tape recorders, and phonographs. One of the most extensively used is the hysteresis motor in which the rotor consists of a ring of a semi-permanent magnet material like a high-carbon steel. At full speed, the motor operates as a permanent-magnet synchronous machine. If the speed is reduced by pulling the rotor out of synchronism, the stator field causes the rotor material to be cyclically magnetized around its hysteresis loop resulting in a rotor field that lags the stator field by a few degrees and continues to produce torque. These motors provide good starting torque with very low ripple and are very quiet. Their efficiency is low, and applications are restricted to small power ratings.
Reluctance motors operate on the principle that forces are established that tend to cause iron poles carrying a magnetic flux to align with each. One form of reluctance motor is shown in cross section in the figure. The rotor consists of four iron poles with no electrical windings. The stator has six poles each with a current-carrying coil. In the condition represented in the figure, current has just been passed through coils a and a′, producing a torque on the rotor aligning two of its poles with those of the a-a′ stator. The current is now switched off in coils a and a′ and switched on to coils b and b′. This produces a counterclockwise torque on the rotor aligning two rotor poles with stator poles b and b′. This process is then repeated with stator coils c and c′ and then with coils a and a′. The torque is dependent on the magnitude of the coil currents but is independent of its polarity. The direction of rotation can be changed by changing the order in which the coils are energized. Reluctance motors can have other pole configurations, such as eight stator poles and six rotor poles.
The currents in the stator coils are usually controlled by semiconductor switches connecting the coils to a direct voltage source. A signal from a position sensor mounted on the motor shaft is used to activate the switches at the appropriate time instants. Frequently a magnetic sensor based on the Hall effect is employed. (The Hall effect involves the development of a transverse electric field in a semiconductor material when it carries a current and is placed in a magnetic field perpendicular to the current.) The overall system is known as a self-synchronous motor drive. It can operate over a wide and controlled speed range.
In another reluctance motor configuration, the stator is made similar to that of an induction motor and is supplied from a three-phase controllable supply. The rotor consists of longitudinal iron laminations separated by nonmagnetic spacers. Flux from the stator encounters much lower reluctance along the laminations than across them.
Reluctance motors can be designed for constant speed operation from a constant frequency supply. The rotor has salient poles without field windings. The stator is cylindrical and contains a three-phase winding similar to that of an induction machine. A damper winding is fitted in the rotor surface so that the machine can start as an induction motor. After the rotor pulls into synchronism with the rotating field of the stator, it operates as a synchronous motor at constant speed.
A revolving field can be produced in synchronous motors from a single-phase source by use of the same method as for single-phase induction motors. With the main stator winding connected directly to the supply, an auxiliary winding may be connected through a capacitor. Alternatively, an auxiliary winding of a higher resistance can be employed, as in the figure. For small clock motors, the shaded-pole construction of the stator is widely used in combination with a hysteresis-type rotor (see above). The efficiency of these motors is very low, usually less than 2 percent, but the cost is low as well.