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A NOVEL MACHINELESS DYNAMOMETER FOR LOAD TESTING THREE-PHASE

INDUCTION MOTORS
C. Grantham and F. Rahman
University of New South Wales, Australia
SUMMARY
The paper describes a novel dynamometer without any
rotaling parts which could possibly best be described as
a machineless or electronic dynamometer. The
dynamometer enables testing of induction motors to be
carried out without the needto x t a load to the
machines drive shaft. Full load temperahe rise tests
are achieved by using a novel method of synthetic
loading which uses microprocessor controlled power
electronics to generate the two distinct supply
frequencies of the existing dual frequency synthetic
loading method. An alternative method is to rapidly
modulate the machines supply frequency and thereby
cause alternating motor-induction generator action.
Torque output and efficiency evaluation icre obtained by
using a rapid machine parametex determination method
which enables the induction motors parameters to be
obtained during a normal run up to speedtest from
standstill. These parameters are then used to calculate
current, power, torque, efficiency and if required any
other quantities capable of beiig calculated using the
machines normal equivalent circuit. It is envisaged
that the new dynamometer could substantially reduce
full load testing time, particularly for large vertically
mounted machines which are virtually impossibly to
test because of the difficulty in finding a suitable
vertical load. The proposed new dynamometer could
play an important rolefor the testing of high efficiency
motors whose useis expected to increase in the next
decade OT two.
1. INTRODUCTION
Dynamometers are used extensively to carry out full
Ioad temperature rise tests, to establish mechanical
toque developed or to determine the efficiency of
electrical machines. With the expected increased use of
energy efficient motors as indicated by Nadel et al. [l]
and the uncertainty of establishing whether a motor is
truly of the energy efficient type, rather than just
claimed to be so, it is expected that efficiency testing of
three-phaseinduction motors will increase substa~tially
over the next decade.
The cost of setting up such a test facility, maintaining
the equipment, and the time and setti ng up procedures
for mechanically coupling the load machine, may make
full load testing prohibitively expensive. Large
vertically mounted machines are virtually impossible to
test by applying a load to the shaft. Clearly a method
of loading the machine that does not require
mechanically coupling a load is extremely useful.
Several authors have recognised the need for such a
synthetic loading method and a number of schemes
have been developed The method of Fong 121 whilst
claiming to give excellent agreement with conventional
loading, @ s the useof two equally ratedmachines
and requires up to 12 leads to bebrought out of the
machine. Acuxdi ng to Kron [31, as long ago as 1921,
Yttexbexg proposed connecting two voltage supplies of
different frequencies in series with an induction motor
to achieve synthetic loading; this technique is now
generally known as the two frequency or dual
frequency method.
Schwenk [41 reported that his company, Westinghouse
Electric Corporation, has used the two frequency
method of equivalent loading for several years. The
two frequency method has also been incorporated into
the J apanese Test Code for Induction Motors 151. The
method used by Schwenk has the disadvantage that it
requires two Motor-Generator (MG) sets to providethe
dual frequency supply and the auxiliary (ie. lower
frequency) power source must have all six leads
brought out. A variation on this procedure requires
only three leads to be brought out of the secondary
source, but requires the additional use of an isolating
lransfomer.
This paper describes methods of loading three-phase
induction motors, using microprocessor controlled
power electronic techniques and without the need to
connect a load to the machines drive shaft. Two
methods are described, one method uses microprocessor
controlled power electronics to generate the two distinct
frequencies and thereby replace the electrical machines
of the existing dual frequency equivalent load
technique. The second method uses microprocessor
controlled power electronics to rapidly change the
machines supply frequency. If full load temperature
rise is measured using the two methods described,
results are obtained which are closeto those measured
when using a conventional generator load.
The paper also describes a method of rapidly
determining induction motor parameters from a simple
run up test using a microprocessor based data
acquisition system, and the use of these parameters to
calculate the current, power, torque and efficiency of
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the machine under test. It is envisaged that the rapid
parameter determination technique can be interfaced
with a VDU to display the current, power, torque and
efficiency which have been calculated using the
machine's parameters.
The combination of the new synthetic loading methods,
rapid parameter determination technique and
performance evaluation and display, enables induction
motors to beload tested using a dynamometer without
any moving parts which could possibly be best
described as a machineless dynamometer.
2. SYNTHETIC LOADING
2.1
The essence of the dual frequency method described
above is to produce a supply containing two distinct
frequencies; t hi s has the effect of producing two fields
If all quantities are represented as per unit values, for
sinusoidal voltages the flux can beset equal to the
supply voltage divided by frequency. With two
wiwes of different magnitude and frequency. Fig. 1
shows these vectm rotating at different angular
velocities.
Dual and sweep frequency methods
rotatingatdifferentspeeds.
voltages in series, the total flux is the sum of two flux
Figure 1 Wasor diagram of rotating flux waves.
Schwenk[4] analysed thesetwo rotating vectors and
showed that the magnitude and angular velocity of the
resultant flux waves are given by:
These equations represent a flux wave which varies in
magnitude and angular velocity as a function of time,
supply voltages and frequencies. FromEqs. 1 and 2 it
can also be seen that the frequency of oscillation of the
flux wave angular velocity and the frequency of
oscillation of the magnitude of the flux wave are the
same and equal to the difference between the main and
auxi hy supply frequencies, ie. fa - fb. Because of the
inertia of the rotor the varying frequency causes
alternating induction motor-generating action, thus
increasing the effective RMS current flowing in the
machine.
An altemative method of establishing the effect of the
two individual supplies, is to consider the motor
running at a speed between that of the two supplies.
The machine therefore draws motoring current with
respect to the higher speed field and supplies generating
current with respect to the lower speed field. The two
currents beat together to form a modulated current
whose RMS value over a period, greater than the beat
period, can be made equivalent to the normal load
current for the machine, by adjusting the amplitudes
and frequencies of each component.
This method which currently requires a system of
electrical machines to generate thetwo frequencies, can
be very conveniently implemented using
microprocessor controlled power electronics to generate
the necessary voltages and frequencies for the two
supplies.
Another method of artificially increasing the motor
current, is to use a single supply frequency, but to
rapidly modulate this frequency over a small range
centred onthe rated frequency. This causes alternating
induction motor-generator action. This method of
synthetic loading cannot be implemented by using an
electrical machine power source, as with the former
method, because it is not possible to produce the
required rapid modulation of frequency. However, by
using microprocessor controlled power electronics, the
necessary modulation can be achieved and this is the
basis upon which the second method is implemented.
There are therefore, two separate methods of producing
synthetic loading of the induction motor using
microprocessor controlled power electronics. These
two methods, ie. dual and sweep frequency, require the
production of sine function voltages at power levels
appropriate to the machine rating. A pulse width
modulated (PWM) inverter isideal for this purpose.
A microprocessor may be used to generate the
necessary logical control for a PWM inverter(see Figure
2). The microprocessor calculates the pulse widths to
control theoutput in real time by sine table lookups and
multiplication. This system is not constrained by hard
wired logic. The software may be changed to produce
output waveforms other than simple sine functions.
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. .
MICROPROCESSOR
U CONTROL
Figure 2 Simple block diagram of systemlayout.
A simple modulator calculates Asin(ot) for modulation,
where A and o are variable. If dual frequency output is
required then it is simply necessary to calculate Asin
(oat) +Bsin (%t) where Q and at, are therequired
frequencies and A and B are the amplitudes. If sweep
frequency output is requked it is necessary to calculate
A ~ S {[Oa +5 sin (ON)] t }. %se calculations
must bedone in real time, which is now possible with
microprocessor technology.
2.2
To implement the proposed methods described above,
in the laboratory, the output stage of a standard
commercial 11 kW transistor inverter was purchased.
This inverter was used without its normal PWM control
logic. Special control logic was designed around a
Motorola 6809 microprocessor and programmable
timers to produce thespecial inverter output required.
The microprocessor is provided with the system
operating parameters via a VDU terminal and calculates
the necessary PWM patterns to control the output of the
inverter via hadware timers.
Almost any output waveformmay beproduced fromthe
inverter provided the function calculations can be
performed during the time between output pulses. Thus
a simple P W M sine pattern calculation is implemented
by calculating Vasin ( at) using sine table lookup and
multiplication. The dud frequency mode is
implemented by calculating Vasin (Oat) +Vbsh (Obt)
and the sweep frequency mode by calculating
The inverter and its control
2.3 Laboratory test results
To check thenew methods of loading, a 3ph, 4 pole,
415V, 50 Hz induction motor was selected. The
machine had a rating of 0.75kW with a rated line
current of 1.65A. Initially for comparative purposes,
the stator and rotor temperature rises of the machine
were measured using a conventional generator load and
a sinusoidal mains supply. The stator winding
temperature was measured by the change in resistance
method and the rotor temperature was measured by
placing a thermocouple probe into therotor end ring,
via a special hole drilled in the rotor end shield,
immediately after the machine had stopped.
The generator was loaded until the induction motor's
full load current was drawn and the temperature of the
machine was allowed to stabilize. The corresponding
stator and rotor full load temperature rises were
measured to be62.7OC and 62.1"c respectively.
The generator load was disconnected from the induction
motor's drive shaft and the microprocessor controlled
inverter, in dual frequency operating mode, was used to
load the machine. The two frequencies used for this
test were50 Hz and 35 Hz. The magnitude of the 35
Hz component was adjusted to 13.1% of the 50 Hz
component which gave the rated machine current of
1.65A. The total RMS voltage output was adjusted to
415V. The current waveformduring this test is shown
in Figure 3. The corresponding stator and rotor
temperature rises were measured to be 66.6OC and
67.0"C respectively. These results are slightly higher
than theresults using a mains supply with conventional
generator load.
2Om. secldiv 1.59Ndiv
Figure 3 Measured current waveformfor dual
frequency method.
To establish whether it was the new test method itself,
or the harmonics in the inverter supply, which caused
the slight increase in temperature, the test with a
conventional generator load was repeated, but in this
case a normal inverter supply was used for the test. The
corresponding stator and rotor temperature rises were
654C and 66.3"C respectively. These results indicate
that the slight increase in temperature rises were partly
a result of the inverter supply and partly due to the dual
frequency test method These results also demonstrate,
that full load temperature rises will beincreased if an
inverter supply is used and the machine should be
designed to cater for the increased temperature rises.
205
For additional comparison purposes the existing dual
frequency synthetic loading method which uses
electrical machines as the voltage sources was used.
Once again the two frequencies used for this test were
50 Hz and 35 Hz. The magnitude of the 35 Hz
component was adjusted to 9.23% of the 50 Hz
component to give the rated current of 1.65A. In this
case the measured stator and rotor temperature rises
were 64.0"C and 63.0"C respectively. These
temperature rises are also slightly higher than those
measured with the conventional generator load with
sinusoidal supply and confirm that the dual frequency
technique does produce additional losses in the machine
irrespective of whether the power supply is from
electrical machines or derived froma power electronic
inverter.
Although the dual frequency tests above were carried
out at specific main and auxiliary frequencies, there are
in fact many permutations of these frequencies which
produce the rated current. Some of these permutations
are shown in Figure 4.
0.6 6s
0. 41 , , ,
0 .2
30 40 50 60 70 80 90 1 0 0
B frequency as X of A
Figure 4 Measured current/frequency characteristics
for dual frequency method.
The sweep frequency method, with a centre frequency
of 50Hz, was next used to fully load the induction
motor. For a sweep rate of 10 Hz and a sweep
magnitude of 9.95 Hz the current waveformis shown in
Figure 5. The corresponding stator and rotor
temperature rises were 66.2"C and 67.OOCrespectively.
These results are once again slightly higher than those
achieved using a sinusoidal mains supply with a
conventional load.
As in the case of the dual frequency method there are
many permutations of sweep frequency and sweep
magnitude to produce rated cumnt and some of these
are shown in Figure6.
2Om. sec/div 1.59A/div
Figure 5 Measured current waveformfor sweep
frequency method.
2 .O
1.8
1.6
2 1.4
2 1.2
g 1.0
0.8
0.6
0.4
C
I
0 . 2 l . I . , . , . , . , . , . I . , . I
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45
Sweep frequency, Hz
Figure 6 Measured current/frequency characteristics
for sweep frequency method.
These various permutations to produce rated current,
for both the sweep frequency and dual frequency
methods, are currently being investigated to see how
they effect the machine's losses, with a view to
establishing which combinations produce the most
accurate temperature rises.
3. PARAMETER DETERMINATION
In order to calculate the performance of a three-phase
induction motor using the well known tee-equivalent
circuit, it is necessary to know the value of the
equivalent circuit parameters. The most well known
parameter determination method, applicable to three-
phase induction motors, is the standard no-load and
206
a""
3,
phase are RI = 1.89, XI = 5.42, Rm=1196, Xm=173
and the variations in R2 and X2 are shown in Figure 7.
locked rotor tests 161, which lead to a set of parameters
which are constants.
When the motor has a cage rotor, in which the current
displacement effect is such that the rotor parameters,
r e f d to the stator, R2 and X2. vary significantly with
rotor frequency, thenormal approximation of constant
parameters is unsatisfactory, Brown and Grantham
[7,81.
Brown and Grantham [7$] have shown that if R2 and
X2 are made variable with frequency, in the equivalent
circuit of the induction mom, the pgtluneters and
parameter variations can be detarni accurately from
a variable speed test, or almnathely fium a locked
rotor variablefrequency test. When these parameter
variations are used to calculate induction motor
performance, there is very good agreement between
theoretical and measured results.
With a microprocessor based dataacquisition systemit
is possible to measure the necessary data rapidly and
store the information far later use in the parameter
evaluation. It is even possible to measure the required
data, for parameter evaluation, during a n o d run-up
test. The parametex detennination algorithm used was
that derived by Grantham [9] which is an updated
version of that used by Brown and Grantham[7].
---- 3rec. run-up
obtained froma very rapid run up test. Figure 8 shows
the comparison of results for a 5 minute run up
compared wi thresults for a three second run-up.
---- existing method
-new method
Figure 7 Comparison of parameter variations.
difficuit to hold thetemperature constant throughout
possible to traverse thecomplete induction motor speed
range and obtain the required data very quickly.
However, for the initial test a very slow to speed
was used which took appximately This
very slow run-up ensured that the required data, for
evaluation at each slip, was taken at the Same
speed and also transient effects were negligible.
Next the determination method was used to
evaluate parameter variations on the basis of data
such a long test. Using the dataacquisition systemit is
Figure Effect Of run time On parameter
AS evident f romFigure 8 the two sets of parameta are
virtually identical. Consequently, even during rapid
run-up to speed the errors which result due to speed
changes between readings of corresponding
measurements of voltage, current, power and speed are
virtually negligible and the new rapid parameter
determination method enables parameter variations to
be Obtained from 'Orma' run-up thus
obviating the need for a variable speed drive.
207
Once the parameters are known they can be used to
calculate the performance for the required operating
condition. For example, Figure 9 shows a typical
calculated torque-speed characteristic and Figure 10
shows combined calculated characteristics of current,
power, efficiency and torque against speed for the same
machine.
Torque w Speed
t
Figure 9 Typical calculated torque-speed
characteristic.
Figure 10 Calculated performance characteristics.
4. CONCLUSIONS
Microprocessor controlled power electronic techniques
can beused to produce the two supply frequencies of
the existing dual frequency synthetic load method. The
power electronic method obviates the need for separate
MG sets and an isolating transformer. An alternative
method of achieving synthetic loading, the sweep
frequency method, is to directly vary the supply
frequency using microprocessor controlled power
electronics. Measured temperature rises when using
both new methods are in good agreement with those
using existing methods.
The equipment associated with the new synthetic
loading methods is simple to set up, it simply requires
the connection of a 3-phase inverter output to the
machines's terminals. The equipment is simple to
operate, the tumof a knob controls the current to the
motor; overload currents can beproduced if desired.
The parameters and parameter variations, of a three-
phase induction motor, can bedetermined accurately
froma normal run up test, thus obviating the need for a
variable speed drive. The parameters determined from
the rapid parameter determination method enables
machine performance such as current, power, torque
and efficiency to be calculated and displayed on a
VDU.
The synthetic loading technique, the parameter
determination method, and performance calculation and
display, when combined produces what is effectively a
machineless dynamometer and should enable full load
performance of three-phase induction motors to be
evaluated more efficiently.
REFERENCES
Nadel, S., et al., "Energy-efficient motor
systems", 1991, American Council for an Energy
Efficient Economy, pp. 32-57.
Fong, W., "Temperature testing of skin-effect-
rotor induction motors by synthetic loading",
J une 1976, Roc IEE, Vol 123, No 6, pp 546-
548.
Kron, A .W., "Testing induction motors by
means of a twofrequency supply", 1973, EIZ-A
(Germany), Vol94, pp 77-82.
Schwenk, H. R., "Equivalent loading of
induction machines for temperatures tests",
July/August 1977, TIXIIS EEE, Vol PAS-%, NO
4, pp 1126-1131.
Standard of the J apanese electrotechnical
committee, J EC-37-1979, The Institution of
Electrical Engineers of J apan, pp 73-75.
Slemon, GR., and Straughan, A., 1980, "Electric
Machines," 1st Edition, Addison-Wesley, pp.
417-421.
Brown, J.E., and Grantham, C., "Determination
of the parameters and parameter variations of a
3-phase induction motor having a current-
displacement rotor", 1975, Proc. IEE, 122, (9),
pp. 919-921.
Grantham, C., "The determination of induction
motor parameter variations from a variable
frequency standstill test", Electric Machines and
Power Systems, 1985, Vol. 10, pp. 239-248.
Grantham, C., "Rapid parameter determination of
machines", March 1991, IEAust & IREE Aust,
Vol. 11, NO. 1, p ~ . 33-39.
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