AC Machines

Dr Andrew Cruden
Department of Electronic & Electrical Engineering
(Centre for Economic Renewable Power Delivery)

1
 Objective
• To investigate the operation of AC machines in terms of
the production of a rotating magnetic field from a 3 phase
supply.

Review
• DC machines have been studied where a Permanent
Magnetic Field is established and a rotor is made to turn,
when supplied by DC current
• A commutator is required to achieve continuous rotation of
the DC motor
• There are 2 common types of DC motor: series and shunt

2
 AC Machines - Types
• An AC machine is typically preferred to a DC machine as
AC power is generally available and AC motors are
generally cheaper than their DC counterparts
• There are 2 common types of AC motor: synchronous and
induction motors
• AC motors work using the principle of a a rotating
magnetic field
• The induction motor is the most common electric motor
used in industry

3
 Rotating Field Concept
• Consider the simple magnetic field
case shown on the left
N
• If a permanent magnet (PM) rotor
S was rotated then it would be
possible to rotate other PMs around
Flux
the rotor, due to the attraction of the
As rotor is rotated N magnetic poles
external magnets • This would lead to two rotating
will follow S parts when a motor can only have
one
• Consider if it was possible to have
N
an ‘outside’ rotating magnetic field,
produced from stationary coils - a
S PM rotor would then follow this
field and produce motor action

4
 Rotating Field Concept - contd
• It is possible to produce an ‘outside’ rotating magnetic
field using AC supplies
• Consider the 2 phase case shown below, where the phases
are 900 out of phase with each other, and the coils are
physically 900 displaced from each other
2 phases are 90 degrees
1 2 out of phase

1-2
3
M
4
3-4
5
 Rotating Field Concept - contd
Resultant Magnetic
Field
1 1

3 4 3 4

1-2 a) b)
2 2

1 1

3 4 3 4
3-4
a b c d e f g h
d) 2 2 c)
6
 Rotating Field Concept - contd
• It is clear that owing to the time (phase) and spatial
differences between the two current waveforms that a net,
resultant, rotating magnetic field is established
• An understanding of how a rotating magnetic field is
created using AC currents is vital to a thorough
understanding of AC motors
• With a rotating external magnetic field, it will be possible
to achieve motor action with a DC supplied rotor (to
establish the rotor magnetic field)
• What speed will the external (AC supplied) magnetic field
rotate at?

7
 Rotating Field Concept - contd
• A two phase supply is very uncommon. A three phase
supply is , however, commonly available so it is worth
considering this case in more detail
3 phases 1200 out of
I 12
phase with each other
I 56

1 2
I 12

I34 1-2
I34

I56

M
5-6
5
3
6 4
3-4
8
 Rotating Field Concept - contd
Resultant Magnetic Field

a) 1 b) 1 c) 1
1-2 4 6 4 6 4 6

5 3 5 3 5 3
2 2 2
5-6
1 1 1
4 6 4 6 4 6

3-4 5 5
3 3 5 3
f) 2 e) 2 d) 2
a)b) c) d) e) f)

9
 Rotating Field Concept - contd
• A three phase supply, having a phase difference of 1200 between the
currents can be used to produce a rotating magnetic field if the coils are
spatially separated by 1200.
• Reversing the direction of rotation can be achieved by swapping any two of
the phases
• The major advantage of a 3 phase supply is that it provides constant
instantaneous power, whereas a single phase supply does not
A B C

Instantaneous Power
in Phase C
Instantaneous Power
in Phase B Total Instantaneous Powe
Instantaneous Power = Pa + Pb +Pc
in Phase A

10
 Speed of Rotating Magnetic Field
• The speed of the magnetic field is related to the frequency of
the supply and the number of pole pairs the machine has
• Considering the previous three phase motor example,
imagine the frequency of the supply is 50Hz, the number of
poles is 2 (i.e. one North pole and the corresponding South
pole)
• The number of pole pairs, p, of this machine is therefore = 1
• The speed of rotation, n, or synchronous speed, of this
rotating magnetic field is then defined as: f
n=
p
where n is in revs/sec and f is in Hz

11
 AC Motors
• If a permanent magnet (PM) rotor is now placed inside the
rotating magnetic field, the PM will try and follow the
rotating field around by the forces of magnetic attraction
and repulsion
• This is the basis of the synchronous AC motor which will
be considered next week

• Note that the limit to the speed of an AC motor will be

defined by the synchronous speed (for a 50Hz supply the
maximum speed will be 3000rpm)

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