09/08/2020 Electrical Drives

Introduction: Electrical Drives

Electrical Drives:
 Systems employed for motion control are called as Drives.

 It may employ any of the prime movers (Diesel engines, steam

turbines and electric motors) for supplying mechanical energy
for motion control.

 Drives employing electric motors are called as Electrical Drives.

 In other words, A Drive is a combination of various systems

combined together for the purpose of motion control.

Basic Components of Electric Drive System:

The electric drive system has five main functional blocks namely a
Power Source, Power Modulator (Converter), a Motor, a Mechanical
Load and a Controller (which incorporates sensing unit and control
unit).

 Power Source:
The power source provides the required energy to the electric
drive system. The converter interfaces the motor with the power
source and provides the motor with adjustable voltage, current
and frequency.

P. Hemeshwar Chary
EEE Dept. CBIT(A) Page 1 of 8
09/08/2020 Electrical Drives
 Mechanical Load:
The mechanical loads are determined by the nature of the
industrial operation and the power source is determined by what
is available at the site.

But we can select the other components like electric motor,

converter and controller.

 Power Modulator (Converter):

The function of converters is to convert the electric waveform of
the power source to a waveform that the motor can use.

For example, the available power source is AC and the motor is

DC series motor, then the converter converts ac into dc.

In other words, a rectifier circuit is placed in the system.

 Motor:
The motor for the particular application is selected by
considering various factors like cost, meeting the power level
and performance required by the load during steady state and
dynamic operations.

 Controller:
The controller monitors the operation of the entire system and
ensures the overall system performance and stability.

The ratings of mechanical load and type of power source are not
in our decision.

Classification of Electrical Drives or Types of Electrical Drives

The classification of electrical drives can be done depending upon
the various components of the drive system.

Now according to the design, the drives can be classified into three
types such as single-motor drive, group motor drive and multi motor
drive.

The single motor types are the very basic type of drive which are
mainly used in simple metal working, house hold appliances etc.

Group electric drives are used in modern industries because of

various complexities.

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EEE Dept. CBIT(A) Page 2 of 8
09/08/2020 Electrical Drives
Multi motor drives are used in heavy industries or where multiple
motoring units are required such as railway transport.

If we divide from another point of view, these drives are of two types:

1. Reversible types drives

2. Non reversible types drives.

This depends mainly on the capability of the drive system to alter the
direction of the flux generated.

Electric Motors:
Electric motors are of various types.

The DC motors can be divided in four types – shunt wound DC

motor, series wound DC motor, compound wound DC motor and
permanent magnet DC motor.

AC motors are of two types – induction motors and synchronous

motors.

Now synchronous motors are of two types – round field and

permanent magnet. Induction motors are also of two types – squirrel
cage and wound motor.

Besides all of these, stepper motors and switched reluctance motors

are also considered as the parts of drive system.

So, there are various types of electric motors, and they are used
according to their specifications and uses.

When the electrical drives were not so popular, induction and

synchronous motors were usually implemented only where fixed or
constant speed was the only requirement.

For variable speed drive applications, DC motors were used.

But as we know that, induction motors of the same rating as DC
motors have various advantages like they have lighter weight, lower
cost, lower volume and there is less restriction on maximum voltage,
speed and power ratings.

For these reasons, the induction motors are rapidly replaced the DC
motors.
Moreover, induction motors are mechanically stronger and require
less maintenance.
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EEE Dept. CBIT(A) Page 3 of 8
09/08/2020 Electrical Drives

When synchronous motors are considered, wound field and

permanent magnet synchronous motors have higher full load
efficiency and power factor than induction motors, but the size and
cost of synchronous motors are higher than induction motors for the
same rating.

Brushless DC motors are similar to permanent magnet synchronous

motors.
They are used for servo applications and nowadays used as an
efficient alternative to DC servo motors because they don’t have the
disadvantages like commutation problem.

Beside of these, stepper motors are used for position control and
switched reluctance motors are used for speed control.

Power Modulators:

These are the devices which alter the nature or frequency as well as
change the intensity of power to control electrical drives.

Roughly, power modulators can be classified into three types,

1. Converters,
2. Variable impedance circuits,
3. Switching circuits.
As the name suggests, converters are used to convert currents from
one type to another type.

Depending on the type of function, converters can be divided into 5

types –
1. AC to DC converters
2. AC regulators
3. Choppers or DC-DC converters (i.e. a DC Chopper)
4. Inverters
5. Cycloconverters

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EEE Dept. CBIT(A) Page 4 of 8
09/08/2020 Electrical Drives

AC to DC converters are used to obtain fixed DC supply from the AC

supply of fixed voltage. The very basic diagram of AC to DC
converters is like.

AC Regulators are used to obtain the regulated AC voltage, mainly

autotransformers or tap changer transformers are used in this
regulators.

Choppers or DC-DC converters are used to get a variable DC voltage.

Power transistors, IGBT’s, GPO’s, power MOSFET’s are mainly used
for this purpose.

Inverters are used to get AC from DC, the operation is just opposite
to that of AC to DC converters. PWM semiconductors are used to
invert the current.

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EEE Dept. CBIT(A) Page 5 of 8
09/08/2020 Electrical Drives

Cyclo-converters are used to convert the fixed frequency and fixed

voltage AC into variable frequency and variable voltage AC.
Thyristors are used in these converters to control the firing signals.

Variable Impedance circuits are used to controlling speed by

varying the resistance or impedance of the circuit. But these
controlling methods are used in low cost DC and ac drives. There
can be two or more steps which can be controlled manually or
automatically with the help of contactors. To limit the starting
current inductors are used in AC motors.

Switching circuits in motors and electrical drives are used for

running the motor smoothly and they also protects the machine
during faults. These circuits are used for changing the quadrant of
operations during the running condition of a motor. And these
circuits are implemented to operate the motor and drives according
to predetermined sequence, to provide interlocking, to disconnect the
motor from the main circuit during any abnormal condition or
faults.

Sources:
Sources may be of 1 phase and 3 phase. 50 Hz AC supply is the
most common type of electricity supplied in India, both for domestic
and commercial purpose. Synchronous motors which are fed 50 Hz
supply have maximum speed up to 3000 rpm, and for getting higher
speeds higher frequency supply is needed. Motors of low and
medium powers are fed from 400 V supply, and higher ratings like
3.3 kV, 6.6 kV, 11 kV etc are provided also.

Control Unit:
Choice of control unit depends upon the type of power modulator
that is used. These are of many types, like when semiconductor
converters are used, then the control unit consists of firing circuits,
which employ linear devices and microprocessors.
So, the above discussion provides us a simple concept about the
several parts of electrical drive.
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EEE Dept. CBIT(A) Page 6 of 8
09/08/2020 Electrical Drives

Advantages of Electrical Drives:

 Do not pollute the environment.

 Unlike other prime movers there is no need to refuel or warm-up

the motor.

 They are available with wide range of torque, speed and power.

 Electric braking can be employed. Therefore they are having

flexible control characteristics.

 In the past, Induction and synchronous motors were employed

mainly in constant speed drives. Variable speed drives uses dc
motor.

 Now days AC motors also used in variable speed drives due to

development of semiconductor converters.

 The reason is due to the presence of commutator and brushes,

DC motors have number of disadvantages.

Application (Traction motors):

One of the major applications of electric drives is Electric Traction.

i.e., to transport men and materials from one place to another.

Various types of Electric Traction are

1. Electric trains
2. Electric buses
3. Trams(tramways) & trolleys
4. Battery driven solar-powered vehicles

In India, 25kV, 50Hz single phase supply is used for traction.

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EEE Dept. CBIT(A) Page 7 of 8
09/08/2020 Electrical Drives

Classification of Electrical Drives:

Generally electrical drives are classified as follows:

1. Group drive
2. Individual Drive
3. Multi motor drive

In addition to this, drives are further classified,

Based on supply:
AC drives and DC drives

Based on running speed:

Constant speed (single speed) Drives and Variable speed drives

Based on number of motors:

Single motor drives and Multi motor drives

Based on control Parameter:

Constant torque drives and Constant power drives

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EEE Dept. CBIT(A) Page 8 of 8