id Current Basics: Practical Guidelines For Assessment By Chuck Yung EASA Technical Support Specialist How much no-load current should Lexpect when testing a motor? We ‘would like to have a ratio of no-load amps /full-load amps, for quality control purposes. Many of us expect a motor to draw approximately one-third of rated ccurrent, when operating from rated voltage on our test panel. That is @ good rule of thumb—most of the time, While there are lots of excep- sions, most of them are predictable ‘To explain the rule of thumb and the exceptions, we will use some terms familiar to mast readers: FLA = Full-load amps NLA = No-load amps; this is ‘magnetizing current plus some losses (mostly windage) Flux = Lines of magnetic force AGD = Aingap density; in lines of flux per unit area V= Applied voltage Here are some exceptions you probably recognize ‘The higher the flux density, the higher the no-load current will be as a percentage of FLA. + The lower the speed, the higher the soon oe at peeeige of na + Thematic of MA isimersty (hough ot st) proprio chp Practical Guidelines ‘The intent ofthis article is to ‘explain why those statements are valid and, in the process, to offer practical guidelines for assessing no- Toad current. Many of us apply these principles daily. Knowledge is power, We should, ‘whenever possible, improve our ‘Applied Voltage (% OF Rates) Figure 1. Graph of applied voltage against current. noes by gntring fs Use the AC Motor Verification & rated voltage. Then you were able to Redesign Program to check. Sitch upto rated voltage densities before rewinding the Figure 1 illustrates what happens rotor. when we run an uncoupled motor at + Keep records of tests for compari- varying voltage. As long asthe motor son of identical machines. will maintain speed, we can reduce + Get information from the manufae- the voltae and expect a more-or-less turer to supplement your records. finea change in current Before we get othe simple table To demonstate this use a motor of expected” values for ne load without an extemal fan. Operate the current, we will lay out some tools to tot at rated voltage and revord the tse for understanding the exceptions cure, Decrease the voltage slowly, to that “one-third of FLA” guideline. _fecording both voltage and current First, le’ review our basic under- Nov graph the results, and the result standing ofthe relationship between _will be similar to Figure 1. Along the oltage fax and torque. straight portion ofthe line, the flux changes in proportion to the applied Torque AGD? « V* voltage. Consequently, we ean expect, Effects Of Applied Voltage the current to change proportionally For any given motor, flux density __also—within limits. ‘changes in proportion to the applied Ifthe applied voltage is too Low, the voltage. Torgue produced by the ‘motor slows down and the current ‘motor varies as the square of the flux, increases (let of Point A in Figure 1) If we change the voltage applied to a as the motor tries to develop enough ‘motor, we expect the current to torque to keep tuming. The speed ‘change proportionally. decreases because the torque is too low We apply this principle every time to overcome friction & windage losses. we start a motor at reduced voltage, 1 1 Remember that motor that was too big Slip « AGD" « ¥ to start on the test panel? You simply ‘brought it up to speed ata fraction of Continued On Page 2 EASA CURRENTS = February 2005, 1No- Current Basics: Practical Guidelines For Assessment Continued From Page! ‘Next slowly rave the voltage hand, the motor is usually more of thumb, Likewise, the high-fux above rated voltage, again recording _forgiving of under-voltage conditions, design might be expected to draw a the voltage and current. As the compared toa conservatively fluxed it higher than the one-third rule. voltage increases, the current inerease motor. Knowing the influence of flux ‘will remain linear until we reach ‘We can expect designs that operate density, we can evaluate motors that saturation (Point B, Figure 1), When at or near the knee ofthe saturation deviate from our usual expectations. the stator core becomes saturated, it curve to draw higher no-load current takes a disproportionate amount of shan those operating along the Hinear— URANG ASP ‘ current to inerease the level of flux. portion ofthe curve. emcee Between Points A and B, voltage What about conservative designs, fines ae less camnmen, a motor that aphed aginst current wil be more tas older U; Shines? res three-fourths of rated current aes nar arenes ann ee gets our attention. That anomaly is ose, as well a two-pole easy to explain, It takes more That is one reason we should test machines, motors designed for high carvent ov drive flux exreugh ale runall repaired motors at rated ambient temperatures (kila motors) of than ehrough steel voltage, and record the voltage and high altitude use, are deliberately * " common test used by our current on all phase leads. The no- “fluxed low” —meaning they are idasty the open stan too Toad test rum is a critical step in designed to operate well below the demonstrates tis, We apply one-sixth quality assurance, (See the February __knee of that flux eurve. We should ited voltae to on ope etn 2004 CURRENTS aisle"AVoiding expect savy Yow no-load curen,_F746 VTA fo an open sar, High No-Load Amps.”) While more tolerant of high voltage, Tose to rated eanent. Why doceit close to rated current, Why does it Some manufacturers are very they are more susceptible to low Seow fall lond ion frugal with active materials (steel nd voltage condi any Fal Toad current wit only & e voltage conditions. eee ets copper cost money, afterall), and fraction of rated vollage? There is no soar solications require a hi jehhpor Different Designs Affect Rule rotor to complete the flux path, so the some applications require high hp Feurpole machines donate fix must travel trough a. Tat kW rating ina small physical pack- nan, so the “onehidofrated requires alot more cuent hence naa current" rule is appropriate. But while the lower voltage used forthe test. such a“high flux” motor to draw Siatvely high m-lood cusentIis conc 4-pole motor might be a conser= Note: Some service centers use eee ee thane vative design fora variety of reasons, _higher than 1/6th of rated voltage, and vated voltage. which tay push the another might be fluxed higher. So we expect higher than FLA. But open see gee ey Pa should expect the conservative design stator tests at higher voltages make it motorto draw abitless than our rule difficult to interpret the results “The greater the distance flux has to ‘wavel through a non-ferrous medium, ‘the higher the current required. For cach trip around a stator, the flux in cach phase has to cross the airgap ‘wice per pole. Compare a 2-pole machine to a 10-pole. (Figure 2.) For each revolution around the stator, the 10-pole flux must cross the airgap 20 times, while the 2-pole flux only has ‘to cross it four times. 1 takes more ‘current to force flux acrass the airgap than through the steel core. Consider Number Of Poles 2-pole mux path ‘so-pote ux path Tt should be no surprise that low: speed machines draw relatively high no-load current, The no-load current Figure 2. 2-pole and 10-pole flux path connection. Continued On Page 3 2 EASA CURRENTS = wwweasa.comNo-| Current Basics: Practical Guidelines For Assessment increases inerementally with the ‘number of poles. (At the risk of being redundant, more poles = higher magnetizing current.) To ‘minimize the effect, machines with more poles are designed with closer airgap between rotor and stator. The ratio of NLAVFLA varies in inverse proportion to the motor size and hp (kW) rating. Depending on the design, the Table 1 Poles of phase Expected no-load current ‘Approximate Induetion motor asa fraction of FLA percent of FLA 2 V4 t018 3533 4 3 to 48 340 ‘ W312 3345, 8 1 t0 5/8 3345 10 orhigher 35 >A eot0 ratio could le twice as large fora 10 bp motor as for the same ‘manufacturer's 300 lp motor. Consider Scale, Manufactur- Ing Tolerance Part ofthe explanation is one of scale and manufacturing tolerance, The average bore diameter of an &-pole 300 bp motor is 5 times the bore of the typical 10 hp 8- pole motor. The 300 hp motor has an airgap of approximately 0.040” (1 mm). feverything was to scale, the 10 hp ‘8-pole airgap would be only 0.008" (40's 8) ‘We know that airgap must be uniform within 10% to avoid electsi- cal noise and rotor pullover issues. Ten percent of 0.008" is less than 1 jousandth—hardly practical. Even we bearings have more internal play an that The manufacturer has little choice but to allow higher magnetizing current with a larger airgap distance. Knowing this, we should anticipate the NLA. variation based on hp rating as well as the number of poles (tis also impractical to design small cores specifically for low speeds, so a 4-pole core is used.) Because there are Tot more 4 pole machines in industry than any other speed, we grow accustomed to the no-load motor drawing approxi- ‘mately one-third of FLA when ‘After calculating the fix densities, we can better evaluate the rll of nodoad curent to fund ‘current. The higher the fx density the higher the ratio currents kely to be. The here ft dena the higher te no-load cent bea percentage of LA ira es erred] ie rere ioe Seren pecesege ‘the rao of Hive (hough not dct proporins the operating uncoupled at rated voltage. Verifying this on the test panel offers a quick quality control tool. Ifa motor is misconnected, we can catch that by ‘measuring the no-load current. Note that we consider “no-load” as being “uncoupled” while many of our customers interpret it as meaning “the mile-long conveyor is not loaded with rock.” There is a big difference between those two conditions Table I shows typical expected no-load current for evaluating motors when we test them uncoupled. The exceptions we have discussed ean be used to evaluate each motor so that we can make a reasonable judgment as to whether or not test results outside these guidelines make sense. Afier calculating the flux densi- ties, we ean better evaluate the ratio of no-load current to full-load. current, The higher the flux density, the higher the expected no-load current is likely to be. Exceptions To Every Rule Remember that there are excep- tions to every rule. Table 1 gives a quick reference of expected ranges, but we have to consider each motor individually. In general, we expect higher no-load current for motors with more poles, especially for smaller motors. If we rewound the motor, someone should have used the AC Motor Verification & Redesign Program to check the flux densities. Armed with that information, we can better assess the actual NLA. If there is any question, compare the results to historical records for tests of identical motors Finally, the NLA is affected by the rade of steel, annealing condition, and small variation in airgap. A manufacturer's published NLA may vary by 25% or more. In rare cases a motor may draw higher current ‘operating at no-load conditions than at rated load. But while that might be plausible for the 10-pole motor, it surely spells trouble for a 2-pole. So keep those principles in mind next time you test run a motor that falls outside these rules. EASA CURRENTS = February 2005