GICHURA ROBERT

F17/ 10663/ 2006

UNIVERSITY OF NAIROBI

DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL AND

ELECTRONICS ENGINEERING

3RD YEAR 2ND SEMESTER LABS.

MACHINES LAB.
STARTING, SPEED CONTROL AND REVERSAL OF A D.C SHUNT MOTOR
EXPERIMENT: STARTING, SPEED CONTROL AND REVERSAL OF A D.C SHUNT MOTOR

Objective:
To observe the effect of starting a shunt motor with line, field and armature resistance, to
observe the effect of reversing armature and field connections and to examine the construction of
the motor starter.

Apparatus:
Mawdsley’s Ltd. D.C shunt motor;
1hp, 110V, 9.0A, 1500rpm R = 2Ω
D.C motor starter
Field regulator
Tachometer
Rheostats
Voltmeters
Ammeters

Theory:
The speed of a motor is given by the relation;

N = (V – IaRa)/ZΦ = K (V – IaRa)/Φ r.p.s

Where,
K → constant
Ra → armature resistance
It is therefore evident that the speed of the motor can be controlled by varying the following
parameters;
 The applied voltage, V
 The flux per pole, Φ
 The armature resistance, Ra

Speed control of shunt motors

i.) Flux control method:
The speed is inversely proportional to the flux and hence the speed can be increased by flux
decrement and the vice-versa.
Mechanism
The flux of a d.c motor can be varied by varying the shunt current, Ish with the aid of a
shunt field rheostat. The shunt field rheostat carries only a small current since the shunt current is
relatively small. As a result, the I2R loss small and a small rheostat can be used, making this
method a quite efficient one. In non-interpolar machines the speed can be increased by this
method in the ratio 2:1. Any further weakening of the flux adversely affects the communication
and puts hence, a limit to the maximum speed obtainable using this method. For machines fitted
with inter-poles, a ratio of maximum to minimum speed of 6:1 is normally employed.

a.) Rheostat control method

This method is normally used where the required speeds are below the no-load speed.
Since the supply voltage is normally constant the voltage across the armature is varied by
use of a rheostat (controller resistance), inserted in series with the armature circuit as
shown below;
 When the controller resistance is increased, the potential difference across the armature is
decreased, thereby decreasing the armature speed. For a load of constant torque, the speed is
approximately proportional to the potential difference across the armature. The following graph
sketch portrays fall in speed of d.c motor with increase in armature resistance.

ii.) Voltage control method:

a. Multiple voltage control

In this method the shunt field of the motor is connected permanently to a fixed
exciting voltage, but the armature is supplied with different voltages by means of
suitable switchgears. The armature speed is approximately proportional to the
voltages. The intermediate speeds are obtainable by adjusting the shunt field regulator

b. Ward – Leonard system:

This method is normally used where unusually wide and very sensitive speed
control is required e.g. electric excavators, elevators and the main drives in steel mills
and blooming and paper mills

Procedure:
Starting with line resistance

The circuit was connected up as shown below:

The resistance was reduced gradually until the motor started. The current at which this
motion just started was noted and observations made on the ammeter as the motor speed up. The
resistance was eventually reduced to zero to have the motor running at full speed. The voltage
across the armature resistance was observed. The effect of varying the line resistance on the
motor speed was noted.
Readings were taken and tabulated for the voltage across the armature, line current and
the speed.

Starting with armature resistance

The circuit was connected as shown below;

The resistance was reduced gradually until the motor started. The current at which this motion
just started was noted and observations made on the ammeter as the motor speed up. The
resistance was eventually reduced to zero to have the motor running at full speed. The effect of
changing the field regulator resistance was observed as well. The direction of rotation was also
noted. The field current was kept constant and the armature voltage varied in steps, noting the
voltage and speed at each step. The measurements were taken and tabulated as shown below;

Reversal of Motor
The supply connections were reversed and the motor started. The new direction of rotation was
noted. The field connections were then reversed and the motor started. The new direction of
rotation was also noted. The armature connections were finally reversed, the motor started and
the direction of rotation noted.
Results:
1.
 Motor started at a current of 2.1 A
 The speed of the motor increased with decrease in line resistance
 Voltage across the armature at full speed was 112 V

Table1: Variation of the other experimental parameters

V [V] 112 90 62 96
Ia [A] 0.55 0.55 0.6 0.6
If [A] 0.45 0.4 0.25 0.4
IL [A] 1 1 0.9 1
N [rpm] 1470 1350 1150 1400

A plot of speed against the generated emf (E = V – IaRa) was drawn.

2.

 Motor started at the following currents;

If = 1A, Ia = 0.3A
 Reduction of the field regulator resistance was found to result in an increase in the speed
of the motor.
 Direction of rotation was clockwise when observed onto the direction of taking the speed
measurement.
 Table2: Speed, voltage characteristics with constant field current
Voltage [V] 108 102 100 96 90 73 66 59
N [rpm] 110 104 100 97 85 75 65 570
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Table3: Speed, field
current characteristics
with constant voltage
Field current, If [A] 0.3 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 1.0
N [rpm] 150 130 123 115 110 970
0 0 0 0 0

Graphs of speed, N against V and speed against I were plotted.

Table4: Reversal of motor; observations
Reversal of: Direction of rotation
Supply connections Clockwise still
Field connection No rotation
Armature connection Anti-clockwise

Discussion:
From the results obtained in Table1, the following table was deduced in aid to give a
relationship between speed and the generated emf, E:

Table5: Speed, generated emf characteristics

Speed, N [rpm] 1470 135 115 1400
0 0
E = V – IaRa [V] 110. 88.9 60.8 94.8
9

The theoretical speed was earlier stated to linearly increase with generated emf by the relation;
N = (V – IaRa)/ZΦ = K (V – IaRa)/Φ r.p.s. from the graph the speed is seen to increase
linearly with generated emf as well, which marries both the theoretical and practical results.
It is also seen from graph of Table3 that the speed decreases with increase in field current. This
is because an increase in controller resistance is accompanied by a decrease in the potential
difference across the armature, thereby decreasing the armature speed.

Conclusion:
The effect of starting a shunt motor with line, field and armature resistance was observed.
The effect of reversing armature and field connections was also studied and it was found that the
direction of rotation of the motor changed only when both the armature and field connections
were interchanged but not one of them. The speed of rotation was found to decrease
proportionally with increase in field current which is the theoretical expectation. In other part of
the experiment the speed was found to increase proportionally with increase in the terminal
voltage. The plot of speed against generated e.m.f indicated a non-linear increase in speed at
higher values of induced e.m.f.
The experiment was successfully conducted within experimental errors to meet the stated
objectives.

References:
1. University of Nairobi “Machines lab. Manual”, Dept. of Electrical and Electronics
Engineering, 2005.
2. G. R. Slemon, Electrical Machines and Drives, Addison-Wesley, 1992.
3. R. H. Engelman and W. H. Middendorf, Eds., Handbook of Electric Motors, New
York: Marcel Dekker, 1995.