Synchronous motor

Synchronous Motors

It may be recalled that a d.c. generator can be run as a d.c. motor. In like manner, an alternator may operate as a motor by connecting its armature winding to a 3-phase supply. It is then called a synchronous motor. As the name implies, a synchronous motor runs at synchronous speed (Ns = 120f/P) i.e., in synchronism with the revolving field produced by the 3-phase supply. The speed of rotation is, therefore, tied to the frequency of the source. Since the frequency is fixed, the motor speed stays constant irrespective of the load or voltage of 3- phase supply. However, synchronous motors are not used so much because they run at constant speed (i.e., synchronous speed) but because they possess other unique electrical properties.

A synchronous electric motor is an AC motor in which, at steady state,the rotation of the shaft is synchronized with the frequency of the supply current; the rotation period is exactly equal to an integral number of AC cycles. Synchronous motors contain multiphase AC electromagnets on the stator of the motor that create a magnetic field which rotates in time with the oscillations of the line current. The rotor with permanent magnets or electromagnets turns in step with the stator field at the same rate and as a result, provides the second synchronized rotating magnet field of any AC motor. A synchronous motor is only considered doubly fed if is supplied with independently excited multiphase AC electromagnets on both the rotor and stator.

The synchronous motor and induction motor are the most widely used types of AC motor. The difference between the two types is that the synchronous motor rotates in exact synchronism with the line frequency. The synchronous motor does not rely on current induction to produce the rotor's magnetic field. By contrast, the induction motor requires "slip", the rotor must rotate slightly slower than the AC current alternations, to induce current in the rotor winding. Small synchronous motors are used in timing applications such as in synchronous clocks, timers in appliances, tape recorders and precision servomechanisms in which the motor must operate at a precise speed; speed accuracy is that of the power line frequency, which is carefully controlled in large interconnected grid systems.