Starting of DC Motors (December 2011)

Introduction. A motor at rest has no back emf. At starting, the armature current is only
limited by the resistance of the armature circuit, which is very low. If full voltage is applied
across the motor terminals at stand still (at rest), the resulting armature current would be
many times the full load value (very large), and this can be usually sufficient to damage the
machine. For this reason, additional resistance is introduced into the armature circuit at
starting. As the motor gains speed, its back emf builds up and the starting resistance is cut
out.
Very small DC motors either shunt series or compound wound, have sufficient armature
resistance so that they may be started directly from the mains without the use of a starting
resistance and without damage to the motor.

Figure l shows the connections of a starting resistance in three types of DC motors:

(a) Series motor

(b) Shunt motor
(c) Compound motor

Figure 1 – DC motors with starting resistors

Starters for Shunt and Compound motors

Their primary function is to limit the current in the armature circuit during the starting
accelerating period. The motor starters are always rated on the basis of output power and the
power rating of the motor with which they are to be used.

There are two standard types of motor starter for shunt and compound motors:
Three-point type
Four-point type

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Three-point starter. The starter has three terminals L, F and A. If it is desired that the speed
of the motor is controlled, a field rheostat (variable resistor) is added as shown in Figure 2a.

(a)

(b)
Figure 2 – Three-point starter

When the motor is at rest, the starter arm is held in the OFF position by a strong spiral spring,
as shown in figure 2b.

Starting of motor: In order to start the motor, one hand is held on the handle of the open
main switch while the starter arm is moved to the first stud with the other hand; then the main
switch is closed. If all the wiring is correct and the armature is free to rotate, the motor will
start. After the armature has accelerated sufficiently on the first stud, the starter arm is
slowly moved to studs 2, 3, 4 etc. until the arm rests firmly against the iron poles of the
holding coil electromagnet. The entire starting process should take from 5 to 10 seconds. In
the final position the electromagnetic pull exerted by the holding coil will be greater than the
force exerted by the spiral spring.

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Should there be a power failure or should the field circuit be opened accidentally, the starter
arm will fall back to its OFF position by the spiral spring. This function of starter is
particularly important because: if the power fails and starter arm is not restored to the OFF
position the motor might be damaged should the power come ON again; and if the shunt field
circuit were opened accidently and the starter arm did not return to the OFF position, the
motor speed might become dangerously high.

Often the motors are protected against overloads by thermal overload relays in which
bimetallic is heated by motor current at approximately the same rate at which the motor is
itself heating up. Above a certain temperature, this relay trips and opens the line contactor
thereby isolating the motor from the supply.

Drawback of a three-point starter. The use of a three-point starter presents a problem.

The speed of the motor is controlled by means of the field rheostat (variable resistor). To
increase the speed of motor, the field rheostat is set to a higher resistance value. The current
through the shunt field is reduced, and so is the current through the coil of the holding
electromagnet. The reduced current through the coil weakens the strength of the magnet and
makes susceptible to line-voltage variations. In the weakened condition, a slight reduction in
the line voltage would further weaken the holding magnet, releasing the arm of the starter and
thus disconnecting the motor from the line. Therefore, three-point starters are not suitable to
operate at a speed greater than the normal speed by the use of a field rheostat because the
reduction in the field current can release the handle and stop the motor. Therefore, a
four-point starter is used where the field current needs to be controlled by a rheostat.

Four-point starter. Figures 3 and 4 show a simplified diagram of a four-point starter. In

this starter, the disadvantage of the three-point starter is eliminated. In addition to the same
three-points that were used with the three-point starter, the other side of the line L2 is the
fourth point brought to the starter. The coil of the holding magnet is connected across the
line when the arm is moved from the OFF position. The holding magnet and starting
resistors function as in the three-point starter. The possibility of accidentally opening the
field circuit is quite remote; hence the greater acceptance of the four-point starter over the
three-point starter.

The four-point starter provides the motor with ‘No voltage protection’ feature. Should the
power fail the motor must be disconnected from the line. If not, full line voltage will be
applied across the armature without the benefit of starting resistors when power is restored.
The holding magnet, being connected across the line, releases the arm when the voltage drops
below a specific value, thus protecting the motor when the power is restored.

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 Figure 3 – Four-point starter

A four-point starter with a shunt motor is shown in figure 4.

Figure 4 – Four-point starter with a shunt motor

In figure 4, OL is the thermal overload relay protection.

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Sometimes, a two-point starter is used with a series DC machine as shown in figure 5.

Figure 5 – Two-point starter with a series DC motor.

A summary is shown in table 1:

Table 1
Type 3-Point 4-Point
Shunt For speed up to normal speed Above normal speed
Compound Speed up to Normal speed Speed above Normal speed

Importance of starters

Temperature of a motor will rise as soon as it is started. The larger the starting current, the
more will its temperature increase. The combination of the ambient temperature and the
allowed temperature rise equals the maximum winding temperature in a motor. A motor
with Class F (Figure 6) (commonly used) insulation, for example, has a maximum
temperature rise of 105°C. The maximum winding temperature is 145°C (40°C ambient +
105°C rise). A margin is allowed to provide for a point at the center of the motor’s windings
where the temperature is higher. This is referred to as the motor’s hot spot. The different
insulation classes are shown in figure 6.

Figure 6
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The operating temperature of a motor is important to efficient operation and long life.
Operating a motor above the limits of the insulation class reduces the motor’s life
expectancy. A 10°C increase in the operating temperature can decrease the life expectancy of
a motor by as much as 50%. In addition, excess heat increases brush wear.

Field weakening

To increase the speed of the motor above the base speed (nominal speed), the armature
voltage (Va), cannot be higher than the rated nameplate voltage. Another method of
increasing the speed is to weaken the field (Φ). However, weakening the field reduces the
amount of torque that a motor can produce. Applications that operate with field weakening
must require less torque at higher speeds, as shown in figure 7.

Figure 7

Field weakening (decreasing the field current in a shunt wound DC motor, usually with a
rheostat) decreases the field flux, which decreases the back emf generated as the armature
rotates through the field. Since a DC motor cannot rotate faster if the back emf equals the
applied motor voltage, decreasing the field allows the motor to run faster by decreasing the
back emf at any given speed. In a way, the achievable speed is inversely proportional to field
current. So if the motor can run up to 2000 RPM with full rated field current, it can run up to
4000 RPM with 1/2 the rated field current applied. However, other loss mechanisms may not
allow the motor to rotate at maximum speed.

A DC motor generates torque due to the interaction of the shunt field and the armature field.
If the shunt field current is decreased, the armature current must increase to maintain the
same amount of torque. So for a given load there is a practical limit to the amount you can
decrease the field current.