University of Technology Lecture Note 7

Electrical Engineering Department Choppers in DC motor Drives and RE

Electrical Engineering Division Page 1 of 10
EG 405: Power Electronics Dr. Oday A. Ahmed

DC Choppers Applications in DC motor Drives and Renewable Energies

Many industrial applications need a conversion of a voltage coming from a DC source into
another DC level. Step up DC choppers are used for regenerative braking of dc motors. Step
down DC choppers are used to control the speed of dc motor.

Part I- Electric DC Motor Drives

In many of the industrial applications, an electric motor is the most important component. A
complete production unit consists primarily of three basic components;
► Electric motor,
► Energy-transmitting device and
► The working (or driven) machine.
An electric motor is the source of motive power.
An energy transmitting device delivers power from electric motor to the driven machine (or
the load); it usually consists of shaft, belt, chain, rope etc.
A working machine is the driven machine that performs the required production process.
Examples of working machine:
① Lathes, ② Centrifugal Pumps, ③ Drilling Machines, ④ Lifts, ⑤ Conveyer Belts, ⑥
Food-Mixers, etc…
An electric motor together with its control equipment and energy-transmitting device forms an
electric drive, as shown in the figure below

A modern electric drive system using a feedback loop as shown in the figure below:
University of Technology Lecture Note 7
Electrical Engineering Department Choppers in DC motor Drives and RE
Electrical Engineering Division Page 2 of 10
EG 405: Power Electronics Dr. Oday A. Ahmed

DC Motor Control: Variable Speed Drive

DC motors are used extensively in adjustable-speed drives and position control applications.
The speed of a DC motor can be controlled by
(i) Field-Flux Control Method
(ii) Armature-Voltage Control Method
DC choppers can be used for the speed control of DC motors.

Basic Equations of DC Motors

Motors are generally classified according to their methods of field excitation. Hence, the basic
DC motor types are:
► Separately-excited DC Motors
► Shunt DC Motors
► Series DC Motors
► Compound DC Motor
The equivalent circuit for each DC motor type is shown below:

Series DC Motor
Separately-excited DC Motor Shunt DC Motor
 University of Technology Lecture Note 7
Electrical Engineering Department Choppers in DC motor Drives and RE
Electrical Engineering Division Page 3 of 10
EG 405: Power Electronics Dr. Oday A. Ahmed

Compound DC Motor
Basic performance equations for a separately-excited dc motor and is presented in this Lecture.

Field Circuit

Armature Circuit
Separately-excited DC Motor
For the field circuit:

For armature circuit,

Motor back e.m.f.:

University of Technology Lecture Note 7
Electrical Engineering Department Choppers in DC motor Drives and RE
Electrical Engineering Division Page 4 of 10
EG 405: Power Electronics Dr. Oday A. Ahmed

Where Te= electromagnetic torque and TL= load Torque

It can be seen that the speed of a DC motor can be controlled by changing Field-Flux Control
and Armature-Voltage.

From the speed equation it can be seen that increasing the speed can be obtained by varying
the flux field ϕ and decreasing the speed can be obtained by varying the terminal DC supply
voltage Vt.

DC-DC Buck Converter Drive

When variable DC voltage is to be
obtained from fixed DC voltage, DC
chopper is the ideal.
Use of chopper in traction systems is
now accepted all over the world. A
chopper is inserted in between a fixed
voltage DC source and the DC motor
armature for its speed control below
base speed.
Chopper drives are also used in battery-
operated vehicle where energy saving is
of prime importance.
Figure below shows the basic arrangement of a DC chopper feeding power to a DC series
motor.
As shown in lecture 6, the output voltage is

=
The output DC current is:

where the switch duty ratio can be expressed as

As shown in the waveforms below the switching frequency f is 1/T, where T is the time for
one-cycle and equal to Ton+Toff
University of Technology Lecture Note 7
Electrical Engineering Department Choppers in DC motor Drives and RE
Electrical Engineering Division Page 5 of 10
EG 405: Power Electronics Dr. Oday A. Ahmed

Power delivered to motor = (Average motor voltage) (average motor current)

= ×
Input power to chopper =(average input voltage) (average source current)
= ×
For the motor armature circuit,
− ( + )
=
Example 1: A DC series motor is fed from 600 V DC source through a chopper. The
DC motor has the following parameters:

The average armature current of 300 A is ripple free. For a chopper duty cycle of 60%,
determine: input power from the source. motor speed and motor torque
Solution

a- Power input to motor = D.Vs.Ia=0.6×600×300=108kW

b- For a DC series motor, the terminal voltage Vt which is the DC output voltage of the
chopper Vo is equal to:
DVs= Ea+IaR=kIaωm+ IaR

c- Motor torque,
University of Technology Lecture Note 7
Electrical Engineering Department Choppers in DC motor Drives and RE
Electrical Engineering Division Page 6 of 10
EG 405: Power Electronics Dr. Oday A. Ahmed

Example 2: The chopper used for on-off control of a DC separately-excited motor has supply
voltage of 230V DC, an on- time of 10msec and off-time of 15msec. Neglecting armature
inductance and assuming continuous conduction of motor current, calculate the average load
current when the motor speed is 1500 rpm and has a voltage constant of Km =0.5 V/rad per
sec. The armature resistance is 3Ω.

Solution:

Chopper duty cycle D is

10 × 10
= = = = 0.4 40%
+ 10 × 10 + 15 × 10
For the motor armature circuit,
= = =E + =K ω +
=K ω +

2 × 1500
230 × 0.4 = 0.5 + ×3
60
Motor load or armature current
2 × 1500
230 × 0.4 − 0.5
= 60 = 4.48
3

Example 3: A DC chopper is used to control the speed of a separately-excited DC motor. The

DC supply voltage is 220 V, armature resistance Ra =0.2Ω and motor constant Ka×ϕ=0.08
V/rpm.
This motor drives a constant torque load requiring an average armature current of 25A.
Determine (a) the range of speed control (b) the range of duty cycle D. Assumed the motor
current to be continuous.

Solution:
For the motor armature circuit,
=E +
As motor drives a constant torque load, motor torque Te is constant and therefore armature
current remains constant at 25A.

Minimum possible motor speed is N = 0 rpm. Therefore,

=K n +
220 × = 0.08 × 0 + 25 × 0.2
⟹
25 × 0.2
= = 0.0227 = 2.27%
220
 University of Technology Lecture Note 7
Electrical Engineering Department Choppers in DC motor Drives and RE
Electrical Engineering Division Page 7 of 10
EG 405: Power Electronics Dr. Oday A. Ahmed

Maximum possible motor speed corresponds to D =1 or 100% (i.e. when 220 V DC is

directly applied and no chopping is done).
=K ω +
220 × 1 = 0.08 × n + 25 × 0.2

220 − 25 × 0.2
n = = 2687.5
0.08
Range of speed control: 0 < N < 2687.5 rpm and corresponding range of duty cycle:
2.27% < D < 100%

Example 4: Suppose a trolley bus is driven by a DC series motor as shown in Figure below

The speed of the motor is controlled by a DC chopper fed by the 750V DC trolley wires. The
operating frequency of the chopper is 500Hz and the ON time of the chopper switch is 0.5
msec. The total armature circuit resistance of the series motor is 0.4Ω and the current drawn
by the series motor (IO) has average value of 50A and peak-to-peak ripple of 2A.

1. Name the circuit shown in the figure above which is used to drive the DC motor
2. Sketch the waveforms of IS and IO and ID.
Determine,
3. The average armature voltage (Ea),
4. The average switch current (IS),
5. The average current of the freewheeling diode (ID),
6. the maximum and minimum values of armature current
7. The ON time and duty cycle of the chopper switch at starting with motor starting current
limited to 100A.

Solution:
(1) The circuit is a Buck or step-down DC-DC converter
(2) The waveforms of IS and IO and ID are shown below
University of Technology Lecture Note 7
Electrical Engineering Department Choppers in DC motor Drives and RE
Electrical Engineering Division Page 8 of 10
EG 405: Power Electronics Dr. Oday A. Ahmed

IinAV

ton toff

(3)
E = − =− = −
0.5 × 10
= = = = 0.25
1 1
500
E = − = 750 × 0.25 − 50 × 0.4 = 167.5
(4)
= = = 0.25 × 50 = 12.5

(5) The diode current is the difference between output and input currents
= − = 50 − 12.537.5
(6) The maximum and minimum armature current or output chopper current can be
obtained as:

Imax
IoAV
Imin

From the figure above Imax and Imin can be found as:
1 1
I = + ∆ = 50 + × 2 = 51
2 2
1 1
I = − ∆ = 50 − × 2 = 49
2 2

(7)
University of Technology Lecture Note 7
Electrical Engineering Department Choppers in DC motor Drives and RE
Electrical Engineering Division Page 9 of 10
EG 405: Power Electronics Dr. Oday A. Ahmed

At starting of the motor the applied emf voltage Ea is equal to zero ⟹

=
E = − =0
⟹
= = =
⟹
100 × 0.4 100 × 0.4
= = = = 0.0533
750 750
1 1
= = = 0.0533 × = 106.67
500

Exercise1 : An electronic chopper is placed between a 600 V DC trolley wire & the armature
of a series motor, as shown in the figure below.

The switching frequency is 800 Hz and each power pulse width is 400μs. If the DC current in
the trolley wire is 80A and the total armature circuit resistance of the series motor is 0.5Ω,
calculate: a. the armature current ( . : 192 ) b. the armature voltage ( . : 67 ).

Exercise2: A step-down chopper is used to supply power from a DC 600V overhead wire to
the armature of a DC motor on a trolley bus. The armature inductance is large enough to give
a smooth current and the armature resistance is 0.4Ω. The
frequency of the chopper is set at 500Hz. Determine, with
the aid of a circuit diagram,
(a) The ON time of the chopper to provide a motor current
of 100A when the bus is stopped. ( . : 0.134 )
(b) The maximum possible generated voltage of the motor
for an armature current of 100A, ( . : 560 )
(c) The average value of the supply current for the
conditions of (a) and (b). ( . : 6.7 , 100 )

Exercise3: A 600-V, separately-excited, DC motor has an armature resistance of 1.2Ω. The

armature draws a current of 25A at 600V when the motor is driving a load at1000 rpm.

(i) Determine the back EMF of the motor ( . : 570 )

University of Technology Lecture Note 7
Electrical Engineering Department Choppers in DC motor Drives and RE
Electrical Engineering Division Page 10 of 10
EG 405: Power Electronics Dr. Oday A. Ahmed

If the armature is connected to the supply through a step-down chopper operating at 400Hz
with an ON time of 1.5msec, determine,
(ii) The duty cycle of the chopper (Ans.: %).,
(iii) The output voltage of the chopper (Ans.: 360 ).,
(iv) The back EMF of the motor (Ans.: 330 ).,
(v) The motor speed (Ans.: . ).
It is assumed that the load torque and the flux remain constant.