Air Gap

LENGTH OF AIR GAP
Factors affecting length of air gap

• Power factor:
Mmf is proportional to Bm * Lg
When air gap is more, more mmf is required
and hence power factor will decrease.
• Over load capacity:
The overload capacity of induction motor is
the ratio of the max. o/p to rated o/p.
Zigzag leakage Overload
Length of air
reactance is capacity
gap is more
less increases
• Pulsation loss:
With larger length of air gap, the variation of reluctance
due to slotting is small.
The tooth pulsation due to vibration in reluctance of the
gap is reduced. Therefore, the pulsation loss is less with
large air gaps.
• Unbalanced magnetic pull:
If the length of air gap is small, even a small deflection is
responsible for the production of large unbalanced
magnetic pull which has the tendency to bend the shaft
still more at a place where it is already bent resulting in
fouling of rotor with stator.
If the length of air gap of a machine is large a small
eccentricity would not be able to produce noticeable
unbalanced magnetic pull
• Cooling:
If the length of air gap is large, the cylindrical
surfaces of rotor and stator are separated by a
large distance.
This would afford better facilities for cooling at
the gap surfaces especially when a fan is fitted for
circulation of air.
• Noise:
Cause of noise is variation in reluctance of the
path of zigzag leakage flux.
Increasing the air gap decreases the zigzag
leakage flux and hence decrease the noise
Relations for calculation of length of
air gap
• For small induction motors, air gap is defined as:
Lg = (0.2 + 2√DL)mm;
D and L are in m
• For small machines:
Lg = (0.125 + 0.35D + L +0.015Va) mm;
D & L are in m and Va is peripheral speed in
m/sec
Lg = (0.2 + D) mm;
D is in m.
• For m/c with journal bearings
Lg= (1.6√D – 0.25) m ;
D is in m
Length of air gap for 4 pole machine
D(m) Lg(mm) D(m) Lg(mm)
0.15 0.35 0.45 1.3
0.2 0.5 0.55 1.8
0.25 0.6 0.65 2.5
0.3 0.7 0.8 4.0

COGGING AND CRAWLING
Of Induction Motor
1/15
Design of Rotor
No. of Rotor and Stator Slots
• With Certain combinations of Stator and Rotor
slots, the machine may refuse to start or may
crawl at some synchronous speed. In certain
cases, some vibrations may be set up generating
excessive noise.
• These effects are produced by Harmonic Fields.
• Harmonic Fields are due to
• Slotting, windings , saturation and irregularities in
air gap
Effects of Harmonics
Harmonic induction torques
• A 3 phase winding carrying a sinusoidal current
produces harmonics of the Order n= 6N+1.
• The movement of Harmonics is with or against the
direction of rotation.
• The number of poles for the nth Harmonic is n times
the number of poles of the fundamental and
therefore the synchronous speed of the nth Harmonic
is 1/nth of the synchronous speed of the fundamental.
• Slotting produces harmonics of the order of n= 6Aq+1
• A is any integer.e.g for a 4 pole 36 slot machine will
have q= 3,19th and 17th harmonics and produce dips in
torque at +1/19 and _1/17 of synch speed.
Crawling Phenomenon
• Now, a 3 phase wdg. will produce a forward
rotating 7th Harmonic and backward rotating 5 th
Harmonic
• They generate synchronous speeds 1/5th (
backward) and 1/7th ( forward) of the
synchronous speed of the fundamental.
• The 7th harmonic reaches its maximum just
before 1/7th Synchronous speed but beyond this
speed, the 7th harmonic torque becomes
Negative.
Dips caused by Harmonics
• Assuming that the mechanical load on the
shaft involves a constant load torque, the
torque developed may fall below this load
torque and, when this occurs, the motor
cannot accelerate upon its full speed but
continues to run at a speed a little lower than
the 1 /7 the synchronous speed.
• This is called CRAWLING.
Harmonic Synchronous Torque
• If the stator and rotor harmonic are of the same
order i.e., having the same number of poles, are
present, the torque will be alternately in opposite
directions as they move past each other.
• Stator produces harmonics of the order of n= 6q
+1
• But if their speeds happen to coincide, they will

lock together, if sufficiently powerful, giving rise
to a synchronous torque. In such case, the motor
would crawl at constant synchronous speed.
Cogging Phenomenon
• Induction motors have a series of slots in the stator and in
the rotor.
• These slots should not be equal in number because if they
are, there is a good chance that the motor will not start at
all due to a characteristic known as cogging.
• The slots will align like a stepper motor.
• For this reason, there are an unequal number of slots in the
rotor and in the stator, but there can still be situations
where the slot frequencies coincide with harmonic
frequencies and this can cause torque modulations.
• The slots are skewed to keep an overlap on all slots to
reduce this problem.
Another Explanation:
• The magnetic circuit has always the tendency to
align itself in a position of minimum reluctance.
Thus, if the number of stator slots is equal to
number of rotor slots, there exists a position of
minimum reluctance, when the rotor teeth and
stator teeth are aligned opposite to each other.
• The radial alignment forces become very strong

when thee machine is at rest and thereby
preventing the motor from starting. This is called
Cogging.
Methods to avoid cogging& crawling
• Hence in order to avoid such bad effects a proper
number of rotor slots are to be selected in relation to
number of stator slots.
• In addition rotor slots will be skewed by one slot
pitch to minimize the tendency of cogging, torque
defects like synchronous hooks and cusps and
noisy operation while running.
• Effect of skewing will slightly increase the rotor
resistance and increases the starting torque.
• However this will increase the leakage reactance and
hence reduces the starting current and power factor.
Rules to avoid these phenomenon
• No. of Stator Slots- No. of rotor Slots

Should not be equal to
0, ±p, ±2p, ±3p, ±5p
±1, ±2, ±(p ±1), ±(p ±2)
1/35

Air Gap

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LENGTH OF AIR GAP

Factors affecting length of air gap

0.15 0.35 0.45 1.3

0.2 0.5 0.55 1.8

0.25 0.6 0.65 2.5

0.3 0.7 0.8 4.0

• But if their speeds happen to coincide, they will

• The radial alignment forces become very strong

• No. of Stator Slots- No. of rotor Slots

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