Chapter: 1

Introduction to Machine Design

Introduction
• An electric machine is an electromechanical device
that comprises the stationary and moving parts
combined together to generate, transform or utilize
the mechanical/electrical energy.
• Design is defined as a creative physical realization
of theoretical concepts.
• Engineering design is the application of science,
technology and invention to produce machines to
perform specified tasks with optimum economy
and efficiency.
Major considerations in Electrical Machine Design
• The basic design of an electrical machine involves the dimensioning
of the magnetic circuit, electrical circuit, insulation system etc., and is
carried out by applying analytical equations.
• A design should ensure that the products perform in accordance with
the requirements at higher efficiency, lower weight of material for
the desired output, lower temperature rise and lower cost. Also they
are to be reliable and durable.
• Therefore, the factors for consideration in the design are,
1. Magnetic circuit or the flux path: Should establish required amount
of flux using minimum MMF. The core losses should be less.
2. Electric circuit or windings: Should ensure required EMF is induced
with no complexity in winding arrangement. The copper losses
should be less.
3. Insulation: Should ensure trouble free separation of machine parts
operating at different potential and confine the current in the
prescribed paths.
4. Cooling system or ventilation: Should ensure that
the machine operates at the specified temperature.
5. Machine parts: Should be
• Robust
• Costly
• Durability
• Compliance with performance criteria as laid down
in specifications.
• Compliance with the performance specification
and consumer requirements.
• Maintenance and repairs
• Environmental conditions etc
Limitations in design:
The materials used for the machine and others such as cooling etc.,
imposes a limitation in design. The limitations stem from saturation of
iron, current density in conductors, temperature, insulation, mechanical
properties, efficiency, power factor etc.
a. Saturation: Higher flux density reduces the volume of iron but
drives the iron to operate beyond knee of the magnetization curve
or in the region of saturation. Saturation of iron poses a limitation
on account of increased core loss and excessive excitation required
to establish a desired value of flux. It also introduces harmonics.
b. Current density: Higher current density reduces the volume of
copper but increases the losses and temperature.
c. Temperature: poses a limitation on account of possible damage to
insulation and other materials.
d. Insulation (which is both mechanically and electrically weak):
poses a limitation on account of breakdown by excessive voltage
gradient, mechanical forces or heat.
d. Mechanical strength of the materials poses a limitation
particularly in case of large and high speed machines.
e. High efficiency and high power factor poses a limitation
on account of higher capital cost. (A low value of efficiency
and power factor on the other hand results in a high
maintenance cost).
f. Mechanical Commutation in dc motors or generators
leads to poor commutation. Apart from the above factors
Consumer, manufacturer or standard specifications may pose
a limitation.
g. Standard specifications This specifications are the
biggest strain on the design because both the manufacturer
as well as the consumer cannot get away from them without
satisfying them.
Classification of design problems of electrical
machines
• Electromagnetic design
• Mechanical design
• Thermal Design
• Dielectric design
Modern trends in design of electrical machines
• Design is both a science and art. A science because it follows established and
universally accepted physical and mathematical principal which have been
verified by experimental method and Art because the knowledge is just not
sufficient to produce good and economically viable design.
• Design consists essentially of the solution of many complex and diverse
engineering problem which are closely interrelated
• Design primarily required the choose of principle construction schemes
appropriate to the desired machine function and performance and types of
construction of basic machine parts. Preliminary iy=t is required to choose
cooling system, ventilation, insulation, material types enclosure and manymore.
• Machine designer design a machine with a number of known parameters like
electromagnetic and construction data and perform series of mathematical
operation with logical decision if required with acceptable solution.
• Overall design process needs specification requirement with along machine
dimension and other information required for the manufacture of both static and
rotating machine, which are to be considered in single engineering problem or
interconnected problems.
• Design of a electrical machine is design of number of machine which
may form single system.eg, generator motor transformer are
interconnected upon each other. Thus, a single machine cannot be made
isolated. Thus, optimization should be considered to thus whole
interconnected system.
• Optimal solution involves iteration wherein values of variable are
changed to satisfy both performance and cost constraints.
• The evolution of design to meet specified optimum criteria is a matter of
long and tedious iteration and this facts has led to application of fast
digital computers for design.
• Computer added design CAD eliminates tedious and time consuming
calculation and provide physical and logical ideas to accelerates the
work design.
• The computer aided design eliminates the tedious and time consuming
hand calculations thereby releasing the designer from numerical
drudgery to enable time to grapple with physical and logical ideas
thereby accelerating the design process. The use of computer makes
possible more trial designs and enables sophisticated calculations to be
• Recent Trends in Electric Machines are neural
networks, Artificial Intelligence, expert system,
fibre communications and integrated electronics,
hot superconductors and other new ceramic
conducting and dielectric materials, magnetic
levitation etc. should help young electrical
engineers to develop newer, cheaper and more
effective electrical energy converters and their
controllers.
• With today’s systems, if the machine goes down
one can via modem, have a technician at a remote
site use system diagnostics software to troubleshoot
the entire system from anywhere in the world.
Manufacturing techniques
• Due to increased generation and utilization of electrical power day
by day continues to necessitate a great need of variety of electrical
machine over a wide range of power outputs.
• The growing needs have to be met by continuously expanding
electrical machine manufacturing industry applying modern
manufacturing techniques.
1. Modern electrical machine is characterized by a very wide range of
power outputs. The power varies from fraction of watt to several
hundreds of megawatt in a single units.
The rotational speed is also very wide ranged few revolutions per
second to several thousand revolution per second.
The large varied field application and wide range of both power output
and rotational speed leds to manufacturing a variety of types of
construction.
Thus classification are made depend upon power output and also
rotational speed.
• Based on power output
- Small size machine: upto 750Watt
- Medium size machine: few kilowatt to 250kW.
- Large size machine: ranged from 250kW to 5000kW
- Larger size machine: machine manufactured on special order to meet
specific demand and power output hundred of megawatt.
• Based on operating speed
- Low speed machine: below 250 rpm
- Medium speed machine:
- High speed machine: 3000 rpm and above
2. Second important features is to build machine which are smaller in size
and therefore involve use of less material and at the same time have same
efficiency and overload capacity with good overall performance and
technical advancement in reducing losses, cooling system and ventilation
system etc,.
3. Third important features is to build machine which use magnetic material
having high permeability. Also, permit high flux density thus reduced size.
4. Improvement in insulating material which withstand
higher temperature.
5. Use of higher electromagnetic loading and mechanical
loading.
6. Should ensure that the products perform in accordance
with the requirements at higher efficiency, lower weight of
material for the desired output, lower temperature rise and
lower cost. Also they are to be reliable and durable.
Basic principles used in electrical machine
• An electrical machine is an device based on electro-
magnetic principal.
• The action of electromagnetic machine can be related to the
three basic principal which are:
- Induction
- Interaction
- Alignment
1. Faradays laws of electromagnetic induction
Faraday's laws of of electromagnetic induction explains the
relationship between electric circuit and magnetic field.
Faraday’s Laws of Electromagnetic Induction consists of two
laws. The first law describes the induction of emf in a
conductor and the second law quantifies the emf produced in
the conductor.
• Faraday's First Law: Whenever a conductor is placed in a varying magnetic field
an EMF gets induced across the conductor (called as induced emf), and if the
conductor is a closed circuit then induced current flows through it.
Magnetic field can be varied by various methods -
1. By moving magnet
2. By moving the coil
3. By rotating the coil relative to magnetic field.
• Faraday's second law of electromagnetic induction states that, the magnitude
of induced emf is equal to the rate of change of flux linkages with the coil. The
flux linkages is the product of number of turns and the flux associated with the
coil.
E=N
Considering Lenz’s Law
E=-N
This change in flux can be obtained in two different ways; that is by statically or
by dynamically induced emf.
Statically Induced emf: change of flux produced by the field system linking with the
coil is obtained by changing the electric current in the field system.
Dynamically induced emf: magnetic field system is kept stationary, and the
conductor is moving, or the magnetic field system is moving, and the conductor is
stationary.
Biot Savart law: This law gives value of force produced on account of
interaction between a magnetic field and a current carrying conductor.
• When a wire carrying a current is placed in a magnetic field the wire
experiences a force due to the interaction between the field and the
moving charges in the wire.

• The force F on a conductor carrying current I in a magnetic field with

flux density B is defined by the equation
F = BIL sin θ
Where:
– F = magnetic force on the current-carrying conductor (N)
– B = magnetic flux density of external magnetic field (T)
– I = current in the conductor (A)
– L = length of the conductor in the field (m)
– θ = angle between the conductor and external flux lines (degrees)
• The maximum force occurs when sin θ = 1
– This means θ = 90o and the conductor is perpendicular to the B
field
– This equation for the magnetic force now becomes:
F = BIL
It is used to determine force between two parallel current carrying
conductors

The magnitude of the force acting between two parallel current

carrying conductors is calculated using F=
• Aligment: if a magnetic field exist in an ambient
low permeability medium like air and if a piece of
high permeability material is placed in the field,
the latter experience a force which tries to align
it with the direction of field such a way that it
occupies a position of minimum reluctance.
 Chapter 2
Electrical Engineering Material
Introduction
• The main material characteristics of relevance to
electrical machines are those associated with
conductors for electric circuit, the insulation
system necessary to isolate the circuits, and with
the specialized steels and permanent magnets
used for the magnetic circuit.
• Material used for electrical material is divided into
two types:
a) High conductive material
b) High Resistivity material/(insulator and alloys
used for making resistance and heating devices)
High conductivity materials
• This type of materials used for making all types of windings required in
electrical machines, apparatus and devices. Also used for transmission and
distribution of electric energy.
• This materials having least (resistance) resistivity.
• Commonly used conducting materials are copper and aluminium.
• Some of the desirable properties a good conductor should possess are listed
below.
- Highest possible conductivity (least resistivity)
- Least possible temperature coefficient of resistance
- Adequate mechanical strength in particular, high tensile strength and elongation
characteristising to a certain degree of the flexibility i.e. absence of brittleness .
- Rollability and drawability which is important in the manufacture of wire of
small and intricate sections.
- Good welability and solderability which ensure high reliability and low
electrical resistance of the joints.
- High resistance to corrosion.
- High melting point
- Durable and cheap by cost
High conductivity Materials
• Copper, Aluminium, Iron and steel, Alloys of copper
Copper
Copper is the most widely used electrical conductor.
Properties of copper
1. High electrical conductivity with excellent mechanical properties.
2. Relative immunity from oxidation and corrosion under service condition.
3. It is highly malleable and ductile metals.
Aluminium
Aluminium is joining ever increasing applications for a number of economic and engineering
reasons. The high demand for conductor materials which cannot be met by copper production
alone. Therefore ,aluminium which is the conductor materials next to copper is used. Pure
aluminium is softer than copper, therefore can be rolled into thin sheets (foils)
Iron and Steel
Steel alloyed with chromium and aluminium is used for making starters, Rheostats where
lightness combined with robustness and good heat dissipation are important considerations.
Cast iron is used in the manufacture of resistance grids to be used in the starters of large
motors.
Alloys of copper
4. Bronze (cadmium ,beryllium)
5. Brass
Comparision properties of copper and aluminium
• For the same resistance and length, cross-sectional area of
aluminium is 61% larger than that of the copper conductor and
almost 50% lighter than copper. Though the aluminium reduces the
cost of small capacity transformers, it increases the size and cost of
large capacity transformers. Aluminium is being much used now a
day’s only because copper is expensive and not easily available.
Aluminium is almost 50% cheaper than Copper and not much
superior to copper.
Q. Show that current rating of machine using aluminium conductor is
0.78 times that of a machine using copper conductor.
=
High resistivity materials
Conductors of high resistance are used where it is
actually desired to dissipates electrical energy as heat.
i.e. In starting and regulating devices for motors. Eg.
1. Nickel – standard resistance and resistance boxes
2. Silver - rheostats
3. Iron - making high temperature elements for electric
furnaces heating devices and loading Rheostats.
Electrical carbon materials
Electrical carbon materials are manufactured from
graphite and other forms of carbon coal. Used for
making brushes for electrical machines
Insulating materials
To avoid any electrical activity between parts at different potentials, insulation
is used. An ideal insulating material should possess the following properties.
1) Should have high dielectric strength.
2) Should with stand high temperature.
3) Should have good thermal conductivity
4) Should not undergo thermal oxidation
5) Should not deteriorate due to higher temperature and repeated heat cycle
6) Should have high value of resistivity ( like 1018 cm)
7) Should not consume any power or should have a low dielectric loss angle
8) Should withstand stresses due to centrifugal forces ( as in rotating
machines), electro dynamic or mechanical forces ( as in transformers)
9) Should withstand vibration, abrasion, bending
10) Should not absorb moisture
11) Should be flexible and cheap
12) Liquid insulators should not evaporate or volatilize
• Insulating materials can be classified as Solid, Liquid and Gas, and
vacuum. The term insulting material is sometimes used in a broader
sense to designate also insulating liquids, gas and vacuum.
Solid: Used with field, armature, transformer windings etc. The examples
are:
1) Fibrous or inorganic animal or plant origin, natural or synthetic paper,
wood, card board, cotton, jute, silk etc., rayon, nylon, terelane,
asbestos, fiber glass etc.,
2) Plastic or resins. Natural resins-lac, amber, shellac etc., Synthetic
resins-phenol formaldehyde, melamine, polyesters, epoxy, silicon
resins, bakelite, Teflon, PVC etc
3) Rubber : natural rubber, synthetic rubber-butadiene, silicone rubber,
hypalon, etc.,
4) Mineral : mica, marble, slate, talc chloride etc.,
5) Ceramic : porcelain, steatite, alumina etc.,
6) Glass : soda lime glass, silica glass, lead glass, borosilicate glass
7) Non-resinous : mineral waxes, asphalt, bitumen, chlorinated
Liquid: Used in transformers, circuit breakers, reactors, rheostats,
cables, capacitors etc., & for impregnation. The examples are:
1) Mineral oil (petroleum by product)
2) Synthetic oil askarels, pyranols etc.,
3) Varnish, French polish, lacquer epoxy resin etc.,
Gaseous: The examples are:
4) Air used in switches, air condensers, transmission and distribution
lines etc.,
5) Nitrogen use in capacitors, HV gas pressure cables etc.,
6) Hydrogen though not used as a dielectric, generally used as a coolant
7) Inert gases neon, argon, mercury and sodium vapors generally used
for neon sign lamps.
8) Halogens like fluorine, used under high pressure in cables

No insulating material in practice satisfies all the desirable properties.

Therefore a material which satisfies most of the desirable properties
must be selected.
Classification of insulating materials based on thermal consideration
Effect of temperature on insulating material/insulation ageing
• Insulation in service is exposed to high temperature, high voltage, vibration and
other mechanical forces, as well as some adverse environmental conditions. These
stresses can act together or individually to degrade insulation materials or systems.
Thermal ageing of insulating material due to high temperatures has been studied
the most and is perhaps best understood. Insulation is the weakest element against
heat and is a critical factor in deciding the life of electrical equipment.
• The maximum operating temperatures prescribed for different class of 7 insulation
are for a healthy lifetime of 20,000 hours.
• The height temperature permitted for the machine parts is usually about 2000C at
the maximum. Exceeding the maximum operating temperature will affect the life
of the insulation.
• As a rule of thumb, the lifetime of the winding insulation will be reduced by half
for every 10 ºC rise in temperature. The present day trend is to design the machine
using class F insulation for class B temperature rise.
• In order to ensure reliable and satisfactory operation of an machine the heating of
every parts must be controlled within definite limits.
• There is always a safe maximum temperature to which particular insulating
material can be subjected to without its effectiveness and as the temperature rise in
a machine depends the losses which in turn depend upon output of the machine.
• Consider following example for illustrating importance
of temperature rise
The life of class A insulating material can be expressed by
empirical formula,
Tlife = 72*103 exp [-0.09 Θ]
where, Tlife = life of insulating material in year
Θ = maximum temperature to which the material can be
continuously subjected , degree centigrade oC.
• Thus, if it is operated at Θ= 90oC , it can safely operate
for about 22 years but its life span would cut down to
approximately half(11.6 years) if the maximum
temperature is raised to 97oC.
The life time is cut down to about 36 days when operated
at 150oC and to about 10 hours if operated at 200oC.
• Figure shows relationship between temperature and life of
class A insulating material.

• Thus, if we operate machine above operating temperature

reduce life span.
• Temperature rise in a machine can be kept within safe
limits by properly designing its ventilating system.
Magnetic materials
The magnetic properties of a magnetic material depend on the orientation
of the crystals of the material and decide the size of the machine or
equipment for a given rating, excitation required, efficiency of operation
etc. . The some of the properties that a good magnetic material should
possess are listed below.
I. Low reluctance or should be highly permeable or should have a high
value of relative permeability μr.
II. High saturation induction (to minimize weight and volume of iron
parts)
III. High electrical resistivity so that the eddy EMF and the hence eddy
current loss is less
IV. Narrow hysteresis loop or low Coercivity so that hysteresis loss is less
and efficiency of operation is high
V. A high curie point. (Above Curie point or temperature the material
loses the magnetic property or becomes paramagnetic, that is
effectively non-magnetic)
VI. Should have a high value of energy product (expressed in joules / m3).
Classification of Magnetic materials
1. Ferromagnetic materials
2. Paramagnetic materials
3. Diamagnetic materials
Only ferromagnetic materials have properties that are well suitable for
electrical machines. Ferromagnetic properties are confined almost
entirely to iron, nickel and cobalt and their alloys. The only exceptions
are some alloys of manganese and some of the rare earth elements.
The relative permeability of ferromagnetic material is far greater than
1.0. When ferromagnetic materials are subjected to the magnetic field,
the dipoles align themselves in the direction of the applied field and
get strongly magnetized. Further the
Ferromagnetic materials can be classified as Hard or Permanent
Magnetic materials and Soft Magnetic materials.
4. Soft magnetic materials
5. Hard magnetic materials
Soft magnetic materials :
The hysteresis loss depends upon the area of hysteresis loop. For this
reason, magnetic cores used in alternating magnetic fields are made from
materials whose hysteresis loop are more or less narrow. Soft magnetic
materials have small size hysteresis loop and a steep magnetization curve
Soft magnetic materials are used in the manufacture of Electrical
machines, Transformers , Electrical apparatus, Instruments and devices
Ex: i) cast iron, cast steel, rolled steel, forged steel etc., (in the solid
form). Generally used for yokes poles of dc machines, rotors of turbo
alternator etc., where steady or dc flux is involved.
ii) Silicon steel (Iron + 0.3 to 4.5% silicon) in the laminated form.
Addition of silicon in proper percentage eliminates ageing & reduce core
loss. Low silicon content steel or dynamo grade steel is used in rotating
electrical machines and are operated at high flux density. High content
silicon steel (4 to 5% silicon) or transformer grade steel (or high
resistance steel) is used in transformers
• Soft magnetic materials is further classified as:
a. Solid core materials: These materials are normally used for parts of
magnetic circuits carrying steady flux such as cores of DC electromagnets,
relays and field frames of DC machines.
b. Electrical sheet and strip : Further sheet steel may be hot or cold rolled.
Hot rolled steel is steel that has been rolled at high temperatures, while cold
rolled steel is essentially hot rolled steel that is further processed in cold
reduction materials. Here, the material is cooled followed by annealing
and/or tempers rolling Cold rolled grain oriented steel (CRGOS) is costlier
and superior to hot rolled. CRGO steel is generally used in transformers.
c. Special purpose alloys: Nickel iron alloys have high permeability and
addition of molybdenum or chromium leads to improved magnetic
material. Nickel with iron in different proportion leads to
i. Permalloys-
 Low nickel permalloys: (iron +silicon +chromium or manganese),
used in transformers, induction coils, chokes etc
 High nickel permalloys: (iron +molybdenum +copper or chromium),
used in current transformers, magnetic amplifiers etc.,
ii. Mumetal: (Copper + iron)
Hard magnetic materials:
They have large size hysteresis loop (obviously
hysteresis loss is more) and gradually rising
magnetization curve. These materials are used in
certain types of electrical machines of low power
rating and in all kinds of instruments and devices
requiring permanent magnetic which set up magnetic
fields of their own.
Ex: carbon steel, tungsten steal, cobalt steel, alnico,
hard ferrite etc.
Characteristic of ferromagnetic material
• Only ferromagnetic materials have properties that are well suitable for
electrical machines. Ferromagnetic materials are those materials
which exhibit a spontaneous net magnetization at the atomic level,
even in the absence of an external magnetic field.

• Ferromagnetic materials are a certain group of substances that tend to

manifest or display strong magnetism in the direction of the field due
to the application of a magnetic field. The cause of magnetism in
these materials is mainly due to the alignment patterns of their
constituent atoms. Common examples of ferromagnetic substances
are Iron, Cobalt, Nickel, etc. Besides, metallic alloys and rare earth
magnets are also classified as ferromagnetic materials.
Ferromagnetic materials have following properties
• In ferromagnetic materials, the magnetic lines of forces due to the applied
magnetic field are strongly attracted towards the material.
• All ferromagnetic materials become paramagnetic above a temperature
called Curie temperature Tc
• Permeability is greater than 1.
• Magnetic susceptibility is large and positive.
• Magnetic susceptibility decreases with the rise in temperature.
• Ferromagnetism is the property of a material to be strongly attracted to a
magnetic field and to become a powerful magnet.
• The source of ferromagnetism is the spin of the electrons.
• Ferromagnetic materials like Fe, Co, Ni, have incomplete inner shells.
These shells can be completed by using Hund’s rule.
• When the specimen of a ferromagnetic material is magnetized by gradually
increasing the magnetising fields, then the change of magnetic flux through
the material is not continuous but in small discrete steps. Along the steep
portion of the M-H magnetization curve, the discontinuous rotation of the
magnetic domains give rise to Barkhauszen effect.