How Does Low Voltage Affect Induction Motor Performance?

[manche]

I have got an 1HP induction motor rated at 230V(line), 60Hz. If I run it at 185V(line) at 65Hz, what factors are affected in its performance?

I am hoping for your expert advices..

 

[Averagesupernova]

If this is a single phase motor it may have starting issues and will have less torque in general regardless of single or 3 phase. I believe wiki has some good stuff on variable frequency drives. You will likely get some good ideas from there.

 

[dlgoff]

At this lower voltage, you might start to see the motor getting a little warmer than if it were running at the rated voltage. It's probably not going to be enough difference to cause too much concern however I would want to try it to see. What is your application?
For induction motors, as Averagesupernova says, it might have a little trouble starting. Again you can try it to see.
Here's a Wikipedia page explaining how slip effects induction motor speed.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Induction_motor"

Welcome to PF

 

[uart]

By my cacluations you'll be running about 74% flux density, get about 60% peak torque and as little as 54% starting torque.

 

[manche]

I see that lower voltage means not so good performance.

My confusion is, if that is the case, why constant v-f is so popular. I will make my confusion clearer.
For V-f, inverter is used to generate three phases. Inverter is fed by DC bus voltage which itself is rectified from supply voltage.
Here is the problem,(step by step)
-if supply voltage is 208V line,dc bus is 294V. (using three phase bridge rectifier)
-Since max. phase voltage (from inverter) is only 0.5Vdc (about 150Vdc)
-So,the motor driven at 208V directly is now only driven at sqrt(3)*150V/sqrt(2)=184Vrms
line voltage.
-Since all other V's and f's for const v-f is scaled from 184Vrms, all other values are skewed
in their performances too.

I went through different VFD for v-f, and almost all uses same scheme. Am I missing something here?

 

[dlgoff]

I'm not sure what you are asking here, but the general rule is to maintain a voltage to frequency ratio (V/f) to maintain the motors rated torque (230/60 in this case). So you can speed up or slow down the motor while keeping the torque constant. If you want to decrease its toruqe, reduce the V/f ratio.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variable_Frequency_Drive"

 

[gboggs]

By my cacluations you'll be running about 74% flux density, get about 60% peak torque and as little as 54% starting torque.

Can you please explain or show your calculations for this? I have an induction motor that is nominally 400V 50Hz and I would like to know how its torque changes when running at 400V 60Hz. Thanks.