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SSN College of Engineering

( An Autonomous Institution, Affiliated to Anna University)
Academic Year -2022-23
Department of EEE
Class : II Year /IV Sem EEE A
UEE 2401-Electrical Machines-I
Course Instructor-Dr.R.Deepalaxmi, Asso.Prof/EEE, SSNCE
Unit-III DC motor
Starters of DC motor
Three point starter
Four point starter
Two point starter
1. Three point starter (shunt motor)
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Construction of a Three Point Starter

• Construction wise a starter is a variable resistance, integrated into number of
sections.
• The contact points of these sections are called studs and are shown separately
as OFF, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, RUN.
• Other than that there are 3 main points, referred to as 'L' Line terminal. (Connected
to positive of supply.)
• 'A' Armature terminal. (Connected to the armature winding.)
• 'F' Field terminal. (Connected to the field winding.)
And from there it gets the name 3 point starter.
• The point 'L' is connected to an electromagnet called overload release (OLR) as
shown in the figure.
• The other end of 'OLR' is connected to the lower end of conducting lever of starter
handle where a spring is also attached with it and the starter handle also contains a
soft iron piece housed on it.
• This handle is free to move to the other side RUN against the force of the spring.
• This spring brings back the handle to its original OFF position under the influence
of its own force.
• Another parallel path is derived from the stud '1', given to the another
electromagnet called No Volt Coil (NVC) which is further connected to terminal
'F'.
• The starting resistance at starting is entirely in series with the armature.
• The OLR and NVC acts as the two protecting devices of the starter.
Working of a Three Point Starter
• To start with the handle is in the OFF position when the supply to the DC motor is
switched on.
• Then handle is slowly moved against the spring force to make a contact with stud
No. 1. At this point, field winding of the shunt or the compound motor gets supply
through the parallel path provided to starting resistance, through No Voltage Coil.
• While entire starting resistance comes in series with the armature.
• The high starting armature current thus gets limited as the current equation at this
stage becomes Ia = E/(Ra+Rst).
• As the handle is moved further, it goes on making contact with studs 2, 3, 4 etc.,
thus gradually cutting off the series resistance from the armature circuit as the
motor gathers speed. Finally when the starter handle is in 'RUN' position, the
entire starting resistance is eliminated and the motor runs with normal speed.
• This is because back emf is developed consequently with speed to counter the
supply voltage and reduce the armature current.
• So the external electrical resistance is not required anymore, and is removed for
optimum operation.
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• The handle is moved manually from OFF to the RUN position with development
of speed.
Now the question is once the handle is taken to the RUN position how is it
supposed to stay there, as long as motor is running ?
• The supply to the field winding is derived through no voltage coil. So when field
current flows, the NVC is magnetized.
• Now when the handle is in the 'RUN' position, soft iron piece connected to the
handle and gets attracted by the magnetic force produced by NVC, because of flow
of current through it.
• The NVC is designed in such a way that it holds the handle in 'RUN' position
against the force of the spring as long as supply is given to the motor.
• Thus NVC holds the handle in the 'RUN' position and hence also called hold on
coil.
• Now when there is any kind of supply failure, the current flow through NVC is
affected and it immediately looses its magnetic property and is unable to keep the
soft iron piece on the handle, attracted.
• At this point under the action of the spring force, the handle comes back to OFF
position, opening the circuit and thus switching off the motor.
• So due to the combination of NVC and the spring, the starter handle always comes
back to OFF position whenever there is any supply problems.
• Thus it also acts as a protective device safeguarding the motor from any kind of
abnormality.
Drawbacks of a Three Point Starter
• The 3 point starter suffers from a serious drawback for motors with large
variation of speed by adjustment of the field rheostat.
• To increase the speed of the motor, field resistance can be increased. Therefore
current through shunt field is reduced.
• Field current becomes very low which results in holding electromagnet too weak to
overcome the force exerted by the spring. The holding magnet may release the arm
of the starter during the normal operation of the motor and thus disconnect the
motor from the line. This is not desirable. A four point starter is thus used.
• A three-point starter may not be suitable where a large field current adjustment by
using a field regulator is needed.
• This may cause weakening of the field current to such an extent that the hold-on
electromagnet may not be able to keep the starter arm in the ON position.
• This may therefore disconnect the motor from the supply when it is not desired.
Such a problem is overcome by using a four-point starter.
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2, Four point starter ( compound motor)

• A 4 Point Starter is almost similar in functional characteristics like 3 Point Starter.
• In the absence of back EMF, the 4 Point Starter acts as a current limiting device
while starting of the DC motor.
• 4 Point Starter also acts a protecting device.
• The basic difference in 4 Point Starter as compared to 3 Point Starter is that in this
a holding coil is removed from the shunt field circuit.
• This coil after removing is connected across the line in series with a current
limiting resistance R.
• The studs are the contact points of the resistance represented by 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 in the
figure below.

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• The above arrangement forms three parallel circuits.
They are as follows:-
• Armature, starting the resistance and the shunt field winding.
• A variable resistance and the shunt field winding.
• Holding coil and the current limiting resistance.
• With the above three arrangements of the circuit, there will be no effect on the
current through the holding coil if there is any variation in speed of the motor or
any change in field current of the motor.
• This is because the two circuits are independent of each other.
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Drawback of the 4 point starter

• The only limitation or the drawback of the 4 point starter is that it cannot limit or
control the high current speed of the motor.
• If the field winding of the motor gets opened under the running condition, the field
current automatically reduces to zero.
• But as some of the residual flux is still present in the motor, and we know that the
flux is directly proportional to the speed of the motor.
• Therefore, the speed of the motor increases drastically, which is dangerous and
thus protection is not possible.
• This sudden increase in the speed of the motor is known as High-Speed Action of
the Motor.
• Now a days automatic push button starters are also used.
• In the automatic starters, the ON push button is pressed to connect the current
limiting starting resistors in series with the armature circuit.
• As soon as the full line voltage is available to the armature circuit, this resistor is
gradually disconnected by an automatic controlling arrangement.
• The circuit is disconnected when the OFF button is pressed.
• Automatic starter circuits have been developed using electromagnetic contactors
and time delay relays.
• The main advantage of the automatic starter is that it enables even the
inexperienced operator to start and stop the motor without any difficulty.

3, Two Point starter ( Series motor)

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• A two-point starter is used for starting dc motor which has the problem of over-
speeding due to loss of load from its shaft.
• Here for starting the motor, the control arm is moved clockwise from its OFF
position to the ON position against the spring tension.
• The control arm is held in the ON position by an electromagnet.
• The hold-on electromagnet is connected in series with the armature circuit.
• If the motor losses its load, current decreases and hence the strength of the
electromagnet also decreases.
• The control arm returns to the OFF position due to spring tension, this preventing
the motor from overspending.
• The starter arm also returns to the OFF-position when the supply voltage decreases
appreciably.
• L and F are two points of the starter which are connected with the supply and
motor terminals.

Assessment questions:

1. What is the need for starters for starting a d.c. machine?

2. Mention the various types of D.C. motor starters.
3. Draw the construction of three point starter with a neat diagram also explain
its operation.
4. Mention the drawbacks of three-point starter.
5. Draw the construction of four point starter with a neat diagram also explain
its operation.
6. Mention the drawbacks of four-point starter
7. Draw the construction of two-point starter with a neat diagram also explain
its operation.
8. What are the various protective coils present in the starter?
9. Among three point and four point starters which is the best one? Justify
10.Write about no volt release (NVR) protection in DC motor starter.
11.Write about overload release (OLR) protection in DC motor starter.