Authored by a team of acknowledged experts, this book presents a multidisciplinary view of the state of the art in the field of actuators. The goal of the book is to provide a comprehensive overview of the properties, applications, and potential applications of traditional and unconventional actuators, together with their corresponding power electronics. Special attention is paid to the objective assessment of competing actuator principles. The book is written primarily for designers and engineers in research and development, but will also be valuable as a textbook for students of automation engineering, mechatronics and adaptronics.

The importance of electric motors is well known in the various engineering fields. The book provides comprehensive coverage of the various types of electric motors including d.c. motors, three phase and single phase induction motors, synchronous motors, universal motor, a.c. servomotor, linear induction motor and stepper motors. The book covers all the details of d.c. motors including torque equation, back e.m.f., characteristics, types of starters, speed control methods and applications. The book also covers the various testing methods of d.c. motors such as Swinburne's test, brake test, retardation test, field test and Hopkinson's test. The book further explains the three phase induction motors in detail. It includes the production of rotating magnetic field, construction, working, effect of slip, torque equation, torque ratios, torque-slip characteristics, losses, power flow, equivalent circuit, effect of harmonics on the performance, circle diagram and applications. This chapter also includes the discussion of induction generator. The book teaches the various starting methods and speed control methods of three phase induction motors. The book incorporates the explanation of various single phase induction motors. The chapter on synchronous motor provides the detailed discussion of construction, working principle, behavior on load, analysis of phasor diagram, Vee and Inverted Vee curves, hunting, synchronous condenser and applications. The book also teaches the various special machines such as single phase commutator motors, universal motor, a.c. servomotor, linear induction motor and stepper motors. The book uses plain, lucid language to explain each topic. The book provides the logical method of explaining the various complicated topics and stepwise methods to make the understanding easy. Each chapter is well supported with necessary illustrations, self explanatory diagrams and variety of solved problems. The book explains the philosophy of the subject which makes the understanding of the concepts very clear and makes the subject more interesting.

This book aims to offer a thorough study and reference textbook on electrical machines and drives. The basic idea is to start from the pure electromagnetic principles to derive the equivalent circuits and steady-state equations of the most common electrical machines (in the first parts). Although the book mainly concentrates on rotating field machines, the first two chapters are devoted to transformers and DC commutator machines. The chapter on transformers is included as an introduction to induction and synchronous machines, their electromagnetics and equivalent circuits. Chapters three and four offer an in-depth study of induction and synchronous machines, respectively. Starting from their electromagnetics, steady-state equations and equivalent circuits are derived, from which their basic properties can be deduced. The second part discusses the main power-electronic supplies for electrical drives, for example rectifiers, choppers, cycloconverters and inverters. Much attention is paid to PWM techniques for inverters and the resulting harmonic content in the output waveform. In the third part, electrical drives are discussed, combining the traditional (rotating field and DC commutator) electrical machines treated in the first part and the power electronics of part two. Field orientation of induction and synchronous machines are discussed in detail, as well as direct torque control. In addition, also switched reluctance machines and stepping motors are discussed in the last chapters. Finally, part 4 is devoted to the dynamics of traditional electrical machines. Also for the dynamics of induction and synchronous machine drives, the electromagnetics are used as the starting point to derive the dynamic models. Throughout part 4, much attention is paid to the derivation of analytical models. But, of course, the basic dynamic properties and probable causes of instability of induction and synchronous machine drives are discussed in detail as well, with the derived models for stability in the small as starting point. In addition to the study of the stability in the small, a chapter is devoted to large-scale dynamics as well (e.g. sudden short-circuit of synchronous machines). The textbook is used as the course text for the Bachelor’s and Master’s programme in electrical and mechanical engineering at the Faculty of Engineering and Architecture of Ghent University. Parts 1 and 2 are taught in the basic course ’Fundamentals of Electric Drives’ in the third bachelor. Part 3 is used for the course ’Controlled Electrical Drives’ in the first master, while Part 4 is used in the specialised master on electrical energy.

Annotation A comprehensive guide to the technology underlying drives, motors and control units, this title contains a wealth of technical information for the practising drives and electrical engineer.

This 1951 book was written by designers of polyphase commutator machines for students, and for engineers interested in their application.

Includes preprints of: Transactions of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, ISSN 0096-3860.