Effect of ferrite magnetic wedge on capacitor motor characteristics in triac control

Split-phase capacitor motors are commonly used to drive household electric appliances. The motor has some slots and teeth to embed electric conductors or coils. The presence of the slots and teeth induces the variation of magnetic reluctance through the magnetic circuit to introduce heavy pulsation of the air gap flux. Thus, the voltage, current and torque of the motor become oscillative to increase the electric power loss and finally to reduce the motor efficiency. First, the authors discuss the characteristics of a 3-phase cage-type induction motor in which the ferrite magnetic wedges have been installed into the stator slot openings of the motor to smooth the air gap flux pulsation and to decrease the electric power loss, resulting in improved motor efficiency. If the motor is driven by the voltage source in accordance with the loading condition, more economical operation will be achieved. In this study, a nonsinusoidal voltage controlled by the switching element of a triac has been applied to a capacitor motor with wedges of ferrite magnetic materials. This paper reports on the interesting results obtained.