【正文】 ed voltage methods are intended to reduce the impact of motor starting current on the power system by controlling the voltage that the motor sees at the terminals. It is very important to know the characteristics of the load to be started when considering any form of reduced voltage starting. The motor manufacturer will need to have the speed torque curve and the inertia of the driven equipment when they validate their design. The curve can be built from an initial, or break away torque, as few as four other data points through the speed range, and the full speed torque for the starting condition. A centrifugal or square curve can be assumed in many cases, but there are some applications where this would be problematic. An example would be screw pressors which have a much higher torque requirement at lower speeds than the more mon centrifugal or fan load. See Fig. 3. By understanding the details of the load to be started the manufacturer can make sure that the motor will be able to generate sufficient torque to start the load, with the starting method that is chosen. A. Autotransformer The motor leads are connected to the lower voltage side of the transformer. The most mon taps that are used are 80%, 65%, and 50%. At 50% voltage the current on the primary is 25% of the full voltage locked rotor amps. The motor is started with this reduced voltage, and then after a preset condition is reached the connection is switched to line voltage. This condition could be a preset time, current level, bus volts, or motor speed. The change over can be done in either a closed circuit transition, or an open circuit transition method. In the open circuit method the connection to the voltage is severed as it is changed from the reduced voltage to the line level. Care should be used to make sure that there will not be problems from transients due to the switching. This potential problem can be eliminated by using the closed circuit transition. With the closed circuit method there is a continuous Voltage applied to the motor. Another benefit with the autotransformer starting is in possible lower vibration and noise levels during starting. Since the torque generated by the motor will vary as the square of the applied voltage, great care should be taken to make sure that there will be sufficient accelerating torque available from the motor. A speed torque curve for the driven equipment along with the inertia should be used to verify the design of the motor. A good rule of thumb is to have a minimum of 10% of the rated full load torque of the \ 5 motor as a margin at all points of the curve. Additionally, the acceleration time should be evaluated to make sure that the motor has sufficient thermal capacity to handle the heat generated due to the longer acceleration time. B. Solid State or Soft Starting These devices utilize silicon controlled rectifiers or Scars. By controlling the firing angle of the SCR the voltage that the device produces can be controlled during the starting of the motor by limiting the flow of power for only part of the duration of the sine wave. The most widely used type of soft starter is the current limiting type. A current limit of 175% to 500% of full load current is programmed in to the device. It then will ramp up the voltage applied to the motor until it reaches the limit value, and will then hold that current as the motor accelerates. Tachometers can be used with solid state starters to control acceleration time. Voltage output is adjusted as required by the starter controller to provide a constant rate of acceleration. The same precautions in regards to starting torque should be followed for the soft starters as with the other reduced voltage starting methods. Another problem due to the firing angle of the SCR is that the motor could experience harmonic oscillating torques. Depending on the driven equipment, this could lead to exciting the natural frequency of the system. C. Adjustable Frequency Drives This type of device gives the greatest overall control and flexibility in starting induction motors giving the most torque for an amount of current. It is also the most costly. The drive varies not only the voltage level, but also the frequency, to allow the motor to operate on a constant volt per hertz level. This allows the motor to generate full load torque throughout a large speed range, up to 10:1. During starting, 150% of rated current is typical. This allows a significant reduction in the power required to start a