Start-Up Performance Prediction of Line-Fed Solid-Rotor Salient-Pole Synchronous Motors

Solid rotor synchronous motors are widely used in the Oil&Gas industry, because of their mechanical robustness and self-starting capability. The starting performance calculation for these machines is a challenging task. In this paper the specific case of a solid salient pole motor rated 17.5 MW at 1500 rpm is addressed. A simplified but accurate method is proposed and validated experimentally to predict the motor current and torque during direct-on-line (DOL) starting. The proposed methodology combines Finite Element Analysis (FEA) with a lumped-parameter machine model to obtain the best compromise between accuracy and computational efficiency.