Design and Development of Capacitor Run Split-Phase Fan Motor for Higher Efficacy

Abstract

This article presents the design and development of the permanent capacitor split-phase ceiling fan motor with enhanced air delivery per unit power consumption. An existing single-phase induction motor ceiling fan is taken as a reference, and experimental performance is validated against finite element analysis (FEA). One factor at a time or monothetic analysis for existing lamination with turns in both the windings, a permanent capacitor connected in series with the auxiliary winding, an air gap length, stack length as parameters, and different loading is carried out in detail. Design modifications are proposed in stator lamination, and rigorous series of simulations are carried out. Two new motors are designed and prototyped for performance improvement, keeping the outer diameter of the motor same as an existing motor. The overall saturation of the motor is reduced by modifying the slot profile of the winding slots and increasing the overall volume of the motor. The designed motors are analyzed using FEA, and prototypes are tested for electrical performance and air delivery as per IS 374 standard. Both the results of prototypes show significant improvement in the power consumption and the air delivery with blades of an existing fan justifying the commercial viability of the improved design.