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Copper-Rotor Motors Built, Tested in India
Field Experience Shows Motors Gain Efficiency, Run Cooler |
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India, the world’s second largest emerging energy market (after China), faces a chronic 10% energy shortage C up to 20% during peak periods C while energy use is growing at between 9% and 10% per year.1 The problem is especially felt in rural areas, where 63% of households do not have any electricity at all.2
One step toward meeting this need was taken by the International Copper Promotion Council India, which is supported in part by a grant from an arm of the Small Scale Industries Development Bank of India and funded by the USAID Eco Project. The Council tested copper rotors in motors used for pumping water, one of the country’s leading agricultural uses for electricity. Rotors were cast by a local die-caster (Figures 1 and 2) utilizing technological support from CDA. The company simply substituted copper for aluminum as the conductor-bar material, making no other changes in design or in the configuration of armature laminations. While such direct substitution can improve efficiency, and often does, it isn’t an optimum solution. Tests were conducted by the six Indian manufacturers3 who built the motors, along with several pump fabricators located in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. Additional testing was conducted by SITARC, an engineering laboratory. Tests included the following types of motors, all with both copper and aluminum rotors:
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