A Novel Induction Motor Soft Starter Based on Magnetically Controlled Reactor

The most widely used method for the starting of large medium-voltage (MV) induction motors is reduced-voltage starting. This paper introduces a novel reduced-voltage soft starting device which is based on the magnetically controlled reactor (MCR). At starting, three single-phase MCRs are in series with the stator winding of the motor to reduce inrush current and keep the starting current constant at preset value by adjusting the reactance of the MCRs. The proposed approach has been verified on a 10 kV, 5500 kW soft starter based on the MCRs