PSPICE simulation of a capacitor start and triac start single phase induction motor during steady state and transient operations and its experimental verification Jawad Faiz a, * , A. Jafarian b , M. Neekzad c a Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University Of Tehran, P.O. Box 14395-515, 14395, Tehran, Iran b Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Department of Electrical Power Engineering, Iran University of Science and Technology, 16844, Tehran, Iran c Faculty of Engineering, Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Tabriz, 51664, Tabriz, Iran Received 22 August 2001; accepted 21 January 2002 Abstract This paper presents a procedure to determine a proper firing angle of electronically started single phase induction motors. In addition, the on load induction motor behavior with no load firing angle is investi- gated. Steady state and transient operations of a capacitor start and also a triac start single phase induction motor (TSIM) are simulated using Pspice software. The object of this paper is the determination of a proper firing angle of the triac for a TSIM using a simple control circuit. This angle is determined in such a way that by approaching the steady state, the auxiliary winding is totally disconnected. This study shows that the specifications of the single phase induction motor and its load are the major factors in defining the proper firing angle of the electronic switches used, and it is different for different motors. Experimental results confirm the Pspice simulation results. Ó 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Simulation; Capacitor start single phase induction motor; Triac start single phase induction motor 1. Introduction The single phase induction motor is the most widely used type of ac motors in the world. It is simple, robust and very reliable. Despite all its merits, it is not self-starting. The majority of the Energy Conversion and Management 44 (2003) 479–495 www.elsevier.com/locate/enconman * Corresponding author. Tel.: +98-21-6409774; fax: +98-21-9461024. E-mail address: faiz-j@sofe.ece.ut.ac.ir (J. Faiz). 0196-8904/02/$ - see front matter Ó 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. PII:S0196-8904(02)00055-9