Ontario, Oregon at the Oregon State University Malheur
Agricultural Experiment Station.
Dr. Otto Smith invented the large high-efficiency
single-phase motor used for irrigation in
Ontario, Oregon at the Oregon State University Malheur
Agricultural Experiment Station.
This revolutionary electrical motor has a low starting
current, a high leading power-factor, and high efficiency. These
desirable features have previously been unavailable in a low-cost single-phase
motor. This unique design makes motors between 10 horsepower and
100 horsepower now practical and easily available for farmers with a single
phase power supply.
Dr. Smith's new motor uses all readily-available components.
The motor itself can be a standard three-phase motor. A control box
contains starting capacitors and running capacitors. The invention
is a method of connecting the capacitors to the motor windings so that
the windings are carrying the same currents that they would if they were
connected to a three-phase supply.
This unique control makes the motor operation single-phase superior to its operation on three-phase. The single-phase starting current is only half as large as the three-phase starting current. The single-phase power-factor is much better than the three-phase power-factor. The high efficiency is the same on single-phase as on three-phase. The farmer saves money by not needing to extend an expensive three-phase power line to his pump or bloweer.
Dr. Otto J.M. Smith is a professor emeritus and the inventor
of the low-frequency sine-function
generator originally manufactured by Hewlett-Packard and now manufactured
and used world-wide. A fellow of both the Institute of Electrical
and Electronic Engineers and the American Association for the Advancement
of Science, Dr. Smith is now the CEO of Smith and Sun®.
© 1997 Smith & Sun®
Contact:
Otto J. M. Smith
(510) 525-9126