DC Motor Operation 

By on

Coils of wire on the rotor carry a d.c. current which generates a magnetic field. A stator magnetic field is created using either permanent magnets or electrical field windings.

Any current-carrying conductor placed within an external magnetic field experiences a force. Torque is produced in the motor by this mechanism.

As a d.c current provides a constant magnetic field, this needs to change each half revolution and is called commutation. Commutation is typically accomplished by metal brushes against the contacts. Where a field winding is used to generate the stator magnetic field, different motor characteristics can be obtained depending on how this winding is connected.

Operation Principals 

DC Motor Operation PrincipalsFor the equivalent circuit the parameters are given by:

 

myElectrical EquationWhere:

myElectrical Equation       - lap winding

myElectrical Equation -       wave winding

given that

  • n = number of conductor
  • p = number of pole pairs
  • ω = motor speed, rad s-1
  • φ = flux per pole, Wb
  • T = torque Nm
and

myElectrical Equation

The power input to armature is given by:      myElectrical Equation

The armature power loss is given by:           myElectrical Equation

The output power is given by:                         myElectrical Equation

The torque is given by:                                     myElectrical Equation

Typically, IaRa is ±3% of Va and the power dissipated in field winding ±3.5% of the motor rating.

Field Windings

Permanent magnets or field windings of a dc motor provide the necessary magnetic fields for the motor to operate(often call excitation):

  • permanent magnets - provides a continuous and constant magnetic field by the use of permanently magnetized materials (typically on only the smallest motors)
  • separately excited - separate windings and power supply provide the magnetic field for the motor
  • shunt winding - this is connected in parallel with the motor armature to provide the excitation
  • series winding - this is connected in series with the motor armature to provide the excitation
  • compound winding - is a hybrid between shunt and series where to field windings are connected both in parallel and in series with the armature

Characteristics of DC Motors

 

Speed Control of DC Motors

Separately excited, shunt

  • Constant power drive - Ia,Va is held constant and If varied
  • Constant torque If is held constant and Ia, Va varied

DC Converter output Voltages

Semi converter,       myElectrical Equation         [DC converter equations do not look correct.  Please can someone check.]     

Full converter, myElectrical Equation - with infinite inductive filtering


Steven McFadyen's avatar Steven McFadyen

Steven has over twenty five years experience working on some of the largest construction projects. He has a deep technical understanding of electrical engineering and is keen to share this knowledge. About the author

myElectrical Engineering

comments powered by Disqus



Back to basics - the Watt (or kW)

When thinking about watts (W) or kilowatt (kW = 1000 W) it can be useful too keep in mind the fundamental ideas behind the unit. Watt is not a pure electrical...

IEC Reference Designations

The IEC publishes a series of documents and rules governing the preparation of documents, drawings and the referencing of equipment.   Depending on country...

Occam's Razor

I was reminded of Occam's Razor while reading a book. It's quite a simple principal of logic which has stood the test of time and is accepted as central...

8 Steps to Low Voltage Power Cable Selection and Sizing

A recurring theme on our forums is cable sizing. Now many installations are unique and require special consideration. However, a lot of the time things...

Motor Starting - Introduction

Motor starting and its associated problems are well-known to many people who have worked on large industrial processes. However, these things are, of course...

Understanding LV Circuit Breaker Fault Ratings

I think this post is going to be helpful to several of our readers. While the IEC low voltage circuit breaker Standard [IEC 60947-2, Low voltage switchgear...

Paths of Flight

GE have put together a time-lapse video shown flight take-off and landings at some airports. An interesting view:

DC Component of Asymmetrical Faults

The image (reproduced from IEC 60909) shows a typical fault in an ac system.  From the illustration it can seen that there is an initial dc component ...

Inductance

When current flows within a wire, a magnetic field is created. The potion of this magnetic field perpendicular to the wire is called the magnetic flux...

Cables for MV Power Distribution - Earthed versus Unearthed Systems

Power cables can basically be classified into earthed and unearthed cables, where earthed and unearthed refer to the application for which the cable is...

Have some knowledge to share

If you have some expert knowledge or experience, why not consider sharing this with our community.  

By writing an electrical note, you will be educating our users and at the same time promoting your expertise within the engineering community.

To get started and understand our policy, you can read our How to Write an Electrical Note