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



Periodic Electrical Installation Inspection – How Often?

How often installations are inspected is up to the owner of the installation, provided such durations do not exceed any regulatory maximums in force. ...

Fault Calculation - Per Unit System

Per unit fault calculations is a method whereby system impedances and quantities are normalised across different voltage levels to a common base.  By removing...

Contribute to myElectrcial

Have an opinion or something to say, want to ask or answer questions, share your knowledge then use our site to do it . As a community of people interested...

Standard Cable & Wire Sizes

IEC 60228 is the International Electrotechnical Commission's international standard on conductors of insulated cables. Among other things, it defines a...

Capacitor Theory

Capacitors are widely used in electrical engineering for functions such as energy storage, power factor correction, voltage compensation and many others...

Battery Cars A to Z

Battery powered cars are a hot topic and widely debated. The pros, cons, issues and time frames can be talked about endlessly. An article by the Telegraph...

Nikola Tesla

Nikola Tesla was born exactly at midnight on July 10, 1856 in the tiny village of Smiljan, Lika in Croatia. In his late teens, Tesla left the village to...

How to Check a Circuit is Dead

If you want to check a circuit is dead (not live), you should always use the three point method. First check a known live circuit, then check the dead...

Gas Insulated or Air Insulated Switchgear

Various arguments exist around SF6 Gas Insulated (GIS) and Air Insulated (AIS) medium voltage switchgear. Recently we had to change a GIS design to AI...

Fire Resistant and Fire Retardant Cables

Fire resistant and fire retardant cable sheaths are design to resist combustion and limit the propagation of flames. Low smokes cables have a sheath designed...

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