THE ELECTRIC MOTOR
In an electric motor an electric current and magnetic field produce a turning movement. This
can drive all sorts of machines, from wristwatches to trains. The motor shown in Fig. 1 is for
a washing machine. It is a universal motor, which can run on direct current or alternating
current. An electric current running through a wire produces a magnetic field around the wire.
If an electric current flows around a loop of wire with a bar of iron through it, the iron becomes
magnetized. It is called an electromagnet; one end becomes a north pole and the other a south
pole, depending on which way the current is flowing around the loop. If you put two magnets
close together, like poles - for example, two north poles - repel each other, and unlike poles
attract each other.
Figure 1
In a simple electric motor, like the one shown in Fig. 2, a piece of iron with loops of wire round
it, called an armature, is placed between the north and south poles of a stationary magnet,
known as the field magnet. When electricity flows around the armature wire, the iron
becomes an electromagnet. The attraction and repulsion between the poles of this armature
magnet and the poles of the field magnet make the armature turn. As a result, its north pole is
close to the south pole of the field magnet. Then the current is reversed, so the north pole of
the armature magnet becomes the south pole. Once again, the attraction and repulsion
between it and the field magnet make it turn. The armature continues turning as long as the
direction of the current, and therefore its magnetic poles, keeps being reversed.
To reverse the direction of the current, the ends of the armature wire are connected to
different halves of a split ring called a commutator. Current flows to and from the commutator
through small carbon blocks called brushes. As the armature turns, first one half of the
commutator comes into contact with the brush delivering the current, and then the other, so
the direction of the current keeps being reversed.
Figure 2
Match each of these diagrams with the correct description (1, 2, 3 or 4). One of the descriptions
does not match any of the diagrams. The diagrams are in the correct sequence, but the
descriptions are not.
Motor run on direct current:
A-2 B-4 C-3
1. The armature turns a quarter of a turn. Then electric contact is broken because of the gap
in the commutator, but the armature keeps turning because there is nothing to stop it.
2. When current flows, the armature becomes an electromagnet. Its north pole is attracted by
the south pole and repelled by the north pole of the field magnet.
3. When a universal motor is run on direct current, the magnetic poles in the armature change
while those of the field magnet remain constant.
4. When the commutator comes back into contact with the brushes, current flows through the
armature in the opposite direction. Its poles are reversed and the turn continues.
Language focus Describing function:
What does an electric motor do?
When we answer a question like this, we describe the function of something. We can describe
the function of an electric motor in this way:
An electric motor converts electrical energy to mechanical energy.
We can emphasize the function like this:
The function of an electric motor is to convert electrical energy to mechanical energy.
Match each of these motor components to its function, and then describe its function in a
sentence:
Component Function
1 armature - c. a. transfers rotation from the motor
2 bearings - e. b. create an electromagnetic field
3 brushes - f. c. converts electromagnetic energy to rotation
4 commutator - d. d. reverses the current to the armature
5 drive shaft - a. e. support the drive shaft
6 field windings - b. f. supply current to the armature
Bearings support the rotor and allow the rotor to spin on its axis. The motor housing in turn
supports the bearings.
The armature comprises wound wire on a ferromagnetic core. Current flowing through wire
makes the magnetic field exert a Lorentz force onto it, rotating the rotor, which supplies the
mechanical output. Windings are wires which are applied in coils, generally wrapped around a
soft, laminated, iron, ferromagnetic core to produce magnetic poles when supplied with
current.
A commutator is a rotary electric switch which supplies alternating or direct current to the
rotor. It periodically reverses the current flow in the rotor winding as the shaft spins. It
comprises a cylinder made of multiple metal contact sections on the armature. Electrical
contacts named "brushes" consisted of a soft conductor material like carbon pressed onto the
commutator. The brushes create sliding contacts with consecutive commutator sections as it
spins, offering current onto the rotor.
