Renewable Energy Engineering Program

REE 311 Electric Machines

Lecture 3 - DC Motors (Chapter 9)
A simple rotating loop between curved pole faces

• DC generators (motors) convert mechanical (dc

electrical) energy to dc electric (mechanical) energy.

• DC machines are like ac machines in that they have ac

voltages and currents within them

• DC machines have a dc output only because a

mechanism exists that converts the internal ac voltages
to dc voltages at their terminals (commutator).

• The simplest possible rotating DC machine consists of a

single loop of wire about a fixed axis on the (rotor)

• The magnetic field for the machine is supplied by the

magnetic poles on the (stator)

2
A simple rotating loop between curved pole faces

• Since the magnetic flux must take the shortest

path through air, it is perpendicular to the rotor
surface everywhere under the pole faces.

• Also, since the air gap is of uniform width, the

reluctance is the same everywhere under the pole
faces.

• The uniform reluctance means that the magnetic

flux density is constant everywhere under the
pole faces.

3
The voltage induced in a rotating loop

• If the rotor is rotated, a voltage will be induced in

the wire loop.

• To determine the total voltage etot on the loop,

examine each segment of the loop and sum all
resulting voltages. The voltage on each segment is
given by

4
The voltage induced in a rotating loop

• When the loop rotates through 180 degrees,

segment ab is under the north pole instead of the
south pole.

• At that time, the direction of the voltage on the

segment reverses.

5
 Getting DC voltage out of the rotating loop

• Voltage produced in the loop is an AC voltage.

• To convert to DC voltage, the commutation

principle is used to rectify the voltage between the
output terminals.

Commutation: is the process of switching the loop connections on the

rotor of a DC machine just as the voltage in the loop switches polarity, in
order to maintain an essentially constant DC output voltage.
6
7
8
 The internal generated voltage equation of real DC machines
● The induced voltage in any given machine depends on:
○ The flux 𝝓 in the machine
○ The speed ⍵ of the machine’s rotor
○ A constant depending on the construction of the machine

● The voltage out of the armature is equal to the number of conductors per current path times the
voltage on each conductor.
Z = total number of conductors
a = number of current paths
r = radius of the rotor
voltage in single conductor voltage out of the armature
under the pole faces of a real machine
P = number of poles

9
The induced torque in the rotating loop

• To determine the torque when a battery is

connected, look at one segment of the loop at a
time and then sum the effects of all the individual
segments.

• The torque on the segment is given by

Angle between F and r

• The resulting torque induced on the loop is given

by

10
 The internal induced torque equation of real DC machines
● The induced torque in any given machine depends on:
○ The flux 𝝓 in the machine
○ The armature (rotor) current IA in the machine
○ A constant depending on the construction of the machine

● The torque induced is equal to the number of conductors times the torque on each conductor.

Z = total number of conductors

a = number of current paths
r = radius of the rotor
torque on single conductor torque out of the armature of
under the pole faces a real machine
P = number of poles

11
 Power flow and losses in DC machines
● There is always some loss associated with the process of energy conversion. The efficiency of a DC machine is
defined by:

● The losses that occur in DC machines can be divided into:

1. Electrical or copper losses (I2R losses)
Copper losses occur in the armature and field windings

2. Brush losses
It is the power lost across the brushes of the machine

3. Core losses
Hysteresis losses and eddy current losses in the core of the motor. They vary as B2 and for rotor as n1.5

4. Mechanical losses
Two types of mechanical losses: friction (bearings) and windage (friction with air). They vary as n3

5. Stray losses: Losses that cannot be placed in one of the previous categories. Usually taken to be 1% of PFL
12
 The power flow diagram

Generator

Motor

13
Introduction to DC motors

• The earliest power systems in USA were DC systems, but by the 1890s AC power systems were
dominating. Despite this fact, DC motors continued to be a significant fraction of the industry. The
reasons for this are:

a. DC power systems are still common in cars, trucks and aircraft.

b. Applications where wide variations of speed are needed. Before the widespread of power
electronic inverters, DC motors were unexcelled in speed control applications.

• DC motors are often compared by their speed regulations. The speed regulation (SR) of a motor is
defined by:

• It is a rough measure of the shape of the motor’s torque-speed characteristic:

a. positive speed regulation b. negative speed regulation

15
Introduction to DC motors

• There are five major types of DC motors in general use:

1. The separately excited DC motor

2. The shunt DC motor

3. The permanent-magnet DC motor

4. The series DC motor

5. The compounded DC motor

16
The equivalent circuit of a DC motor

• The armature circuit is represented by an ideal

voltage source EA and a resistor RA.

• The brush voltage drop is represented by a small

battery Vbrush opposing the direction of current in the
machine.

• The field coils which produce the magnetic field

on the stator are represented by an inductor LF and
resistor RF.

• The separate resistor Radj represents an external

variable resistor to control the field current.

17
The magnetization curve of a DC machine

• The internal generated voltage EA of a DC machine is

given by

• The field current in a DC machine produces a field

magnetomotive force given by

• This MMF produces a flux in the machine according to

its magnetization curve.
at ⍵o
• To get maximum possible power per Kg of weight
out of a machine, they are designed to operate near
the saturation point (at the knee of the curve)

18
Separately and shunt excited DC motors

• A separately excited DC motor is a motor whose field

circuit is supplied from a separate constant voltage
power supply.

• Shunt DC motor is a motor whose field circuit gets its

power directly across the armature terminals of the
motor.

• As long as the supply voltage to a motor is assumed

constant, there is no practical difference in behavior
between these two motors.
Separately excited Shunt excited

19
Terminal characteristics of shunt DC motors

• Terminal c/cs of a motor is the plot of its output torque versus speed.

• Suppose that the load on the shaft of a shunt motor is increased.

• Then the load torque 𝜏load will exceed the induced torque 𝜏ind and the motor will slow down.

• When the motor slows down, its internal voltage EA drops, so the armature current in the motor IA
increases.

• As the armature current rises, the induced torque in the motor increases.

• Finally the induced torque will equal the load torque at a lower speed of rotation ⍵.

20
Terminal characteristics of shunt DC motors

Straight line equation → only two points are

needed to calculate any other operating point.

21
Example 9-1

22
Example 9-1

23
Example 9-1

24
Example 9-1

25
Example 9-1

26
 Speed Control of shunt DC motors

● Three methods for speed control of shunt DC motors:

1. Adjusting the field resistance RF and thus the field flux

Used to achieve speeds higher

than rated (base) speed

What happens if RF is too big (open circuit)?

27
Speed Control of shunt DC motors

● Three methods for speed control of shunt DC motors:

2. Adjusting the terminal voltage VA applied to the armature (without changing the voltage applied
to the field winding)

Used to achieve speeds lower

than rated (base) speed

28
Speed Control of shunt DC motors

● Three methods for speed control of shunt DC motors:

3. Inserting a resistor in series with the armature circuit (less common)

What is the disadvantage?

29
Speed Control of shunt DC motors
● Two practical methods for speed control of shunt DC motors:

1. Adjusting the field resistance RF and thus the field flux

2. Adjusting the terminal voltage VA applied to the armature

30
Speed Control of shunt DC motors

31
Speed Control of shunt DC motors

32
Speed Control of shunt DC motors

250 V

33
Speed Control of shunt DC motors

34
Speed Control of shunt DC motors

35
Speed Control of shunt DC motors

36
Speed Control of shunt DC motors

37
 Series DC motors

● In a series DC motor, the field windings consist of a

relatively few turns connected in series with the
armature circuit.

● The basic behavior of a series DC motor is due to the

fact that the flux is directly proportional to the
armature current, at least until saturation is reached.

● As the load on the motor increases, its flux increases

too. An increase in the flux causes a decrease in its
speed.

● The result is that a series motor has a sharply

drooping torque-speed characteristic.

38
 Series DC motors

● The induced torque in the motor is given by:

When is this valid?

● Series DC motor gives more torque per ampere

than any other DC motor.

● Therefore it is used in applications requiring very high

torques, ex. cars and elevator motors.

39
 Terminal characteristics of series DC motors

● To determine the terminal c/c, the analysis will be

based on the assumption of linear magnetization curve.

● Kirchhoff’s voltage law What is the disadvantage?

● And

● Therefore

● To eliminate 𝝓 from the equation above

Speed control???

40
45
Thank you

46