TO STUDY THE CONSTRUCTION & FUNCTION

OF AN ELECTRIC MOTOR

BASIC CONSTRUCTION AND WORKING OF A DC GENERATOR

I. DC GENERATOR

A dc generator is an electrical machine which converts mechanical energy into

direct current electricity. This energy conversion is based on the principle of production
of dynamically induced emf. This article outlines basic construction and working of a
DC generator.

II. CONSTRUCTION OF A DC MACHINE:

A DC generator can be used as a DC motor without any constructional changes

and vice versa is also possible. Thus, a DC generator or a DC motor can be broadly
termed as a DC machine. These basic constructional details are also valid for the
construction of a DC motor. Hence, let's call this point as construction of a DC
machine instead of just 'construction of a dc generator'.

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 The above figure shows the constructional details of a simple 4-pole DC machine.
A DC machine consists two basic parts; stator and rotor. Basic constructional parts of a
DC machine are described below.

1. Yoke: The outer frame of a dc machine is called as yoke. It is made up of cast iron
or steel. It not only provides mechanical strength to the whole assembly but also
carries the magnetic flux produced by the field winding.
2. Poles and pole shoes: Poles are joined to the yoke with the help of bolts or
welding. They carry field winding and pole shoes are fastened to them. Pole shoes
serve two purposes; (i) they support field coils and (ii) spread out the flux in air gap
uniformly.
3. Field winding: They are usually made of copper. Field coils are former wound
and placed on each pole and are connected in series. They are wound in such a way
that, when energized, they form alternate North and South poles.

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1. Armature core: Armature core is the rotor of the machine. It is cylindrical in
shape with slots to carry armature winding. The armature is built up of thin
laminated circular steel disks for reducing eddy current losses. It may be provided
with air ducts for the axial air flow for cooling purposes. Armature is keyed to the
shaft.
2. Armature winding: It is usually a former wound copper coil which rests in armature
slots. The armature conductors are insulated from each other and also from the
armature core. Armature winding can be wound by one of the two methods; lap
winding or wave winding. Double layer lap or wave windings are generally used. A
double layer winding means that each armature slot will carry two different coils.
3. Commutator and brushes: Physical connection to the armature winding is
made through a commutator-brush arrangement. The function of a commutator, in a
dc generator, is to collect the current generated in armature conductors. Whereas, in
case of a dc motor, commutator helps in providing current to the armature
conductors. A commutator consists of a set of copper segments which are insulated
from each other. The number of segments is equal to the number of armature coils.
Each segment is connected to an armature coil and the commutator is keyed to the
shaft. Brushes are usually made from carbon or graphite. They rest on commutator

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 segments and slide on the segments when the commutator rotates keeping the
physical contact to collect or supply the current.

WORKING PRINCIPLE OF A DC GENERATOR:

According to Faradays laws of electromagnetic induction, whenever a conductor

is placed in a varying magnetic field (OR a conductor is moved in a magnetic field), an
emf (electromotive force) gets induced in the conductor. The magnitude of induced emf
can be calculated from the emf equation of dc generator. If the conductor is provided with
the closed path, the induced current will circulate within the path. In a DC generator, field
coils produce an electromagnetic field and the armature conductors are rotated into the
field. Thus, an electromagnetically induced emf is generated in the armature conductors.
The direction of induced current is given by Flemings right hand rule.

NEED OF A SPLIT RING COMMUTATOR:

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According to Flemings right hand rule, the direction of induced current changes
whenever the direction of motion of the conductor changes. Lets consider an armature
rotating clockwise and a conductor at the left is moving upward. When the armature
completes a half rotation, the direction of motion of that particular conductor will be
reversed to downward. Hence, the direction of current in every armature conductor will
be alternating. If you look at the above figure, you will know how the direction of the
induced current is alternating in an armature conductor. But with a split ring commutator,
connections of the armature conductors also gets reversed when the current reversal
occurs. And therefore, we get unidirectional current at the terminals.

TYPES OF A DC GENERATOR:

DC generators can be classified in two main categories, viz;

(i) Separately excited and

(ii) Self-excited.
a. Separately excited: In this type, field coils are energized from an independent
external DC source.

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 b. Selfexcited: In this type, field coils are energized from the current produced by
the generator itself. Initial emf generation is due to residual magnetism in field
poles. The generated emf causes a part of current to flow in the field coils, thus
strengthening the field flux and thereby increasing emf generation. Self excited
dc generators can further be divided into three types
a. Series wound - field winding in series with armature winding
b. Shunt wound - field winding in parallel with armature winding
c. Compound wound - combination of series and shunt winding

WORKING OF ELECTRIC MOTOR

The electric motor is a device which converts electrical energy to mechanical

energy. There are mainly three types of electric motor.

DC Motor
Induction Motor
Synchronous Motor.

WORKING OF DC MOTOR

Working principle of DC Motor mainly depends upon Fleming Left Hand rule. In
a basic DC motor, an armature is placed in between magnetic poles. If the armature
winding is supplied by an external DC source, current starts flowing through the armature
conductors. As the conductors are carrying current inside a magnetic field, they will
experience a force which tends to rotate the armature. Suppose armature conductors
under N poles of the field magnet, are carrying current downwards (crosses) and those
under S poles are carrying current upwards (dots). By applying Flemings Left hand Rule,
the direction of force F, experienced by the conductor under N poles and the force
experienced by the conductors under S-poles can be determined. It is found that at any
instant the forces experienced by the conductors are in such a direction that they tend to
rotate the armature.

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WORKING OF INDUCTION MOTOR

Working of electric motor in the case of induction motor is little bit different from
DC motor. In single phase induction motor, when a single phase supply is given to the
stator winding, a pulsating magnetic field is produced and in a three phase induction
motor, when three phase supply is given to three phase stator winding, a rotating
magnetic field is produced. The rotor of an induction motor is either wound type or
squirrel cadge type. Whatever may be the type of rotor, the conductors on it are shorted at
end to form closed loop. Due to rotating magnetic field, the flux passes through the air
gap between rotor and stator, sweeps past the rotor surface and so cuts the rotor
conductor. Hence according to Faradays law of electromagnetic induction, there would
be a induced current circulating in the closed rotor conductors. The amount of induced
current is proportional to the rate of change of flux linkage with respect to time. Again
this rate of change of flux linkage is proportional to the relative speed between rotor and
rotating magnetic field. As per Lenz law the rotor will try to reduce the every cause of
producing current in it. Hence the rotor rotates and tries to achieve the speed of rotating
magnetic field to reduce the relative speed between rotor and rotating magnetic field.

PROCEDURE

1. Starting in the center of the wire, wrap the wire tightly and neatly around the marker 30
times.

2. Slide the coil you made off of the marker.

3. Wrap each loose end of the wire around the coil a few times to hold it together, then point
the wires away from the loop, as shown:

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WHAT IS THIS? WHAT IS ITS PURPOSE?

Ask an adult to use the hobby knife to help you remove the top-half of the wire
insulation on each free end of the coil. The exposed wire should be facing the same
direction on both sides. Why do you think half of the wire needs to remain insulated?

Thread each loose end of the wire coil through the large eye of a needle. Try to
keep the coil as straight as possible without bending the wire ends.
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 Lay the D battery sideways on a flat surface.
Stick some modeling clay on either side of the battery so it does not roll away.
Take 2 small balls of modeling clay and cover the sharp ends of the needle.
Place the needles upright next to the terminals of each battery so that the side of
each needle touches one terminal of the battery.
Use electrical tape to secure the needles to the ends of the battery. Your coil should
be hanging above the battery.
Tape the small magnet to the side of the battery so that it is centered underneath the
coil.

Give your coil a spin. What happens? What happens when you spin the coil in the
other direction? What would happen with a bigger magnet? A bigger battery? Thicker
wire?

RESULTS

The motor will continue to spin when pushed in the right direction. The motor will
not spin when the initial push is in the opposite direction.

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WHY?

The metal, needles, and wire created a closed loop circuit that can carry current.
Current flows from the negative terminal of the battery, through the circuit, and to the
positive terminal of the battery. Current in a closed loop also creates its own magnetic
field, which you can determine by the Right Hand Rule. Making a thumbs up sign
with your right hand, the thumb points in the direction of the current, and the curve of the
fingers show which way the magnetic field is oriented.

In our case, current travels through the coil you created, which is called the
armature of the motor. This current induces a magnetic field in the coil, which helps
explain why the coil spins.

Magnets have two poles, north and south. North-south interactions stick together,
and north-north and south-south interactions repel each other. Because the magnetic field
created by the current in the wire is not perpendicular to the magnet taped to the battery,
at least some part of the wires magnetic field will repel and cause the coil to continue to
spin.

So why did we need to remove the insulation from only one side of each wire? We
need a way to periodically break the circuit so that it pulses on and off in time with the
rotation of the coil. Otherwise, the copper coils magnetic field would align with the
magnets magnetic field and stop moving because both fields would attract each other.
The way we set up our engine makes it so that whenever current is moving through the
coil (giving it a magnetic field), the coil is in a good position to be repelled by the
stationary magnets magnetic field. Whenever the coil isnt being actively repelled
(during those split second intervals where the circuit is switched off), momentum carries
it around until its in the right position to complete the circuit, induce a new magnetic
field, and be repelled by the stationary magnet again.

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 Once moving, the coil can continue to spin until the battery is dead. The reason
that the magnet only spins in one direction is because spinning in the wrong direction will
not cause the magnetic fields to repel each other, but attract.

ELECTRIC MACHINE

In electrical engineering, electric machine is a general term for electric motors,

electric generators and other electromagnetic machines. They are electromechanical
energy converters: an electric motor converts electricity to mechanical power while an
electric generator converts mechanical power to electricity. The moving parts in a
machine can be rotating (rotating machines) or linear (linear machines). Besides motors
and generators, a third category often included is transformers, which although they do
not have any moving parts are also energy converters, changing the voltage level of an
alternating current.

Electric machines, in the form of generators, produce virtually all electric power
on Earth, and in the form of electric motors consume approximately 60% of all electric
power produced. Electric machines were developed beginning in the mid 19th century
and since that time have been a ubiquitous component of the infrastructure. Developing
more efficient electric machine technology is crucial to any global conservation, green
energy, or alternative energy strategy.

CLASSIFICATIONS

When classifying electric machines (motors and generators) it is reasonable to start

with physical principle for converting electric energy to mechanical energy. If the
controller is included as a part of the machine all machines can be powered by either
alternating or direct current, although some machines will need a more advanced
controller than others. Classification is complicated by the possibilities of combining
physical principles when constructing an electrical machine. It can, for example, be

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possible to run a brushed machine as a reluctance machine (without using the rotor coils)
if the rotor iron has the correct shape.

Generally all electric machines can be turned inside out, so rotor and stator
exchange places. All rotating electric machines have an equivalent linear electric machine
where stator moves along a straight line instead of rotating. The oppositelinear to
rotary dualis not always the case. Motors and generators can be designed with or
without iron to improve the path of the magnetic field (teeth to reduce the air gap is a
common example) and with and without permanent magnets (PM), with different pole
number etc., but still belong to different classes of machines. Electric machines can be
synchronous meaning that the magnetic field set up by the stator coils rotates with the
same speed as the rotor; or asynchronous, meaning that there is a speed difference. PM
machines and reluctance machines are always synchronous. Brushed machines with rotor
windings can be synchronous when the rotor is supplied with DC or AC with same
frequency as stator or asynchronous when stator and rotor are supplied with AC with
different frequencies. Induction machines are usually asynchronous, but can be
synchronous, if there are superconductors in the rotor windings.

COMPARING ELECTRIC MACHINE SYSTEMS

Comparing the cost-performance between electric machine systems of different

classification or from different manufacturers is difficult without a critical baseline of
metrics. For equitable comparison of efficiency, cost, torque, and power between electric
machine systems, the comparison should be matched with the same voltage and speed at
a given frequency of excitation; or instead, the additional cost, efficiency, and real-estate
of the transmission for instance for coupling to the speed of the application, the
transformer for matching voltage, the frequency converter to match excitation frequency,
etc., should be included.

Other parameters that should always be considered in any revealing comparison:

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 Duty Cycle although directly related to cost, efficiency, and power density, duty
cycle gives meaning to application applicability;
Peak Torque Potential the closeness of peak torque potential to continuous torque
indicates the safe margin of the design;
Cost, Efficiency, and Real-estate of the Electronic Controller unless integrated and
included in the specifications of the electric machine system, the electronic
controller, which is required for practical system operation, should always be
included.
Utilization of the Magnetic Core and frame assembly As an example: with the
wound-rotor doubly fed electric machine as the only exception, rotor assemblies,
which consume nearly half the volume of the electric machine, passively participate
in the energy conversion process and are under-utilized.

GENERATOR

An electric generator is a device that converts mechanical energy to electrical

energy. A generator forces electrons to flow through an external electrical circuit. It is
somewhat analogous to a water pump, which creates a flow of water but does not create
the water inside. The source of mechanical energy, the prime mover, may be a
reciprocating or turbine steam engine, water falling through a turbine or waterwheel, an
internal combustion engine, a wind turbine, a hand crank, compressed air or any other
source of mechanical energy.

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 The two main parts of an electrical machine can be described in either mechanical
or electrical terms. In mechanical terms, the rotor is the rotating part, and the stator is the
stationary part of an electrical machine. In electrical terms, the armature is the power-
producing component and the field is the magnetic field component of an electrical
machine. The armature can be on either the rotor or the stator. The magnetic field can be
provided by either electromagnets or permanent magnets mounted on either the rotor or
the stator. Generators are classified into two types, AC generators and DC generators.

TRANSFORMER

A transformer is a static device that converts alternating current from one voltage
level to another level (higher or lower), or to the same level, without changing the
frequency. A transformer transfers electrical energy from one circuit to another through
inductively coupled conductorsthe transformer's coils. A varying electric current in the
first or primary winding creates a varying magnetic flux in the transformer's core and thus
a varying magnetic field through the secondary winding. This varying magnetic field
induces a varying electromotive force (EMF) or "voltage" in the secondary winding. This
effect is called mutual induction.

A transformer is a static device that converts alternating current from one voltage
level to another level (higher or lower), or to the same level, without changing the
frequency. A transformer transfers electrical energy from one circuit to another through
inductively coupled conductorsthe transformer's coils. A varying electric current in the

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first or primary winding creates a varying magnetic flux in the transformer's core and thus
a varying magnetic field through the secondary winding. This varying magnetic field
induces a varying electromotive force (EMF) or "voltage" in the secondary winding. This
effect is called mutual induction.

There are three types of transformers

Step-up transformer
Step-down transformer
Isolation transformer

There are four types of transformers based on structure

core type
shell type
power type
instrument type

EMERGENCE OF AC MOTORS

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 In 1824, the French physicist Franois Arago formulated the existence of rotating
magnetic fields, termed Arago's rotations, which, by manually turning switches on and
off, Walter Baily demonstrated in 1879 as in effect the first primitive induction motor.
[22][23] [24][25] In the 1880s, many inventors were trying to develop workable AC
motors[26] because AC's advantages in long-distance high-voltage transmission were
counterbalanced by the inability to operate motors on AC. The first alternating-current
commutatorless induction motors were independently invented by Galileo Ferraris and
Nikola Tesla, a working motor model having been demonstrated by the former in 1885
and by the latter in 1887. In 1888, the Royal Academy of Science of Turin published
Ferraris's research detailing the foundations of motor operation while however
concluding that "the apparatus based on that principle could not be of any commercial
importance as motor."

In 1888, Tesla presented his paper A New System for Alternating Current Motors
and Transformers to the AIEE that described three patented two-phase four-stator-pole
motor types: one with a four-pole rotor forming a non-self-starting reluctance motor,
another with a wound rotor forming a self-starting induction motor, and the third a true
synchronous motor with separately excited DC supply to rotor winding.

One of the patents Tesla filed in 1887, however, also described a shorted-winding-
rotor induction motor. George Westinghouse promptly bought Tesla's patents, employed
Tesla to develop them, and assigned C. F. Scott to help Tesla; however, Tesla left for
other pursuits in 1889. The constant speed AC induction motor was found not to be
suitable for street cars,[26] but Westinghouse engineers successfully adapted it to power a
mining operation in Telluride, Colorado in 1891.

Steadfast in his promotion of three-phase development, Mikhail Dolivo-

Dobrovolsky invented the three-phase cage-rotor induction motor in 1889 and the three-
limb transformer in 1890. This type of motor is now used for the vast majority of
commercial applications.[50][51] However, he claimed that Tesla's motor was not

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practical because of two-phase pulsations, which prompted him to persist in his three-
phase work.[52] Although Westinghouse achieved its first practical induction motor in
1892 and developed a line of polyphase 60 hertz induction motors in 1893, these early
Westinghouse motors were two-phase motors with wound rotors until B. G. Lamme
developed a rotating bar winding rotor.[39]

The General Electric Company began developing three-phase induction motors in

1891.[39] By 1896, General Electric and Westinghouse signed a cross-licensing
agreement for the bar-winding-rotor design, later called the squirrel-cage rotor.[39]
Induction motor improvements flowing from these inventions and innovations were such
that a 100 horsepower (HP) induction motor currently has the same mounting dimensions
as a 7.5 HP motor in 1897.

REFERENCES
1. www.google.com
2. www. practical physics - Madhya Pradesh Textbook Corporation
mptbc.nic.in/Index-PY-11.pdf
3. Higher Secondary Practical Physics - Shiva Lal Agarwala & Co.

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4. www.wikipedia.com

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