Principle of DC Motor

This DC or direct current motor works on the principal, when a current carrying
conductor is placed in a magnetic field, it experiences a torque and has a tendency to
move. This is known as motoring action. If the direction of electric current in the wire
is reversed, the direction of rotation also reverses. When magnetic field and electric
field interact they produce a mechanical force, and based on that the working
principle of dc motor established. The
direction of rotation of a this motor is
given by Flemings left hand rule, which
states that if the index finger, middle finger
and thumb of your left hand are extended
mutually perpendicular to each other and if
the index finger represents the direction of
magnetic field, middle finger indicates the
direction of electric current, then the thumb
represents the direction in which force is
experienced by the shaft of the dc motor.

Structurally and construction wise a direct

current motor is exactly similar to a DC
generator, but electrically it is just the opposite. Here we unlike a generator we supply
electrical energy to the input port and derive mechanical energy from the output port.
We can represent it by the block diagram shown below.

Here in a DC motor, the supply voltage E and electric current I is given to the
electrical port or the input port and we derive the mechanical output i.e. torque T and
speed from the mechanical port or output port.

The input and output port variables of the direct current motor are related by the
parameter K.
So from the picture above we can well understand that motor is just the opposite
phenomena of a DC generator, and we can derive both motoring and generating
operation from the same machine by simply reversing the ports.

Detailed Description of a DC Motor

To understand the DC motor in details lets consider the diagram below,

The direct current motor is represented by the circle in the center, on which is
mounted the brushes, where we connect the external terminals, from where supply
voltage is given. On the mechanical terminal we have a shaft coming out of the
Motor, and connected to the armature, and the armature-shaft is coupled to the
mechanical load. On the supply terminals we represent the armature resistance Ra in
series. Now, let the input voltage E, is applied across the brushes. Electric current
which flows through the rotor armature via brushes, in presence of the magnetic field,
produces a torque Tg . Due to this torque Tg the dc motor armature rotates. As the
armature conductors are carrying currents and the armature rotates inside the stator
magnetic field, it also produces an emf Eb in the manner very similar to that of a
generator. The generated Emf Eb is directed opposite to the supplied voltage and is
known as the back Emf, as it counters the forward voltage.
The back emf like in case of a generator is represented by

Where, P = no of poles

= flux per pole

Z= No. of conductors
A = No. of parallel paths

and N is the speed of the DC Motor.

So from the above equation we can see Eb is proportional to speed N. That is

whenever a direct current motor rotates, it results in the generation of back Emf. Now
lets represent the rotor speed by in rad/sec. So Eb is proportional to .

So when the speed of the motor is reduced by the application of load, Eb decreases.
Thus the voltage difference between supply voltage and back emf increases that
means E Eb increases. Due to this increased voltage difference, armature current
will increase and therefore torque and hence speed increases. Thus a DC Motor is
capable of maintaining the same speed under variable load.

Now armature current Ia is represented by

Now at starting,speed = 0 so at starting Eb = 0.

Now since the armature winding electrical resistance Ra is small, this motor has a very
high starting current in the absence of back Emf. As a result we need to use a starter
for starting a DC Motor.

Now as the motor continues to rotate, the back Emf starts being generated and
gradually the current decreases as the motor picks up speed.

The term torque is the quantitative measure of the tendency of a force to cause a
rotational motion, or to bring about a change in rotational motion. It is in fact the
moment of a force that produces or changes a rotational motion.

The equation of torque is given by,

Where F is force in linear direction.

R is radius of the object being rotated,

and is the angle, the force F is making with R vector

The dc motor as we all know is a rotational machine, and torque of dc motor is a
very important parameter in this concern, and its of utmost importance to understand
the torque equation of dc motor for establishing its running characteristics.

To establish the torque equation, let us first consider the basic circuit diagram of a dc
motor, and its voltage equation.

Referring to the diagram beside, we can see, that if E is the supply voltage, Eb is the
back emf produced and Ia, Ra are the armature current and armature resistance
respectively then the voltage equation is given by,

But keeping in mind that our purpose is to derive the torque equation of dc motor
we multiply both sides of equation (2) by Ia.

Now Ia2.Ra is the power loss due to heating of the armature coil, and the true effective
mechanical power that is required to produce the desired torque of dc machine is
given by,
The mechanical power Pm is related to the electromagnetic torque Tg as,

Where is speed in rad/sec.

Now equating equation (4) & (5) we get,

Now for simplifying the torque equation of dc motor we substitute.

Where, P is no of poles,

is flux per pole,

Z is no. of conductors,

A is no. of parallel paths,

and N is the speed of the D.C. motor.

Substituting equation (6) and (7) in equation (4), we get:

The torque we so obtain, is known as the electromagnetic torque of dc motor, and

subtracting the mechanical and rotational losses from it we get the mechanical torque.

Therefore, Tm = Tg - mechanical losses.

This is the torque equation of dc motor. It can be further simplified as:

Which is constant for a particular machine and therefore the torque of dc motor varies
with only flux and armature current Ia.

The Torque equation of a dc motor can also be explained considering the figure
below.

Current / conductor Ic = Ia / A

Therefore, force per conductor = fc = BLIa/A

Now torque Tc = fc.r = BLIa.r/A

Hence the total torque developed of a dc machine is,

This torque equation of dc motor can be further simplified as:

Tg = ka Ia

Which is constant for a particular machine and therefore the torque of dc motor varies
with only flux and armature current Ia.

The shunt wound dc motor falls under the category of self excited dc motors, where
the field windings are shunted to, or are connected in parallel to the armature winding
of the motor, as its name is suggestive of. And for this reason both the armature
winding and the field winding are exposed to the same supply voltage, though there
are separate branches for the flow of armature current and the field current as shown
in the figure of dc shunt motor below.

Voltage and Current Equation of a Shunt Wound DC

Motor
Let us now consider the voltage and electric current being supplied from the electrical
terminal to the motor be given by E and Itotal respectively. This supply current in case
of the shunt wound dc motor is split up into 2 parts. Ia, flowing through the armature
winding of resistance Ra and Ish flowing through the field winding of resistance Rsh.
The voltage across both windings remains the same.
From there we can write Itotal = Ia + Ish

Thus we put this value of armature current Ia to get general voltage equation of a dc
shunt motor.

Now in general practice, when the motor is in its running condition, and supply
voltage is constant the shunt field current given by,

But we know Ish

i.e. field flux is proportional to filed current Ish

Thus the field flux remains more or less constant and for this reason a shunt wound dc
motor is called a constant flux motor.