Subject Code: 22EE303 Electrical Machines I

Working Principle of DC Motor

A DC motor is a type of electric machine that converts electrical energy into mechanical energy.
They take electrical power through direct current and convert this energy into mechanical
rotation. Today, DC motors have become an integral part of the industrial sector and are used for
various applications, such as electric vehicle propulsion, elevators, cranes, and steel rolling mill
drives. In this article, we will discuss the working principle of DC motor.

DC Motor Components

To understand the working principle of DC motor, let’s first look at the components used in its
construction. A DC motor usually looks like a cylindrical device with a shaft extending out of it
that rotates on applying DC. This action is carried out by arranging the following components in
a particular manner.

Stator

A stator, or a steel yoke, is a cylindrical metal casing inside which all the other elements of a DC
motor are placed. One face of the stator contains a vertical shaft coming out of it, while the other
face has the two terminals to which the DC power supply is connected.
Magnets

There are two stationary permanent magnets installed inside the stator of a DC motor. They act
as the north and south poles of a magnet by setting up a horizontal magnetic field across them.

Armature

In electrical engineering, the term armature refers to a structure of rotating coils under the
influence of electromagnetic force. In a DC motor, an armature is composed of a rotor placed
between the two magnets. A rotor is a structure of laminated discs wrapped around by a
conducting field coil. The shaft pointing out of the motor passes along the axis of the armature
and rotates along with it.

Field Coil

The field coil or field winding in a DC motor is a coil of copper wires that replaces the
permanent magnets attached to the inside walls of the stator. When DC from a battery is passed
through this coil, it forms an electromagnet whose polarity can be controlled, setting up a desired
magnetic field.

Commutator

A commutator is a hollow cylindrical piece segmented at many spots to reverse the polarity of
the electromagnetic armature coil inside the DC motor. It is a critical part of a motor to work on
a DC power supply. It sits at the end of the armature around the shaft. The ends of the armature
coil are connected to the commutator, while all other parts, except brushes, are electrically
isolated from it.

Brushes

The brushes in a DC motor are the components that connect the static terminals to the rotating
parts of the motor. They are usually made of carbon graphite since it is a great conductor of
electricity and have excellent lubricant properties. The commutator is positioned between the
two brushes, which are further connected to the motor’s terminals, completing the circuit with
the DC power source.

Working Principle Of DC Motor

A DC motor works on the principle that whenever a current-carrying conductor is placed inside a
magnetic field, it experiences a magnetic force whose direction is given by Fleming’s Left-hand
Rule. In other words, the DC motor spins due to the interaction of the permanent magnet’s
magnetic field with the magnetic field of the current-carrying electromagnet.
Fleming’s Left-Hand Rule

Fleming’s Left-hand rule is a mnemonic tool to understand the mutually perpendicular

relationship between the current, an applied magnetic field, and induced force in an electric
motor. If we extend the index finger, middle finger, and the thumb of the left hand in mutually
perpendicular directions, aligning the middle finger with the conventional direction of current
inside the current and the index finger with the applied magnetic field, then the thumb gives the
direction of the force experienced by the conductor.

F = BIL Newtons

Where,

B = magnetic flux density,

I = current and

L = length of the conductor within the magnetic field.

When armature winding is connected to a DC supply, an electric current sets up in the winding.
Permanent magnets or field winding (electromagnetism) provide the magnetic field. In this case,
current-carrying armature conductors experience a force due to the magnetic field, according to
the principle stated above.

The working principle of DC motor requires magnetic flux and a current-carrying conductor.
Consider a coil carrying DC current through commutator and brushes. These commutator
segments rotate freely around their axis. The commutator segment which comes in contact with
the left brush gets positive polarity while the right one gets negative polarity. This leads to the
flow of current in the coil.
By applying Fleming’s Left-Hand Rule, the conductor on the left side always experiences a force
in an upward direction while the conductor on the right side experiences a downward force.
Hence, a unidirectional torque is achieved in DC motors.

Back EMF

The interaction of the current-carrying conductor with the changing magnetic field produced by
the field winding induces an EMF in the conductor. This EMF acts in the opposite direction to
the applied voltage. This induced EMF in the motor is known as Back EMF.

The magnitude of back EMF is directly proportional to the speed of the motor. Consider the load
on a DC motor is suddenly reduced. In this case, the required torque will be small as compared to
the current torque. The speed of the motor will start increasing due to the excess torque. Hence,
being proportional to the speed, the magnitude of the back EMF will also increase. With
increasing back EMF armature current will start decreasing. With the torque being proportional
to the armature current, it will also decrease until it becomes sufficient for the load. Thus, the
speed of the motor will regulate.

On the other hand, if a DC motor is suddenly loaded, the load will cause a decrease in the speed.
Due to a decrease in speed, the back EMF will also decreases which allows more armature
current. Due to an increase in armature current, the torque will increase to fulfill the load
requirement.

Types of dc motor

Separately Excited DC Motor

As the name signifies, the field coils or field windings are energised by a separate DC source as
shown in the circuit diagram shown below:
Separately Excited DC Motor

Self Excited DC Motor

As the name implies self-excited, hence, in this type of motor, the current in the windings is
supplied by the machine or motor itself. Self-excited DC Motor is further divided into shunt
wound, and series wound motor. They are explained below in detail.

Shunt Wound Motor

This is the most common types of DC Motor. Here the field winding is connected in parallel with
the armature as shown in the figure below:
Shunt Wound DC Motor

The current, voltage and power equations for a shunt motor are written as follows.

By applying KCL at junction A in the above figure.

The sum of the incoming currents at A = Sum of the outgoing currents at A.

Where,

I is the input line current

Ia is the armature current
Ish is the shunt field current

Equation (1) is the current equation.

The voltage equations are written by using Kirchhoff’s voltage law (KVL) for the field winding
circuit.
For armature winding circuit the equation will be given as:

The power equation is given as:

Power input = mechanical power developed + losses in the armature + loss in the field.

Multiplying equation (3) by Ia we get the following equations.

Where,

VIa is the electrical power supplied to the armature of the motor.

Series Wound Motor

In the series motor, the field winding is connected in series with the armature winding. The
connection diagram is shown below:
Series Wound Motor

By applying the KCL in the above figure:

Where,

Ise is the series field current

The voltage equation can be obtained by applying KVL in the above figure.

The power equation is obtained by multiplying equation (8) by I we get

Power input = mechanical power developed + losses in the armature + losses in the field

Comparing the equation (9) and (10), we will get the equation shown below:

Compound Wound Motor

A DC Motor having both shunt and series field windings is called a Compound Motor. The
connection diagram of the compound motor is shown below:

Compound Motor

The compound motor is further subdivided as Cumulative Compound Motor and Differential
Compound Motor. In a cumulative compound motor the flux produced by both the windings is
in the same direction, i.e.
In differential compound motor, the flux produced by the series field windings is opposite to the
flux produced by the shunt field winding, i.e.

The positive and negative sign indicates that the direction of the flux produced in the field
windings.

he performance and behavior of a DC motor is determined from its characteristics. It expresses the
relation between two or more quantities. The important characteristics of DC motor are

1. Torque – Armature current characteristics(T/Ia) – Also called as electrical characteristics. It

gives the relation between torque developed in the armature and current flowing through the
armature.
2. Speed – Armature current characteristics(N/Ia) – It is also called as speed characteristics,
which gives the relation between armature current and speed of rotation of the motor.
3. Torque – Speed characteristics(N/T) – It gives the relation between torque and speed of the
motor, hence called as mechanical characteritics.

Characteristics of DC Series motor

https://www.electrically4u.com/characteristics-of-dc-motor/

Torque – Armature current characteristics

As the field winding is connected in series with the armature winding(φ α Ia), an increase in field flux
will increase the armature current.

The torque equation for DC motor is given by, T α φIa

At light load, the armature current will be less, and so the flux produced will be proportional to the
armature current (φ α Ia). Hence the torque increases as the square of the current (T α Ia2). This
relation gives a parabolic curve up to the saturation point.

After the saturation, the magnetic flux will be independent of the armature current. From this point
of time, torque will be proportional to the armature current(T α Ia). Now the obtained curve will be a
straight line. It is shown in the figure below.

The shaft torque or useful torque(red color dotted line) will be less than the armature torque. It is
because of the loss due to iron, friction and windage losses.
From the characteristics, it can be understood that the torque exerted by the motor is proportional to
the square of the current, until saturation. It implies that the DC series motor has a high starting
current.

Hence the series motor is used where high starting torque is required as in hoists, electric traction,
trolleys, etc.

Speed- Armature current characteristics

From the speed equation of a DC motor(N α Eb/φ), it is clear that speed is proportional to back emf
and inversely proportional to the flux.

With the increase in armature current, the voltage drop due to armature and series field resistance
increases(Eb = V – Ia(Ra + Rse)). Therefore, the back emf decreases. Since the drop is quite small, it
can be neglected. So speed is inversely proportional to the flux.

When a heavy load is given to the motor, the armature current will be high which increases the flux.
It will result in a reduced speed of the motor. When the load is reduced or no load is given, the flux
will be less but the speed will be dangerously high.

Hence, a series motor should never be started without some mechanical load on it. If the motor is
started without load, the motor gets damaged due to the high centrifugal force produced at the speed
of rotation.

Torque – Speed characteristics

It is drawn between the torque and speed of rotation of a DC Motor. The obtained curve clearly
shows that the speed drops when the load torque is increased. At higher loads, the speed drops
linearly.

Hence series motors are used for applications where the motor is directly connected to the load.

Characteristics of DC Shunt motor

Torque – Armature current characteristics
We have the torque equation of a DC shunt motor as, T α φIa. Since in the case of DC shunt motor,
the flux per pole is considered to be constant. Hence Torque is proportional to the armature current.

With the increase in armature load current, the torque increases, which gives a linear relationship.
The obtained characteristic is a straight line passing through the origin O.
Speed- Armature current characteristics
For the shunt motor, the flux is considered to be constant. Hence the speed equation becomes, N α
Eb. Practically, Eb is constant, and therefore speed is also constant.

However, when the load current is increased, both the back emf and flux per pole decreases.
Comparatively, back emf decreases more than the flux, and hence there will be a small drop in speed,
as shown below.

Generally, a shunt motor is called a constant speed motor, as there is no appreciable change in the
motor speed from no load to full load.

Due to its characteristics, the DC shunt motor is used for applications such as machining tools,
lathes, wood-working machines, etc..

Torque – Speed characteristics

The torque-speed characteristics of the DC shunt motor are drawn from the above two
characteristics.

Characteristics of DC Compound motor

Compound motors have both series field winding and shunt field winding. Based on the excitation,
they are of two types, namely cumulatively compound and differentially compound motors.