Taught by,

Er. Suraj Shrestha, MSc,

Teaching Assistant

11/03/2021 Er. Suraj Shrestha, DOEE,WRC,IOE,TU 1

 4. DC Motor
4.1 Working Principle and Torque Equation
4.2 Back EMF
4.3 Method of excitation, Types of DC Generator
4.4 Performance Characteristics of DC motor
4.5 Starting of DC motors: 3 point and 4 point starter
4.6 Speed Control of DC motor: Field control, Armature Control
4.7 Losses and Efficiency
 4.1 Working Principle and Torque Equation
When a current carrying conductor is placed in a magnetic
field, it experiences mechanical force. The magnitude of
such force is given by, 1 C1 C2 2
F  BIl Newton N S
 
B1 B2
where, B  Magnetic Flux Density Wb / m 2
I  Current Carried by Conductor (A)
l  Active Length of Conductor
The direction of this force i.e. direction of rotation of motor
can determined by Fleming’s Left Hand Rule.

Since the conductor 1 is under the influence of N pole

according to Flemings’s Left hand Rule, it experience
downward force. Similarly, conductor 2 experiences upward
force.
Consider an elementary two pole dc machine with a single
And these conductors are placed at the periphery of the
turn of armature coil 1-2. Assuming constant flux is produced
slotted armature, the armature experience the twisting force.
by magnetic poles. The sectional view of this arrangement is
This twisting force is called Torque. In this case, direction of
as follows. This arrangement is supplied by external DC
torque is anticlockwise. Hence the armature rotates in
voltage source through carbon brushes.
anticlockwise direction due to this torque.
At particular instant as shown in figure, the conductor 1
carries inward current while conductor 2 carries outward When armature will rotate, sooner the situation will as in
current. following figure.
 60
Time for one revolution= sec
𝑁
1 Power developed by armature=Rate of doing work
C1 𝐹.2𝜋.𝑟 𝐹.2𝜋.𝑟.𝑁
B1 =P= = watts
N 2 B2 S 60/𝑁 60
C2 (𝐹.𝑟).2𝜋.𝑁
or,𝑃 =
60
2𝜋.𝑁𝑇𝑎
∴𝑃= watts (i)
60
When Armature rotates, it cuts magnetic field continuously.
Therefore emf will induce across armature coil whose
magnitude is given by:
𝑍𝜙𝑁 𝑃
𝐸𝑏 = × Volts
The direction of current in armature conductor is reversed due 60 𝐴
to commutator action. But the direction of the force Hence, power developed by the armature also can be written as:
experienced by conductor still in same direction as before. 𝑃 = 𝐸𝑏 × 𝐼𝑎 (ii)
Hence, they still produce rotation in anticlockwise direction. Equating i) and ii)
2 .N .Ta
Hence Armature rotates continuously in anticlockwise  Eb  I a Since Z, P and A are constant for a
direction for this arrangement. 60 machine
Torque Equation: or , Ta  Eb  I a 
60 Ta   .I a
2 N
Let N= speed of armature in RPM Also, 60
Z N P 60 T  E  I 
or , Ta    Ia 
r= Radius of the armature coil 2 N
a b a
60 A 2 N
Then the armature torque, Ta=F×r (N-m) P Eb I a
 Ta 
1
Z I a   N  m  9.55
Work done by the force in one revolution = F×2πr 2 N
 A
4.2 Back emf Neglecting Brush drop
When the armature of motor rotates in magnetic field, the V  Eb  I a Ra
emf is induced in it, according to Faraday’s Law of Hence,
V  Eb
electromagnetic Induction.  Ia 
This emf generated in armature conductor acts in opposition Ra
to applied voltage (V), therefore it is called back emf (E) or Role of back emf
counter emf. It’s value is always less than applied voltage.
i) Back emf will protect the armature from short circuit
If am armature consisting of Z conductor with A parallel during running condition.
path, rotates with speed equal to N RPM under P number of If there was no back emf during running condition, the
field poles each having 𝜙 flux, the back emf induced is given armature will draw a very high current.
by, 𝑉 − 𝐸𝑏 𝑉 − 0 𝑉
Z N P 𝐼𝑎 = = =
E  𝑅𝑎 𝑅𝑎 𝑅𝑎
60 A
IL Which is just like a short circuiting the applied voltage ‘V’ by
If
a low resistance Ra. This high current will be beyond the
Ia designed current carrying capacity of armature conductors
+ and armature winding will damaged.
Rf Ra Eb V
_

Fig. Back emf in DC Motor

Here, V  Eb  I a Ra  Vbrush
 Power Equation of DC motor
ii) Regulating mechanism
Back emf helps to produce required amount of torque V  Eb  I a Ra
according to variation in external load torque. Multiplying both sides by Ia,
VI a  Eb I a  I a2 Ra
Here,
 VIa = Net electrical power input to the Armature
 𝐼𝑎2 𝑅𝑎 = Power loss due to the resisance of the armature(
Armature copper loss)
 EbIa = Electrical equivalent of gross mechanical power
developed by armature, (Pm)
∴Power input to armature – armature copper loss = Gross
Mechanical power developed (EbIa)(=Pm)
4.3 Method of excitation, Types of DC Motor
Based upon the method of excitation DC motors can be classified
into three types.
i) DC Shunt Motor
ii) DC series motor
iii) DC compound motor
4.4 Performance Characteristics of DC motor
These different types of DC motors have different characteristics.
They can be distinguished with the help of following characteristics.
a) Torque-armature current characteristics (Electrical
Characteristics)
b) Speed-Torque Characteristics (mechanical Characteristics)
The relations to be kept in mind while discussing motor
b) Speed-Torque (N-Ta) charateristics :
characteristics,
V  Eb Eb It is the curve showing the speed of motor at different values
i) I a  , ii ) N  and iii )T   I a of armature torque developed by motor.
Ra 
DC shunt motor We know that speed of DC shunt motor.
E
a) Torque-armature current(Ta-Ia) charateristics : N b
It is the curve showing the armature torque developed at 
And 𝜙 is constant for DC shunt Motor
different value of armature current.
Ta   I a and   I f
N  Eb
We have
When speed decreases, back emf also decreases, then
In DC shunt motor, the field current is constant provided that
armature current will increase and the armature torque will
applied voltage is constant,  Ta  I a
increase. Hence, N-Ta characteristics of DC shunt motor will
Hence, the Ta-Ia characteristics of a DC shunt motor is straight as
be as shown in figure. N
in following figure.
This indicates that the armature torque increases proportionately
with armature current. The net shaft torque is always less than the
torque because of loss of torque due to friction.
Torque
Ta
Tsh
Ta
Because there is no appreciable change in speed of a DC shunt
motor from no load to full load, shunt motor is suitable to drive a
load which is totally and suddenly thrown off so that there is no
chance of excessive speed. Due to constancy f speed, shunt motor is
Ia also suitable for driving shaft of machine tools, lathe etc, where
Fig. Ta-Ia characteristics of a DC shunt Motor approximately constant speed is required.
DC series motor At heavy load, (i.e. High Ta), the armature current is high.
a) Torque-armature current charateristics : Therefore, the back emf Eb will be lower to allow high
In DC series motor, the armature winding and field winding are armature current . But the flux per pole is also proportional to
connected in series. Therefore flux per pole is not constant but Ia for series motor, hence the speed will be significantly low at
varies with armature current. high torque.
We have Ta   I a and   I f Ta  I a2 At light load, (i.e. low Ta), the armature current is low.
Therefore, the back emf Eb will be comparatively high to allow
Hence, the Ta-Ia characteristics of a DC series motor Parabolic.
low armature current . Since armature current is low, the flux
After saturation, the flux per pole is almost independent of Ia.
per pole will also low. The speed will be significantly high at low
Hence, Ta  I a only,.
torque. N
Therefore the characteristics becomes almost straight line after
saturation.
Torque
Ta

Saturation Point
Ta
The above figure is the speed torque characteristic of DC series
motor. From this characteristics it is clear that at the starting
Ia (where the speed is very low) a DC series motor develops a high
b) Speed-Torque characteristics : torque. On other hand , at no load speed will be very high.
We have Hence, series dc motor should not be started at no load, other
E wise it may develop excessive speed and mechanical failure may
N  b Eb  V  I a Ra and Ta   I a
 occur due to heavy centrifugal force.
4.5 Starting of DC motors: 3 point and 4 point starter
Need for Starter
The armature current of a motor is given by,
𝑉 − 𝐸𝑏
𝐼𝑎 =
𝑅𝑎
Thus, Ia depends upon E and Ra if V is kept constant. When a
motor is first switched on, the armature is stationery so tha
back emdf E is zero. Th e initial starting current Iao is given by,
𝑉−0 𝑉
𝐼𝑎𝑜 = =
𝑅𝑎 𝑅𝑎
Since armature resistance of motor is very small, generally less
than one ohm; therefore the starting armature current Iao would
be very large.
Example:
If motor with armature resistance of 0.5 Ohm is connected
directly to a 230V supply, then,
𝑉 230
𝐼𝑎𝑜 = = = 460𝐴
𝑅𝑎 0.05
This current is 20-30 times greater than its rated full load
current. This high starting current will blow out the fuse and
prior to that it will damage the commutator and carbon brush.
4.6 Speed Control of DC motor: Field control, Armature Control Speed Control of DC shunt Motor
In practical application of DC motors, it may be required to i) Flux control method
run them at different speed under different loading From eq (4a), it is clear that the speed of motor is inversely
conditions. Therefore it is necessary to adopt some methods proportional to the flux per pole (φ).
to control the speed of motor as required. There are various In this method of speed control a variable resistance Rv is
methods of speed control for DC motors. It will be better to connected in series with the field winding to regulate the
understand that factors controlling the speed of DC motor field current, thereby regulates the flux per pole. Following
before going through speed control method. figure shows the circuit arrangement for this flux control
The magnitude of back emf developed by the armature is method for speed control.
given by,
𝑍𝜙𝑁 𝑃
𝐸𝑏 = ×
60 𝐴
𝐸𝑏 × 60 × 𝐴
𝑜𝑟, 𝑁 =
𝑍×𝜙×𝑃
𝐸𝑏
𝑜𝑟 𝑁 ∝
𝜙
Also we have, 𝐸𝑏 = 𝑉 − 𝐼𝑎 𝑅𝑎
𝑉 − 𝐼𝑎 𝑅𝑎
∴𝑁∝ (4𝑎)
𝜙
Therefore factor controlling speed of DC motor are,
i) Applied Voltage ii) Armature resistance Ra iii) Flux per
pole 𝜙
The variable resistance RV can only reduce the field current
below its rated value. Therefore this method is only suitable to
control the speed above the rated speed.
When RV is reduced to ‘0’ position, full rated field current ,
𝑉
𝐼𝑓 =
𝑅𝑓
will flow and the motor rotates with rated normal speed. When
full RV is connected at position ‘1’, the field current will reduce
to ,
𝑉
𝐼𝑓 =
𝑅𝑣 +𝑅𝑓
Thereby reducing the flux per pole, then motor rotated with
speed higher than normal rated speed . Between position ‘0’
and ‘1’ many intermediated speed can be obtained by sliding As the field winding is directly connected across the full
the variable point contact. supply voltage, the field current remains constant. Therefore
flux per pole also remains constant.
The armature torque depends upon on the flux per pole
ii) Armature Control method:
and armature current (Ta ∝ φIa).
This method is suitable when speed below normal rated speed
If the controller resistance RV is increased keeping the load
is required.
torque constant, the armature current (Ia) remains constant.
As supply voltage is normally constant, the voltage across the
But potential difference across the armature {V-Ia(Ra+RV)}
armature is varied by inserting a variable resistance RV in series
will decrease. Hence the speed of the armature will
with the armature circuit.
decrease.
Let, V=220V
N1= speed of the motor when Rv=0 I=50Amp
N2= speed of the motor when Rv is connected If=220/100=2.2Amp
Since flux per pole is constant and load torque is also constant, Ia1=50-2.2=47.8Amp
Ia1= Ia2 (∵ 𝑇𝑎 ∝ 𝜙𝐼𝑎 ) N1=1000RPM
Then Back emf N2=800RPM
𝐸𝑏1 = 𝑉 − 𝐼𝑎1 𝑅𝑎 when RV = 0
𝐸𝑏2 = 𝑉 − 𝐼𝑎2 (𝑅𝑎 +𝑅𝑉 ) when RV is connected Given, Ta  N 2
Now, Since  is contant in Shunt Motor, Ta  I a
𝑁2 𝐸𝑏2 𝜙1 Hence, I a  N 2
= ×
𝑁1 𝐸𝑏1 𝜙2 I a1 N12
But 𝜙2 = 𝜙1  
I a 2 N 22
𝑁2 𝑉 − 𝐼𝑎2 (𝑅𝑎 +𝑅𝑉 )
∴ =
𝑁1 𝑉 − 𝐼𝑎1 𝑅𝑎
QSN: A 220V dc shunt motor drives a centrifugal pump where
torque is proportional to the square of speed. The motor draws
a current of 50 Amp when running at 1000RPM. What value of
resistance must be inserted in the armature circuit to reduce
speed to 800 RPM. Given that Ra=0.1 ohm and Rf=100Ohms.
Speed Control of DC series Motor
4.7 Losses and Efficiency C  m e
The efficiency of the DC motor is defined as the ratio of
output power to input power.
Output Power Input Power  Losses
 
Input Power Input Power
Output Power

Output Power  Losses
Power Stages:
The power stages of DC motor are as follows.
A B C

Electrical Mechanical
Power Power Iron and
Motor Power
input = VI Cu loss developed in friction
output in watt
Watt Armature loss
= E Ia

Following three are motor efficiency,

Mechanical Power developed in armature B
Electrical Efficiency  m  
Electrical Power Supplied A
Motor output in Watt C
Mechanical Efficiency  e  
Mechanical power developed in armature B
Motor output in Watt C
Overall efficiency and commercial efficiency, C   22
Electrical Power Supplied A