Universal motor

The universal motor is a type of electric motor that can operate on either AC or DC
power. It is a commutated series-wound motor where the stator's field coils are
connected in series with the rotor windings through a commutator. It is often
referred to as an AC series motor. The universal motor is very similar to a DC series
motor in construction, but is modified slightly to allow the motor to operate properly
on AC power. This type of electric motor can operate well on AC because the
current in both the field coils and the armature (and the resultant magnetic fields)
will alternate (reverse polarity) synchronously with the supply. Hence the resulting
mechanical force will occur in a consistent direction of rotation, independent of the
Modern low-cost universal motor,
direction of applied voltage, but determined by the commutator and polarity of the
from a vacuum cleaner. Field
field coils.[1] windings are of copper wire, toward
the back, on both sides. The rotor's
Universal motors have high starting torque, can run at high speed, and are
laminated metallic core is gray, with
lightweight and compact. They are commonly used in portable power tools and darker slots for winding the coils
equipment, as well as many household appliances. They're also relatively easy to having high efficiency. The similarly
control, electromechanically using tapped coils, or electronically. However, the shaped metallic commutator (partly
commutator has brushes that wear, so they are much less often used for equipment hidden toward the front) has become
dark from use. The large brown
that is in continuous use. In addition, partly because of the commutator, universal
molded-plastic piece in the
motors are typically very noisy, both acoustically and electromagnetically.[2]
foreground supports the brush
guides and brushes (both sides), as
well as the front motor bearing.

Contents
Properties
Efficiency
Torque-speed characteristics
Disadvantages
Speed control
Variations
Shunt winding
Repulsion-start
Applications
Domestic appliances
Rail traction
Starter motor
References

Properties
Not all series wound motors operate well on AC current.[3][note 1] If an ordinary series wound DC motor were connected to an AC
supply, it would run very poorly. The universal motor is modified in several ways to allow for proper AC supply operation. There is a
compensating winding typically added, along with laminated pole pieces, as opposed to the solid pole pieces found in DC motors.[1]
A universal motor's armature typically has far more coils and plates than a DC motor, and hence fewer windings per coil. This
reduces the inductance.[4]
Efficiency
Even when used with AC power these types of motors are able to run at a rotation
frequency well above that of the mains supply, and because most electric motor
properties improve with speed, this means they can be lightweight and powerful.[4]
However, universal motors are usually relatively inefficient: around 30% for smaller
motors and up to 70–75% for larger ones.[4]

Universal motors' field coils are

Torque-speed characteristics series wound with the rotor coils and
commutator
Series wound electric motors respond to increased load by slowing down; the current
increases and the torque rises in proportion to the square of the current since the
same current flows in both the armature and the field windings. If the motor is
stalled, the current is limited only by the total resistance of the windings and the
torque can be very high, and there is a danger of the windings becoming overheated.
The counter-EMF aids the armature resistance to limit the current through the
armature. When power is first applied to a motor, the armature does not rotate. At
that instant, the counter-EMF is zero and the only factor limiting the armature
current is the armature resistance. Usually the armature resistance of a motor is low; Equivalent circuit
therefore the current through the armature would be very large when the power is
applied. Therefore the need can arise for an additional resistance in series with the
armature to limit the current until the motor rotation can build up the counter-EMF. As the motor rotation builds up, the resistance is
gradually cut out. The speed-torque characteristic is an almost perfectly straight line between the stall torque and the no-load speed.
This suits large inertial loads as the speed will drop until the motor slowly starts to rotate and these motors have a very high stalling
torque.[5]

As the speed increases, the inductance of the rotor means that the ideal commutating point changes. Small motors typically have
fixed commutation. While some larger universal motors have rotatable commutation, this is rare. Instead larger universal motors
often have compensation windings in series with the motor, or sometimes inductively coupled, and placed at ninety electrical degrees
[4]
to the main field axis. These reduce the reactance of the armature, and improve the commutation.

One useful property of having the field windings in series with the armature winding is that as the speed increases the counter EMF
naturally reduces the voltage across, and current through the field windings, giving field weakening at high speeds. This means that
the motor has no theoretical maximum speed for any particular applied voltage. Universal motors can be and are generally run at high
speeds, 4000–16000 RPM, and can go over 20,000 RPM.[4] By way of contrast, AC synchronous and squirrel cage induction motors
cannot turn a shaft faster than allowed by the power line frequency. In countries with 60 Hz AC supply, this speed is limited to
3600 RPM.[6]

Motor damage may occur from over-speeding (running at a rotational speed in excess of design limits) if the unit is operated with no
significant mechanical load. On larger motors, sudden loss of load is to be avoided, and the possibility of such an occurrence is
incorporated into the motor's protection and control schemes. In some smaller applications, a fan blade attached to the shaft often acts
as an artificial load to limit the motor speed to a safe level, as well as a means to circulate cooling airflow over the armature and field
windings. If there were no mechanical limits placed on a universal motor it could theoretically speed out of control in the same way
any series-wound DC motorcan.[2]

An advantage of the universal motor is that AC supplies may be used on motors which have some characteristics more common in
[2]
DC motors, specifically high starting torque and very compact design if high running speeds are used.

Disadvantages
A negative aspect is the maintenance and short life problems caused by the commutator, as well as electromagnetic interference
(EMI) issues due to any sparking. Because of the relatively high maintenance commutator brushes, universal motors are best-suited
for devices such as food mixers and power tools which are used only intermittently
, and often have high starting-torque demands.

Another negative aspect is that these motors may only be used where mostly-clean air is present at all times. Due to the dramatically
increased risk of overheating,totally-enclosed fan cooleduniversal motors would be impractical, though some have been made. Such
a motor would need a large fan to circulate enough air, decreasing efficiency since the motor must use more energy to cool itself. The
impracticality comes from the resulting size, weight, and thermal management issues which open motors have none of.

Speed control
Continuous speed control of a universal motor running on AC is easily obtained by use of a thyristor circuit, while multiple taps on
the field coil provide (imprecise) stepped speed control. Household blenders that advertise many speeds frequently combine a field
coil with several taps and adiode that can be inserted in series with the motor (causing the motor to run on half-wave rectified AC).

Variations

Shunt winding
Universal motors are series wound. Shunt winding was used experimentally, in the late 19th century,[7] but was impractical owing to
problems with commutation. Various schemes of embedded resistance, inductance and antiphase cross-coupling were attempted to
reduce this. Universal motors, including shunt wound, were favoured as AC motors at this time as they were self-starting.[3] When
self-starting induction motors and automatic starters became available, these replaced the larger universal motors (above 1 hp) and
the shunt wound.

Repulsion-start
In the past, repulsion-start wound-rotor motors provided high starting torque, but with added complexity. Their rotors were similar to
those of universal motors, but their brushes were connected only to each other. Transformer action induced current into the rotor.
Brush position relative to field poles meant that starting torque was developed by rotor repulsion from the field poles. A centrifugal
mechanism, when close to running speed, connected all commutator bars together to create the equivalent of a squirrel-cage rotor. As
well, when close to operating speed, better motors lifted the brushes out of contact.

Applications

Domestic appliances
Operating at normal power line frequencies, universal motors are often found in a range less than1000 watts. Their high speed makes
them useful for appliances such as blenders, vacuum cleaners, and hair dryers where high speed and light weight are desirable. They
are also commonly used in portable power tools, such as drills, sanders, circular and jig saws, where the motor's characteristics work
well. Many vacuum cleaner and weed trimmer motors exceed 10,000 RPM, while many Dremel and similar miniature grinders
exceed 30,000 RPM.

Universal motors also lend themselves to electronic speed control and, as such, were an ideal choice for domestic washing machines.
The motor can be used to agitate the drum (both forwards and in reverse) by switching the field winding with respect to the armature.
The motor can also be run up to the high speeds required for the spin cycle. Nowadays, variable-frequency drive motors are more
commonly used instead.

Rail traction
Universal motors also formed the basis of the traditional railway traction motor in electric railways. In this application, the use of AC
to power a motor originally designed to run on DC would lead to efficiency losses due to eddy current heating of their magnetic
components, particularly the motor field pole-pieces that, for DC, would have used solid (un-laminated) iron. Although the heating
effects are reduced by using laminated pole-pieces, as used for the cores of transformers and by the use of laminations of high
permeability electrical steel, one solution available at the start of the 20th century was for the motors to be operated from very low
frequency AC supplies, with25 and 16 2⁄3 Hz operation being common.

Starter motor
Starters of combustion engines are usually universal motors, with the advantage of being small and having high torque at low speed.
Some starters have permanent magnets, others have 1 out of the 4 poles wound with a shunt coil rather than series wound coils.

References
i. Motors for DC will anyway require laminated rotors, owing to commutation

1. Herman, Stephen L. Delmar's Standard Textbook of Electricity, 3rd Edition. Clifton Park, NY: Delmar Learning, 2004.
p.998
2. Herman, Stephen L. Delmer's Standard Textbook of Electricity, 3rd Edition. Clifton Park, NY: Delmar Learning, 2004.
p.1001
3. Kennedy, Rankin (1915). The Book of Electrical Installations. Vol II. Caxton. p. 152.
4. Transformers and Motors, by George PatrickShultz
5. Herman, Stephen L. Delmar's Standard Textbook of Electricity, 3rd Edition. Clifton Park, NY: Delmar Learning, 2004.
p.850
6. Herman, Stephen L. Delmar's Standard Textbook of Electricity, 3rd Edition. Clifton Park, NY: Delmar Learning, 2004.
p.905
7. GB 18847 (https://worldwide.espacenet.com/textdoc?DB=EPODOC&IDX=GB18847)
, H F Joel, published 1892

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