1TE668 - Projektarbete i elektroteknik, lab 2

Name: _________________________________

Lab 2 – Electric motor

Material
- DC voltage source with current and voltage display.
- Electric car with two DC motors connected mechanically to each other.
- Multimeter, tachometer, wiring and calculator.

Objective
- Understand the principles of a DC motor.
- Get familiarized with the equivalent circuit of an electric motor.
- Make a losses model of the driveline and calculate the efficiency.

Introduction
Fill up the questions, tables and millimetric paper graphs.

This lab is divided in two parts. First you will learn how a DC motor works. Then you will calculate the
performance of the motor by finally answering a question: What is the maximum gradient that the car
climb, given a certain constant speed and a certain supplied voltage?

Part 1 – How does a DC motor work?

DC motors are used in small electric vehicles like scooters and golf cars. Modern electric vehicles use AC
motors. But there are many similarities between them, for example:

- The torque is proportional to the current.

- They have the same equivalent circuit, but with DC sources instead of AC.

The equivalent circuit of a DC motor is presented in Figure 1. There is a resistance (R), an inductance (L) and
a voltage source (E – also called back emf) that is proportional to the speed ω.

Figure 1. Equivalent circuit of a DC motor

We are going to study the motor during steady state operation. The inductance does not affect a constant
DC current, so we will represent it by a short circuit. The equation that solves this circuit is:

= ∙ + (1)

The contacts in the motor are connected to the rotor windings through some contacts made of coal called
commutator. The schematic representation is presented in Figure 2, together with a view of a commutator
and a coal brush.

1
 1TE668 - Projektarbete i elektroteknik, lab 2

Figure 2. Schematic representation of a DC motor and an example of a commutator and a

coal brush.

The first drawing of Figure 2 shows only one coil, but at the next picture you can see that there are a lot of
coils in the rotor. Only one coil is connected at a time, so when the rotor turns, the coal brushes moves from
one coil to the next. In this way, the brushes are in contact with the coil that gives more torque. Now
imagine that no voltage is connected to the motor. There is a magnetic field that goes through a coil. The
magnetic field changes when we turn the rotor. A change in the magnetic field produces a voltage. The back
emf comes directly from Faraday’s law:

=− (2)

So according to eq. (1), the motor is also a generator if you turn the rotor when no voltage is connected. The
efficiency is defined as the useful power that we obtain (in our case, mechanical power to move the car)
divided by the total power (in our case, the electric power that we get from the car battery):

= (3)

The electric power is voltage times current. We connect a voltage (V) to our motor from the voltage source.
“Power out” is the mechanical power to overcome the friction and move the wheels. The mechanical power
is proportional to the torque (T) and to the rotational speed (ω). Note that the unit of ω is radians per
second (rad/s):

= ∙ (4)

We are not going to measure the torque, but we will calculate it indirectly. We know that the energy remains
constant. What comes in goes out, as power to the wheel plus losses. So if we calculate the losses and
subtract them to the power coming in, then we obtain the mechanical power.

T·ω = − (5)

Also, if we multiply equation (1) by current, we will have V·I, which is power:

= ∙ = ∙ ∙ + ∙ (6)

The first term (V·I) is the electric power that we send from the voltage source, we call it “Power in”. I 2·R are
the resistive losses. E·I is the power that is converted from electricity to mechanical power (to turn the two
gearboxes), so it is referred to as “Power out”. The mechanical and electrical power is found by combining
(4), (5) and (6):

∙ = ∙ (7)

2
 1TE668 - Projektarbete i elektroteknik, lab 2

Part 2 – Practical measurements and calculations

Task 1 – Measurement of resistance and back emf in motor M1
The first step is finding the equivalent circuit (figure 1) of the electric motor used in this lab. Table 1 shows
the data from the motor manufacturer.

Table 1. Data from the motor manufacturer.

Suggested voltage 4.5V DC
No load speed 140 rpm
No load current 190 mA (max 250 mA)
Torque 785 Nm

The reactance X in a DC circuit is 0 (why?) so the impedance is purely resistive. Measure the resistance with
the multimeter. The motor is supposed to stand still. As the resistance can differ depending on the position
of the rotor (why?), perform ten measurements, making the wheel turn a bit between every measurement.
Then the same value should appear several times. Consider the resistance to be the average of these
minimum values. Note your measurements in table 2. DO NOT TURN THE ROTOR WITH THE MULTIMETER
CONNECTED! The motor is also a generator; you will induce a voltage that might eventually harm the
multimeter. Also make sure that you have a good contact so that you don’t introduce a resistance that might
disturb the measurements.

Table 2. Measurements of resistance R m ea s of motor M1.

Measured resistance of motor M1: Rmeas = ______________ Ω

Then, you will measure the back emf (E). According to equation (2), the voltage increases linearly with the
speed (ω) – Note that the rotational speed ω is always given in rad/s if nothing else is stated. For practical
reasons sometimes other units are used, like rpm as we partly use in this lab. Remember to always note the
unit for any value you give! We will connect a voltage source to one of the motors and the other will run
freely. As we want to measure the back emf of motor M1, we have to connect the motor M2 to the voltage
source and measure the back emf in motor M1 with the multimeter. Set the voltage source to different
voltages between 3 and 5 V (the voltage can be anything in between 3 and 5 V – it’s just to get the motor
spinning!) and measure the speed and the back emf of motor M1. (You measure the speed of the motor
pointing the tachometer to a white paper on the side of the wheel. M1 and M2 are connected mechanically
to each other so they rotate with the same speed as presented in Figure 4.) Make at least five measurements
to be able to state an accurate relation between speed and back emf. Write your result in table 3 and also
plot the result in figure 3. Make a rough “least square” linear fit (with the help of your eyes and a ruler) to
your measured data and conclude the equation for the relation between back emf and speed. (Tip: Use the
knowledge of the back emf at zero speed.)

Table 3. Measurements of back emf as a function of speed for motor M1.

ω [rpm]

E [V]

3
 1TE668 - Projektarbete i elektroteknik, lab 2

Figure 3. Back emf E as a function of speed for motor M1.

Calculate k1 in the linear relation between back emf and speed for motor M1, E = k 1·ω:

E = _________________ (8)

4
 1TE668 - Projektarbete i elektroteknik, lab 2
Task 2 – Measurement and calculation of motor properties
Now that you have measured the characteristics of the back emf of the motor M1, please now change the
connections and connect motor M1 to the voltage source and motor M2 to the multimeter, as seen in
figure 4. Now M1 is the driving motor and M2 is spinning freely, as a load.

Figure 4. Connections in the test set up.

Set the voltage source to 3 V. Both wheels will start rotating. Measure the speed ω of the wheels and note
down the current I drawn from the voltage source. The back emf E can then be calculated from the speed via
the relation you have stated in eq. 8. Repeat the measurements with 3.5, 4, 4.5 and 5 V and fill up the
columns 2-6 in Table 4 (page 6). Then perform the calculations needed to fill up column 7-13 in Table 4. Be
careful with the units!

Task 3 – Result analysis

All the information to describe the motor properties of motor M1 is in the table that you filled up, and we
have found the parameters of the equivalent circuit in Figure 1 and eq. 1. Is the resistance that we measured
at stand still (Rmeas) consistent with the values calculated (R calc,1-5)? Or, put in another way: Are the values of
Ploss,1 and Ploss,2 the same? If not, why?

______________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________

5
 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

U Speed ω Speed ω E I Rcalc,1-5 Pin Pout Resistive Resistive Difference Torque Motor
(from (meas.) (ωrad/s = (calc. from (from (calc. from = U·I = E·I losses in losses in in resistive Pout/ω efficiency
voltage ωrpm·2π/60) eq. 8) voltage eq. 1) motor motor losses (note that Pout/Pin
source) source) the speed
with Rmeas. while between
has to be
Table 4. Resul ts of Task 2.

running, column 9 noted in

Ploss,1 = Ploss,2 = and 10 rad/s)
2 (column 10
I · Rmeas Pin - Pout
minus 9)

[V] [rpm] [rad/s] [V] [mA] [Ω] [mW] [mW] [mW] [mW] [mW] [mNm] [---]

3,5

4
1TE668 - Projektarbete i elektroteknik, lab 2

4,5

6
 1TE668 - Projektarbete i elektroteknik, lab 2

We claim that the torque is proportional to the current. Plot the torque depending on the current. We also
claim that there are linear and quadratic terms in P out (consisting of friction losses in the two gear boxes).
Plot Pout dependent on the speed in Figure 5. Note that there is no correlation between the two graphs T(I)
and Pout(ω). The only reason for them to be in the same graph is to save some space;-). If your numbers are
“outside of the graph” you can just remake the scales so that they fit your numbers. Also use pens in two
different colors to easily separate the graphs.

Figure 5. Graphical view of results of Task 4.

The torque is proportional to the current, but the measurement is not accurate enough and some
assumptions are too optimistic at low speed. Consider only the last three points of the graph and find the
constant k2. Compare it to k1 in eq. 8!

The torque is proportional to the current, T = k2·I. Find k2 and complete eq. 9. T = _______________ (9)

The losses should look like something between a line and a parabola. Note that you measured the total
losses for both gear boxes (which should be more or less identical).

7
 1TE668 - Projektarbete i elektroteknik, lab 2
Final question
What is the maximum gradient that the car can climb if you connect 3.5 V to both motors and we expect the
car to go with a constant wheel speed of 100 rpm? This is what you do:

1 – What is the friction in the gearboxes (P out) at 100 rpm? Join the points in the graph (Figure 5) and obtain
the answer with an interpolation. As you have the power you can easily calculate the torque (from eq. 4) .

Tfriction = ___________

2 – The back emf E is proportional to the speed. Find the voltage at 100 rpm (eq. 8).

E = _____________

3 – We know the equivalent circuit of our motor. Look at eq. 1 and find out the current when the motor is
running at 100 rpm and connected to 3.5 V. Which resistance should you use, R meas or Rcalc,1-5? Why?

I = ___________

4 – The torque is proportional to the current. You’ve just found the current, how much torque are we
sending to the wheels (eq. 9)?

Twheels = ____________

5 – Now assume that the two motors used are both identical to M1. The torque pushing the car forward is
then 2xTwheels minus Tfriction (the friction was calculated for both motors). Find the motor force F motor, pushing
the car forward. Check the hints at the end of the instructions for some values that you need.

Fmotor = ___________

6 – Now check the figure in the hints and calculate the angle Θ for which the gravitational force acting along
the road is the same as the driving force of the car.

Θ = ____________

Is your result reasonable? Check it by calculating the power needed to lift the car with the vertical speed
corresponding to a wheel speed 100 rpm up a road with this angle!

Some hints
The wheel diameter is 65 mm and the car weighs 400 g. Remember
that torque (T) is force (F) times the radius (r) of the wheel (T = F·r). If
you change the wheels of your car to smaller ones, the torque from
the motor will be the same but the force against the asphalt will be
higher, so you will probably burn some rubber.