DC MOTOR :

DC motor is any of a class of electrical machines that converts direct current electrical power
into mechanical power. The most common types rely on the forces produced by magnetic fields.
Nearly all types of DC motors have some internal mechanism, either electromechanical or
electronic, to periodically change the direction of current flow in part of the motor. Most types
produce rotary motion; a linear motor directly produces force and motion in a straight line.

DC motors were the first type widely used, since they could be powered from existing direct-
current lighting power distribution systems. A DC motor's speed can be controlled over a wide
range, using either a variable supply voltage or by changing the strength of current in its field
windings. Small DC motors are used in tools, toys, and appliances. The universal motor can
operate on direct current but is a lightweight motor used for portable power tools and appliances.
Larger DC motors are used in propulsion of electric vehicles, elevator and hoists, or in drives for
steel rolling mills. The advent of power electronics has made replacement of DC motors with AC
motors possible in many applications.

Electromagnetic motor
A coil of wire with a current running through it generates an electromagnetic field aligned with
the center of the coil. The direction and magnitude of the magnetic field produced by the coil can
be changed with the direction and magnitude of the current flowing through it.

A simple DC motor has a stationary set of magnets in the stator and an armature with one or
more windings of insulated wire wrapped around a soft iron core that concentrates the magnetic
field. The windings usually have multiple turns around the core, and in large motors there can be
several parallel current paths. The ends of the wire winding are connected to a commutator. The
commutator allows each armature coil to be energized in turn and connects the rotating coils
with the external power supply through brushes. (Brushless DC motors have electronics that
switch the DC current to each coil on and off and have no brushes.)

The total amount of current sent to the coil, the coil's size and what it's wrapped around dictate
the strength of the electromagnetic field created.

The sequence of turning a particular coil on or off dictates what direction the effective
electromagnetic fields are pointed. By turning on and off coils in sequence a rotating magnetic
field can be created. These rotating magnetic fields interact with the magnetic fields of the
magnets (permanent or electromagnets) in the stationary part of the motor (stator) to create a
force on the armature which causes it to rotate. In some DC motor designs the stator fields use
electromagnets to create their magnetic fields which allow greater control over the motor.

At high power levels, DC motors are almost always cooled using forced air.

Different number of stator and armature fields as well as how they are connected provide
different inherent speed/torque regulation characteristics. The speed of a DC motor can be
controlled by changing the voltage applied to the armature. The introduction of variable
resistance in the armature circuit or field circuit allowed speed control. Modern DC motors are
often controlled by power electronics systems which adjust the voltage by "chopping" the DC
current into on and off cycles which have an effective lower voltage.

Since the series-wound DC motor develops its highest torque at low speed, it is often used in
traction applications such as electric locomotives, and trams. The DC motor was the mainstay of
electric traction drives on both electric and diesel-electric locomotives, street-cars/trams and
diesel electric drilling rigs for many years. The introduction of DC motors and an electrical
grid system to run machinery starting in the 1870s started a new second Industrial Revolution.
DC motors can operate directly from rechargeable batteries, providing the motive power for the
first electric vehicles and today's hybrid cars and electric cars as well as driving a host
of cordless tools. Today DC motors are still found in applications as small as toys and disk
drives, or in large sizes to operate steel rolling mills and paper machines. Large DC motors with
separately excited fields were generally used with winder drives for mine hoists, for high torque
as well as smooth speed control using thyristor drives. These are now replaced with large AC
motors with variable frequency drives.

If external power is applied to a DC motor it acts as a DC generator, a dynamo. This feature is

used to slow down and recharge batteries on hybrid car and electric cars or to return electricity
back to the electric grid used on a street car or electric powered train line when they slow down.
This process is called regenerative braking on hybrid and electric cars. In diesel electric
locomotives they also use their DC motors as generators to slow down but dissipate the energy in
resistor stacks. Newer designs are adding large battery packs to recapture some of this energy.

A DC motor in simple words is a device that converts direct current(electrical energy) into
mechanical energy. It’s of vital importance for the industry today, and is equally important for
engineers to look into the working principle of DC motor in details that has been discussed in
this article. In order to understand the operating principle of DC motor we need to first look

into its constructional feature. The

very basic construction of a DC motor contains a current carrying armature which is connected
to the supply end through commutator segments and brushes it is placed within the north south
poles of a permanent or an electro-magnet as shown in the diagram below.
Now to go into the details of the operating principle of DC motor its important that we have a
clear understanding of Fleming’s left hand rule to determine the direction of force acting on the
armature conductors of DC motor.

Fleming’s left hand rule says that if we extend the index finger, middle finger and thumb of our
left hand in such a way that the current carrying conductor is placed in a magnetic field
(represented by the index finger) is perpendicular to the direction of current (represented by the
middle finger), then the conductor experiences a force in the direction (represented by the
thumb) mutually perpendicular to both the direction of field and the current in the conductor.
For clear understanding the principle of DC motor we have to determine the magnitude of the
force, by considering the diagram below. We know that when an infinitely small charge dq is
made to flow at a velocity ‘v’ under the influence of an electric field E, and a magnetic field B,
then the Lorentz Force df experienced by the charge is given by:-
For the operation of DC motor, considering E = 0

I.e. It’s the cross product of dq v and magnetic field B.

Where dl is the length of the conductor carrying charge q.

From the 1st diagram we can see that the construction of a DC motor is such that the direction of
current through the armature conductor at all instance is perpendicular to the field. Hence the
force acts on the armature conductor in the direction perpendicular to the both uniform field and
current is constant.

So if we take the current in the left hand side of the armature conductor to be I, and current at
right hand side of the armature conductor to be − I, because they are flowing in the opposite
direction with respect to each other. Then the force on the left hand side armature conductor,

Similarly force on the right hand side conductor

∴ we can see that at that position the force on either side is equal in magnitude but opposite in
direction. And since the two conductors are separated by some distance w = width of the
armature turn, the two opposite forces produces a rotational force or a torque that results in the
rotation of the armature conductor. Now let's examine the expression of torque when the
armature turn crate an angle of α with its initial position. The torque produced is given by,

Where, α is the angle between the plane of the armature turn and the plane of reference or the
initial position of the armature which is here along the direction of magnetic field. The presence
of the term cosα in the torque equation very well signifies that unlike force the torque at all
position is not the same. It in fact varies with the variation of the angle α. To explain the
variation of torque and the principle behind rotation of the motor let us do a step wise analysis.