University of wasit

Department of Electrical Engineering

DC Machine
Part-2
Armature Winding:
 Firstly, the meaning of the following terms
used in connection with armature winding
should be clearly kept in mind:

Pole-pitch: the distance between two adjacent

poles. It is equal to the number of armature
conductors (or armature slots) per pole. If
there are 48 conductors and 4 poles, the pole
pitch is 48/4 = 12.
Conductor: The length of a wire lying in the
magnetic field and in which an emf is induced.
Coil and Winding Element: The coil may be
single turn coil or multi-turn coil. Multi-turn
coil may have many conductors per coil side.
The group of wires or conductors constituting
a coil side of a multi-turn coil is wrapped with
a tape as a unit and is placed in the armature
slot. Since the beginning and the end of each
coil must be connected to a commutator bar,
there are as many commutator bars as coils
for both the lap and wave windings. The side
of a coil (1-turn or multi-turn) is called a
winding element. The number of winding
elements is twice the number of coils.
Coil-span or Coil-pitch (Ys): It is the distance,
measured in terms of armature slots (or
armature conductors) between two sides of a
coil. If the pole span or coil pitch is equal to the
pole pitch. Then winding is called full-pitched. In
this case, the coil sides lie under opposite poles,
hence the induced emfs in them are additive.
Therefore, maximum emf is induced in the coil.
If the coil span is less than the pole pitch, then
the winding is fractional-pitched. In this case,
there is a phase difference between the emfs. In
the two sides of the coil. Hence, the total emf
round the coil which is the vector sum of emfs in
the two coil sides is less in this case as
compared to that in the first case.
Back Pitch (YB): The distance, measured in
terms of the armature conductors, which a
coil advances on the back of the armature is
called back pitch.
Front Pitch (YF): The number of armature
conductors or elements spanned by a coil on
the front (or commutator end of an armature)
is called the front pitch.
Resultant Pitch (YR): It is the distance between the
beginning of one coil and the beginning of the next
coil to which it is connected.
Commutator Pitch (Yc): It is the distance (measured in
commutator bars or segments) between the segments
to which the two ends of a coil are connected.
Single-layer Winding: It is that winding in which one
conductor or one coil side is placed in each armature
slot. Such a winding is not much used.
Two-layer Winding: In this type of winding, there are
two conductors or coil sides per slot arranged in two
layers. Usually, one side of every coil lies in the upper
half of one slot and other side lies in the lower half of
some other slot. Such windings are the most
commonly used for all medium-sized machines.
Sometimes 4 or 6 or 8 coil sides are used in each slot
in several layers because it is not practicable to have
Multiplex Winding: In such windings, there
are several sets of completely closed and
independent windings. If there is only one set
of closed winding, it is called simplex wave
winding. If there are two such windings on
the same armature, it is called duplex
winding and so on.
Lap and Wave Windings:
Simplex Lap-winding:
In lap winding, the finishing end of one coil is
connected to a commutator segment and to
the starting end of the next coil under the
same pole and so on, till all the coils have been
connected. Following points regarding simplex
lap winding should be carefully noted :
1. The back and front pitches are odd and of
opposite sign. But they cannot be equal. They
differ by 2.
2. Resultant pitch YR is even, YR =YB – YF=2.
3. The number of slots for a 2-layer winding is equal
to the number of coils. The number of commutator
segments is also the same.
4. The number of parallel paths in the armature (a)=P
where P the number of poles.
5. If YB > YF i.e. YB = YF + 2, then we get a progressive
or right-handed winding i.e. a winding which
progresses in the clockwise direction as seen from
the commutator end. In this case, Y C = + 1.
6. If YB < YF i.e. YB = YF -2, then we get a
retrogressive or left-handed winding i.e. one which
advances in the anti-clockwise direction when seen
from the commutator side. In this case, Y C = -1.
7. For progressive winding;

8. For retrogressive winding;

9. Z/P must be even to make the winding possible.

10. The total number of brushes is equal to the
number of poles.
11. The number of armature conductors (connected
in series) in any parallel path is Z/P.
 Example-1: Draw a developed diagram of a
simple 2-layer lap-winding for a 4-pole
generator with 16 coils.

Solution: The number of commutator segments

= 16
Number of conductors or coil sides 16 * 2 = 32
Pole pitch = 32/4 = 8
 Simplex Wave
Winding:
 conductor AB is connected to CD lying under S-
pole and then to EF under the next N-pole. In this
way, the winding progresses, passing successively
under every N-pole and S-pole till it returns to a
conductor A′B′ lying under the original pole.
Because the winding progresses in one direction
round the armature in a series of ‘waves’, it is
known as wave winding. If, after passing once
round the armature, the winding falls in a slot to
the left of its starting point then the winding is said
to be retrogressive. If, however, it falls one slot to
Example-2: Draw a developed diagram of a
simplex 2-layer wave-winding for a 4-pole dc
generator with 30 armature conductors.
Hence, point out the characteristics of a
simple wave winding.
Solution: 30 2
YA  8
4 or 7

Taking YA=7, we have YB=YF=7 .The simple

winding table is as under: