CONSTRUCTIONAL DETAILS

OF DC MACHINES

Dr. Amitava Biswas

Assistant Professor
Department of Applied Physics
Electrical Engineering Section
University of Calcutta
92, APC Road, Kolkata - 9

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SECTIONAL VIEW OF A DC GENERATOR

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MAIN PARTS OF DC MACHINES

1. Body or Yoke
2. Main field poles
3. Armature
4. Commutator
5. Inter-poles or Commutating poles
6. Compensating winding
7. Brushes and Brush holders
8. Bearing
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CROSS-SECTIONAL VIEW OF A DC MACHINE

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 BODY OR YOKE

The body or yoke constitutes the outer shell of machine

and all the other parts are housed
This will be closed at both the ends by two end covers.
Yoke also serves as a mechanical support.
Yoke forms a part of the magnetic circuit of the machine.
It provides the return path for the magnetic flux to flow.
Cast iron or cast steel was mainly used for the yokes.
Modern dc machines are normally used forged-steel
yokes.
Large machines are fabricated by suitably welding the
different parts and those are called fabricated frames.
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MAIN FIELD POLES

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 MAIN FIELD POLES

Main field poles of the dc machine are consisting of

i) pole body or core ii) pole shoes and iii) field windings
The pole body are secured to the yoke by the bolts.
Poles are made up of sheet steel.
Solid poles of fabricated steel with separate pole shoes
are fastened to the frame by the bolts.
The pole shoes support the field coils placed on the pole body.
Pole body and pole shoes are laminations.
The pole shoes spread the total flux over a greater area and
reducing the air gap reluctance.
The pole shoes are shaped a slightly increased air gap at the tips.

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 FIELD WINDINGS
The field winding or coil are wound around the main poles.
It carry the excitation current and produce the main field.
The poles are created electromagnetically.
Two types of field windings namely shunt winding and series
winding.
The resistance of shunt winding is high and large number of turns
of small section copper conductor is used.
The resistance of series winding is low and a few turns of heavy
cross section conductor is used.
Some machines have both the windings on the field poles.

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 ARMATURE DETAILS

Shaft

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ARMATURE CORE

ARMATURE TAPERED SLOTS

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 ARMATURE AND ARMATURE CORE

The armature of a dc machine is of cylindrical shape, consisting of

slots, teeth, winding and the core.
The armature is constructed by stacking laminated sheets of silicon steel.
Thickness of the lamination is kept low to reduce eddy
current losses.
The laminations carry alternating flux the choice of suitable material.
The armature is where the moving conductors are located.
Open parallel sided equally spaced slots are normally punched in the
rotor laminations.
These slots house the armature winding.
End plates are suitably shaped so as to serve as winding supporters.
The core is divided into packets to facilitate ventilation.
Ventilating ducts are provided in the core to improve the cooling.

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ARMATURE WINDING

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DOUBLE LAYER ARMATURE WINDING

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 ARMATURE WINDING
The armature coils are wound on the surface of the armature core.
Armature windings are in general pre-formed, taped and lowered
into the open slots on the armature.
For small machines, armature can be hand wound.
The coils are strafed by the bands of steel wire on the surface of the
rotor due to centrifugal forces.
For large machines slot wedges are additionally used to restrain the
coils from flying away.
The end portion of the windings are taped at the free end and bound
to the winding carrier ring of the armature at the commutator end.
The armature must be dynamically balanced to reduce the
centrifugal forces at the operating speeds.
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INTER POLES

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 INTER POLES AND INTER POLE WINDING

Inter poles are small additional poles located in between the

main poles.
Inter poles are also fastened to the yoke by bolts.
These are made up of iron or mild steel.
For small and medium size machines, inter poles could be solid.
For larger machines laminated inter poles should be used.
Inter poles are also called as commutating poles or compoles.
Modern direct current machines, the main poles are also provided
with commutating poles with windings to improve commutation
under loaded conditions.

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ARMATURE AND COMPENSATING WINDING

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 COMPENSATING WINDING

One may find a bar winding housed in the slots on the

pole shoes.
This is mostly found in d.c. machines of very large
rating.
Such winding is called compensating winding.
In smaller machines, they may be absent.
The function of the compensating winding is reduced
the armature reaction when the dc machines are loaded.

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ARMATURE WINDING AND COMMUTATOR

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COMMUTATOR OF A DC MACHINE

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COMMUTATOR SEGMENTS

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CYLINDRICAL TYPE COMMUTATOR
(A LONGITUDINAL SECTION)

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 COMMUTATOR

Commutator is the key element of the d.c. machine.

It consists of copper segments tightly fastened together with mica
insulating separators on an insulated base.
The whole commutator forms a rigid and solid assembly of
insulated copper strips and can rotate at high speeds.
Each commutator segment is provided with a riser where the
ends of the armature coils get connected.
The surface of the commutator is machined and concentric with
the shaft and the current collecting brushes rest on it.
Under-cutting the mica insulators that are between these
commutator segments has to be done periodically to avoid fouling
of the surface of the commutator by mica when the commutator
gets worn out.
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BRUSHES AND BRUSH HOLDERS

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POSITIONING OF THE BRUSH ON THE COMMUTATOR

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 BRUSH AND BRUSH HOLDERS

Brushes are rest on the surface of the commutator.

Material of the brush is used as electro-graphite.
The composition of brush depends on the peripheral speed of the
commutator and the working voltage.
The hardness of the graphite brush is selected to be lower than
that of the commutator.
Number of smaller width brushes are preferred in place of large
broad brushes.
The brush holders provide slots for the brushes to be placed.
Connection from the brush is taken out by the flexible pigtail.
The brushes are kept pressed on the commutator with the help of
springs.
Jumping of brushes must be avoided to ensure arc free current
collection and to keep the brush contact drop low.

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BALL BEARING

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ROLLER BEARING

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 BEARINGS OF DC MACHINES

Small machines employ ball bearings at both ends.

For larger machines roller bearings are used especially at the
driving end.
The bearings are mounted press-fit on the shaft.
The bearings must be kept in closed housing with suitable
lubricant keeping dust and other foreign materials away.
Thrust bearings, roller bearings, pedestal bearings etc. are used
under special cases.
There are no axial forces on the shaft both of which destroy the
bearings.

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