Chapter Four

DC Machines
Introduction

• Most of the electrical machine in service are AC type.

• DC machine are of considerable industrial importance.
• DC machine mainly used as DC motors and the DC generators
are rarely used.
• DC motors provides a fine control of the speed which can not
be attained by AC motors.
• DC motors can developed rated torque at all speeds from
standstill to rated speed.
• Developed torque at standstill is many times greater than the
torque developed by an AC motor of equal power and speed
rating.
Application of DC Machines

• The d.c. machine can operate as either a motor or a

generator, at present its use as a generator is limited
because of the widespread use of ac power.
• Large d.c. motors are used in machine tools, printing
presses, fans, pumps, cranes, paper mill, traction, textile
mills and so forth.
• Small d.c. machines (fractional horsepower rating) are
used primarily as control device-such as tachogenerators
for speed sensing and servomotors for position and
tracking.
DC Machine Construction
• The stator of the dc machine has
poles, which are excited by dc
current to produce magnetic
fields.
• In the neutral zone, in the middle
between the poles, commutating
poles are placed to reduce
sparking of the commutator. The
commutating poles are supplied
by dc current.
• Compensating windings are
mounted on the main poles.
These short-circuited windings
damp rotor oscillations.
• The poles are mounted on an
iron core that provides a closed
magnetic circuit.
DC Machine Construction
• The rotor has a ring-shaped laminated
iron core with slots.

• Coils with several turns are placed in

the slots. The distance between the
two legs of the coil is about 180
electric degrees.
• The coils are connected in series
through the commutator segments.
• The ends of each coil are connected
to a commutator segment.
• The commutator consists of insulated
copper segments mounted on an
insulated tube.
• Two brushes are pressed to the
commutator to permit current flow.
• The brushes are placed in the neutral
zone, where the magnetic field is
close to zero, to reduce arcing.
DC Generator Operation
 DC Generator Operation
• Basic Principle: rotate a
conductor within
magnetic field to induce
an EMF
• Field windings located on
stator & receive current
from outside source
• The conductors in the slots
cut the magnetic flux lines,
which induce voltage in
the rotor coils
• EMF developed across the
brushes becomes a DC
voltage/current (pulsating
and unidirectional)
• Commutator: is a
mechanical rectifier, which
converts the alternating
voltage generated in the
armature winding into
direct voltage across the
brush.
• It is made of copper
segments insulated from
each other by mica and
mounted on the shaft of the
machine. The armature
windings are connected to
the commutator segments.
Types of DC generator

Types of DC generator
1. Separately excited generators.
2. Self excited field generators.
 Shunt generator.
 Series generator
 Compound generator
Separately excited generators. These kind
of generators has provided field exciter terminals
which are external DC voltage source is supplies
to produce separately magnetic field winding
(shunt field) for magnetize of the generator as
illustrated in figure below.

Vdc  E g  I aRa
Ia  IL
Self excited generators.
 This type of generator has produced a magnetic field by
itself without DC sources from an external.
 The electromotive force that produced by generator at
armature winding is supply to a field winding (shunt field)
instead of DC source from outside of the generator.
 Therefore, field winding is necessary connected to the
armature winding. They may be further classified as
Shunt generator. this generator, shunt field winding
and armature winding are connected in parallel through
commutator and carbon brush as illustrated in the figure.

 The shunt field has many turns of fine wire and caries of a
small current, I  I I
a f L

Vt
I sh 
Rsh
Vt  E g  I a Ra
Pg  E g I a
PD  Vt I L
Series generators. The field winding and armature
winding is connected in series.
 There is different from shunt generator due to field
winding is directly connected to the electric
applications (load).
 Therefore, field winding conductor must be sized
enough to carry the load current consumption and
the basic circuit as illustrated below.

Ia  I f  IL
Vt  E g  I a ( Ra  R f )
Pg  E g I a
PD  Vt I L
Compound generator. The compound generator has provided
with magnetic field in combine with excitation of shunt and
series field winding.

 The shunt field has many turns of fine wire and caries of a
small current,
The series field winding provided with a few turns of heavy
wire since it is in series with an armature winding and caries
the load current.
A short-shunt compound generator

A Long -shunt compound generator

D.C. Generator Characteristics

• Open Circuit Characteristic (O.C.C.)

 This curve shows the relation between the generated e.m.f.
at no-load (E0 ) and the field current (If ) at constant speed.
 It is also known as magnetic characteristic or no-load
saturation curve.
• External characteristic (V vrs IL)
 This curve shows the relation between the terminal voltage
(V) and load current (IL).
 The terminal voltage V will be less than E due to voltage
drop in the armature circuit.
D.C. Generator Characteristics

Internal or Total characteristic (Eg vrs Ia)

 This curve shows the relation between the generated e.m.f.
on load (E) and the armature current (Ia). The e.m.f. E is less
than E0 due to the demagnetizing effect of armature
reaction.
 The internal characteristic can be obtained from external
characteristic if winding resistances are known because
armature reaction effect is included in both characteristics.
D.C. Generator Characteristics

Open Circuit Characteristic of a D.C. Generator

The field winding of the d.c. generator (series or shunt) is
disconnected from the machine and is separately excited
from an external d.c. source as shown in Fig below

When the field current is zero, there is some

generated e.m.f. OA. This is due to the residual
magnetism in the field poles.

Over a fairly wide range of field current (up to

point B in the curve), the curve is linear. It is
because in this range, reluctance of iron is
negligible as compared with that of air gap. The
air gap reluctance is constant and hence
linear relationship.
D.C. Generator Characteristics

• Characteristics of a Separately Excited D.C. Generator

Open circuit characteristic.

• Characteristics of Series Generator

Critical Resistance for a Series Generator : The maximum field

circuit resistance (for a given speed) with which the shunt
generator would just excite is known as its critical field
resistance.
Critical Resistance : The maximum field circuit resistance (for a given speed) with
which the shunt generator would just excite is known as its critical field
resistance.
Critical Speed (NC) :The critical speed of a shunt generator is the minimum speed
below which it fails to excite.
Speed α Critical resistance
• Characteristics of a Shunt Generator

Conditions for Voltage Build-Up of a Shunt Generator:

 There must be some residual magnetism in generator poles.
 The connections of the field winding should be such that the field current strengthens
the residual magnetism.
 The resistance of the field circuit should be less than the critical resistance.
• Compound Generator Characteristics
Parallel Operation of D.C. Generators
 Continuity of service
 Efficiency
 Maintenance and repair
 Increasing plant capacity
 Non-availability of single large unit
Losses on DC machine
Power stage on DC generrator
DC Motor
Introduction
• D. C. motors are seldom used in ordinary applications because
all electric supply companies furnish alternating current
However, for special applications such as in steel mills, mines
and electric trains, it is advantageous to convert alternating
current into direct current in order to use d.c. motors.
• The reason is that speed/torque characteristics of d.c. motors
are much more superior to that of a.c. motors.
D.C. Motor Principle
• A machine that converts d.c. power into mechanical power is
known as a d.c. motor.
• Its operation is based on the principle that when a current
carrying conductor is placed in a magnetic field, the conductor
experiences a mechanical force.
When the terminals of the motor are connected to an
external source of d.c. supply:
 the field magnets are excited developing alternate N and
S poles;
 the armature conductors carry currents. All conductors
under N-pole carry currents in one direction while all the
conductors under S-pole carry currents in the opposite
direction
DC Motor Operation
 DC Motor Operation
• In a dc motor, the stator Rotation
poles are supplied by dc Ir_dc/2 Ir_dc Ir_dc/2
excitation current, which Brush Pole
winding
produces a dc magnetic Shaft

field. |

• The rotor is supplied by dc 8

1
2

current through the N 7 3

S
brushes, commutator and 6
5
4

coils.
• The interaction of the Insulation Copper
magnetic field and rotor Rotor Ir_dc segment
current generates a force Winding

that drives the motor

Back or Counter E.M.F.

• When the armature of a d.c. motor rotates under the influence of

the driving torque, the armature conductors move through the
magnetic field and hence e.m.f. is induced in them as in a generator.

• The back e.m.f. Eb is always less than the applied voltage V, although
this difference is small when the motor is running under normal
conditions

PZN
Eb 
60a
Consider a shunt wound motor
Net voltage across armature circuit = V –Eb
If Ra is the armature circuit resistance, then

V  Eb
Ia 
Ra
PZN
Eb  When the motor is running on no load, small torque is
required to overcome the friction and windage losses.
60a Therefore, the armature current Ia is small and the back e.m.f.
is nearly equal to the applied voltage
If the motor is suddenly loaded, the first effect is to cause the armature to
slow down. Therefore, the speed at which the armature conductors move
through the field is reduced and hence the back e.m.f. Eb falls.

The decreased back e.m.f. allows a larger current to flow through the
armature and larger current means increased driving torque.

Types of D.C. Motors

Shunt-wound motor : in which the field winding is connected in parallel with the
armature
Series-wound motor in which the field winding is connected in series with the
armature

Compound-wound motor which has two field windings; one connected inparallel with the armature and the
other in series with it.
Armature Torque of D.C. Motor : Torque is the turning moment of a
force about an axis and is measured by the product of force (F) and
radius (r) at right angle to which the force acts
T  Fxr
Torque due to one conductor  Fxr Newton  meter
Total armature torque  ZxFxr Newton  meter
Totaltorque  BxixlxZxr Newton  meter

Ta

Since Z, P and A are fixed

Ta α ΦIa
 Shaft Torque:

Speed of DC motor
Power stage on DC Motor
D.C. Motor Characteristics

 Torque and Armature current characteristic (Ta/Ia)

 Speed and armature current characteristic (N/ia)
 Speed and torque characteristic (N/Ta)
D.C. Motor Characteristics – Shunt Motor
D.C. Motor Characteristics – Shunt Motor
D.C. Motor Characteristics – series motor
D.C. Motor Characteristics – series motor

Conclusion:
 It has high starting Torque intially because Taα Ia2
 It is a variable speed motor,
 At no load the armature current is minimum, so is the flux, the speed will be dangerously
high, therefore we can’t run the motor under no load condition
D.C. Motor Characteristics – Compound motor

Conclusion:
 Due to the presence of shunt field the motor is prevented from running
away no load.
 Due to the presence of series filed , the starting torque is maximum
Thank you!