Electric motor

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For other kinds of motors, see motor.
Rotating magnetic field as a sum of magnetic vectors from 3 phase coils

An electric motor converts electrical energy into mechanical energy. The reverse process, that of converting mechanical energy into electrical energy, is accomplished by a generator or dynamo. Traction motors used on locomotives often perform both tasks if the locomotive is equipped with dynamic brakes. Electric motors are found in household appliances such as fans, refrigerators, washing machines, pool pumps and fan-forced ovens.

Most electric motors work by electromagnetism, but motors based on other electromechanical phenomena, such as electrostatic forces and the piezoelectric effect, also exist. The fundamental principle upon which electromagnetic motors are based is that there is a mechanical force on any current-carrying wire contained within a magnetic field. The force is described by the Lorentz force law and is perpendicular to both the wire and the magnetic field. Most magnetic motors are rotary, but linear motors also exist. In a rotary motor, the rotating part (usually on the inside) is called the rotor, and the stationary part is called the stator. The rotor rotates because the wires and magnetic field are arranged so that a torque is developed about the rotor's axis. The motor contains electromagnets that are wound on a frame. Though this frame is often called the armature, that term is often erroneously applied. Correctly, the armature is that part of the motor across which the input voltage is supplied. Depending upon the design of the machine, either the rotor or the stator can serve as the armature.

Contents

  • 1 History and Development
  • 2 DC motors
    • 2.1 Speed control
    • 2.2 DC motor starters
      • 2.2.1 Three-point starter
      • 2.2.2 Four-point starter
    • 2.3 Brushless DC motors
    • 2.4 Coreless DC motors
  • 3 Universal motors
  • 4 AC motors
    • 4.1 Components
  • 5 Torque motors
  • 6 Stepper motors
  • 7 Linear motors
  • 8 Doubly-fed electric motor
  • 9 Singly-fed electric motor
  • 10 Nanotube nanomotor
  • 11 Motor standards
  • 12 See also
  • 13 References and further reading
  • 14 External articles

[edit] History and Development

The principle of conversion of electrical energy into mechanical energy by electromagnetic means was demonstrated by the British scientist Michael Faraday in 1821 and consisted of a free-hanging wire dipping into a pool of mercury. A permanent magnet was placed in the middle of the pool of mercury. When a current was passed through the wire, the wire rotated around the magnet, showing that the current gave rise to a circular magnetic field around the wire. This motor is often demonstrated in school physics classes, but brine (salt water) is sometimes used in place of the toxic mercury. This is the simplest form of a class of electric motors called homopolar motors. A later refinement is the Barlow's Wheel. These were demonstration devices, unsuited to practical applications due to limited power.

The first commutator-type direct-current electric motor capable of a practical application was invented by the British scientist William Sturgeon in 1832. Following Sturgeon's work, a commutator-type direct-current electric motor made with the intention of commercial use was built by the American Thomas Davenport and patented in 1837. Although several of these motors were built and used to operate equipment such as a printing press, due to the high cost of primary battery power, the motors were commercially unsuccessful and Davenport went bankrupt. Several inventors followed Sturgeon in the development of DC motors but all encountered the same cost issues with primary battery power. No electrcity distribution had been developed at the time. Like Sturgeon's motor, there was no practical commercial market for these motors.

The modern DC motor was invented by accident in 1873, when Zénobe Gramme connected the dynamo he had invented to a second similar unit, driving it as a motor. The Gramme machine was the first electric motor that was successful in the industry.

In 1888 Nikola Tesla invented the first practicable AC motor and with it the polyphase power transmission system. Tesla continued his work on the AC motor in the years to follow at the Westinghouse company.

[edit] DC motors

DC Motor Rotation
A simple DC electric motor. When the coil is powered, a magnetic field is generated around the armature. The left side of the armature is pushed away from the left magnet and drawn toward the right, causing rotation. The armature continues to rotate. When the armature becomes horizontally aligned, the commutator reverses the direction of current through the coil, reversing the magnetic field. The process then repeats.
Electric motors of various sizes.

If the shaft of a DC motor is turned by an external force, the motor will act like a generator and produce an Electromotive force (EMF). During normal operation, the spinning of the motor produces a voltage, known as the counter-EMF (CEMF) or back EMF, because it opposes the applied voltage on the motor. This is the same EMF that is produced when the motor is used as a generator (for example when an electrical load (resistance) is placed across the terminals of the motor and the motor shaft is driven with an external torque). Therefore, the voltage drop across a motor consists of the voltage drop, due to this CEMF, and the parasitic voltage drop resulting from the internal resistance of the armature's windings. The current through a motor is given by the following equation:

I = (Vapplied − Vcemf) / Rarmature

The mechanical power produced by the motor is given by:

P = I * (Vcemf)

Mechanism of the DC motors:

When a current passes through the coil wound around a soft iron core, the side of the positive pole is acted upon by an upwards force, while the other side is acted upon by a downward force. According to Fleming's left hand rule, the forces cause a turning effect on the coil, making it rotate. To make the motor rotate in a constant direction, "direct current" commutators make the current reverse in direction every half a cycle thus causing the motor to rotate in the same direction.The problem facing the motor is when the plane of the coil is parallel to the magnetic field;i.e. the turning effect is ZERO-when coil is at 90 degree from its original position-yet, the coil continues to rotate by inertia.

[edit] Speed control

Generally, the rotational speed of a DC motor is proportional to the voltage applied to it, and the torque is proportional to the current. Speed control can be achieved by variable battery tappings, variable supply voltage, resistors or electronic controls. The direction of a wound field DC motor can be changed by reversing either the field or armature connections but not both. This is commonly done with a special set of contactors (direction contactors).

The effective voltage can be varied by inserting a series resistor or by an electronically controlled switching device made of thyristors, transistors, or, formerly, mercury arc rectifiers.[1] In a circuit known as a chopper, the average voltage applied to the motor is varied by switching the supply voltage very rapidly. As the "on" to "off" ratio is varied to alter the average applied voltage, the speed of the motor varies. The percentage "on" time multiplied by the supply voltage gives the average voltage applied to the motor. Therefore, with a 100V supply and a 25% "on" time, the average voltage at the motor will be 25 V. During the "off" time, the armature's inductance causes the current to continue flowing through a diode called a "flywheel diode", in parallel with the motor. At this point in the cycle, the supply current will be zero, and therefore the average motor current will always be higher than the supply current unless the percentage "on" time is 100%. At 100% "on" time, the supply and motor current are equal. The rapid switching wastes less energy than series resistors. This method is also called pulse-width modulation (PWM) and is often controlled by a microprocessor. An output filter is sometimes installed to smooth the average voltage applied to the motor and reduce motor noise.

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. Another application is starter motors for petrol and small diesel engines. Series motors must never be used in applications where the drive can fail (such as belt drives). As the motor accelerates, the armature (and hence field) current reduces. The reduction in field causes the motor to speed up until it destroys itself. This can also be a problem with railway motors in the event of a loss of adhesion since, unless quickly brought under control, the motors can reach speeds far higher than they would do under normal circumstances. This can not only cause problems for the motors themselves and the gears, but due to the differential speed between the rails and the wheels it can also cause serious damage to the rails and wheel treads as they heat and cool rapidly. Field weakening is used in some electronic controls to increase the top speed of an electric vehicle. The simplest form uses a contactor and field weakening resistor, the electronic control monitors the motor current and switches the field weakening resistor into circuit when the motor current reduces below a preset value (this will be when the motor is at its full design speed). Once the resistor is in circuit, the motor will increase speed above its normal speed at its rated voltage. When motor current increases, the control will disconnect the resistor and low speed torque is made available.

One interesting method of speed control of a DC motor is the Ward-Leonard control. It is a method of controlling a DC motor (usually a shunt or compound wound) and was developed as a method of providing a speed-controlled motor from an AC supply, though it is not without its advantages in DC schemes. The AC supply is used to drive an AC motor, usually an induction motor that drives a DC generator or dynamo. The DC output from the armature is directly connected to the armature of the DC motor (sometimes but not always of identical construction). The shunt field windings of both DC machines are independently excited through variable resistors. Extremely good speed control from standstill to full speed, and consistent torque, can be obtained by varying the generator and/or motor field current. This method of control was the de facto method from its development until it was superseded by solid state thyristor systems. It found service in almost any environment where good speed control was required, from passenger lifts through to large mine pit head winding gear and even industrial process machinery and electric cranes. Its principal disadvantage was that three machines were required to implement a scheme (five in very large installations, as the DC machines were often duplicated and controlled by a tandem variable resistor). In many applications, the motor-generator set was often left permanently running, to avoid the delays that would otherwise be caused by starting it up as required. Although electronic (thyristor) controllers have replaced most small to medium Ward Leonard systems, some very large ones (thousands of horsepower) remain in service. The field currents are much lower than the armature currents, allowing a moderate sized thyristor unit to control a much larger motor than it could control directly. For example, in one installation, a 300 amp thyristor unit controls the field of the generator. The generator output current is in excess of 15,000 amps, which would be prohibitively expensive (and inefficient) to control directly with thyristors.

[edit] DC motor starters

The counter-emf aids the armature resistance to limit the current through the armature. When power is first applied to a motor, the armature does not rotate. At that instant the counter-emf is zero and the only factor limiting the armature current, is the armature resistance. Usually the armature resistance of a motor is less than one ohm; therefore the current through the armature would be very large when the power is applied. This current can make an excessive voltage drop affecting other equipment in the circuit and even trip overload protective devices.

[edit] Three-point starter

Three point starter

The incoming power is indicated as L1 and L2. The components within the broken lines form the three-point starter. As the name implies there are only three connections to the starter. The connections to the armature are indicated as A1 and A2. The ends of the field (excitement) coil are indicated as F1 and F2. In order to control the speed, A field rheostat is connected in series with the shunt field. One side of the line is connected to the arm of the starter (represented by an arrow in the diagram). The arm is spring-loaded so, it will return to the "Off" position the not held at any other position.

[edit] Four-point starter

Four point starter

The four-point starter eliminates the drawback of the three-point starter. In addition to the same three points that were in use with the three-point starter, the other side of the line, L1, is the fourth point brought to the starter when the arm is moved from the "Off" position. The coil of the holding magnet is connected across the line. The holding magnet and starting resistors function identical as in the three-point starter.

[edit] Brushless DC motors

Main article: Brushless DC electric motor

Many of the limitations of the classic commutator DC motor are due to the need for brushes to press against the commutator. This creates friction. At higher speeds, brushes have increasing difficulty in maintaining contact. Brushes may bounce off the irregularities in the commutator surface, creating sparks. This limits the maximum speed of the machine. The current density per unit area of the brushes limits the output of the motor. The imperfect electric contact also causes electrical noise. Brushes eventually wear out and require replacement, and the commutator itself is subject to wear and maintenance. The commutator assembly on a large machine is a costly element, requiring precision assembly of many parts.

These problems are eliminated in the brushless motor. In this motor, the mechanical "rotating switch" or commutator/brushgear assembly is replaced by an external electronic switch synchronised to the rotor's position. Brushless motors are typically 85-90% efficient, whereas DC motors with brushgear are typically 75-80% efficient.

Midway between ordinary DC motors and stepper motors lies the realm of the brushless DC motor. Built in a fashion very similar to stepper motors, these often use a permanent magnet external rotor, three phases of driving coils, one or more Hall effect sensors to sense the position of the rotor, and the associated drive electronics. The coils are activated, one phase after the other, by the drive electronics as cued by the signals from the Hall effect sensors. In effect, they act as three-phase synchronous motors containing their own variable-frequency drive electronics. A specialized class of brushless DC motor controllers utilize EMF feedback through the main phase connections instead of Hall effect sensors to determine position and velocity. These motors are used extensively in electric radio-controlled vehicles, and referred to by modelists as outrunner motors (since the magnets are on the outside).

Brushless DC motors are commonly used where precise speed control is necessary, computer disk drives or in video cassette recorders the spindles within CD, CD-ROM (etc.) drives, and mechanisms within office products such as fans, laser printers and photocopiers. They have several advantages over conventional motors:

Modern DC brushless motors range in power from a fraction of a watt to many kilowatts. Larger brushless motors up to about 100 kW rating are used in electric vehicles. They also find significant use in high-performance electric model aircraft.

[edit] Coreless DC motors

Nothing in the design of any of the motors described above requires that the iron (steel) portions of the rotor actually rotate; torque is exerted only on the windings of the electromagnets. Taking advantage of this fact is the coreless DC motor, a specialized form of a brush or brushless DC motor. Optimized for rapid acceleration, these motors have a rotor that is constructed without any iron core. The rotor can take the form of a winding-filled cylinder inside the stator magnets, a basket surrounding the stator magnets, or a flat pancake (possibly formed on a printed wiring board) running between upper and lower stator magnets. The windings are typically stabilized by being impregnated with epoxy resins.

Because the rotor is much lighter in weight (mass) than a conventional rotor formed from copper windings on steel laminations, the rotor can accelerate much more rapidly, often achieving a mechanical time constant under 1 ms. This is especially true if the windings use aluminum rather than the heavier copper. But because there is no metal mass in the rotor to act as a heat sink, even small coreless motors must often be cooled by forced air.

These motors were commonly used to drive the capstan(s) of magnetic tape drives and are still widely used in high-performance servo-controlled systems, like humanoid robotic systems, industrial automation, medical devices, etc.

[edit] Universal motors

A variant of the wound field DC motor is the universal motor. The name derives from the fact that it may use AC or DC supply current, although in practice they are nearly always used with AC supplies. The principle is that in a wound field DC motor the current in both the field and the armature (and hence the resultant magnetic fields) will alternate (reverse polarity) at the same time, and hence the mechanical force generated is always in the same direction. In practice, the motor must be specially designed to cope with the AC current (impedance must be taken into account, as must the pulsating force), and the resultant motor is generally less efficient than an equivalent pure DC motor. Operating at normal power line frequencies, the maximum output of universal motors is limited and motors exceeding one kilowatt are rare. But universal motors also form the basis of the traditional railway traction motor in electric railways. In this application, to keep their electrical efficiency high, they were operated from very low frequency AC supplies, with 25 Hz and 16 2/3 hertz operation being common. Because they are universal motors, locomotives using this design were also commonly capable of operating from a third rail powered by DC.

The advantage of the universal motor is that AC supplies may be used on motors which have the typical characteristics of DC motors, specifically high starting torque and very compact design if high running speeds are used. The negative aspect is the maintenance and short life problems caused by the commutator. As a result such motors are usually used in AC devices such as food mixers and power tools which are used only intermittently. Continuous speed control of a universal motor running on AC is very easily accomplished using a thyristor circuit, while stepped speed control can be accomplished using multiple taps on the field coil. Household blenders that advertise many speeds frequently combine a field coil with several taps and a diode that can be inserted in series with the motor (causing the motor to run on half-wave rectified AC).

Universal motors can rotate at relatively high revolution per minute (rpm). This makes them useful for appliances such as blenders, vacuum cleaners, and hair dryers where high-speed operation is desired. Many vacuum cleaner and weed trimmer motors exceed 10,000 rpm, Dremel and other similar miniature grinders will often exceed 30,000 rpm. Motor damage may occur due to overspeed (rpm in excess of design specifications) if the unit is operated with no significant load. On larger motors, sudden loss of load is to be avoided, and the possibility of such an occurrence is incorporated into the motor's protection and control schemes. Often, a small fan blade attached to the armature acts as an artificial load to limit the motor speed to a safe value, as well as provide cooling airflow to the armature and field windings.

With the very low cost of semiconductor rectifiers, some applications that would have previously used a universal motor now use a pure DC motor, sometimes with a permanent magnet field.

[edit] AC motors

Main article: AC motor

In 1882, Nikola Tesla identified the rotating magnetic field principle, and pioneered the use of a rotary field of force to operate machines. He exploited the principle to design a unique two-phase induction motor in 1883. In 1885, Galileo Ferraris independently researched the concept. In 1888, Ferraris published his research in a paper to the Royal Academy of Sciences in Turin.

Introduction of Tesla's motor from 1888 onwards initiated what is sometimes referred to as the Second Industrial Revolution, making possible the efficient generation and long distance distribution of electrical energy using the alternating current transmission system, also of Tesla's invention (1888).[2] Before the invention of the rotating magnetic field, motors operated by continually passing a conductor through a stationary magnetic field (as in homopolar motors).

Tesla had suggested that the commutators from a machine could be removed and the device could operate on a rotary field of force. Professor Poeschel, his teacher, stated that would be akin to building a perpetual motion machine.[3] Tesla would later attain U.S. Patent 0,416,194 , Electric Motor (December 1889), which resembles the motor seen in many of Tesla's photos. This classic alternating current electro-magnetic motor was an induction motor.

Michail Osipovich Dolivo-Dobrovolsky later invented a three-phase "cage-rotor" in 1890. This type of motor is now used for the vast majority of commercial applications.

[edit] Components

A typical AC motor consists of two parts:

  1. An outside stationary stator having coils supplied with AC current to produce a rotating magnetic field, and;
  2. An inside rotor attached to the output shaft that is given a torque by the rotating field.

[edit] Torque motors

A torque motor is a specialized form of induction motor which is capable of operating indefinitely at stall (with the rotor blocked from turning) without damage. In this mode, the motor will apply a steady torque to the load (hence the name). A common application of a torque motor would be the supply- and take-up reel motors in a tape drive. In this application, driven from a low voltage, the characteristics of these motors allow a relatively-constant light tension to be applied to the tape whether or not the capstan is feeding tape past the tape heads. Driven from a higher voltage, (and so delivering a higher torque), the torque motors can also achieve fast-forward and rewind operation without requiring any additional mechanics such as gears or clutches. In the computer world, torque motors are used with force feedback steering wheels.

[edit] Stepper motors

Main article: Stepper motor

Closely related in design to three-phase AC synchronous motors are stepper motors, where an internal rotor containing permanent magnets or a large iron core with salient poles is controlled by a set of external magnets that are switched electronically. A stepper motor may also be thought of as a cross between a DC electric motor and a solenoid. As each coil is energized in turn, the rotor aligns itself with the magnetic field produced by the energized field winding. Unlike a synchronous motor, in its application, the motor may not rotate continuously; instead, it "steps" from one position to the next as field windings are energized and de-energized in sequence. Depending on the sequence, the rotor may turn forwards or backwards.

Simple stepper motor drivers entirely energize or entirely de-energize the field windings, leading the rotor to "cog" to a limited number of positions; more sophisticated drivers can proportionally control the power to the field windings, allowing the rotors to position "between" the "cog" points and thereby rotate extremely smoothly. Computer controlled stepper motors are one of the most versatile forms of positioning systems, particularly when part of a digital servo-controlled system.

Stepper motors can be rotated to a specific angle with ease, and hence stepper motors are used in pre-gigabyte era computer disk drives, where the precision they offered was adequate for the correct positioning of the read/write head of a hard disk drive. As drive density increased, the precision limitations of stepper motors made them obsolete for hard drives, thus newer hard disk drives use read/write head control systems based on voice coils.

Stepper motors were upscaled to be used in electric vehicles under the term SRM (switched reluctance machine).

source [1]

[edit] Linear motors

A linear motor is essentially an electric motor that has been "unrolled" so that, instead of producing a torque (rotation), it produces a linear force along its length by setting up a traveling electromagnetic field.

Linear motors are most commonly induction motors or stepper motors. You can find a linear motor in a maglev (Transrapid) train, where the train "flies" over the ground.

[edit] Doubly-fed electric motor

Doubly-fed electric motors have two multiphase windings, with at least one of the winding sets electronically controlled for variable speed operation. As a result, doubly-fed electric motors are machines with an effective constant torque speed range that is twice synchronous speed for a given frequency of excitation. This is twice the constant torque speed range as singly-fed electric machines, which have only one active winding set.

A doubly-fed motor allows for a smaller electronic converter but the cost of the rotor winding and slip rings may offset the saving in the power electronics components. Difficulties with controlling speed near synchronous speed limit applications. [4]

[edit] Singly-fed electric motor

Singly-fed electric machines incorporate a single multiphase winding set that is connected to a power supply. Singly-fed electric machines may be either induction or synchronous. The active winding set can be electronically controlled. Induction machines develop starting torque at zero speed and can operate as standalone machines. Synchronous machines must have auxiliary means for startup, such as a starting induction squirrel-cage winding or an electronic controller. Singly-fed electric machines have an effective constant torque speed range up to synchronous speed for a given excitation frequency.

The induction (asynchronous) motors (i.e., squirrel cage rotor or wound rotor), synchronous motors (i.e., field-excited, permanent magnet or brushless DC motors, reluctance motors, etc.), which are discussed on this page, are examples of singly-fed motors. By far, singly-fed motors are the predominantly installed type of motors.

[edit] Nanotube nanomotor

Main article: Nanomotor
Nanomotor constructed at UC Berkeley. The motor is about 500nm across: 300 times smaller than the diameter of a human hair

Researchers at University of California, Berkeley, recently developed rotational bearings based upon multiwall carbon nanotubes. By attaching a gold plate (with dimensions of the order of 100nm) to the outer shell of a suspended multiwall carbon nanotube (like nested carbon cylinders), they are able to electrostatically rotate the outer shell relative to the inner core. These bearings are very robust; devices have been oscillated thousands of times with no indication of wear. These nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) are the next step in miniaturization that may find their way into commercial aspects in the future.

[edit] Motor standards

The following are major design and manufacturing standards covering electric motors: