What is a DC motor?

DC motor is an electrical machine that converts electrical energy into mechanical

energy. In a DC motor, the input electrical energy is the direct current which is
transformed into the mechanical rotation.

Definition of DC motor
A DC motor is defined as a class of electrical motors that convert direct current
electrical energy into mechanical energy.
A DC motor is an electrical machine that converts electrical energy in to
mechanical energy.

The working of DC motor is based on the principle that when a current carrying
conductor is placed in a magnetic field, it experience same mechanicalforce.

The direction of the mechanical force is given by Fleming’sLeft-hand Rule and

its magnitude is given by F=BIL Newton.

Where,B=magnetic flux density, I=current and L=length of the

conductor with in the magnetic field

Different Parts of a DC motor

A DC motor is composed of the following main parts::

Armature or Rotor
The armature of a DC motor is a cylinder of magnetic laminations that are insulated
from one another. The armature is perpendicular to the axis of the cylinder. The
armature is a rotating part that rotates on its axis and is separated from the field coil
by an air gap.
Field Coil or Stator
A DC motor field coil is a non-moving part on which winding is wound to produce
a magnetic field. This electro-magnet has a cylindrical cavity between its poles.

Commutator and Brushes

The commutator of a DC motor is a cylindrical structure that is made of copper
segments stacked together but insulated from each other using mica. The primary
function of a commutator is to supply electrical current to the armature winding.
Brushes
The brushes of a DC motor are made with graphite and carbon structure. These
brushes conduct electric current from the external circuit to the rotating commutator.
Hence, we come to understand that the commutator and the brush unit are
concerned with transmitting the power from the static electrical circuit to the
mechanically rotating region or the rotor

DC Motor Working Explained

In the previous section, we discussed the various components of a DC motor. Now,
using this knowledge let us understand the working of DC motors.
A magnetic field arises in the air gap when the field coil of the DC motor is
energised. The created magnetic field is in the direction of the radii of the armature.
The magnetic field enters the armature from the North pole side of the field coil and
“exits” the armature from the field coil’s South pole side
The conductors located on the other pole are subjected to a force of the same
intensity but in the opposite direction. These two opposing forces create a torque that
causes the motor armature to rotate.

Working principle of DC motor

When kept in a magnetic field, a current-carrying conductor gains torque and develops a
tendency to move. In short, when electric fields and magnetic fields interact, a mechanical
force arises. This is the principle on which the DC motors work

Types of DC motor
DC motors have a wide range of applications ranging from electric shavers to
automobiles. To cater to this wide range of applications, they are classified into
different types based on the field winding connections to the armature as:

 Self Excited DC Motor

 Separately Excited DC Motor
Now, let us discuss the various types of DC Motors in detail.

Self Excited DC Motor

In self-excited DC motors, the field winding is connected either in series or parallel
to the armature winding. Based on this, the self-excited DC motor can further be
classified as:

 Shunt wound DC motor

 Series wound DC motor
 Compound wound DC motor
Shunt wound DC motor: In a shunt wound motor, the field winding is connected
parallel to the armature as shown in the figure.
Series wound DC motor: In a series wound DC motor, the field winding is
connected in series with the armature winding as shown in the figure.

Compound wound DC motor

DC motors having both shunt and series field winding is known as Compound DC
motor, as shown in the figure. The compound motor is further divided into:

 Cumulative Compound Motor

 Differential Compound Motor
In a cumulative compound motor, the magnetic flux produced by both the windings
is in the same direction. In a differential compound motor, the flux produced by the
series field windings is opposite to the flux produced by the shunt field winding.

Separately Excited DC Motor

In a separately excited DC motor, the field coils are energised from an external
source of DC supply as shown in the figure.

AC MOTOR
Electromagnetic or magnetic induction is the production of an electromotive force
across an electrical conductor in a changing magnetic field.
Definition:The motor that converts the alternating current in to mechanical power
by using an electromagnetic induction phenomenon is called an AC motor.

This motor is driven by an alternating current.

The stator and the rotor are the two most important parts of the AC motors.

 The stationary part consists of coils covering its entire inner periphery. On
passing an electric current through these windings, the electromagnets
energize to create poles of alternate polarity.
 AC motors either use a permanent magnet or a core made of thin laminated
steel as the rotor. The latter uses conductor bars instead of coils of wire as the
conductor.
 A shaft holds the rotating part of the motor. The bearings between them allow
free movement to the rotor.
 An outer frame encloses both the stationary and rotating part. It protects the
motor from water or any other environmental factors
Working Principle of AC Motor in detail

To understand how an AC motor works, consider a permanent magnet rotor. The

rotor moves freely between two electromagnetic stator poles (Pole A and B), with a
small air gap between them. The electromagnets connect directly to a source of AC
supply.
On giving the AC supply, the electromagnets get energized and form Magnetic poles
Case 1:

During the positive half cycle of AC supply, let pole A attains a North Pole polarity,
and pole B attains a South Pole polarity. Now according to the law of magnetism,
the unlike poles will attract each other. So, Pole A attracts the south pole of the rotor.
And the rotor gets aligned in a position, as shown in the figure.
Case 2:

During the negative half-cycle, the polarity of AC supply gets reversed, and hence
the polarity of poles also reverses. So now Pole A attains South pole polarity, and
Pole B gets North pole polarity.
In this situation, the like poles face each other. So the repulsive magnetic force will
try to deflect the rotor from this position. As the rotor deflects, the attractive
magnetic force comes into the picture. And hence now the Pole A attracts the north
pole of the rotor. The rotor aligns in a new position, as shown in the figure .
STEPPER MOTOR

• A stepper motor is an electromechanical device it converts electrical power

into mechanical power.

• Like the DC motor above, Stepper Motors are also electromechanical

actuators that convert a pulsed digital input signal into a discrete (incremental)
mechanical movement are used widely in industrial control applications.
• Stepper motor can divide a full rotation into an expansive number of steps.
• A stepper motor is a type of synchronous brushless motor in that it does not
have an armature with a commutator and carbon brushes but has a rotor made
up of many, some types have hundreds of permanent magnetic teeth and a
stator with individual windings
or
• Stepper Motor is a brushless electromechanical device which converts the
train of electric pulses applied at their excitation windings into precisely
defined step-by-step mechanical shaft rotation. The shaft of the motor rotates
through a fixed angle for each discrete pulse. This rotation can be linear or
angular. It gets one-step movement for a single pulse input.
• The motor’s position can be controlled accurately without any feedback
mechanism, as long as the motor is carefully sized to the application.
• Stepper motors are similar to switched reluctance motors.
• The stepper motor uses the theory of operation for magnets to make the motor
shaft turn a precise distance when a pulse of electricity is provided.
Construction & Working Principle:

• The stepper motor can be controlled by energizing every stator one by one.
So the stator will magnetize & works like an electromagnetic pole which uses
repulsive energy on the rotor to move forward. The stator’s alternative
magnetizing as well as demagnetizing will shift the rotor gradually &allows
it to turn through great control.
• It includes a permanent magnet like Rotor which is in the middle & it will turn
once force acts on it.

• This rotor is enclosed through a no. of the stator which is wound through a
magnetic coil all over it. The stator is arranged near to rotor so that magnetic
fields within the stators can control the movement of the rotor.

• The stepper motor working principle is Electro-Magnetism. It includes a

rotor which is made with a permanent magnet whereas a stator is with
electromagnets. Once the supply is provided to the winding of the stator then
the magnetic field will be developed within the stator. Now rotor in the motor
will start to move with the rotating magnetic field of the stator. So this is the
fundamental working principle of this motor.

• As it name implies, the stepper motor does not rotate in a continuous fashion
like a conventional DC motor but moves in discrete rotational movement or
step dependent upon the number of stator poles and rotor teeth Because of
their discrete step operation, motors can easily be rotated a finite fraction of a
rotation at a time, such as 1.8, 3.6, 7.5 degrees etc. So for example, lets assume
that a stepper motor completes one full revolution (360o in exactly 100 steps.
• Then the step angle for the motor is given as 360 degrees/100 steps = 3.6
degrees per step. This value is commonly known as the stepper motors Step
Angle
• When a train of pulses is applied, it gets turned through a certain angle. The
angle through which the stepper motor shaft turns for each pulse is referred as
the step angle, which is generally expressed in degrees.
• The number of input pulses given to the motor decides the step angle and
hence the position of motor shaft is controlled by controlling the number of
pulses. This unique feature makes the stepper motor to be well suitable for
open-loop control system wherein the precise position of the shaft is
maintained with exact number of pulses without using a feedback sensor.
• The direction of the shaft rotation depends on the sequence of pulses applied
to the stator. The speed of the shaft or the average motor speed is directly
proportional to the frequency (the rate of input pulses) of input pulses being
applied at excitation windings. Therefore, if the frequency is low, the stepper
motor rotates in steps and for high frequency, it continuously rotates like a
DC motor due to inertia.
• So in our simple example above, the stepper motor has four coils, making it a
4-phase motor, with the number of poles on the stator being eight (2 x 4) which
are spaced at 45 degree intervals. The number of teeth on the rotor is six which
are spaced 60 degrees apart.

• Then there are 24 (6 teeth x 4 coils) complete one full revolution. Therefore,
the step angle above is given as: 360o/24 = 15o.
Types of Stepper Motor

There are three main types of stepper motors, they are:

• Permanent magnet stepper

• Hybrid synchronous stepper
• Variable reluctance stepper

Permanent Magnet Stepper Motor

Permanent magnet motors use a permanent magnet (PM) in the rotor and operate on
the attraction or repulsion between the rotor PM and the stator electromagnets.

This is the most common type of stepper motor as compared with different types of
stepper motors available in the market. This motor includes permanent magnets in
the construction of the motor. This kind of motor is also known as tin-can/can-stack
motor. The main benefit of this stepper motor is less manufacturing cost. For every
revolution, it has 48-24 steps.
Variable Reluctance Stepper Motor

Variable reluctance (VR) motors have a plain iron rotor and operate based on the
principle that minimum reluctance occurs with minimum gap, hence the rotor points
are attracted toward the stator magnet poles.

The stepper motor like variable reluctance is the basic type of motor and it is used
for the past many years. As the name suggests, the rotor’s angular position mainly
depends on the magnetic circuit’s reluctance that can be formed among the teeth of
the stator as well as a rotor.

Hybrid Synchronous Stepper Motor

Hybrid stepper motors are named because they use a combination of permanent
magnet (PM) and variable reluctance (VR) techniques to achieve maximum power
in small package sizes.

The most popular type of motor is the hybrid stepper motor because it gives a good
performance as compared with a permanent magnet rotor in terms of speed, step
resolution, and holding torque. But, this type of stepper motor is expensive as
compared with permanent magnet stepper motors. This motor combines the features
of both the permanent magnet and variable reluctance stepper motors. These motors
are used where less stepping angle is required like 1.5, 1.8 & 2.5 degrees.

Stepping Modes of a Stepper Motor

A typical stepping action causes the motor to step through a sequence of equilibrium
positions in response to current pulses given to it. It is possible to vary the stepping
action in different ways simply by changing the sequence through which stator
windings are energized. The following are the most common operating or driving
modes of stepper motors.
1. Wave step
2. Full step
3. Half step
4. Micro stepping

Wave-Step Mode

Wave step mode is the simplest of all other modes in which only one winding is
energized at any given time. Each coil of the phase is connected to the supply
alternatively. The table below shows the order through which coils are energized in
a 4-phase stepper motor.
In this mode motor gives maximum step angle compared to all other modes. It is the
simplest and most commonly used mode for stepping; however the torque produced
is less as it uses some part of the total winding at a given time
Full Step Mode

In this drive or mode, two stator phases are energized simultaneously at any given
time. When two phases are energized together, the rotor will experience the torque
from both phases and comes to the equilibrium position, which will be interleaved
between two adjacent wave step positions or 1-phase excitations. So this step
provides better holding torque than wave step. The table below shows the full step
drive for 4-phase stepper motor.

Half Step Mode

It is the combination of both wave and full step modes. In this, single phase and dual
phase excitations are carried out alternatively, i.e., one-phase ON, two-phases ON,
and so on. The step angle in this mode becomes half of the full step angle. This drive
mode has highest torque and stability compared to all other modes. The table
containing phase pulsing sequence for a 4-phase motor in half stepping is given
below.
RELAYS
• A relay can be defined as a switch. Switches are generally used
to close or open the circuit manually.
• Relay is also a switch that connects or disconnects two circuits.
But instead of manual operation a relay is applied with electrical
signal, which in turn connects or disconnects another circuit.
• A Relay is an electromechanical device that can be used to make
or break an electrical connection.

Every electromechanical relay consists of an consists of an

• Electromagnet
• Mechanically movable contact
• Switching points and
• Spring

➢ Electromagnet is constructed by wounding a copper coil on a

metal core. The two ends of the coil are connected to two pins of
the relay as shown. These two are used as DC supply pins.
➢ Generally, two more contacts will be present, called as switching
points to connect high ampere load. Another contact called
common contact is present in order to connect the switching
points.
➢ These contacts are named as normally open (NO), normally
closed (NC) and common (COM) contacts.
➢ Relay can be operated using either AC or DC.
Working Principle of Relay:
It works on the principle of an electromagnetic attraction. When the
circuit of the relay senses the fault current, it energises the
electromagnetic field which produces the temporary magnetic field.

• Relay works on the principle of electromagnetic induction.

• When the electromagnet is applied with some current it induces a

magnetic field around it.

• This magnetic field moves the relay armature for opening or

closing the connections.

• The inner section of the relay is as shown in the figure. It has an

iron core which is wound by a control coil. The power supply is
given to the coil through the contacts of the load and the control
switch. The current flows through the coil produces the magnetic
field around it.
 Or (In the relay Copper coil and the iron core acts as
electromagnet.
• When the coil is applied with DC current it starts attracting the
contact. This is called energizing of relay.
• When the supply is removed it retrieves back to the original
position. This is called De energizing of relay.)

• Due to this magnetic field, the upper arm of the magnet attracts
the lower arm. Hence close the circuit, which makes the current
flow through the load. If the contact is already closed, then it
moves oppositely and hence open the contacts.

Relay Contact Types

As we have seen that relay is a switch. The terminology “Poles and
throws” is also applicable for relay. Depending on the number of
contacts and number of circuits it switches relays can be classified.

Before we know about this classification of contacts, we have to know

the poles and throws of a relay switch.

Poles and Throws

• Relays can switch one or more circuits. Each switch in relay is
referred as pole. Number of circuits a relay connects is indicated
by throws.

• Switches can also be classified based on the number of pole and

throw combinations. A pole can be considered as an input
terminal and a movable part connected to it, whereas a throw can
be considered as an output terminal.
Depending on the poles and throws, relays are classified into

• Single pole single throw

• Single pole double throw
• Double pole single throw
• Double pole double throw

Single Pole Single Throw

• A single pole single throw relay can control one circuit and can
be connected to one output. It is used for the applications which
require only ON or OFF state.

• It consists of only one pole and one throw. Generally, the path is
either closed or opened (remains untouched to any terminal)

• A push button is the best example of this type. When we push

the button, the contact is in the closed position and when
released the contact is in the open position, which can be
understood from the below image.
Single Pole Double Throw
• A single pole double throw relay connects one input circuit to
one of the two outputs. This relay is also called as changeover
relay.

• Though the SPDT has two output positions, it may consist of

more than two throws depends on the configuration and
requirement of the application.

• This type of switches consists of only one pole but has two
throws. So, the contact is always made to either of the
terminals.
• A slide switch can be considered as its example. The slider is
always connected to either of the contacts i.e., a closed path
always exists all the time if both the terminals are connected to a
circuit.

Double pole single throw

• A double pole single throw relay has two poles and single throw
and it can be used to connect two terminals of a single circuit at a
time. For example, this relay is used for connecting both phase
and neutral terminals to the load at a time.
 • It has two poles and a throw. The contacts of it are either
opened or closed which is done simultaneously. Toggle
switch works on this property. When the switch is toggled
from one position to another, both the contacts are moved
simultaneously.

Double pole double throw

• A DPDT (double pole double throw) relay has two poles and
two throws for each pole. In motor direction control, these are
used for phase or polarity reversal.

• This type of switches has two poles but the individual pole has
two throws. So, it is named as double throw and the switching
action is done similarly and simultaneously for both the poles.

• A switch on a standard trimmer is of DPDT because while we

are charging the trimmer and when the switch on the trimmer is
in the ON state, it automatically stops charging means the
switches are internally opened in the charging circuit.
Typical application areas of the relays include

• Lighting control systems

• Telecommunication
• Industrial process controllers
• Traffic control
• Motor drives control
• Protection systems of electrical power system
• Computer interfaces
• Automotive
• Home appliances