PPRE - Electric Power Systems 7 37

7 DC Machines
7.1 Introduction
A DC machine is a versatile electromechanical energy converter, that may be operated as a motor and
a generator as well. It is characterized by
 superior torque characteristic
 wide range of speed and
 good efficiency.
On the contrary it suffers
 a more expensive price than a comparable AC machine and
 higher maintenance costs.

7.2 Construction of a DC Machine

The stationary member of the Ro to r A xis
machine (stator) carries the A rmature
field windings, whereas the (co ils with several turns o f
co nducto rs co nnected with
armature windings are located Field Winding
the co mmutato r)
in the rotating member (rotor).
The field windings act as the Ro to r
primary source of magnetic
flux for voltage generation in P o le Face

the armature ( generator).

AC voltage is induced in the N S Field A xis

armature winding as the rotor Stato r

turns under the magnetic field Armature
of the stator. The commutator
and brush combination
Carbo n B rush
converts this AC voltage to
Field
DC.
Also, the magnetic field of the
field windings interacts with
the field produced by the Fig-EPS7.2-1 Construction of a tw o pole DC machine and its circuit representation
armature windings for torque
production ( motor).

The field windings can be replaced by permanent magnets, this is used in practice in order to reduce
the machine volume. The following figure shows the various parts of such a DC motor.

Fig-EPS7.2-2
Example of a Permenant Magnet DC Motor

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7.3 Generation of an Unidirectional Voltage

As mentioned above, an AC voltage
will be induced in the armature t
winding that rotates in a stationary
field. This AC voltage can be
measured between both ends of the
winding. For that each end will be
connected with a separate slip ring 
as shown in figure EPS7.3-1.
The next figure shows the AC
voltage curve measured at the
brushes of the slip rings. Fig-EPS7.3-1 An armature
winding with its ends connected
to slip rings rotating in a magnetic
B1 + B2 – field

t E ea-a'

ωt
0,5π π 1,5π 2π
a
N a' S
E
eB1-B2

B1 + B2 –
Fig-EPS7.3-2 The same rotating w inding in a ωt
0,5π π 1,5π 2π
schematic representation - both ends connected w ith
separate slip rings
Fig-EPS7.3-2a
Induced Voltage at w inding a-a' and at the brushes

As a next step both ends of the winding aa’ are connected with separate segments of a “segmented
slip ring” which now is called “commutator”, because it commutates the AC voltage of the winding to a
rectified voltage as given in the following figures.


t E
ea-a'

ωt
0,5π π 1,5π 2π
a
N a' S
E eB1-B2

B1 + B2 –
Fig-EPS7.3-3 The same rotating w inding - but now
ωt
both ends connected w ith a segmented slip ring 0,5π π 1,5π 2π
(--> commutator)
Fig-EPS7.3-3a
Induced Voltage at w inding a-a' and the rectified
voltage at the brushes

Suppose that a second winding bb’ is placed on the armature displaced from the aa’ winding by 90°.
Two new commutator segments are also added as illustrated in figure 7.3-4.

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e a-a'
b E e b-b'

N a a'
S 0,5π π 1,5π 2π
ωt

b'
B1 + B2 – E e B1-B2
Fig-EPS7.3-4 Tw o rotating w indings - w ith their
ends connected w ith different segments of the
commutator ωt
0,5π π 1,5π 2π

Increasing the number of segments will decrease Fig-EPS7.3-4a

the size of the ripples on the rectified voltage! Induced Voltage at w inding a-a' and b-b' and the
rectified voltage at the brushes

7.4 Machine Analysis

Induced Voltage Independent of the operational mode (running as generator or as a motor) the
induced voltage in the armature winding goes along with the magnetic flux and
the rotating speed:

Ea  K a     m (7.4-1)

 - magnetic flux [Wb] between the poles (field winding)

Ka - machine constant (includes quantities like number of turns of the
armature winding, number of poles etc.)
m - mechanical speed of the machine calculated as follows:

n
m  2    f  2    [rad/s] (7.4-2)
60
n - speed in [rpm]

Developed Torque As we have learned about the basic principles of rotating electric machines
(chapter 6) the developed torque depends directly from the size of the
magnetic flux and the armature current:

T  Ka    Ia (7.4-3)

Power If the losses of the DC machine are neglected, from the energy conservation
law, the electrical power is equal to the mechanical power.

Ea  I a  K a    m   I a  K a    I a   m
Ea  I a  T   m (7.4-4)

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7.5 Classification of DC Machines

The operating characteristics of a specific DC machine depend on the particular interconnection of the
armature and field windings. Generally there are four different means of interconnection to be
discussed next.

a) Separately Excited DC Machine

Armature and field windings are electrically separated,
thus the field winding is excited by a separate DC
A1 source possibly with a varying voltage size. The field
winding consists of several turns of small-diameter
F2 F1 conductors, since the field current is normally a low
A2 current. Armature conductors are much larger because
they are designed to carry the rated current.
Fig-EPS7.5-1
Seperately excited DC machine

Ea In case of a generator the induced voltage given by

Ut
the above formula 7.4-1 will not be equal to the voltage
Ra*Ia measured at the terminals due to the voltage drop over
the armature resistance (copper winding) caused by
the load current.

U t  Ea  Ra  I a (Generator) (7.5-1)

This behaviour is also valid for the next machine type the
Ia Shunt DC machine.
Fig-EPS7.5-2 Generated DC voltage
at the armature terminals

b) Shunt DC Machine
Armature and field winding are connected in parallel, i.e.
armature and field voltage are the same.
A1 In a shunt generator at start-up the terminal voltage is zero and
thus no field current flows. Nevertheless the magnetic stator
F2 F1 circuit carries a small residual flux which induces a residual
A2 armature voltage when the prime mover begins to rotate the
generator. This voltage forces a very small current through the
Fig-EPS7.5-3
field winding causing an increase of the residual flux which
Shunt DC machine
increases the induced voltage and so forth ( self-excitation).

c) Compound DC Machine
A compound machine has two field windings. The first
is the normal shunt field connected parallel with the
A1
armature, the other one a series field connected in
series with the armature. If the fluxes of both fields are
in the same direction, i.e. additive, the machine is
F2 F1 S2 S1 cumulative compound. If the series field is in
A2
opposition, the machine is called differential
compound.
Fig-EPS7.5-4 Compound DC machine

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flat-comp. A cumulative compound machine is able to

Ut over-comp. under-comp. compensate the voltage drop caused by armature
resistance. The figure 7.5-5 shows the effects of the
Ea different compound types.

differential-comp.
(used for w elding
generators !)

Ia
Fig-EPS7.5-5 Load characteristics
for different compensation types

d) Series DC Machine

The field winding and the armature are electrically connected

A1 in series. The series field winding consists of only a few turns
of large diameter conductors since it carries the same current
as the armature.
S2 S1
A2

Fig-EPS7.5-6
Series DC machine

7.6 Shunt DC Motor

Any motor application will be designed by means of the particular torque-speed characteristic of a
machine. The great advantage of DC motors is its relatively simple speed control by varying the supply
voltage. From the former formulas we know

Ea  K a    m  U t  I a  Ra (Motor) (7.6-1)

T
T  Ka    Ia  I a 
Ka  
Solving the first equation for  m and replacing I a by the term above we get
U t  I a  Ra Ut Ra
m    T (7.6-2)
Ka   K a   K a   2

The last equation 7.6-2 is valid for a separately excited shunt type machine (the most commonly
applied DC motor). Assuming that Ka, and Ra are constant, it is obvious that the mechanical speed
depends directly from the voltage Ut connected to the terminals and the torque T representing the
mechanical load to be driven by the DC machine.

The speed of a DC shunt motor can be controlled by the following measures:

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a) Armature Voltage Control (n) Ut

Figure 7.6-1 shows the torque-speed characteristic at ωm
different levels of the terminal voltage. The relation Ut3
between the voltage and the machine rpm is Ut2
proportional. Otherwise the DC shunt motor has a Ut1
relatively constant speed characteristic almost with Ut3>Ut2>Ut1
independent of the load (torque). at =const.
Therefore they are used primarily for constant-speed
applications such as centrifugal pumps, fans, blowers, T, I a
conveyors and machine tools. Fig-EPS7.6-1 Speed control by armature
voltage control

b) Field Control (n)

ωm
The equation 7.6-2 reveals also that the decreasing of If 1
the magnetic flux leads to a rise of the speed (called If 2
field weakening or field suppression). If 3
If
with If 3>If 2>If 1
at Ut =const.

T
Fig-EPS7.6-2 Speed control by field
control

c) Speed Control by Combination Ut control If control

In the majority of applications a combination of both, T, P P
the armature voltage and field control will be used.
With the armature voltage the speed is increased until
the electric power has reached its maximum, then the
field control (weakening of the field flux !) allows a T
further rise of the speed at a diminished torque as
determined by equation 7.4-4
Ea  I a  T  m  Pmax
ωBase n, ωm
Fig-EPS7.6-3 Speed control by combination

d) Armature Resistance Control (n)

By means of additional external Ohm’s resistances in the ωm
Rae=0
armature branch the overall armature resistance will be
increased. This leads to an increased drop of speed curve
as the figure shows.

Rae=Max
A1
T
F2 F1 Fig-EPS7.6-4 Speed control by armature
A2 resistance

Rae

Fig-EPS7.6-5
External Armature Resistance

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7.7 Series DC Motor

As we have stated above, in a series motor magnetic flux is produced by the armature current.
  K Ia (7.7-1)
From equation 7.6-1 it is
Ea  K a    m  K a  K   I a  m  K s  I a  m  U t  I a  Ra  Rs  (7.7-2)
with the series field constant: Ks  Ka  K 
Inserting equation 7.7-1 into 7.4-3 leads to
T  K a    I a  K a  K   I a  I a  K s  I a2 (7.7-3)
Finally equation 7.7-2 can be solved for m
U t  I a  Ra  Rs  Ut R  Rs
m    a
Ks  Ia Ks  Ia Ks
and replacing Ia by using 7.7-3 leads to
Ut Ra  R s
m   (7.7-4)
Ks  T Ks

The torque - speed characteristic of a series DC

machine follows an inverse function as will be shown by (n)
the last equation having the torque T as denominator. ωm
As we have learned from the shunt motor the series DC
motor speed can be controlled by the terminal voltage
of the armature. Rae=0

The speed characteristic of a series motor is described

by a large variation in speed from full-load to no-load
conditions. This indicates that loads should not be Rae=Max
removed completely because of the possibility of the
T
motor “running away”. Therefore series motors are
Fig-EPS7.7-1 Torque-speed characteristic
used for applications requiring a high starting torque
of a series DC motor
and where varying speed is acceptable as in hoist
drives, cranes and especially in all former locomotives
and railway drives. A1

S2 S1
A2

Rae

Fig-EPS7.7-2 Speed control by

armature resistance variation at a
Series DC machine

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