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An electric motor converts electrical energy into mechanical energy through the interaction of magnetic fields and electric current. Most electric motors have a rotor that rotates within a stator due to electromagnetic forces. Electric motors can operate using direct current (DC) or alternating current (AC) and come in various designs depending on their application and power source. They are commonly found powering industrial machines and appliances.

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63 views5 pages

Electric Motor: Jump To Navigationjump To Search

An electric motor converts electrical energy into mechanical energy through the interaction of magnetic fields and electric current. Most electric motors have a rotor that rotates within a stator due to electromagnetic forces. Electric motors can operate using direct current (DC) or alternating current (AC) and come in various designs depending on their application and power source. They are commonly found powering industrial machines and appliances.

Uploaded by

Lawrence Decano
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Electric motor

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to navigationJump to search

For other kinds of motors, see Motor (disambiguation). For a railroad engine, see Electric
locomotive.

Animation showing operation of a brushed DC electric motor.

An electric motor is an electrical machine that converts electrical


energy into mechanical energy. Most electric motors operate through the interaction
between the motor's magnetic field and electric current in a wire winding to generate
force in the form of torque applied on the motor's shaft. Electric motors can be powered
by direct current (DC) sources, such as from batteries, motor vehicles or rectifiers, or
by alternating current (AC) sources, such as a power grid, inverters or electrical
generators. An electric generator is mechanically identical to an electric motor, but
operates with a reversed flow of power, converting mechanical energy into electrical
energy.
Electric motors may be classified by considerations such as power source type, internal
construction, application and type of motion output. In addition to AC versus DC types,
motors may be brushed or brushless, may be of various phase (see single-phase, two-
phase, or three-phase), and may be either air-cooled or liquid-cooled. General-purpose
motors with standard dimensions and characteristics provide convenient mechanical
power for industrial use. The largest electric motors are used for ship propulsion,
pipeline compression and pumped-storage applications with ratings reaching 100
megawatts. Electric motors are found in industrial fans, blowers and pumps, machine
tools, household appliances, power tools and disk drives. Small motors may be found in
electric watches.
In certain applications, such as in regenerative braking with traction motors, electric
motors can be used in reverse as generators to recover energy that might otherwise be
lost as heat and friction.
Electric motors produce linear or rotary force (torque) intended to propel some external
mechanism, such as a fan or an elevator. An electric motor is generally designed for
continuous rotation, or for linear movement over a significant distance compared to its
size. Magnetic solenoids produce significant mechanical force, but over an operating
distance comparable to their size. Transducers such as loudspeakers and microphones
convert between electrical current and mechanical force to reproduce signals such as
speech. When compared with common internal combustion engines (ICEs), electric
motors are lightweight, physically smaller, provide more power output, are mechanically
simpler and cheaper to build, while providing instant and consistent torque at any
speed, with more responsiveness, higher overall efficiency and lower heat generation.
However, electric motors are not as convenient or common as ICEs in mobile
applications (i.e. cars and buses) as they require a large and expensive battery, while
ICEs require a relatively small fuel tank.

Contents

 1History
o 1.1Early motors
o 1.2DC motors
o 1.3AC motors
 2Components
o 2.1Rotor
o 2.2Bearings
o 2.3Stator
o 2.4Air gap
o 2.5Windings
o 2.6Commutator
 3Motor supply and control
o 3.1Motor supply
o 3.2Motor control
 4Major categories
 5Self-commutated motor
o 5.1Brushed DC motor
o 5.2Electronic commutator (EC) motor
o 5.3Universal AC/DC motor
 6Externally commutated AC machine
o 6.1Induction motor
o 6.2Synchronous motor
o 6.3Doubly-fed electric machine
 7Special magnetic motors
o 7.1Rotary
o 7.2Linear motor
 8Comparison by major categories
 9Electromagnetism
o 9.1Force and torque
o 9.2Power
o 9.3Back emf
o 9.4Losses
o 9.5Efficiency
o 9.6Goodness factor
 10Performance parameters
o 10.1Torque capability of motor types
o 10.2Continuous torque density
o 10.3Continuous power density
 11Acoustic noise and vibrations
 12Standards
 13Non-magnetic motors
 14See also
 15Notes
 16References
 17Bibliography
 18Further reading
 19External links

Cutaway view through stator of induction motor.

History[edit]
Main article: History of the electric motor
Early motors[edit]

Faraday's electromagnetic experiment, 1821[1]

The first electric motors were simple electrostatic devices described in experiments by


Scottish monk Andrew Gordon and American experimenter Benjamin Franklin in the
1740s.[2][3] The theoretical principle behind them, Coulomb's law, was discovered but not
published, by Henry Cavendish in 1771. This law was discovered independently
by Charles-Augustin de Coulomb in 1785, who published it so that it is now known with
his name.[4] The invention of the electrochemical battery by Alessandro Volta in
1799[5] made possible the production of persistent electric currents. After the discovery
of the interaction between such a current and a magnetic field, namely
the electromagnetic interaction by Hans Christian Ørsted in 1820 much progress was
soon made. It only took a few weeks for André-Marie Ampère to develop the first
formulation of the electromagnetic interaction and present the Ampère's force law, that
described the production of mechanical force by the interaction of an electric current
and a magnetic field.[6] The first demonstration of the effect with a rotary motion was
given by Michael Faraday in 1821. A free-hanging wire was dipped into a pool of
mercury, on which a permanent magnet (PM) was placed. When a current was passed
through the wire, the wire rotated around the magnet, showing that the current gave rise
to a close circular magnetic field around the wire. [7] This motor is often demonstrated in
physics experiments, substituting brine for (toxic) mercury. Barlow's wheel was an early
refinement to this Faraday demonstration, although these and similar homopolar
motors remained unsuited to practical application until late in the century.

Jedlik's "electromagnetic self-rotor", 1827 (Museum of Applied Arts, Budapest). The historic motor still works
perfectly today.[8]
An electric motor presented to Kelvin by James Joule in 1842, Hunterian Museum, Glasgow

In 1827, Hungarian physicist Ányos Jedlik started experimenting with electromagnetic


coils. After Jedlik solved the technical problems of continuous rotation with the invention
of the commutator, he called his early devices "electromagnetic self-rotors". Although
they were used only for teaching, in 1828 Jedlik demonstrated the first device to contain
the three main components of practical DC motors: the stator, rotor and commutator.
The device employed no permanent magnets, as the magnetic fields of both the
stationary and revolving components were produced solely by the currents flowing
through their windings.[9][10][11][12][13][14][15]

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