UNIT 4: ELECTRICITY & MAGNETISM
Lesson 10: Motor Principle & DC Motor
Force
S
Faraday’s Experiment
Can a magnetic field cause a current carrying wire to
move? YES!
Faraday’s Experiment
• Faraday's experiment demonstrated that an external
magnetic field can cause a current-carrying
conductor to move
• He created the first “electric motor”
RIGHT HAND RULE
(for The Motor Principle)
RIGHT HAND RULE
(for The Motor Principle)
The Motor Principle
N Current-carrying
conductor that cuts
across external magnetic
Force
field lines experiences a
force perpendicular to
both the magnetic field
and the direction of the
S
electric current
Repulsion Attraction
pushes pulls
“RIGHT” “RIGHT”
RIGHT HAND RULE #3
(for The Motor Principle)
FINGERS point in the direction of
the external MAGNETIC FIELD
LINES
THUMB points in the direction of
CURRENT in the straight
conductor
PALM shows direction of FORCE
on the conductor
RIGHT HAND RULE #3
(for The Motor Principle)
Example 1
Applications of Motor Principle
A) Moving Coil Loudspeaker
i.e. Subwoofer, Tweeter but not small headphones
F F
N
N S N
N
Base magnet
N S N
• As current reverses its flow around the speaker cone, the
cone is forced up and down over the centre shaft
• To produce a sound of 400 Hz, the Alternating Current (AC)
must reverse the coil 400 times/s
Applications of Motor Principle
B) The Galvanometer (milliameter)
0
This galvanometer has a full
1
scale deflection of 2mA
2
N
max current = 2mA
N S
S
• As the current flows through the coil, the
armature is forced to pivot to the right due to
magnetic forces
12.6 The DC Motor
Motor
The purpose of a motor is to turn
electrical energy into kinetic energy
A direct current (D.C.) motor does this by utilizing
current that does not change direction!
The Direct Current Motor
A DC Motor uses an electric current to produce
a magnetic field in a coil. The coil starts to
rotate in an external magnetic field.
PREDICT THE OUTCOME…
How can you make the motion
continuous?
Problem: After ½ turn, motion will stop unless
the direction of the magnetic field switches.
If the current changes direction,
predict the outcome …
Solution: To change the direction of the magnetic
field, we temporarily interrupt the current and
change its direction using a device called a split ring
commutator…
The Split Ring Commutator
To temporarily interrupt the current and change its direction (to
change the direction of the magnetic field), we use a split ring
commutator.
The split ring commutator and
wire are free to rotate around
axis.
Circuit is incomplete when the
loop is in line with the split.
Brushes made out of conducting
wire come in contact with the
split ring commutator but still
allow for rotation.
The Split Ring Commutator
The split ring commutator is the part of a DC motor
that interrupts the circuit. It changes the direction
of the current and the direction of the magnetic
field, keeping the motor spinning continuously.
The Split Ring Commutator
Brushes make physical contact with the split ring
commutator to complete the circuit and still allow
rotation
The Split Ring Commutator
rotor
A DC Motor has rotor & a stator
The Split Ring Commutator
stator
A DC Motor has rotor & a stator
The Split Ring Commutator
stator
rotor
A DC Motor has rotor & a stator
Step 1
• Conventional current flows + to -
(purple to pink)
• RHR Motor Principle:
left side of coil is pushed DOWN,
right side pushed UP
• COUNTERCLOCKWISE ROTATION
Step 2
• SAME as Step 1
(+ to -, purple to pink)
• RHR Motor Principle: same
• Continue COUNTERCLOCKWISE
ROTATION
Step 3
• Loop is aligned with the SPLIT,
therefore circuit is incomplete
• No current -> no magnetic field
produced by wire -> no RHR force,
only INERTIA present
Step 4
• Conventional current flows + to -
(PINK to PURPLE)
• RHR Motor Principle:
left side of coil is pushed DOWN,
right side pushed UP
• COUNTERCLOCKWISE ROTATION
CONTINUES
(Next, split will align and change
direction of current again…)
Improving the Design
(Better Than 1 Loop)
• Using a soft-iron armature and increasing the
number of loops in the coil will increase the
strength of the motor
