COMMUTATION IN A SIMPLE FOUR-LOOP DC

MACHINE

(a) A four-loop, two-pole dc machine (b) The voltages on the rotor

shown at time ωt = 0°. conductors at this time

Notice that there are two parallel

paths for current through the
machine.
(c) A winding diagram of this machine
showing the interconnections of the
rotor loops.
The same machine at time ωt = 45°,
showing the voltages on the
conductors.
The same machine at time ωt = 90°,
showing the voltages on the
conductors.
TERMINAL VOLTAGE OF THIS MACHINE AS A FUNCTION
OF TIME

Notice that the voltages on loops 1 and

3 have reversed between the two
pictures, but since their connections
have also reversed, the total voltage is
still being built up in the same direction
as before
The idea is:
🞂 As the number of loops on the rotor
increases, the approximation to a perfect dc
voltage continues to get better and better.

🞂 Commutation is the process of switching the

loop connections on the rotor of a dc
machine just as the voltage in the loop
switches polarity, in order to maintain an
es-sentially constant dc output voltage.
 COMMUTATION AND
ARMATURE CONSTRUCTION
IN REAL DC MACHINES
ROTOR COILS

🞂 The number of conductors on a machine’s

armature is given by

where
Z = number of conductors on rotor
C = number of coils on rotor
Nc = number of turns per coil
🞂 Normally, a coil spans 180 electrical degrees. a full-pitch coil.
🞂 This means that when one side is under the center of a given
magnetic pole, the other side is under the center of a pole of
opposite polarity

where
θe = electrical angle, in degrees
θm = mechanical angle, in degrees
P = number of magnetic poles on the machine
The shape of a typical preformed
rotor coil.
🞂 fractional-pitch coil- a coil is built that spans
less than 180 electrical degrees
🞂 chorded winding - a rotor winding wound
with fractional- pitch coils
🞂 pitch factor p; - amount of chording in a
winding
Connections to the Commutator Segments

🞂 commutator pitch - The distance (in

number of segments) between the
commutator segments to which the two
ends of a coil are connected
Rotor (armature) windings
🞂 simplex rotor winding – a single,
complete, closed winding wound
on a rotor

🞂 duplex rotor winding - a rotor

with two complete and
independent sets of rotor
windings.

🞂 triplex winding - have three

complete and independent sets
of windings, each winding
connected to every third
commutator segment on the
rotor
Armature windings are
classified:
🞂 according to the sequence of their
connections to the commutator segments

1. The Lap Winding

2. The Wave Winding
3. Frog leg winding
🞂 A simplex lap winding is a rotor winding
consisting of coils containing one or more
turns of wire with the two ends of each coil
coming out at adjacent commutator
segments
two-pole lap-wound dc machine.
The fact that there
are P current paths
also requires that
there be as many
brushes on the
machine as there
are poles in order
to tap all the
current paths.
🞂 If a lap winding is duplex there are twice as
many current paths as the machine has
poles in a duplex lap winding.
🞂 In general, for an m-plex lap winding, the
commutator pitch Yc is

🞂 and the number of current paths in a

machine is

where
a = number of current paths in the
rotor
m = plex of the windings (1, 2, 3,
etc.)
The Wave Winding
🞂 In a simplex wave winding, there are
only two current paths. (There are C/2 or one-half of
the windings in each current path)

🞂 The general expression for commutator

pitch in any simplex wave winding is

where C is the number of coils on the rotor and P is the

number of poles on the machine
The Wave Winding

In this simplex wave

winding, every other
rotor coil connects
back to a
commutator
segment adjacent to
the beginning of the
first coil.
The rotor winding diagram for the machine in previous fihure.
Notice that the end of every second coil in series connects to the
segment after the beginning of the first coil. This is a progressive
wave winding.
A multiplex wave winding is a winding with multiple independent
sets of wave windings on the rotor.
The Frog-Leg Winding

🞂 Also known as self-equalizing winding

🞂 The number of current paths present in a

frog-leg winding is

where P is the number of poles on the

machine and mlap is the plex of the
lap winding.
Example:
🞂 A dc machine has eight poles and a rated
current of 120 A. How much current will flow
in each path at rated conditions if the
armature is (a) simplex lap-wound, (b)
duplex lap-wound, (c) simplex wave-wound?
Assignment 7-2 (Chapman 5th
ed)

(a) Is the armature winding shown a progressive or retrogressive

winding?
(b) How many current paths are there through the armature of this
machine?
(c) What are the magnitude and the polarity of the voltage at the
brushes in this machine?
 Problems with
Commutation in Real
Machines
Problems with Commutation in
Real Machines

🞂 In practice, there are two major effects

that disturb the commutation process:

▪ Armature Reaction
▪ L di/dt voltages

Objective:

This section explores the nature of these problems and the

solutions employed to mitigate their effects
Problems with Commutation in
Real Machines
🞂 Armature Reaction
If the magnetic field windings of a DC machine are
connected to the power source and the rotor is turned by an
external means, a voltage will be induced in the conductors
of the rotor. This voltage is rectified and can be supplied to
external loads. However, if a load is connected, a current
will flow through the armature winding. This current
produces its own magnetic field that distorts the
original magnetic field from the machine’s poles. This
distortion of the machine’s flux as the load increases is
called armature reaction and can cause two problems:
Problems with Commutation in Real
Machines
1. Neutral-Plane Shift
🞂 The magnetic neutral plane is defined as the
plane within the machine where the velocity of
the rotor wires is exactly parallel to the magnetic
flux lines. eind = 0
Neutral-Plane Shift

This rotor magnetic field affects the original

magnetic field from the poles that produced the
generator’s voltage in the first place.
Neutral-Plane Shift

the amount of the shift depends on the

amount of rotor current and hence on the
load of the machine.
What’s the big deal about neutral-plane shift?

🞂 Will result to current flow

circulating between the
shorted segments and
large sparks at the
brushes when the current
path is interrupted as the
brush leaves a segment

🞂 The end result is arcing

and sparking at the
brushes.
Problems with Commutation in Real Machines

2. Flux
Weakening
A typical
magnetization curve shows
the effects of pole saturation
where armature and pole
Magnetomotive
Forces add
The flux and magnetomotive
force under the pole faces in a
dc machine. At those points
where the magnetomotive
forces subtract, the flux
closely follows the net
magnetomotive force in the
iron; but at those points where
the magnetomotive forces
add, saturation limits the total
flux present. Note also that
the neutral point of the rotor
has shifted.
Flux weakening causes problems
in both generators and motor
🞂 In generators, the effect of flux weakening is
simply to reduce the voltage supplied by the
generator for any given load
🞂 In motors, the effect can be more serious. When
the flux in a motor is decreased, its speed
increases. But increasing the speed of a motor
can increase its load, resulting in more flux
weakening
🞂 a runaway condition as a result of flux weakening
occur, where the speed of the motor just keeps
increasing until the machine is disconnected
from the power line or until it destroys itself.
Problems with Commutation in Real
Machines
3. L di/dt Voltages - occurs in commutator
segments being shorted out by the brushes,
sometimes called inductive kick.

The reversal of current flow in a coil undergoing commutation. Note that

the current in the coil between segments a and b must reverse direction
while the brush shorts together the two commutator segments
 How fast must this reversal occur?
🞂 Assuming at 800 r/min and that there are 50 commutator
segment, each commutator segment moves under a brush and
clears it again in t = 0.0015 s

Therefore, the rate of

change in current with
respect to time in the
shorted loop must
average
Solutions to the Problems with Commutation

1. Brush shifting

2. Commutating poles or interpoles

3. Compensating windings
Brush Shifting

🞂 If the neutral plane of the machine shifts,

why not shift the brushes with it in order to
stop the sparking

🞂 Today, brush shifting is only used in very

small machines that al-ways run as motors.
.

(a) The net magnetomotive force in a dc machine with its brushes in the
vertical plane. (b) The net magnetomotive force in a dc machine with its
brushes over the shifted neutral plane. Notice that now there is a component
of armature magnetomotive force directly opposing the poles’
magnetomotive force, and the net magnetomotive force in the machine is
reduced.
COMMUTATING POLES OR INTERPOLES.

1. The interpoles must be of the same polarity as the next

upcoming main pole in a generator.
COMMUTATING POLES OR INTERPOLES.
2. The interpoles must be of the same polarity as
the previous main pole in a motor.
COMPENSATING WINDINGS.
🞂 Placing compensating windings in slots carved in the faces of the
poles parallel to the rotor conductors, to cancel the distorting
effect of armature reaction

The effect of compensating windings in a dc machine.

(a) The pole flux in the machine; (b) the fluxes from the
armature and compensating windings. Notice that they are
equal and opposite;
COMPENSATING WINDINGS.

(c) the net flux in the machine, which is just the

original pole flux.
Notice that the magnetomotive
force due to the compensating
windings is equal and opposite
to the magnetomotive force
due to
the rotor at every point under
the pole faces. The resulting
net magnetomotive
force is just the
magnetomotive force due to
the poles, so the flux in the
machine
is unchanged regardless of the
load on the machine. T
Compensating Winding
Construction of DC
Machines

58
Features of DC Machine

Field
Windin
g

59
Construction of
DC Machines

60
Construction of DC Machines
❑ Field
system
❑ Armature
core
❑ Armature
winding
❑ Commutato
r
61
Field System

62
 Field system
• It is for uniform magnetic field within
which the armature rotates.
• Electromagnets are preferred in
comparison with permanent magnets
• They are cheap , smaller in size ,
produce greater magnetic effect and
field strength can be varied

63
 Field system consists of the
following parts
• Yoke
• Pole cores
• Pole shoes
• Field coils

64
 Armature core
▪ The armature core is cylindrical.
▪ High permeability silicon steel
stampings.
▪ Lamination is to reduce the eddy
current. loss

65
Armature winding

66
 Armature winding
There are 2 types of winding
Lap and Wave winding
• A=P • A=2

• It is meant for high • It is meant for

current and low low
voltages. current output
and
high voltages.
• The armature
windings are divided • 2 brushes
into number of
sections equal to the 67
 Commutator
• Connect with external circuit.
• Converts ac into unidirectional current.
• Cylindrical in shape .
• Made of wedge shaped copper segments.
• Segments are insulated from each other.
• Each commutator segment is connected to
armature conductors by means of a copper strip
called riser.
• Number of segments equal to number of coils.
68
 Carbon brush
• Carbon brushes are used
in DC machines because
they are soft materials.
• It does not generate spikes
when they contact
commutator.
• To deliver the current
through armature.
• Carbon is used for brushes
because it has negative
temperature coefficient of
resistance. 69
 DC Machine Equivalent Circuits
1. Magnetic equivalent circuit
2. Electrical equivalent circuit

70
1. Magnetic equivalent circuit
Flux-mmf
relation in a dc
machine

DC machine DC machine
Cross-sectional Magnetic equivalent
view circuit

71