M-1

THE UNIVERSITY of LIVERPOOL

Department of Electrical Engineering and Electronics

(2011) Experiment M

1. Aims
 To show how magnetic fields are produced in electrical machines.
 To investigate the variable speed characteristics of a small dc motor.

2. Equipment
 Motor set
 Isotech IPS 2303D dual power supply
 Digital multimeter
 12 25W wirewound resistor

3. Safety
The motor used in this experiment operates with low voltages and currents. However it is
still capable of developing sufficient torque to cause injury. DO NOT TOUCH the
moving shaft or couplings, and keep long hair, ties and scarves away from the motor.

The motor can accelerate to very high speed, sufficient to cause damage to the equipment.
It is important that you make sure that the motor is only operated with current flowing in
the field winding. DO NOT switch on supplies to the armature winding unless the supply
to the field winding has been turned on first.

A demonstrator will be doing the exp-M in the laboratory as well. You must follow exactly
what the demonstrator do, and write down your observation and experimental results.

4. Experiments
You only have 2—3 hours to complete this experiment, and you will be assessed at the end of the
experiment. It is therefore extremely important that you read your laboratory script before coming
to the laboratory.
4.1.
Pr
eli
mi
nary Notes
4.1.1. Power Supply
The Isotech power supply can provide two outputs of up to 30V at up to 3A, as well as a
fixed 5V output. For this experiment the two variable sections of the power supply are

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used independently. Make sure that the push button switches in the centre of the front
panel are set for independent operation. Each part of the power supply has two controls.
The left hand control sets the maximum available output current (the current limit), while
the right hand control sets the maximum available voltage (the voltage limit). The actual
voltage or current supplied depends on the load. For high resistance loads (e.g., an open
circuit), the terminal voltage is set by the voltage control, provided that the current limit is
turned above zero. For low resistance loads (e.g., a short circuit), the terminal current is
set by the current control, provided that the voltage limit is set above zero. By
manipulating these two controls the power supply can be made to work as a voltage or
current source. The panel displays can be switched to show the terminal voltage or
current.

4.1.2. Machine Data

Armature winding resistance Ra 4.2
Field winding resistance Rf 8.4
Number of turns on armature Na 108
Number of turns on field Nf 300
Radial Airgap g 0.53 mm
Rotor Diameter D 33 mm
Axial Length L 31 mm
Pole Arc/Pitch ratio 0.67
Voltage Rating Vmax 24 V
Current Rating Imax 1.2 A

(NB The field winding quantities are for the full winding, with both sections in
series)

4.2. Magnetic Field produced by a coil

A electrical machine operates by interaction of electrical conductors with a magnetic field.
In some machines the magnetic field is produced by a permanent magnet, while in others
the field is produced by one or more field coils. Ths motor is shown schematically in
Figure 1.

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If Stator
Armature Hall-effect
winding in Brushes Flux density
rotor slots sensor
Shaft
Ia

Rotor Commutator
steel sections
Rotor
Stator Field winding
steel Commutator
on pole pieces

Figure 1 End Elevation and Side Section of the Motor

The motor in this experiment is a wound field machine, having two sets of field windings
which are normally connected in series. These motors are fitted with a Hall effect sensor
to measure the magnetic flux density B inside the machine. (Note that the Hall-effect
sensor measuring the magnetic flux density is not in the middle of the air-gap, but is
positioned in a slight recess at one end of the stator, as shown on Figure 1. The
instrument, therefore, only gives an approximate measurement of the air-gap flux density.)

Connect one part of the Isotech supply across the full field winding (F1 to F3). Set the
supply current limit to zero and the voltage limit to maximum. Turn on the power supply
and also the supply to the motor unit.

Test 1. Record the field current If and the magnetic flux density B for about ten
values of current from 0 to 2A. (Do not leave the current higher than 1A
for longer than necessary to take the readings). Plot a graph of B against I f
from your results.

Q1. What is the effect of reversing the direction of current flow ?

Test2. Connect the field coils in parallel, connecting the supply to F1-F2, and
short-circuiting F1-F3. Measure the flux density B at currents of 0, 1A and
2A.

4.3. Separately Excited Motor

An electric motor turns because of the force on the conductors of the armature when they
are carrying current in a magnetic field. A dc motor therefore requires a field excitation
(from the field current flowing in the field winding) and a current flowing in the armature.
In a dc motor, the field winding is fixed on the motor frame (the STATOR) and the
armature is fixed onto the shaft (the ROTOR).
Connect the field supply across the full field winding and set a field current of 1A. Note
the air-gap flux density value. Connect the second part of the Isotech supply to the
armature (A1 to A2). Set the voltage limit of the armature supply to zero and the current
limit to maximum. Turn on the armature supply.

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A dc motor can be dangerous to operate with very low field current because the speed can
reach a very high value. However the torque produced with very low field current will be
very low as well (see theory section), particularly if the armature supply voltage and
current is low. In the following test, the field current is reduced to zero while the armature
voltage is small enough to prevent damage.

Test 3.
Set the field current to 2A, and set the armature voltage to 6V. Vary the field current
from 2A down to 0 in small steps, recording the maximum speed point carefully.
Measure the speed, amature and field current, and magenetic field strength at each point.
Turn off the armature supply. Plot a graph of speed against field current. REMEMBER
that you must not turn off the field supply until the armature supply has been turned off.

Q2.
a) Calculate the torque produced at the maximum speed point when the machine
speed is constant, the machine torque must be balanced by an equal and opposite
torque. What torque opposes the machine torque in this test ?
b) What is the effect of reversing the armature supply polarity, or the field supply
polarity, or both ?
c) How would you expect the speed to vary if the armature voltage were kept constant
and the air-gap flux density reduced to zero?
d) For an ideal motor, the emf constant ke2 calculated in (V/rad.s-1/T) is equal to the
torque constant km in (Nm/A/T) (see theory section). Estimate the motor torque
produced at the point when the motor just starts to turn.

Ia
If

armature winding
Vf Va
field winding resistance R a
resistance R f
induced emf
e

FIELD
ARMATURE
Figure 2 Equivalent Circuit of the Motor

4.4. Shunt Excited Motor

It is inconvenient to have two separate supplies for a dc motor, as in the separately
excited configuration used in the previous section. One common configuration has the
two sets of windings connected in parallel - the shunt excited motor.

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Connect the armature winding (A1 to A2) in parallel with the field winding (F1 to F3), and
connect them both to one part of the power supply. Set the supply to zero voltage limit
and maximum current limit.

Test 4. Vary the voltage from 0 to 12V in about 5 steps. Record the voltage, current
and speed at each point. Repeat the test with the connections to the power
supply reversed.

Q3.
a) Compare the shunt excited motor and the seperately excited motor in terms of their
connections, application environments and experimental results.
b) From the earlier tests, what would you expect the speed to be at 12V supply?

4.5. Series Excited Motor

As an alternative to the shunt connection, the armature and field windings can be
connected in series.

Connect the full field winding (F1 to F3) in series with the armature (A1 to A2), with the
power supply arrangement as in the previous section.

Test 5. Vary the voltage from 0 to 15V in about 5 steps and record the voltage,
current and speed. Repeat the test with only half the field winding in circuit
(F1 to F2). Repeat again with half the field winding, but with the field
winding connections reversed.

Q4.
a) How can you adjust the speed and direction of a series or shunt connected dc motor?
b) Why could it be dangerous to try the experiment with the two field coils in parallel?

5. Theory
Faraday discovered that an electric field is experienced in a conductor when it is moved in
a steady magnetic field. The electric field strength E is related to the velocity u and the
magnetic flux density B by the relation

Note that E, u and B are vectors, and the vector x product means that maximum electric
field is produced when the magnetic field is perpendicular to the direction of movement.

A straight piece of wire with length l, such that the wire, the movement and the magnetic
field are all perpendicular, will have an induced voltage or electromotive force (emf) of

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 D
B

Figure 3 Single Turn Rectangular Coil

In a practical electrical machine, the wires are arranged in rectangular coils, as shown on
Figure 3. A single turn coil with diameter D(m) and length L(m), rotating at angular
velocity (rad.s-1), will have an induced emf given by

and a similar coil with Na turns in series would have and induced emf

For a given machine, the geometry and number of turns on the coils are fixed, so that the
emf can be written as

or

where n is the shaft speed in revolutions-per-minute (rpm), and k is a constant of the

machine. ke1 (in V/rpm/T) and ke2 (in V/rad.s-1/T) are of different values due to a
conversion factor of (2/60) between them.

The force acting on a conductor carrying current I by a perpendicular magnetic field is

given by

This leads to a result for the electromagnetic torque in a motor

where km is a motor torque constant of the machine, and Ia is the armature current. For an
ideal motor with no losses, the electrical input power to the armature should equal the
mechanical output power from the shaft, so that

and therefore

A typical dc motor has two sets of windings. There are coils fixed to the motor frame,
called the stator, and coils fixed to the rotating shaft, the rotor. The fixed coils carry
current in order to produce the magnetic field B inside the machine. The moving coils
carry the current required to produce a torque on the shaft and conduct the induced emf to
the terminals. Contact is made to the moving coils by carbon brushes and a simple rotating
switch called the commutator. The purpose of the commutator is to ensure that the
induced emf is always in the same polarity at the terminals, regardless of the angular
position of the shaft.
(Motors without commutators are ac machines, and the polarity reverses as the coil turns.
Some motors have permanent magnets instead of stator coils.)

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The fixed coil system is called the FIELD winding, and the rotating coil system is called
the ARMATURE winding. The amount of magnetic field produced by a given field coil
can be derived from Ampere's Law

Normally nearly all the magnetomotive force (mmf) (ie. the H.dl) is dropped across the air
gap. Using the relation for magnetic fields in air

where o is the permeability of free space (4 x10 -7H/m), the magnetic flux density in the
airgap between rotor and stator of a machine is given by

where Nf is the number of turns in the field winding, If is the current in the field coil, and
g is the radial gap between rotor and stator.
This suggests that the magnetic flux density should be directly proportional to the field
winding current. In practice this is only valid at low values of flux density. As B
approaches the value 1 tesla, the steel parts of the machine become magnetically saturated
and are not able to carry any more magnetic flux, a significant part of the mmf is dropped
across the steel components, and the assumptions leading to the last equation are no longer
appropriate. This non-linear characteristic of steel and other magnetic materials is known
as the hysteresis curve. The hysteresis curve for a typical grade of steel used in motors is
shown in Figure 4.
Magnetisation Curve for 4% Silicon Steel
1.6
1.4
1.2
magnetic flux density B (T)

1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
0 500 1000 1500 2000
magnetic field strength H (A/m)

Figure 4 Saturation B-H Curve for Typical Machine Steel

6. References
J D Edwards, "Electrical Machines and Drives", MacMillan, ISBN 0-333-53651-7.

Document Last Revised:

Dr. YC Shen 1 December 2010
Dr. X. Zhu 22 July, 2005
D W Shimmin 17 November, 2011
Prof. MTC Fang September 1998
Dr. D. Samsonov November 2011

Exp-M is assessed by a report.

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For report requirements see: https://www.liv.ac.uk/intranet/eee/labs.htm

Additional credit for using Latex is 10%

(the total mark for exp-M can not exceed 100%).

Report submission deadline is one week (at 16:30) from the day you have
done the experiment. The reports have to be submitted to the office.
Appendix-1:

Marking Sheet for Exp-M

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Student Name: Group Number:

Student ID: Date:

Mark Component Max Marks Marks Awarded

Student effort 10
Lab Book 20
Lab report 70 (including 10 for Latex)
Total 100
* Note: (1) you will be doing experiment-M by following, step-by-step, one
of demonstrators. (2) At the end of experiment, please take this form and your
lab notebook to see one of the demonstrators. (3) Make sure that you get your
mark before leaving the laboratory, (4) a lab report is required for exp-M.

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