DC motors advantages and disadvantages over AC

motors?
AC power has become popular and advantageous because of easy generation,
transmission with less losses to long distances due to stepping up voltage and stepping
down the voltage to a desired level. In Industries 70% of the motors and drives used are
Induction motors, hence ac motors in general means induction motors. Induction motors
were preferred in industries due to the advantages of its rugged construction, less
maintenance and can be operated in explosive atmospheres also. Therefore Induction
motors ruled out all the motors in industries in every application. But DC motors were
still used in certain applications where induction motors cannot fulfill the need. so, dc
motors have its own significance in industries. This is because some special
characteristics they possess.

Advantages of DC motors:

 Speed control over a wide range both above and below the rated
speed: The attractive feature of the dc motor is that it offers the wide range of
speed control both above and below the rated speeds. This can be achieved in
dc shunt motors by methods such as armature control method and field control
method. This is one of the main applications in which dc motors are widely used
in fine speed applications such as in rolling mills and in paper mills.
 High starting torque: dc series motors are termed as best suited drives
for electrical traction applications used for driving heavy loads in starting
conditions. DC series motors will have a staring torque as high as 500%
compared to normal operating torque. Therefore dc series motors are used in the
applications such as in electric trains and cranes.

 Accurate steep less speed with constant torque: Constant torque drives is
one such the drives will have motor shaft torque constant over a given speed
range. In such drives shaft power varies with speed.
 Quick starting, stopping, reversing and acceleration
 Free from harmonics, reactive power consumption and many factors which
makes dc motors more advantageous compared to ac induction motors.

Disadvantages of DC motors:

 High initial cost

 Increased operation and maintenance cost due to presence of commutator and
brush gear
 Cannot operate in explosive and hazard conditions due to sparking occur at
brush ( risk in commutation failure)

Applications :
Some of the applications of dc motors are Steel mills, paper mills, cranes and elevators,
electric trains and much more etc..

Back EMF in DC Motor

When the current carrying conductor placed in a magnetic field, the torque induces on the
conductor. The torque rotates the conductor which cuts the flux of the magnetic field. According
to the Electromagnetic Induction Phenomenon “when the conductor cuts the magnetic field,
EMF induces in the conductor”. The Fleming right-hand rule determines the direction of the
induced EMF.

According to Fleming Right Hand Rule, if we hold our thumb, middle finger and index finger of
the right hand by an angle of 90°, then the index finger represents the direction of the magnetic
field. The thumb shows the direction of motion of the conductor and the middle finger
represents the emf induces on the conductor.

On applying the right-hand rule in the figure shown below, it is seen that the direction of the
induces emf is opposite to the applied voltage. Thereby the emf is known as the counter emf or
back EMF. The back emf is developed in series with the applied voltage, but opposite in
direction, i.e., the back emf opposes the current which causes it.

The magnitude of the back emf is given by the same expression shown below.
Where Eb is the induced emf of the motor known as Back EMF, A is the number of parallel paths
through the armature between the brushes of opposite polarity. P is the number of poles, N is the
speed, Z is the total number of conductors in the armature and ϕ is the useful flux per pole.

A simple conventional circuit diagram of the machine working as a motor is shown in the
diagram below.

In this case, the magnitude of the back emf is

always less than the applied voltage. The difference between the two is nearly equal when the
motor runs under normal conditions. The current induces on the motor because of the main
supply. The relation between the main supply, back emf and armature current is given as Eb = V –
IaRa.

Advantages of Back Emf in DC Motor

1. The back emf opposes the supply voltage. The supply voltage induces the current in the coil
which rotates the armature. The electrical work required by the motor for causing the current
against the back emf is converted into the mechanical energy. And that energy is induced in the
armature of the motor. Thus, we can say that energy conversion in DC motor is possible only
because of the back emf.
 The mechanical energy induced in the motor is the product of the back emf and the armature
current, i.e., EbIa.

2. The back emf makes the DC motor self-regulating machine, i.e., the back emf develops the
armature current according to the need of the motor. The armature current of the motor is

calculated as,

Let’s understand how back emf makes motor self-regulating.

 Consider the motor is running at no load condition. At no load, the DC motor requires small
torque for controlling the friction and windage loss. The motor withdraws less current. As the
back emf depends on the current their value also decreases. The magnitude of the back EMF is
nearly equal to the supply voltage.
 If the sudden load is applied to the motor, the motor becomes slow down. As the speed of the
motor decreases, the magnitude of their back emf also falls down. The small back emf withdraw
heavy current from the supply. The large armature current induces the large torque in the
armature, which is the need of the motor. Thus, the motor moves continuously at the new speed.
 If the load on the motor is suddenly reduced, the driving torque on the motor is more than the
load torque. The driving torque increases the speed of the motor which also increases their back
emf. The high value of back emf decreases the armature current. The small magnitude of
armature current develops less driving torque, which is equal to the load torque. And the motor
will rotate uniformly at the new speed.

Relation between Mechanical power (Pm), supply voltage (Vt) and Back EMF (Eb)
The back emf in the dc motor is expressed as,

Where Eb – Back Emf

Ia – Armature Current
Vt – Terminal Voltage
Ra – Resistance of Armature

The maximum power developed on the motor is expressed by

On differentiating the above equation we get

From the back emf equation, we get

On substituting the IaRa in the above equation, we get

How does the commutator convert AC to DC in a DC generator?

In the most simple of explanations, by switching polarity at the same moment the AC
signal reverses direction.

The polarity of the magnetic field determines the direction in which the current travels
in the coils mounted on the rotor.

For a simple example…

Imagine a DC generator with two coils on the rotor and two brushes that contact the
commutator and carry the DC current out of the generator. The current in each brush
always travels in the same direction. One brush flows in, the other brush flows out.
Coil 1 on the spinning rotor first enters one pole of the magnetic field, then the other.
When it leaves one and enters the other, the current in Coil 1 switches direction. The
same thing happens to Coil 2, except the current direction is always opposite that of Coil
1. This is Alternating Current or AC.

The commutator is split and the two halves are separate from each other. Two brushes,
each attached to a wire that leads out of the generator, contact opposite sides of the
commutator. As the commutator turns, the brushes alternate and first contact one half
of the commutator and then the other half.

Now imagine the current coming from the coils on the rotor. Coil 1 enters the North Pole
of the magnetic field and current flows through Commutator side 1 to Brush 1. At the
same time, Coil 2 enters the South Pole of the magnetic field and current flows in the
opposite direction to Brush 2 because the magnetic pole is opposite.

The rotor completes 1/2 turn and Coil 1 enters the South Pole of the magnetic field. The
current in the corresponding portion of the commutator switches direction, as does the
current in Coil 2 and it’s half of the commutator.

However, because the commutator is split into two separate and unconnected halves,
Brush 1 is now receiving current from Coil 2 and Brush 2 from Coil 1. The the current
never changes direction in the brushes. Brush 1 always receives current from whichever
coil is passing through the North Pole of the magnetic field and Brush 2 always receives
current from the coil in the South Pole of the magnetic field.

That was a simple explanation. In the real world, the commutator has many parts and
there may be a number of coils on the rotor, but the principle is the same—Brush 1
always receives current from a coil within the North magnetic field, and brush 2 receives
current from a coil within South magnetic field. In that way, the commutator converts
AC to DC because it never allows current to change direction in the brushes.

AC current rises and falls in a cycle. First it rises from 0 to max positive voltage, then it
falls to zero - changes direction and rises to max negative voltage. Each brush is always
connected to it’s own half of the cycle—either positive or negative. It rises in brush 1 to
max positive, falls to 0, then rises again to max positive. The opposite is happening in
brush 2.

This means that unlike a battery which produces a constant and never changing direct
current, the current from a DC generator pulses.

In our real-world commutator with it’s many parts, the pulses happen so quickly that
they come close to mimicking a battery with their power output. Filtering can remove
most of the peaks and valleys and leave just a small pulsing ripple on top of the DC
current output.

DC to AC :
I am assuming that you know about the construction of a DC motor.The commutator is
the arrangement that connects the stationary brushes to the rotating armature.

Let me begin by explaining the role of a commutator. If are already familiar with
this,you may skip to the part written in bold font. The main role of the armature is to
supply current to the rotating armature.To ensure the unidirectional torque output from
the motor the current direction in the armature has to reversed periodically.(ie the
current flowing in the armature should be an AC current. This function is achieved by
the commutator.

Let us see how a commutator works.The commutator in a DC motor looks something

like this.

The commutator looks like a ring split in half Hence it is also called split rings.

Now as you might be knowing motors follow the Flemings left hand rule which gives the
direction of force acting on a current carrying conductor placed in magnetic field.

Now try to visualize this in a dc motor.

To ensure the unidirectional torque on a dc motor one must ensure that the current
flows away from you on the left hand side of the coil(refer the pic) and towards you on
the right hand side.This ensures the anti clockwise rotation of the motor.

Now coming to your question how does the commutator work?

Refer the above picture(a).Notice that the current flows from the +ve
terminal of the battery to brush B1 to split ring S1 to ABCD to split ring S2 to
brush B2 to the -ve terminal of the battery.

Picture (b) above shows the state of the motor after it has completed 180
degrees rotation.Now due to the rotation of the motor the split ring S1 has
moved to the right while S2 has moves to the left.Now the current direction
is +ve terminal of battery to brush B1 to split ring S2 to DCBA to split ring S1
to the brush B2 to the -ve terminal of the battery.Hence the current
direction in the armature of the motor has reversed.That is the DC supply is
converted to AC supply in the commutator

Commutator is simply a mechanical rectifier

The voltage generated in the armature, placed in a rotating magnetic, of a DC Generator

is alternating in nature. The commutation in DC machine or more
specifically commutation in DC generator is the process in which generated
alternating current in the armature winding of a dc machine is converted into direct
current after going through the commutator and the stationary brushes.Again in DC
Motor, the input DC is to be converted in alternating form in armature and that is also
done through commutation. This transformation of current from the rotating armature
of a DC machine to the stationary brushes needs to maintain continuously moving
contact between the commutator segments and the brushes. When the armature starts
to rotate, then the coils situated under one pole (let it be N pole) rotates between a
positive brush and its consecutive negative brush and the current flows through this coil
is in a direction inward to the commutator segments.

Then the coil is short circuited with the help of a brush for a very short fraction of
time(1⁄500 sec). It is called commutation period. After this short-circuit time the
armature coils rotates under S pole and rotates between a negative brush and its
succeeding positive brush. Then the direction is reversed which is in the away from the
commutator segments. This phenomena of the reversal of current is termed as
commutation process. We get direct current from the brush terminal. The commutation
is called ideal if the commutation process or the reversal of current is completed by the
end of the short circuit time or the commutation period. If the reversal of current is
completed during the short circuit time then there is sparking occurs at the brush
contacts and the commutator surface is damaged due to overheating and the machine is
called poorly commutated.
We are using skewing in both the Ac as well as in DC machines and in both machines
basically skewing is done to reduce the vibration and humming noise in the motor.

In DC machines the air gap length changes between the slot and teeth of the armature
when the armature is rotating under constant magnetic field. This results in the
production of small variation in the torque hence this results can be observed as small
vibrations in the frame of the machine. So in order to avoid this vibration effect
armature teeth is skewed.