EME4363 Electrical Machines – DC Motors

Chapter 8: DC Motors
DC motors are driven from a dc power supply.

Unless otherwise specified, the input voltage to a dc motor is

assumed constant, because it help simplifies the analysis and
the comparison between different types of motors.

There are five major types of dc motors in general use:

1. The separately excited dc motor
2. The shunt dc motor
3. The permanent-magnet dc motor
4. The series dc motor
5. The compounded dc motor

The equivalent circuit of a dc motor

Below is the equivalent circuit of a dc motor.

The armature (rotor) circuit is represented by:

 an ideal voltage source EA a Thevenin equivalent of
 a resistor RA the entire rotor structure
(including rotor coils, interpoles and compensating windings, if present)

The brush voltage drop is represented by a small battery

Vbrush opposing the direction of current flow in the machine.

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 EME4363 Electrical Machines – DC Motors

The field coils (producing the magnetic flux in the motor) are
represented by:
 an inductor LF
 a resistor RF

Note: resistor Radj is an external variable resistor used to

control the amount of current in the field circuit.

Some variation and simplifications can be made:

i. Vbrush may be left out (Vbrush << EA) or included in RA
ii. The RF is sometimes lumped together with Radj and
the total is a variable resistor called RF (see the
simplified equivalent circuit below)
iii. Some generators have more than one field coil, all of
which appear on the equivalent circuit.

Hence, the simplified equivalent circuit of a dc motor:

Simplified equivalent circuit eliminating the brush voltage drop and

combining Radj with field resistance.

The internal generated voltage is given by:

and the induced torque is:

The tools necessary to analyse the behaviour and performance

of a dc motor are:
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 EME4363 Electrical Machines – DC Motors

 Equations
 Kirchoff’s voltage law (KVL) equation of the armature
circuit
 The machine’s magnetisation curve

The magnetisation curve of a dc machine

From equation, EA is directly proportional to the flux in the

machine and the speed of rotation of the machine.

How is the internal generated voltage related to the field current

in the machine?

The field current IF produces a field magnetomotive force

(mmf) given by F = NFIF.

This mmf produces a flux in the machine in accordance with

its magnetisation curve shown below.

The magnetisation
curve of a
ferromagnetic material
( vs. F)

Since, I F  mmf and E A  flux  , it is customary to present

the magnetisation curve as a plot of

EA vs IF for a given speed 0. (figure below)

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 EME4363 Electrical Machines – DC Motors

EA [= K]
Magnetisation curve of a
dc machine expressed as
a plot of EA vs IF for a
fixed speed 0

IF [= VF/RF]

Note: Most machines are designed to operate near the

saturation point on the magnetisation curve (at the knee of
the curve). This implies that a fairly large increase in field
current is often necessary to get a small increase in EA when
operation is near full load.

Separately excited and shunt dc motors

A separately excited dc motor is a motor whose field circuit is

supplied from a separate constant-voltage power supply.

VF
IF 
RF  Radj

The equivalent circuit of a separately excited dc motor.

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 EME4363 Electrical Machines – DC Motors

A shunt dc motor is a motor whose field circuit is powered

directly across the armature terminals of the motor.

VF
IF 
RF  Radj

The equivalent circuit of a shunt dc motor.

When the supply voltage to a motor is assumed constant, there

is no practical difference in behaviour between these two
motors.

Hence, unless otherwise specified, whenever the behaviour of a

shunt motor is described, the separately excited motor is
included too.

The KVL equation for the armature circuit of these motors

is:
VT  E A  I A RA

The terminal characteristic of a shunt dc motor

The terminal characteristic of a machine is a plot of the

machine’s output quantities versus each other.

The terminal characteristic of a motor is

A plot of its output torque vs. speed

How does a shunt dc motor respond to a load?

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If the load on the shaft of a shunt motor is increased,

Motor slows EA

Tload > Tind
down ( ) (= K )

Finally,
Tind = Tload Tind  Armature current
at a lower
(= KIA) IA= ( VT -EA ) / RA
mechanical
speed 

The output characteristic of a shunt dc motor can be derived

from the induced voltage and torque equations of the motor plus
the KVL.

From KVL, VT  E A  I A RA .

The induced voltage EA = K, so

VT  K  I A RA

Since Tind = KIA, current IA can be expressed as

Tind
IA 
K

Combining equations (9.4) and (9.5) yields

Tind
VT  K  RA
K

Finally, the motor speed is given by:

VT R
  A2  ind
K K

This equation is just a straight line with a negative slope.

The resulting torque-speed characteristic of a shunt dc motor is
shown below:

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Torque-speed
characteristic of a shunt
or separately excited dc
motor with
compensating windings
to eliminate armature
reaction.
It is important to realize that in order for the speed to vary
linearly with torque, all the other terms in equation (9.7) must
be constant as the load changes.

The terminal voltage VT supplied by the dc power source is

assumed to be constant – if not, voltage variations will affect
the shape of the torque-speed curve.

Another factor that can also affect the torque-speed curve

shape is armature reaction.

If a motor has armature reaction, then as load increases,

flux weakening effects reduce its flux.

From equation (9.7), for a given load,

when flux   motor speed increases
(compared to the motor speed without armature reaction)

The torque-speed characteristic of a shunt motor with

armature reaction is shown below.

Torque-speed
characteristic of a shunt
or separately excited dc
motor with armature
reaction present.

If a motor has compensating windings, there will be no flux

weakening problems and the flux in the motor remains
constant regardless of loads.

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 EME4363 Electrical Machines – DC Motors

Therefore, if a shunt dc motor is connected to a load (condition

1), and the motor speed n1, IA1 and EA1 are known, hence
E A1  K 'n1

Assuming the field current is constant and there are no

armature reaction effects, the flux will remain constant.
Therefore, at another load condition (condition 2):
E A2  K 'n2

Hence, the motor speed at condition 2 can be calculated using:

E A2
n2  n1
E A1

provided EA2 is known or can be determined from KVL.

Non-linear analysis of a shunt dc motor

The flux and EA of a dc machine is a non-linear function of

mmf. Therefore, anything that changes the mmf in a machine
will have a non-linear effect on EA.

Since changes in EA cannot be calculated analytically, the

magnetisation curve of the machine must be used.

Two principal contributors to the mmf in the machine are:

1. Field current – IF affects EA according to magnetisation curve

The effect of changing a machine’s field current can be

determined directly from its magnetisation curve.

EA [= K]

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 EME4363 Electrical Machines – DC Motors

2. Armature reaction (if present) – When load , AR , 

If a machine has armature reaction, the total mmf in a shunt dc

motor is:

where NFIF = field circuit mmf

FAR = demagnetising armature reaction mmf
NF = total turns per pole of field winding

It is customary to define an equivalent field current that would

produce the same output voltage as the combination of all mmf
in the machine. The equivalent field current can be calculated
by:

Then, the resulting voltage EA can be determined by locating

that equivalent field current on the magnetisation curve.

One other effect must be considered when non-linear analysis is

used to determine EA of a dc motor.

The magnetisation curves for a machine are drawn for a

particular speed, usually the rated speed of the machine.

How can effects of a given field current be determined if the

motor is turning at speed other than rated speed?

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 EME4363 Electrical Machines – DC Motors

The equation for the induced voltage in a dc machine when

speed is in revolutions per minute is:
E A  K 'n

For a given effective field current, the flux in the machine is

fixed, so the internal generated voltage is related to speed by:

where EA0 and n0 represent the reference values of voltage and

speed, respectively.

If EA0 and n0 are known from the magnetisation curve and EA

is calculated from KVL, then it is possible to determine the
actual speed n from equation.

Speed control of shunt dc motors

i. Adjusting the field resistance RF

ii. Adjusting the terminal voltage applied to the armature
iii. Inserting a resistance in series with the armature circuit
- less common method.

Changing the field resistance RF

1. Increasing RF causes IF to decrease. I F  VT RF 

Decreasing IF,
2. -
decreases 
Decreasing  lowers EA
3. E A  K  
instantaneously.
I A  VT  E A  RA
Decreasing EA causes IA to
4.
increase.
Increasing IA,
5. increases Tind Tind  K  I A 
Note: IA  predominates over  .
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 EME4363 Electrical Machines – DC Motors

Increasing Tind causes Tind > Tload,

6. -
hence motor speeds up ().
7. Since  , EA increases again. E A  K 
I A  VT  E A  RA 
Increasing EA causes IA to
8.
decrease .
Decreasing IA causes Tind to
decrease until
9. Tind  KI A 
Tind = Tload at a higher speed .

Note: Decreasing RF reverses the whole process and .

The effect of increasing the field resistance on the output

characteristic of a shunt motor is shown below.

(a) Over the normal operating range (b) Over the entire range from no load
to stall conditions

The effect of field resistance RF speed control on a shunt motor’s torque-

speed characteristics.

WARNING about field resistance speed control:

As the flux decreases, the motor’s:
 no-load speed increases
 torque-speed curve slope becomes steeper

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 EME4363 Electrical Machines – DC Motors

Figure on the right above (on page 14) shows the terminal
characteristic of the motor over the whole full range from no-
load to stall conditions (speed = 0).

It is apparent that at very slow speed, an increase in RF will

actually decrease the speed of the motor.

This is because at very slow speeds, the increase in IA (due to

decrease in EA) is not large enough to compensate for decrease
in  in the Tind equation (see step 5 in the table above).

With  decrease larger than IA increase, Tind decreases and

motor slows down.

Some small dc motors used for control purposes actually operate

at speeds close to stall conditions. For these motors, an increase
in field resistance might have no effect, or it might even
decrease the speed of the motor. Since the results are not
predictable, field resistance control should not be used in these
types of dc motors.

Instead, the armature voltage method for speed control should

be employed.

Changing the armature voltage

This method involves changing the voltage applied to the

armature circuit without changing the voltage applied to the
field.

Armature voltage control of a shunt (or separately excited) dc motor.

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 EME4363 Electrical Machines – DC Motors

In effect the motor must be separately excited to use armature

voltage control.

1. Increasing VA causes IA to increase. I A  VA   E A  RA

2.
Increasing IA, Tind  K  I A
increases Tind
Increasing Tind causes Tind > Tload,
3. -
hence motor speeds up ().
4. Since  , EA increases. E A  K 
I A  VT  E A  RA 
Increasing EA causes IA to
5.
decrease .
Decreasing IA causes Tind to
6. decrease until Tind  KI A 
Tind = Tload at a higher speed .

The effect of increasing VA on the torque-speed characteristic of

a separately excited motor is shown below.

Notice that the no-load

speed is shifted by this
method of speed control
but the slope of the
curve remains constant.

The effect of armature

voltage speed control on a
shunt motor’s torque-speed characteristics.
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 EME4363 Electrical Machines – DC Motors

Inserting a resistor in series with the armature circuit

If a resistor is inserted in series with the armature circuit (RA ),

the effect is to drastically increase the slope of the motor’s
torque-speed characteristic, making it operate more slowly if
loaded.

The effect of armature

resistance speed control on a
shunt motor’s torque-speed
characteristics.

This can be easily seen from the speed equation (9.7).

The insertion of a resistor is very wasteful since the losses in

the inserted resistor are very large. Hence, this method for
speed control is rarely used.

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 EME4363 Electrical Machines – DC Motors

Safe ranges of operation for the two common methods of

shunt motor speed control

For a shunt dc motor, the two most common control methods

are:

Field resistance control Armature voltage control

 the lower the field current,  the lower the armature
faster it turns voltage, slower it turns (VA
(IF , ) , )

 the higher the field current,  the higher the armature

slower it turns voltage, faster it turns
(IF, ) (VA, )
There is a minimum There is a maximum
achievable speed achievable speed

when motor’s field circuit has when motor’s armature

maximum permissible voltage reaches its
current flowing. maximum permissible level.

Controls motor speeds above Controls motor speeds below

base speed base speed
(but not for below base speeds) (but not for above base speeds)

If  < base, IF > IF,max and field If  > base, VA > VA,max and
windings may be damaged. armature windings may be
damaged.

Note: If a motor is operating at its rated terminal voltage, power

and field current, then it will be running at rated speed or base
speed.

Hence, the two speed control techniques are complementary.

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 EME4363 Electrical Machines – DC Motors

There is significant difference in torque and power limits on

the machine under these two types of speed control.

In either case, the limiting factor is heating of armature

conductors (i.e. it places upper limit on the magnitude of
armature current IA)

Field resistance control Armature voltage control

controls motor speeds above base controls motor speeds below base
speed speed
 flux decreases ( increase)  flux is constant
 Tmax must decrease,
 Tmax = constant
i.e. Tmax    1/ (regardless of the speed)
(to ensure IA,max not exceeded)
 Pmax = constant  Pmax  
Note:
Tmax  KI A, max
and
Pmax  Tmax
The shunt dc motor power and torque limitations for safe
operation as a function of speed are shown below.

RF control

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 EME4363 Electrical Machines – DC Motors

The effect of an open field circuit

As RF is increased, the motor speed increases.

What happens if the field circuit were actually opened while the
motor is running?

 The flux in the machine would drop drastically (i.e. all

the way down to res).
 Hence, EA (= K) also drops.
 This causes really enormous increase in IA.
 Since Tind  IA, the induced torque would be quite a bit
higher than load torque in the motor.
 Therefore, motor’s speed rises and keeps going up.

Therefore, in a shunt dc motor operating with light fields,

armature reaction can be severe such that increase in loads can
weaken its flux enough to cause motor’s speed to rise.

However, most loads have torque-speed curves whose torque

increases with speed.

Increases
Increased Increases armature
speed  load reaction

Further More flux

increase in weakening
speed 

This continues until motor overspeeds. This condition is

known as runaway.

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 EME4363 Electrical Machines – DC Motors

The permanent magnet dc motor (PMDC)

PMDC is a dc motor whose poles are made of permanent

magnets.

Advantage (compared to shunt dc motor):

 No external field circuit is required, no field circuit

copper losses
 Smaller than shunt dc motors – because of no field circuit

Disadvantages:

 Cannot produce high flux density as an externally

supplied shunt dc motor – lower induced torque per
ampere of armature current compared to a shunt motor of
same size.
 Runs the risk of demagnetisation due to armature
reaction or excessive heating during prolonged periods of
overload.

It is basically the same machine as a shunt dc motor except the

flux in the PMDC motor is fixed.

Speed control through varying the field current or

flux is not possible.

Hence, speed control methods for PMDC motors are:

 Armature voltage control
 Armature resistance control

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The series dc motor

A series dc motor contains field windings of relatively few

turns connected in series with the armature circuit.

The equivalent circuit:

In the series dc motor,

IA = IS = IL

armature field line

current current current

Induced torque in a series dc motor

The basic behaviour of a series dc motor is due to the fact that

the flux is directly proportional to IA, at least until saturation
is reached i.e.

  cI S  cI A

where c = constant of proportionality.

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 EME4363 Electrical Machines – DC Motors

As load increases (IA increases), flux  increases too.

This causes speed  to decrease.

Hence, the series dc motor has a sharply drooping torque-

speed characteristic.

The induced torque is given by Tind  KI A .

By substituting for  (using equation 9.15), the induced torque

in the series dc machine is:

Tind  KcI A
2

Torque in a series dc motor is proportional to

the square of its armature current.

Therefore, this motor is used in applications requiring very

high torques.

Example: starter motors in cars, elevator motors and tractor

motors in locomotives.

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 EME4363 Electrical Machines – DC Motors

The terminal characteristic of a series dc motor

Assumption: The magnetisation curve is linear (no

saturation).

Hence, flux in the machine is given by equation   cI A .

Derivation of torque-speed characteristic curve:

1. KVL for series dc motor, VT  EA  I A RA  RS 

2. From equation (9.16), I A  Tind Kc

3. Also, E A  K . Hence, by substituting for EA and IA

into the KVL equation:
Tind
VT  K  RA  RS 
Kc
4. If the flux can be eliminated from this expression, it will
directly relate the torque of a motor to its speed. Notice
that I A   c , thus Tind  K c  2 from (9.16).
Therefore,
c
 Tind
K
5. By substituting this flux expression into the equation in
part 3 and solving for speed, the resulting torque-speed
relationship for the series dc motor is:


VT 1 R  RS 
 A
Kc Tind Kc

1
Notice that for an unsaturated series motor,  
Tind

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This ideal torque-speed characteristic is plotted below:

The torque-speed
characteristic of a series
dc motor.

Disadvantage of series dc motor:

 When the torque goes to zero, speed goes to infinity – if
no load is connected to the motor, it can turn fast enough
to seriously damage itself.

Warning!
 Never completely unload a series motor
 Never connect motor to a load by a belt or other
mechanism that could break. Use steel chains instead.

Speed control of series dc motor

There is only one efficient way to change the speed of a series

dc motor:
By changing the terminal voltage

If VT is increased, the speed increases for any given torque.

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The compounded dc motor

A compounded dc motor is a motor with both a shunt and a

series field. The equivalent circuit of the compounded motor is
shown below:

Long-shunt
connection

Short-shunt
connection

Current flowing into a dot produced positive mmf.

Cumulative compounding – current flows into dots on both
field coils. Hence, resulting mmfs add to give a larger total
mmf.

Differential compounding – current flows into dot on one

field coil and out of the dot on the other. Hence, resulting
mmfs subtract.

The KVL equation for a compounded dc motor:

VT  E A  I A ( RA  RS )

and the currents in the motor are related by:

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 EME4363 Electrical Machines – DC Motors

I A  IL  IF

I F  VT RF  Radj 

The net mmf and the effective shunt field current in the
compounded motor are given by:

Fnet  FF  FSE  FAR

N SE F
IF  IF  I A  AR
*

NF NF

where FF = NFIF = mmf of shunt field coil

FSE = NSEIA = mmf of series field coil
FAR = armature reaction demagnetising mmf
NF = number of turns per pole of shunt field coil
NSE = number of turns per pole of series field coil

 +ve sign associated with a cumulatively compounded

motor
 -ve sign associated with a differentially compounded
motor

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 EME4363 Electrical Machines – DC Motors

The torque-speed characteristic of a cumulatively

compounded dc motor (CC)

There are two components of flux:

 one is constant and
 another which is proportional to IA (and hence to the
load)

Thus, CC motor has:

 higher starting torque than a shunt motor (whose flux is
constant)
 but a lower starting torque than a series motor (whose
entire flux is proportional to IA)

Combines best features of both the shunt and series

motors.

Advantages of CC motor:
 extra torque for starting (like series motor)
 does not overspeed at no load (like shunt motor)

At light loads:
 series field has very small effect
 motor behaves approximately like a shunt dc motor

As load gets very large:

 series flux becomes quite important
 torque-speed curve begins to look like a series motor’s
characteristic

The comparison of the torque-speed characteristics of each

of these types of machines is shown below:

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 EME4363 Electrical Machines – DC Motors

The torque-speed characteristic of a

cumulatively compounded dc motor
compared to series and shunt motors
with the same full-load rating.

The torque-speed
characteristic of a
cumulatively compounded dc
motor compared to series and
shunt motors with the same
no-load speed.

The torque-speed characteristics of a differentially

compounded dc motor

In a differentially compounded dc motor, the shunt mmf and

series mmf subtract from each other.

Therefore, as the load increases:

 IA increases (series  IA)
 flux  decreases (net  = shunt - series )

Since  decreases, speed  increases.

The increase in speed causes another increase in load, which

further increases IA, further decreasing the flux, and increasing
the speed again.

The result: differentially compounded motor is unstable and

tends to runaway.

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 EME4363 Electrical Machines – DC Motors

This instability is much worse than that of a shunt dc motor

with armature reaction. It is so bad that a differentially
compounded motor is unsuitable for any application.

It is also impossible to start a differentially compounded motor.

At starting conditions:

 The armature current and series field current are very

high.
 Since the series flux subtracts from the shunt flux, the
series field can actually reverse the magnetic polarity of
the machine’s poles.
 The motor will typically remain still or turn slowly in the
wrong direction while burning up because of the
excessive armature current.

Hence, when starting this type of motor, the series field must
be short-circuited, so that it behaves as an ordinary shunt
motor during the starting period.

Speed control in the cumulatively compounded dc motor

The techniques available for speed control of a cumulatively

compounded motor are the same as those available for a shunt
motor:
The arguments describing
 Change the field resistance RF the effects of these
methods are very similar
 Change the armature voltage VA to the arguments given
 Change the armature resistance RA earlier for the shunt motor

Theoretically, the differentially compounded dc motor could be

controlled in a similar manner.

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However, since the differentially compounded motor is almost

never used, its speed control method hardly matters.

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