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Design and research of deep slot universal motor for electric power tools

Article  in  Journal of Power Electronics · August 2020

DOI: 10.1007/s43236-020-00131-6

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Journal of Power Electronics (2020) 20:1604–1615
https://doi.org/10.1007/s43236-020-00131-6

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Design and research of deep slot universal motor for electric power

tools
Huang Qi1   · Luo Ling1 · Cao Jichao2 · Xi Wei2

Received: 5 May 2020 / Revised: 26 July 2020 / Accepted: 1 August 2020 / Published online: 24 August 2020
© The Korean Institute of Power Electronics 2020

Abstract
In this paper, a deep slot universal motor is designed for electric power tools. The deep slot structure can reduce the cost
of universal motor materials and improve production efficiency. A mathematical model of a universal motor is established
and a simulation model is established by MagNet finite element software. Then, the static magnetic field distribution and
load characteristics of the deep slot universal motor are analyzed. Different methods are adopted to improve the commuta-
tion spark of a deep slot universal motor. Finally, three 550-W and 9500-rpm prototype motors are tested. Simulation and
experimental results indicate that an uneven air gap, brush offset by a certain angle, as well as different turns of the lead coil
and the lag coil can effectively improve the commutation spark of a deep slot universal motor.

Keywords  Universal motor · Deep slot · Brush · Commutation sparks · Uneven air gap

1 Introduction
Universal motors can be used in both AC and DC power
[1]. The excitation winding and the armature winding are
connected in series by brushes and a commutator. Then
they are connected to a single-phase ac power supply. There
are two parallel branches after the current flows from the
excitation winding to the armature winding. Both the exci-
tation current and the armature current change directions
at the same time. The direction of the motor’s torque and
speed is constant. A small power universal motor uses a
pair of poles and the brush is placed on a neutral line of a
commutator to generate the maximum torque [2]. Although
universal motors are not as efficient, accurate or long-living
as permanent magnet motors, universal motors are simple
in structure, low in cost and suitable for short-time with
large-torque operations [3, 4]. Universal motors also have
the characteristics of high speed, small size and high starting
torque, and they are widely used in power tools, household
appliances, small machine tools and medical equipment [5].
* Huang Qi
snk77@163.com
1
School of Automation, Northwestern Polytechnical
University, Xi’an, China
2
National Engineering Research Center for Small and Special
Precision Motors, Guiyang, China
The sales of power tools around the world are growing at
a rate of almost 5% a year, and sales of household appli-
ances are growing at an even higher rate. The annual sales
of universal motors are more than 200 million units. Thus,
the design of low-cost motors suitable for mass production
is very important (Fig. 1).
With the development of computer technology, motor
CAD is becoming more widely used, which greatly reduces
the workloads of designers. At the same time, finite ele-
ment analysis software can help designers perform elec-
tromagnetic calculations and simulate motors operation
performance more accurately [6]. Gregor Papa and Barbara
Korou proposed calculating the stator and rotor size of a
motor based on a genetic algorithm to minimize the copper
and iron losses of a universal motor and to achieve multi-
objective optimization of the motor efficiency and material
cost [7]. Thus, the technical performance and economic
performance indicators of motor design programs are more
reasonable. However, there are many variables in universal
motors. Thus, the methods to calculate parametric variables
have become the focus of a great deal of research. Miller
and Willig proposed a new method for calculating the arma-
ture inductance, which can more accurately reflect the true
operating status of a universal motor [8]. In [9, 10], a mul-
tilevel optimization strategy based on Pearson correlation
coefficient analysis and cross-factor variance analysis was
used to design a permanent magnet synchronous motor for

13
Vol:.(1234567890)
Design and research of deep slot universal motor for electric power tools 1605

element software. A mathematical model of a universal

motor is established, and a simulation model is established
with MagNet to analyze the performance of the motor with
different parameters. Finally, a prototype deep slot universal
motor is manufactured for testing.

2 Electromagnetic parameters

Technical specifications of a deep slot universal motor for

Fig. 1  Images of an electric power tool and a universal motor power tools are shown in Table 1.
In the traditional universal motor, the width of the stator
tooth is much larger than the length of the yoke, and the flux
campus patrol electric vehicles, which has good performance density of the stator teeth is much lower than that of the sta-
in terms of a smaller torque ripple and lower power loss. tor yoke, rotor teeth and yoke, as shown in Fig. 2a. To adapt
However, finite element simulation combined with an opti- to the mass production of automatic winding machines,
mization algorithm takes a lot of time and requires a great the stator of the universal motor adopts the deep slot struc-
deal of storage space on a computer. ture, as shown in Fig. 2b. When compared to the traditional
The outstanding problem with universal motors is the bad structure stator, the length L1 of the exciting winding end is
commutation condition. The commutation spark accelerates shortened. Then, the amount of copper wire is reduced. The
the wear of the brush and the commutator. This affects the frame size L2 of the deep slot stator is smaller, the stator
reliability of the motor, leads to a reduction in the lifespan core has less blanking during stamping, and the core mate-
of the motor, brings serious electromagnetic interference rial waste is reduced. Thus, the deep slot motor cost is lower.
[11], and destroys the normal operation of telephone com- At the same time, the deep slot structure stator can increase
munications, television and radio. In [12], the commutator the output power of the motor and enhance its mechanical
spark is improved by counter-rotating the offset brush to characteristics.
reduce the reactance potential of the commutating winding.
In [13], the commutator adopts a double-hook structure, i.e.,
the number of commutator segment is twice the number of
rotor slots. Thus, the number of armature coil turns on adja- Table 1  Specifications of a universal motor
cent hooks is reduced by half, and the reactance potential is Parameter Value
halved. Another method is to increase the pole number of the
Rated voltage 120 ACV
motor, i.e., increase the number of parallel branches of the
Frequency 50–60 Hz
armature winding, which reduces the current of the armature
Rated speed 9500 ± 5% r/min
winding and the coil potential by half, which reduces the
Rated power 550 ± 5% W
commutation spark [14]. However, this method increases
Spark class ≤1.5
the complexity of the motor and the manufacturing cost.
Max efficiency ≥40%
The authors of [15] proposed using two adjacent coils on the
same commutator with different turns, and selecting appro-
priate numbers for the lead coil and the lag coil to reduce the
commutator spark. Reducing the contact resistance between
the brush and the commutator to reduce the commutation Stator Stator

voltage drop, which reduces the commutation sparks was

proposed in [16]. However, this method requires a commu-
tator with silver copper material, which is more expensive
than common commutators. Rotor Rotor
The parameters of a universal motor with a brush and
commutator are nonlinear. In addition, the traditional elec-
tromagnetic calculation method is complex. Furthermore,
in the design process, many samples are needed, and the (a) (b)
parameters are constantly modified. Thus, there is a great
deal of material waste, and the development cycle is long. Fig. 2  Universal motor structure: a traditional structure; b deep slot
This paper presents a design method based on MagNet finite structure

13

1606
2.1 Motor size
The relationship between the length, outside diameter,
power and speed of the universal motor is shown in Eq. 1.
√ C=
D22 Ln 6 × 2 × 104
= , (1)
Pi aB𝛿 A
where D2 is outside diameter of the stator core, L is the
length of the stator core, n is the speed, Pi is the power, a
is the arc coefficient, A is the electrical load,and B𝛿 is the
magnetic density of the air gap.
From Eq. 1: the larger the value of the electrical load
A and the magnetic load B𝛿 , the smaller the size of the
motor. In addition, the motor size decreases when the
speed increases. Due to the high speed of a universal
motor, it is usually equipped with a fan to dissipate heat.
The electric load A is set to 120 A/cm, and the magnetic
density B𝛿 of the air gap is set to 0.35 T. According to the
operation mode of the power tool: in a short-time working
system, and considering the generality of the motor chip,
the inside diameter of the stator D2 is set to 48.1 mm, the
length of the stator core L is 15 mm, the arc coefficient
a is 0.67, the air gap length is 0.35 mm, and the outer
diameter of the stator D1 is 90 mm. The width of the sta-
tor tooth is 20 mm, and the length of the yoke is 9.5 mm.
The narrow tooth structure shortens the average length of
the excitation winding. The deep slot structure makes it
convenient to use the automatic winding machine, which
greatly improves the production efficiency.
Generally, more slots in a rotor improves the perfor-
mance of the motor, reduces the ripple torque, enhances
the starting torque, improves the commutation, decreases
the armature slot thermal resistance, and reduces the tem-
perature rise [11]. Universal motors usually run at high
speeds. To maintain the dynamic balance of a rotor, and to
adopt to the automatic winding process of a double-flying
fork, the rotor usually adopts an even number of slots.
The number of slots in the deep slot universal motor is set
to 12, and the structure of each slot is pear-shaped with a
half-closed rabbet.
2.2 Winding parameters
Since the current of the excitation winding is 2 times that of
the armature coil, the area of the wire in the excitation wind-
ing is theoretically 2 times that of the armature winding, and
the ratio of their wire diameter (wire ratio) is about 1.4. A
fan is installed on the rotating shaft of the universal motor
for cooling, the wire diameter of the excitation winding is set
to 0.67 mm, and the wire diameter of the armature winding
is set to 0.33 mm.
13
H. Qi et al.
The turns ratio of the excitation winding turns and arma-
ture winding turns is an important electromagnetic param-
eter. The turns ratio C is shown in Eq. 2.
Wf
, (2)
Wa
where Wf is the number of excitation windings, and Wa is the
number of armature windings.
The value of the turns ratio C indicates the relative
strength of the stator and rotor magnetic fields. When the
turns ratio C is large, the excitation magnetic field of the sta-
tor is strong, and the magnetic field distortion is small, which
is favorable for commutation. In addition, the saturation of
the magnetic circuit is high, which is conducive to stabiliz-
ing the rotation speed and enhancing the mechanical charac-
teristics. However, when the turns ratio C is large, the copper
consumption increases, the temperature rise increases, the
efficiency of the motor decreases, and the increase in the
stator reactance causes the power factor to decrease. The
recommended range of the turns ratio C is 0.35–0.45 [17].
The turns ratio C of the deep slot universal motor is set to
0.357, the number of excitation windings Wf is 240 turns,
and the number of armature winding Wa is 680 turns.
3 Mathematical model and simulation
3.1 Mathematical model
(1) Induction potential of a universal motor
When a universal motor is connected a single-phase AC
power supply, two pulse-vibration magnetic fields are gener-
ated in the motor, as shown in Fig. 3. The direct axis excita-
tion magnetic field 𝜙d is generated by the excitation winding
along the axis of the magnetic pole. It is also known as the
main magnetic field. The armature magnetic field 𝜙q is gen-
erated by the armature winding along the wire direction of
the brush. The pulse frequency of these two pulsed magnetic
fields is equal to the AC power–frequency. These two mag-
netic fields induced four electric potentials in the excitation
winding and the armature winding.
The main magnetic field 𝜙d induces a rotating potential Ė
in the armature winding. When the main magnetic field of
the universal motor alternates, the armature winding cuts the
magnetic flux to generate a rotating potential. The direction
of the electric potential Ė is opposite to the direction of the
current in the armature winding, and the electric potential
Ė is equivalent to the back electromotive force in the DC
motor. The electric potential Ė is expressed as a phasor:
Design and research of deep slot universal motor for electric power tools 1607

N-Pole • •
− Et 2
I •
• −E
Stator − Ef •
Coil U

• n •
I a ( Ra + R f ) + ∆Ub
φq • •
Rotor U~ j I a ( xa + x f )
em • •
• ϕ Ia
e r + ea • Brush •

• • − Eq
θ
• φd

Fig. 4  Phasor diagram

•
φd potential Ė f 、 Ė q 、 Ė t2 、 Ė  , the resistance voltage drop
S-Pole İ a (Ra + Rf ) , the leakage resistance voltage drop jI(x
̇ a + xf ) ,
and the brush voltage drop ΔU in the excitation winding and
Fig. 3  Magnetic fields of a universal motor armature winding. The voltage balance equation is:

√ U̇ = −Ė q − Ė f − Ė − Ė t2 + İ a (Ra + Rf ) + jI(x

̇ a + xf ) + ΔU.
Ė = − 2fa kp Wa 𝜙̇ d , (3) (7)
Figure 4 shows a phasor diagram of the voltage of a uni-
where fa is the armature rotation frequency, fa = pn  . p is the
60 versal motor. 𝜙 is the power factor angle of the motor, where
number of pole pairs. k is the short distance coefficient,
( ) p İ a lags behind U̇ .𝜃 is the loss angle, where İ a leads 𝜙d.
Kp = sin 𝜏1 𝜋2 .
y
Taking the current İ a as a reference, decompose all of the
The armature magnetic field 𝜙q induces the transformer voltage and potential vectors in Fig. 4 into two perpendicular
potential Ė q in the armature winding. voltage components.
Ė q = −j4.44fa kp Wa 𝜙̇ q . (4) Ur = E cos 𝜃 + (Ef − Et2 ) sin 𝜃 + Ia (Ra + Rf ) + ΔU, (8)

The main magnetic field 𝜙d induces the transformer

potential Ė f in the excitation winding:
Ė f = −j4.44fa Wf 𝜙̇ d . (5)
Since the brush is offset from the center line or the con-
nection between the armature winding and the commutator
is shifted, the main magnetic field 𝜙d generates a transformer
potential Et2 in the armature winding. If the brush is off-
set from the geometric centerline by 𝛽 degrees, the axis of
the armature winding is also offset by 𝛽 degrees. The angle
between the main magnetic field and the axis of the armature
winding is (90° − 𝛽 ). Part of the armature winding generates
a transformer potential Et2 , which is induced by the main
magnetic field 𝜙d.
Ė t2 = −j4.44fa kp Wa 𝜙̇ d cos(90◦ − 𝛽). (6)
(2) Voltage equation
According to the Kirchhoff’s voltage law, the input voltage
U̇ of a universal motor should be balanced with the electric
Ux = −E sin 𝜃 + (Ef − Et2 ) cos 𝜃 + Eq + Ia (xa + xf ). (9)
Then, the power factor angle 𝜙 is:
Ux −E sin 𝜃 + (Ef − Et2 ) cos 𝜃 + Eq + Ia (xa + xf )
𝜙 = tg−1 = .
Ur E cos 𝜃 + (Ef − Et2 ) sin 𝜃 + Ia (Ra + Rf ) + ΔU
(10)
Usually, 𝜃 is a few degrees, which is very small. When the
brush voltage drop ΔUb is omitted, the power factor angle
can be simplified to:
Ef − Et2 + Eq + Ia (xa + xf )
𝜙≈ . (11)
E
Each of the parameters in the numerator is proportional
to the frequency f of the power supply. However, this has
nothing to do with the speed. The rotation potential E of the
armature in the denominator is proportional to the speed
n . Therefore, the higher the speed n , the larger the induced
potential E , the smaller the power factor angle 𝜙 , the larger
the power factor cos 𝜑 , and the better the motor performance.
(3) Electromagnetic torque

13

1608 H. Qi et al.

Suppose the main flux and armature current both 3.2 Simulation model
change according to the sine law as follows:
MagNet finite element software is used to analyze the mag-
𝜙 = 𝛷m sin 𝜔t, (12) netic field and operating performance of a deep slot univer-
sal motor.
Modeling includes the establishment of a physical model
√
ia = Iam sin(𝜔t + 𝜃) = 2Ia sin(𝜔t + 𝜃), (13)
and a circuit model [18]. The physical model is established
where 𝛷m is the amplitude of the main flux, Iam is the ampli- according to the structural dimensions and materials of each
tude of the armature current,and
�√Ia is the effective value of part of the motor. The process for creating such a model is as
the armature current, Ia = Iam 2◦. follows. First, draw the plan of a deep slot universal motor
The instantaneous value of the electromagnetic torque in auto-CAD. Next, import the two-dimensional structure
is obtained as follows: diagram into MagNet software. The stator and rotor materi-
als are set to D22 silicon steel sheet, the rotating shaft is set
Tm (t) = Cm 𝜑ia = Cm 𝛷m sin 𝜔t ⋅ Iam sin(𝜔t + 𝜃) to 10 # steel, and the winding is set to copper wire. Then,
𝛷 I (14) build the motor winding, and set the winding parameters as
= Cm m am [cos 𝜃 − cos(2𝜔t + 𝜃)],
2 shown in the Table 2. Finally, create the moving rotor parts.
A physical model of a deep slot universal motor is shown
where Cm is the torque coefficient.
in Fig. 6.
Figure 5 shows curves of armature current ia , magnetic
The circuit model building process is as follows. First,
flux 𝜑 and electromagnetic torque Tm with respect to time.
connect 24 armature windings and commutator segments
It can be seen that the magnitude of electromagnetic torque
according to the operating principle of the universal motor.
Tm changes with the time pulse vibration, which is positive
The current of the coil under one pole should be guaranteed
in most of the time range, driving the motor to accelerate
to be in the same direction to maximize the rotor output
its operation. In other very short time ranges, the torque is
torque. Then, connect the armature winding and the exci-
negative, which causes the motor to decelerate. The pulse
tation winding in series. Finally, set the parameters of the
frequency of the torque is twice the frequency of the cur-
commutator segments and the AC power. A circuit model
rent. If 𝜃 = 0 , the current is in the same phase as the main
is shown in Fig. 7. V1 is the AC power, jCoil # i is the
magnetic flux, and the electromagnetic torque is always
positive with the driving characteristic. What really drives
the load is the average value of the torque. However, the Table 2  Parameters of a universal motor
pulsating torque causes vibration and noise in the motor.
Parameter Value Parameter Value
The greater the angle 𝜃 , the greater the amplitude of the
pulsating torque, and the greater the vibration and noise. Outer diameter 90 mm Tooth width 20 mm
Since the mechanical inertia of the motor rotor and the Inside diameter 48.1 mm Yoke length 9.5 mm
pulsating torque are very small, the motor speed is not Stator length 15 mm Wire diameter 0.67 mm
greatly changed. A universal motor working with an AC Air gap length 0.35 mm Excitation turns 240
power supply is not as stable as a DC power supply. Arc coefficient 0.67 Armature turns 672
Slots number 12 Commutator segments 24

i φ T Stator

Tm (t )
Armature
φ (t) winding
Rotor

Tav ia (t )
ωt
0 Excitation winding

θ
(a) (b)

Fig. 5  Current, flux and torque curves Fig. 6  Physical models: a stator and rotor; b armature coil

13
Design and research of deep slot universal motor for electric power tools 1609

Fig. 7  Circuit model

excitation coil (where i = 1 or 2), Coil # j is the armature

coil (where j = 1, 2… 24), and Commutator includes brushes
and commutator.

3.3 Simulation results

(1) Magnetic field distribution

The current of the excitation winding is set to 4.5 A. The

simulated excitation magnetic field distribution of a deep
slot universal motor without armature winding is shown in
Fig. 8a. The simulated armature magnetic field distribution
without excitation winding is shown in Fig. 8b. The syn-
thetic magnetic field of the excitation winding and armature
winding is shown in Fig. 8c. The air gap magnetic density
distribution is shown in Fig. 9. The magnetic density of the
stator tooth, stator yoke and rotor yoke is about 1.4–1.5 T.
The armature reaction skews the air gap magnetic field. The
maximum magnetic density of the stator teeth is 1.9 T. The
calculated average magnetic density of the air gap is about
0.35 T. Simulation results verify that the magnetic circuit
design is reasonable.

(2) Operating characteristics

When a universal motor operates under a light load or no Fig. 8  Magnetic field distribution: a excitation magnetic field; b
load, the speed is very high, and the rotor winding is thrown armature magnetic field; c synthetic magnetic field

13

1610 H. Qi et al.

8
Rated load
7
Small load
6
5
4

T (Nm)
3
2
1
0
      
Time (ms)
(a)
Fig. 9  Air gap magnetic density 12000

10000

Speed (rpm)
out due to centrifugal force. Therefore, universal motors are 8000
Rated load
not allowed to run at light loads or no load. In fact, they 6000
Small load
usually require that the minimum load be equal to or greater 4000
than 1/4 of the rated load. When servicing electric tools
2000
such as electric drills, it is forbidden to test universal motors
without a deceleration mechanism [19]. 0
      
Simulated waveforms of the torque T  , speed n , excitation Time (ms)
current If and armature current Ia of a universal motor at 0.5 of (b)
the rated load and at the rated load are shown in Fig. 10. The
100
simulation waveforms are the same as the theoretical wave-
80
forms. The maximum starting torque of the universal motor Rated load
60
is about 6.4 Nm, which is about 25 times its rated torque of Small load
40
0.25 Nm. The excitation current is twice the armature current.
20
If (A)

The speed is about 11200 r/min at 0.5 of the rated load, and

0
drops to 9800r/min at the rated load.
-20
-40
4 Commutation spark analysis -60
      
Time (ms)
4.1 Increasing the turns ratio C
(c)
When the turns ratio C is increased, the number of turns of the 50
Rated load
excitation winding is relatively large and the stator main mag- 40
Small load
netic field is strengthened. Thus, the magnetic field distortion 30
generated by the armature reaction is relatively small. Then, 20
the commutation spark is improved. 10
Ia (A)

0
The number of commutator segments of the universal
-10
motor is set to 24, the number of excitation windings is set to
-20
672 turns (each of the armature coils is 28 turns), and the air
-30
gap is set to 0.35 mm. The number of excitation windings is       
adjusted to 232, 236, 240 and 244 turns, i.e., the turns ratio is Time (ms)
0.345, 0.351, 0.357 and 0.363. The simulation performance (d)
of a universal motor under its rated load of 0.25 Nm is shown
in Table 3. Fig. 10  Operating curves: a torque; b speed; c excitation coil current;
Where the excitation total Fj is the product of the excitation d armature current
current If and the number of excitation coils Wj.
Ff = If ∗ Wf (15) It can be seen from Table 3 that as the turns ratio C
increases, the excitation current If decreases, while the exci-
tation total Fj increases. When the magnetic circuit is not

13
Design and research of deep slot universal motor for electric power tools 1611

Table 3  Operation performance with different turns ratios C  Table 4  Different air gap lengths
Turns ratio C Excitation cur- Excitation total Ff Speed n Air gap length Excitation cur- Excitation total Ff Speed n
rent If (A) (r/min) (mm) rent If (A) (r/min)

0.345 4.91 1141.4 10,231 0.35 4.86 1147.0 10,150

0.351 4.86 1147.0 10,150 0.45 5.26 1241.4 8922
0.357 4.83 1159.2 10,070
0.363 4.79 1168.8 9985

Table 5  Different air gap shapes

Air gap shape Excitation cur- Excitation total Ff Speed n
rent If (A) (r/min)

Stator Stator Uniform 4.86 1147.0 10,150

Uneven 5.46 1288.6 10,032

N S N S
Rotor Rotor
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 1

(a) (b) Component 1 Component 7 Component 1 Component 7

Fig. 11  Air gap shape: a long air gap; b uneven air gap

saturated, the excitation magnetic flux 𝜙d increases. Accord-
ing to the speed formula of the universal motor, as shown
in Eq. 16, the speed decreases. Increasing the number of
excitation coils increases the cost of the motor. Thus, it is
necessary to choose an appropriate turns ratio C.
U − [Ij (Ra + Rf )] − 2ΔU
n= , (16)
Ce 𝜙d
where Ce is the potential coefficient, Ce = pN∕60a.
4.2 Long air gap and uneven air gap
The influence of the main magnetic field on commutation
is reduced by increasing the air gap or the non-uniform air
gap, as shown in Fig. 11. The air gap in the commutation
area is as large as possible to ensure that the two sides of
the commutation element are always unaffected by the main
magnetic field.
The number of commutator segments of the universal
motor is set to 24, the number of excitation windings is set
to 672 turns, the number of excitation windings is set to 240
turns, and the air gap is set to 0.35 and 0.45 mm. The simula-
tion performance of the universal motor under its rated load
of 0.25 Nm is shown in Table 4.
It can be seen from Table 4 that the longer the air gap
is, the more the magnetic potential is consumed, the more
the excitation total Fj increases, while the rotational speed
decreases. Moreover, the copper consumption increases and
(a) (b)
Fig. 12  Diagram of armature winding: a fully pitch winding; b short-
pitch winding
the power factor decreases with an increase of the stator
inductance. Generally speaking, the air gap of a universal
motor is 0.3–0.4 mm. The air gap can be slightly increased
in some special high-power universal motors.
The rated load is 0.25 Nm. Under the same conditions,
the simulated operation performance of the universal motor
with uniform and uneven air gaps is simulated, as shown in
Table 5.
It can be seen from Table 5, under the same conditions
in terms of the other parameters, that to achieve the same
torque, a greater excitation total Fj is required when an une-
ven air gap is used. However, the speed drop is very small.
This method of improving commutation spark is widely
used.
4.3 Armature winding with a short‑pitch structure
Figure  12a shows a connection diagram of the armature
winding of a universal motor with a fully pitch struc-
ture, y1 = 𝜏 = 6 . One side of the component 1 is placed on
the upper layer of slot 1, and the other side is placed on the
lower layer of slot 7. One side of the component 7 is placed
on the upper layer of slot 7 and the other side is placed on the
lower layer of slot 1. The changing current in component 1
changes the leakage magnetic fluxes of slots 1 and 7 during

13

1612 H. Qi et al.

the commutation period. The changed leakage magnetic flux
links with component 7 on the lower layer side of slot 1 and
the upper layer side of slot 7. Thus, component 7 induces a
mutual inductance potential. In the same way, the changing
current of component 7 also changes the flux leakage of slot
1 and slot 7. Thus, the mutual inductance potential can be
induced in component 1. This mutual inductance potential
increases the reactance potential of the commutator, which
aggravates the commutation.
The short-pitch structure winding is the most effective
method to eliminate this mutual inductance potential [20], as
shown in Fig. 12b, y1 = 5 < 𝜏 . The upper side of component
1 is placed in slot 1 and the lower side is located in slot 6.
The upper side of component 7 is placed in slot 7 and the
lower side is placed in slot 12. Due to the use of short-pitch
structure winding, the magnetic fluxes of component 1 and
component 7 do not link with each other, and no mutual
inductance potential is generated, which is beneficial for
commutation.
4.4 Commutator adopts double‑hook structure
armature magnetic field (to generate the armature reaction
potential ea ) and the excitation magnetic field (to generate
the rotating potential em and the reactance electromotive
force er ), as shown in Fig. 3. The larger the offset angle 𝛽
of the brush, the greater the rotation potential em . When the
brush is offset in the reverse rotation direction, the direction
of em is opposite to er and ea , which can reduce the induction
potential in the commutator winding.
With the same number of exciting windings and armature
windings, the brush offset angles are adjusted to 0°, 7.5°,
15° and 22.5°. The simulation performance of the universal
motor under its rated load of 0.25Nm is shown in Table 7.
It can be seen from Table 7 that as the offset angle of the
brush increases, the speed of the motor decreases. This is
due to the fact that the armature current Ia increases after
the offset brush, and the armature reaction increases, which
weakens the magnetic field and leads to a decline in motor
performance. Therefore, the balance between em and (er + ea )
can only be achieved when the value 𝛽 is appropriate. In
addition, the operation performance of motor cannot be
reduced too much.

The high electric potential between the commutator seg- 4.6 Different lead coil and lag coil
ments causes serious commutation sparks. Therefore, the
commutator spark can be reduced by increasing the number When the commutator of a universal motor adopts a double-
of commutator segments to reduce the electric potential. hook structure, there are two coils wound in the same slot,
For a rotor with a certain number of slots, the commutator as shown in Fig. 13. One of them is wound first and placed
adopts a double-hook structure, where the number of com- at the bottom of the armature slot, and is called the lead coil.
mutator segments is twice the number of rotor slots. Thus, The other is wound later and placed on the previous coil, and
the armature coil turns on the adjacent hooks are halved, and is called the rear lag coil. When using an automatic winding
the electric potential between the commutator segments is
halved. With the same number of excitation windings and
armature windings, the simulated operating performances of Table 7  Different offset angles
a motor with the double-hook structure (12 slots, 24 com-
Offset angles (°) Speed n Excitation cur- Armature
mutator segments, and 28 turns per coil) and the single-hook (r/min) rent If (A) current Ia
structure (12 slots, 12 commutator segments, and 56 turns (A)
per coil) at a rated load of 0.25 Nm are shown in Table 6.
0 10,410 4.11 2.08
The electric potential of each armature coil with 24 com-
7.5 10,238 4.57 2.31
mutator segments is reduced by about 50%. However, the
15 10,150 4.86 2.52
speed of the motor drops a little.
22.5 10,121 5.13 2.63

4.5 Different brush offset angles

Brush Commutator
When a brush is offset by a certain angle 𝛽 from the geo- 22 23 24 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

metric neutral line, the commutating winding cuts both the

Lag coil
Lead coil n

Table 6  Different commutators 1 2 3 4 5 6
Slot Tooth
Commutator seg- Excitation current Coil electric poten- Speed n
ments If (A) tial (V) (r/min)

12 4.91 36.3 10,231

24 4.87 18.2 10,150
Fig. 13  Lead coil and lag coil

13
Design and research of deep slot universal motor for electric power tools 1613

machine and keeping the winding tension unchanged, the

end of the lag coil is longer than that of the lead coil. At the
same time, the linear velocity of the lag coil circumference
is higher and closer to the main magnetic pole. Thus, its
induced potential is greater than that of the pilot coil, which
is not conducive to commutation. To ensure that the induced
potentials of the lead coil and lag coil are equal, the number
of the lead coil can be increased or the number of the lag
coil can be reduced.
With the same number of commutator segments and
exciting windings, the simulated operating performance of a
motor with the number of the lead coil and lag coil adjusted
to 32/28, 30/28, 26/28, 28/26 is shown in Table 8. When
the basic number of the armature coil is 28, increasing the
number of the lead coil decreases the speed and reduces the
current. Decreasing the number of the lag lead coil increases
both the speed and the current. Obviously, under the condi-
tion of satisfying the output power, the smaller the current,
the higher the efficiency of the motor. At the same time, to
reduce the amount of copper wire in the winding, the num-
ber of the lead coil and lag coil is set to 30/28 after careful
consideration.
Fig. 14  Prototype and experimental platform: a deep slot stator; b
double-hook commutator; c experiment platform

5 Prototype test
are higher than the technical indicators, and meet the design
According to the previous analysis data, the final parameters requirements.
of a deep slot universal motor are set as follows: the number Under the same technical motor parameters, the copper
of the excitation coil is 240 turns and the wire diameter is wire consumption of the deep slot universal motor is 342 g,
0.67 mm. The number of the lead coil is 30 turns, the num- which is less than the consumption of a shallow slot univer-
ber of the lag coil is 28 turns, and the wire diameter of the sal motor, which is 426 g. The copper wire consumption of
armature winding is 0.33 mm. The commutator adopts a a deep groove motor is greatly reduced. The shallow slot
double-hook structure, and the brush is offset by 15° from motor needs to use a wire mold to wind the excitation coil,
the geometric neutral line. The air gap adopts an uneven and the coil is inserted into the slot by hand and reshaped.
structure. Three deep slot universal motor prototypes are It also needs to shape the coil. The winding process of a
processed, as shown in Fig. 14, and the test results of the shallow slot motor is complicated. The winding of the deep
prototypes are shown in Table 9.
It can be seen from Table 9 that the measured speed of
the motor at its rated load is slightly lower than the simu- Table 9  Prototype test data
lated speed, and that the measured current is higher than the Serial number 1# 2# 3#
simulated current. This is due to the fact that the mechanical
Small load
loss is not taken into account during the simulations. Test
 Excitation current If (A) 2.85 2.84 2.87
results of the prototype show that the speed is in the range of
 Power factor 0.97 0.97 0.97
9500 ± 5% r/min. In addition, the input power and efficiency
 Input power (W) 332 330 334
 Speed n (r/min) 14,520 14,510 14,520
Table 8  Different lead and lag coils
Rated load
Number of lead Number of the Excitation current Speed n  Excitation current If (A) 4.99 5.01 5.05
coil lag coil If (A) (r/min)
 Power factor 0.99 0.99 0.99
32 28 4.74 9633  Input power (W) 593 589 597
30 28 4.81 9913  Speed n (r/min) 9630 9610 9640
28 28 4.86 10,150  Efficiency 42.5% 42.6% 42.8%
28 26 4.92 10,170  Spark level ≤ 1.5 ≤ 1.5 ≤ 1.5

13

1614
slot stator is processed at one time by automatic winding
machining, and the production efficiency is improved.
6 Conclusion
A deep slot universal motor for electric power tools was
designed based on MagNet in this paper. The operation
performance of a universal motor under different winding
parameters was analyzed by the finite element software. The
increase of the brush offset angle improves the commutation
spark. However, it also increases the current, and reduces
both the speed of the motor and the efficiency. Increasing
the number of excitation winding enhances the mechanical
characteristics of the motor. However, it also reduces the
rated speed. A double-hook commutator and an uneven air
gap are effective ways to improve the commutation spark.
The deep slot structure of the stator can reduce the copper
wire consumption of a motor, and it is very suitable for auto-
matic winding machining to improve production efficiency.
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Huang Qi  was born in Hengyang,
Hunan Province, China, in 1986.
He received his M.S. and Ph.D.
degrees in Electrical Engineer-
ing from Northwestern Polytech-
nical University, Xi’an, China, in
2012 and 2018, respectively. He
h a s b e e n a Po st d o c to ra l
Researcher in the Key Labora-
tory of Small and Special Motor
and Drive Technology, Guiyang,
China. His current research
Design and research of deep slot universal motor for electric power tools 1615

interests include magnetic levitation technology, high-speed motor
design, electric vehicles, and vibrating suction methods.
Luo Ling  received her Ph.D.
degree in Electrical Engineering
and Automation from North-
western Polytechnical Univer-
sity, Xi’an, China, in 2002. She
is presently working as a Profes-
sor in the Key Laboratory of
Micro Motors and Drive Tech-
nology, Shaanxi Province,
China. Her current research
interests include special motor
electromagnetic design, simula-
tion analysis, and machining and
testing of electric machines.
Xi Wei  was born in Guiyang,
Guizhou Province, China, in
1992. He received his M.S.
degrees in Power Electronic
Technology from the China Uni-
versity of Petroleum, Beijing,
China, in 2015. His current
research interests include special
motor drives, electric vehicles,
power electronics simulation,
and machining and testing of
motor controllers.

Cao Jichao wa s b o r n i n
Xiancheng, Henan Province,
China, in 1990. He received his
M.S. deg rees in Electr ic
Machines and Electric Apparatus
from Guizhou University, Gui-
yang, China, in 2017. His current
research interests include perma-
nent magnet motor design, simu-
lation analysis, and machining
and testing of electric machines.

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