Al-Hussein Bin Talal University

Electrical Engineering Department

Electrical Machines Lab.
Experiment No. 5: Speed Characteristic for Separately Excited DC Motor
Prepared by: Dr. Mahmoud Alnaanah. Last Update:29. May. 2022

Objectives
1. To understand principles of operation for DC motors.
2. To understand speed control of DC motors.
3. To understand the problem of inrush current.
4. To understand the run-away motor problem.
5. To find the equivalent resistance of a DC motor from its Speed-Current characteristic.
6. To perform linear least squares fit on the measured values of current and speed.

Theory
Power conversion
Figure 1 shows a general view of a DC motor. DC motors take their
input as a DC electrical power and convert it mechanical power. IM

The formulas for electrical and mechanical power are as follows: VM

Pin=Pelectrical =V I
Pout=Pmechanical =ω τ Pin=V I
τ=r ×F ω
where: r
V , I : The applied voltage and current.
Pout =ω τ θ τ =r ×F
ω : speed of rotation in rad/s
r : Distance between the applied force and the center of the shaft. F
F : Applied force at the motor output. Figure 1: principle of
τ : Applied torque at the motor output. operation of a DC motor
For ideal motor the input power equals the output power, however there are some electrical and
mechanical losses in the actual motor, which means:
Pin =Pout +losses
The losses are as follows:
• Electrical losses:
◦
Copper losses due to the resistance of the winding = I 2 .
mo winding

R
◦
Core losses:
▪ Eddy current losses.
▪ Magnetic (hysteresis).
• Mechanical losses:
◦
Friction between the metallic parts of the motor and friction with air.
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Equivalent circuit
Figure 2 shows a simplified equivalent circuit for a
DC motor. The main (or armature) circuit of the IF IM
motor consists of the induced voltage inside the
RM
motor E induced in series with a resistance RM . The
resistance accounts for the losses in the motor. VF RF einduced =k Φ ω VM
The induced voltage inside the motor is proportional
to rotation speed ω and the magnetic flux Φ , or:
Einduced=k Φω
Field Circuit Main( Armature ) Circuit
k : A constant related to the motor construction.
Figure 2: A simplified DC motor equivalent circuit
The magnetic flux is produced either by a
permanent magnet or by a separate winding for the
filed, the equivalent field circuit in this case is a resistance RF .

Inrush current
When the DC motor starts, the rotation speed InducInedduvocletdagveo/lstpaegeed (courrvsepeed)
is zero, which means that the induced
voltage is also zero and the motor current
will be V M / R M , and since RM has a small Time
value the starting current will be very high,
therefor it is called inrush current. As the
speed of rotation increases, the induced starting currentCcuurrvreent
voltage in the motor increases and the motor
current starts to decrease, where:
I M =(V M −Eenduced )/ R M .
Figure 3 shows how the induced
Time
voltage/speed and the current of the
transformer changes at starting. Figure 3: Induced voltage/speed and current at motor
starting
In order to reduce the starting current, the
motor voltage should be applied
gradually,
or a starting resistance (rheostat) is inserted in series with the main (armature) circuit, the value of the
resistance is reduced as the speed of the motor increases.

Commutator segments and brushes in DC machines

The main distinguishing property in DC machines is the
use of commutation segments and brushes. Through the
mechanism of commutation, the alternating voltage at
the winding inside a DC machine is converted to a DC
voltage at the terminals of the machine.
Brushes are used to deliver the current to the
commutator segments, however because brushes
constantly switches from on segment to another, sparks
appear at the brushes and this causes deterioration of the
brushes and the need for constant maintenance
especially for large motors.

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Run-away condition in DC motors
The relation between the rotation speed and the flux inside a DC motor can be derived as follows:
Eenduced =V M −I M RM =k Φ ω
(V M − I M R M )
⟶ ω=
kΦ
Which means that as the magnetic flux decreases, the speed of the motor increases. When the flux is
produced by a field circuit, if the current in becomes zero (for example due to cut in the wire) the motor
will run at a very high speed, this situation is called run-away motor and should be avoided.

Speed control in DC motors

The main advantage of DC machines is the linear relationship between the main voltage and the speed of
the machine, which means that the speed is easily controlled by changing the applied voltage.
Another way to control the speed of the motor is by changing field current.

Linear least squares fit

Linear least squares fit is a way to find the best line that fits some data x1, x2 ,... , xN , and y1 , y 2, ... ,
yN . If the line that fit the data is expressed as y=a x+ b , then:
N N N

N ∑ xi yi − ∑ xi ∑ yi
i =1 i =1 i =1
a= N N
N ∑ x2i −(∑ x)
2

i=1 i=1
N N

∑ y−a ∑
x
i =1 i =1
b= N

Using Matlab (or gnu Octave) to find linear least squares fit
Let's say that we have the points XX = [2,4,5,7], YY = [18, 17, 14, 13] and we want to find the
coefficients a and b of the line y=a x+ b that best fit the data, then the following can could be used:

XX = [2,4,5,7] % defining the x values 20

YY = [18, 17, 14, 13] % defining the y values

coef = polyfit (XX,YY,1) % finding the coefficients 15

a = coef(1)
b = coef(2) 10

% To plot the data and the line that fit them

x = [0:10] % define x for the line 5

y = a * x + b % define y for the line

0
0 2 4 6 8 10

plot(x,y,XX,YY,'or','MarkerFaceColor','r') % plotting the line and the values it fits

ylim([0,22]) % set limits for y axis

Speed-Current characteristic
In this experiment, the speed-current characteristic of the DC motor will be found by applying different
loads to the motor and measuring the speed and the current at each load. Then the best line y=a x+ b
that fits the data is found as described before.
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At no-load (i.e. current =0) the speed is maximum, and it will decrease as current increases.
By finding the value of the speed at no-load n0 , which equals to b , the speed n is evaluated as follows:
2𝑢n
Einduced =V M −I R M=−I R M+ V M , Einduced =k Φ ω , ω =
60
kΦ2𝑢n
⟶ =− I R +V
M M
60
−60 RM 60 V M
⟶ n= I+
kΦ2𝑢 kΦ2𝑢
60 V M
n ( I =0)=n =
0
kΦ2𝑢
−n0 RM −b RM
⟶ n= I +n0= I +b ..................... 1
VM VM
Where V M is the voltage applied to the motor and n0 is the motor speed at no-load in RPM.
The slope of the line a x +b is a and comparing it equation 1, we get:
−b RM ⟶ R −a V M
a= V M=
M b
For the field circuit:
VF
V F =I F RF ⟶ RF=
IF
Electromagnetic Brake
The electromagnetic brake has a rotating disk that rotates within a magnetic field. Due to the disk
rotation, eddy currents are generated within the disk and they produce an opposing magnetic field that
interacts with the original field and produces torque. As the original magnetic filed increases, the torque
increases and the mechanical power that the electromagnetic brake produces is dissipated as heat in the
disk.

Procedure
1. Using the multimeter, measure the resistance for motor armature and field circuits. Fill
their values in Table 1.
Table 1: Measured resistance values for motor armature and field circuits.

Armature resistance (Ω) Field Resistance (Ω)

2. Connect the 0-240V10A DC terminals through the measuring device to the main (armature)
circuit of the motor.
3. Connect the 0-225V1A DC positive terminal through an ammeter (to measure the current) to
the positive terminal of the field circuit of the motor, complete the connection from the negative
terminal of field circuit to the negative terminal on the supply.
4. For the resistive load, connect R1 and R2 in series by connecting the top terminal of R1 to
the bottom terminal of R2
5. Connect the 240V10A positive terminal to the bottom terminal of R1.
6. Connect the top terminal of R2 through an ammeter to the positive terminal of the
electromagnetic break. Connect the negative terminal of the electromagnetic break to the negative
terminal of 240V10A source.
7. Be sure that the resistors are set to 0.
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 8. Be sure that all power dials are set to zero, then turn on the power supply.
9. Increase the field current to 0.24 A. It is very important to increase the field current
before increasing the armature voltage to avoid run-away motor condition.
10. Increase the armature voltage to 200V. Record the value of the armature current and the speed
in Table 2.
11. Put R1 on 2 and R2 on 2. Record the value of the armature current and the speed in Table
2. Readjust the armature voltage to 200V if it drops.
12. Repeat step 11 for R1 on 3 and R2 on 3 and fill in Table 2.
13. Repeat step 11 for R1 on 5 and R2 on 4 and fill in Table 2.
Table 2: Measured values for armature current and motor speed (in RPM)

Current ( I M ) (A)

Speed ( n ) (rpm)

14. Reduce the armature voltage to zero, then reduce the field current to zero and turn off the supply.

Report
Provide a report for the experiment and present the following in it:
1. On the figure provided in the last page, show the connection of the experiment.
2. Provide the measured values in Tables 1 and 2.
3. Plot the measured values of speed and current, and plot the line that fits them. Find the values of a
and b for the line (either manually or using Matlab/Octave). What are the values of a and b?
4. Find the armature resistance. Show your calculations and compare it to the measured value.
5. Questions:
1. What is the main advantage of DC motors over induction motors?
2. What is the main disadvantage of DC machines compared to AC machines?
3. Mention two methods to reverse the direction of rotation for DC motors.
4. What will happen to the speed of the motor if the field current decreases?
5. What will happen to the speed of the motor if the armature voltage increases?
6. Find the torque (in Newton meter) of an ideal DC motor if it is running at 3000 rpm, and
has input voltage and current of 220V and 6A. What will be the torque if it has an
equivalent resistance of 5 ohms?
7. What will happen to speed of an ideal DC motor (i.e. R M =0 ) if the mechanical load
increases? what will happen to the current?
8. What will happen to speed of a practical DC motor (i.e. R M ≠0 ) if the mechanical load
increases? what will happen to the current?
9. A DC motor has an input voltage of 200V and an internal resistance of 10 ohms. If the
speed of the motor at no load is 3000 rpm, what will be the speed of the motor (in rpm)
when the motor current is 5 A?

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 Th1
a 200V . 8A 200V . 10A
0÷430V . 5A
off stop
0÷430V . 5A b 0÷240V . 8A 0÷240V . 10A
0÷225V . 1A
MAINS MAINS 40 60 off on 60
1 1 40
start O 1
O1 a b
O O O 20
20 80

0 100%
0100% L1 L2 L3L+ L- L+ L-
K1 L1 L2 L3 N L1 L2 L3
DL 1 0 1 3 M2
DE LOR E NZO

DE L OR E NZ O E L E C TR IC AL P OWE R D IGITAL ME A S UR ING UNIT DL 1 0 0 6 5 N

R1 R1

RS485 L+ L- L1 L2 L3 N RS485

IN

PE L+ L- !L1 L2 L3 N OUT

A uAmA com VΩHz

A1 B2
M (A2)
(A2)

E1 E2

DDEL L1O 0R E2N3ZPO

P = 3x400W 220/380.Δ/Y DL 1 0 1 7 R
D E L OR E N ZO
F1 F2 F3
4 4 4
353535

2 6 2 6 2 6

1 7 1 71 7

off off off

R1 R2 R3

R2 R3
PE
R1
R es is t iv e L oad

+ _

Umax = 250V _
P = 1.4 kW S3
n = 4000 min-1 max

DD EL L1O0R E1N9ZMO

A uAmA com VΩHz

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