In a DC motor, when the armature rotates under the influence of the driving torque, the armature

conductors move through the magnetic field, and therefore an EMF is induced in them by the
generator action. This induced EMF in the armature conductors acts in opposite direction to the
applied voltage V and is known as the back EMF or counter EMF.

The magnitude of the back EMF is given by,

The back EMF Eb is always less than the applied voltage Vs. However, this difference is small
when the DC motor is running under normal conditions. In DC motors, the back EMF Eb induced
in the armature opposes the applied voltage, thus the applied voltage has to overcome this EMF
Eb to force a current Ia in the armature circuit for motor action. The required power to overcome
this opposition is given by,

Pm=EbIa⋅⋅⋅(2)

Pm is also called as electrical equivalent of mechanical power developed.

Consider a shunt DC motor whose electrical equivalent circuit is shown in Figure-1.

Significance of Back EMF in DC Motor

The back EMF in a DC motor makes it a self-regulating machine, which means it makes the
motor to draw a sufficient amount of armature current to develop the torque required by the
mechanical load.
When the applied armature voltage is increased, the back EMF limits the armature current
and makes the motor self regulating. If the applied voltage is increased the armature current
increases momentarily and the speed of the motor is increased. The increased speed of the motor
increases the back EMF and the armature current gets reduced

When the speed of DC motor gets decreased because of the increased loading, the driving
torque becomes less than the load torque and motor slow down and the back EMF gets
decreased.
Eb= (V-IaRa)
Ia= (V-Eb)/Ra
The decreased back EMF will allow the more armature current to flow in the armature winding.
The increased armature current will produce more torque which will produce the torque required
by the load. When the motor attains the normal speed, the back EMF will get reduced and thus
the armature current get reduced. Thus the self regulation of the armature current is achieved.