Electrical Machines

EE-260
Lecture-04
Instructor: Dr Mehmood Alam

Department of Electrical Engineering, Military College of Signals

National University of Sciences & Technology (NUST)
DC Armature Windings
• Armature windings are classified according to the sequence of their
connections to the commutator segments
• Lap Windings
• Wave Winding
The Lap Winding
• The simplest type of winding construction used in modern DC machines
• Consists of coils containing one or more turns of wire with the two ends of each coil
coming out at adjacent commutator segments
The Lap Winding
• If the end of the coil is connected to the segment after the segment
that the beginning of the coil is connected to, the winding is a
progressive lap winding and Yc = 1.
• If the end of the coil is connected to the segment before the segment
that the beginning of the coil is connected to, the winding is a
retrogressive lap winding and Yc = -1.

Progressive lap winding. retrogressive lap winding.

The Lap Winding
• Simplex Lap Winding – The distance between the segments of commutator to
which the coil ends are connected is 1. Thus commutator pitch is unity.
• Duplex lap Winding – In duplex lap winding, the commutator pith is 2. This
means if one coil end is connected to commutator segment 1 then the other is
connected to segment 3.
• Triplex Lap Winding – The commutator pitch for triplex winding is 3. This means
if one coil end is connected to commutator segment 1 then the other is
connected to segment 4
• M-plex Lap Winding
Yc=m
Number of current paths, a = mP
Simplex lap winding
• Number of parallel paths = Number of poles
• Number of brushes = number of poles
Lap Winding Diagram
Four pole, 16 slot
DC Armature Windings
• Advantages of Lap Winding
• This winding is necessarily required for large current application
because it has more parallel paths.
• It is suitable for low voltage and high current generators.
• Disadvantages of Lap Winding
• It gives less emf compared to wave winding. This winding requires more
no. of conductors  for giving the same emf, it results high winding cost.
• It has less efficient utilization of space in the armature slots
• Circulating currents
 Circulating currents - Lap Winding

• Because of long usage, slight wear on

the bearings of machine.
• Lower wires are more closer to pole faces.
• Larger voltage in the wires closer to the pole.
• Tiny imbalance in voltage among the parallel paths
results in larger circulating currents Heating problems
 DC Armature Windings
The Wave Winding
• The end of one coil is connected to the
starting of another coil of the same polarity
as that of the first coil.
• This winding forms a wave with its coil, that’s
why called as wave winding
• Since the coils are connected in series here,
also called as series winding.
The Wave Winding