INDEX

 AIM
 INTRODUCTION
 MATERIALS REQUIRED
 THEORY
 WORKING
 CONSTRUTION
 MODEL
 APPLICATION
 TROUBLE SHOOTING
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

1
 AIM
DC motor is any of a class of rotary electrical machines that

converts direct current electrical energy into mechanical energy.

The most common types rely on the forces produced by

magnetic fields.

2
 INTRODUCTION
DC motors were first developed in the early 19th century and
continue to be used today. Ányos Jedlik is credited as being the
first to experiment with DC motors in 1827. William Sturgeon
(1832) and Thomas Davenport (1837) are credited with taking
Jedlik’s laboratory instrument and trying to commercialize it. It
wasn’t until 1871 when Zénobe Gramme’s design of a dynamo
was accidentally connected to a second dynamo that was
producing a voltage that the DC motor we think of today start to
turn and do work.

The DC motor reigned alone in the factory for only 11 years. In

1888, Nicola Tesla stepped into the factory with today’s well
known three-phase electric system and the AC induction motor
has been taking work away from the DC motor ever since.

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 MATERIALS REQUIRED
8 meter insulated copper wire 1.5 v AA battery

 bar magnet

4
 THEORY
The DC motor is the device which converts the direct current into
the mechanical work. It works on the principle of Lorentz Law,
which states that “the current carrying conductor
placed in a magnetic and electric field experience a force”.
And that force is called the Lorentz force. The Fleming’s left-
hands rule gives the direction of the force.

Fleming’s Left Hand Rule

If the thumb, middle finger and the index finger of the left hand
are displaced from each other by an angle of 90°, the middle
finger represents the direction of the magnetic field. The index
finger represents the direction of the current, and the thumb shows
the direction of forces acting on the conductor.

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 The formula calculates the magnitude of the force,
know about their construction. The armature and stator are the

two main parts of the DC motor. The armature is the rotating part,
and the stator is their stationary part. The armature coil is
connected to the DC supply.
The armature coil consists the commutators and brushes. The
commutators convert the AC induces in the armature into DC and
brushes transfer the current from rotating part of the motor to the
stationary external load. The armature is placed between the north
and south pole of the permanent or electromagnet.
For simplicity, consider that the armature has only one coil which
is placed between the magnetic field shown below in the figure .
When the C supply is given to the armature coil the current starts
flowing through it. This current develops their own field around
the coil. Figure B shows the field induces around the coil.
By the interaction of the fields (produces by the coil and the
magnet), resultant field develops across the conductor. The
resultant field tends to regain its original position, i.e. in the axis
of the main field. The field exerts the force at the ends of the
conductor, and thus the coil starts rotating.

Let the field produces by the main field be Fm, and this field
rotates in the clockwise direction. When the current flows in the
coil, they produce their own magnetic field says Fr. The field Fr
tries to come in the direction of the main field. Thereby, the torque
act on the armature coil.
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The actual DC motor consists a large number of armature coils.
The speed of the motor is directly proportional to the number of
coils used in the motor. These coils are kept under the impact of
the magnetic field.
The one end of the conductors are kept under the influence of
north pole, and the other end is kept under the influence of the
South pole. The current enters into the armature coil through the
north pole and move outwards through the south pole. When the
coil moves from one brush to another, at the same time the
polarity of the coil also changes. Thus, the direction of the force
or torque acting on the coil remains same.
The torque induces in the coil become zero when the armature
coil is perpendicular to the main field. The zero torque means the
motor stops rotating. For solving this problem, the number of
armature coil is used in the rotor. So if one of their coils is

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perpendicular to the field, then the other coils induce the torque.
And the rotor moves continuously.

Also, for obtaining the continuous torque, the arrangement is kept

in such a way that whenever the coils cut the magnetic neutral
axis of the magnet the direction of current in the coils become
reversed. This can be done with the help of the commutator.

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 WORKING
The principle of working of a DC motor is that "whenever a
current carrying conductor is placed in a magnetic field, it
experiences a mechanical force". The direction of this force is
given by Fleming's left hand rule and it's magnitude is given by F
= BIL. Where, B = magnetic flux density, I = current and L =
length of the conductor within the magnetic field.

Fleming's left hand rule: If we stretch the first finger, second

finger and thumb of our left hand to be perpendicular to each other
AND direction of magnetic field is represented by the first finger,
direction of the current is represented by second finger then the
thumb represents the direction of the force experienced by the
current carrying conductor.

When armature windings are connected to a DC supply, current

sets up in the winding. Magnetic field may be
provided by field winding (electromagnetism) or by using
permanent magnets. In this case, current carrying armature
conductors experience force due to the magnetic field, according
to the principle stated above.

Commutator is made segmented to achieve unidirectional torque.

Otherwise, the direction of force would have reversed every time
when the direction of movement of conductor is reversed the
magnetic field.

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Need of a Split ring commutator:

According to Fleming’s right hand rule, the direction of induced

current changes whenever the direction of motion of the
conductor changes. Let’s consider an armature rotating clockwise
and a conductor at the left is moving upward. When the armature
completes a half rotation, the direction of motion of that particular
conductor will be reversed to downward. Hence, the direction of
current in every armature conductor will be alternating. If you
look at the above figure, you will know how the direction of the
induced current is alternating in an armature conductor. But with
a split ring commutator, connections of the armature conductors
also gets reversed when the current reversal occurs and therefore,
we get unidirectional current at the terminals.

This is how a DC motor works!

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 CONSTRUCTION
1. Take a piece of PVC pipe and make 50 turns of copper wire
on it leaving 3 inches from both the ends oppositely.

2. Pull out the coil, twist the ends in exact opposite direction 2-
3 times on coil so that it may not get unwound and tie a knot
on each end

3. Rub the ends of copper wire with the help of scissor to take
off its coating or lamination.

4. Take 2 metal pins and pierce them oppositely into the coil.

5. Twist the copper wire of coil on it firmly.

6. Now take two metallic wires each of length 10cm and make
a stand/support for your motor’s coil.

7. Tape the stand/support at each end of the battery.

8. Place the coil in the support and bring a magnet near it to

provide a magnetic field.

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MODEL
APPLICATION

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 TROUBLE SHOOTING
1. Need to do proper connection with the battery terminal.
2. Used low voltage battery, as the more then 3V battery
generate more heat while holding.
3. Selection of proper magnet size, it was not working if small
size.
4. The coil must be glued after wounding or else its shape
deforms and it doesn’t spin.
 BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. en.wikipedia.org
2. www.igi-global.com
3. paksc.org
4. circuitglobe.com

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