12 Different Types of Electric Motors

An electric motor is a piece of equipment that can run on electricity and turn the electrical energy into mechanical energy. These motors come in various sizes with different kinds of features used in day to day devices, e.g., cordless drill, blender, washer, fan, car, electric bicycle, etc.

Here are various kinds of electric motors used today.

Types of Electric Motors

1. Shunt Motor

A shunt motor is a motor that operates on direct current whereby its armature and field windings are joined in a parallel combination. Its electrical parallel combination terminology is known as a shunt thus being a shunt wound type motor. Its winding type is known as shunt winding.

2. Separately Excited Motor

A separately excited motor is a motor that has both stator and rotor. Stator means the static part of it consists of field windings while the rotor is the moving amateur that contains coils or amateur windings. Additionally, this motor has field coils that are same to those of shunt wound motor.

A separately excited motor’s name suggests the construction of the motor. Generally, in DC motors the armature and field coils are both energized from a single source thus their magnetic field would not need any separate excitation. These motor’s fields are supplied from a constant voltage making the field current to be constant.

3. Series Motor

Like other motors, a series motor can convert electrical energy to mechanical energy. Its function is based on a simple electromagnetic principle whereby a created magnetic field around a conductor of a carrying current would interact with an external magnetic field resulting in a generated rotational motion.

The motor has six fundamental components which include axle, stator, rotor, commutator, brushes and field magnets present. The motor casing where two or more pole pieces of electromagnetic are housed form stator’s stationery part.

The armature is connected electrically to the commutator and consists of the rotor. A rotor has an axle centrally located from where it can rotate on the stator.

4. Permanent Magnet DC Motor

The working concept of this motor is based on the fact that when a conductor carrying current is placed in a magnetic field, a mechanical force would be experienced by the current driver. All types of motors work in this principle thus when constructing this motor it would be vital to establish a magnetic field.

This magnetic field would be formed by a magnet which may be of any type, i.e., electromagnet or a permanent magnet.

5. Compounded Motor

A compounded motor is a series combination of drivers and shunts motor. This combination has a field winding set connected in a series manner with a shunt or armature field. The combination of shunt winding and set enables the motor to have series motor torque characteristics and shunt motor regulated speed characteristics.

6. Reluctance Motor

A reluctance motor is a type of electric motor that induces a non-permanent pole on the Ferromagnetic rotator. The rotor does not have any windings. Torque will be produced through the magnetic reluctance phenomena.

This motor has different sub-types. These include synchronous, variable, switched and variable stepping reluctance. This motor can deliver high-density power at a low cost making it ideal for many applications.

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7. Hysteresis Motor

This is a synchronous motor with no DC excitation but has a uniform air gap. The motor operates on a single and three phase supply. The torque in this motor is produced because of eddy and hysteresis current induced in the rotor by rotating flex action of the stator winding.

The motor is designed in a particular manner to provide a revolving field synchronous from a single phase supply.

8. Stepper Motor

A stepper motor is a direct current electric motor that can divide a full rotation into equal steps number. The position of the motor can then be ordered to move and hold at one of the steps without a feedback sensor as long as the motor is sized carefully to the application in torque and speed respect.

These motors are large, have reduced pole count and are closed loop.

9. Brushless Motor

A brushless DC motor is a synchronous motor powered by DC electricity through an inverter power supply that produces a bidirectional electric current to drive each motor’s phase through a closed loop controller. The controller would time commutation and would create current waveforms.

10. Universal Motor

A universal motor is named so because it is a type of an electric motor that can function on DC or AC power. It is a series commutated wound motor where field coil stators are joined in series with rotor windings through a commutator. It is often called the AC series motor.

11. Induction Motor

An induction motor is also known as a three-phase induction motor. It is an AC electric motor in which the electrical current in the rotor required to produce the torque is obtained by selecting electromagnetic from the stator winding magnetic field.

This motor can be made without the presence of electricity to the rotor.

12. Synchronous Motor

A synchronous motor is an AC motor at a steady state. The rotation of its shaft is synchronized with a constant supply of current. This rotation time equals AC’s cycle integral numbers.

This motor contains electromagnet multiphase AC on motor’s stator thus creating a magnetic field that rotates in time with line current oscillations. The electromagnet together with permanent magnet rotor would turn in step at the same rate with stator field at the same speed resulting in a synchronized second rotating magnetic field of the AC motor.

A synchronized motor is considered as doubly fed if supplied with the independent multiphase electromagnetic alternating current on both stator and rotor.

Conclusion

Electric motors that run on DC currents were regularly used before the AC invention. The motor drew its energy from batteries. In a DC electric motor, there is a part called a commutator that assists in the continuous spinning of the axle this commutator is a rotary electrical switch that reverses the direction of current to produce torque.

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