Electrical Machines I

Week 9-10: Commutation and Armature reaction

Commutation:
Commutation : is the process of converting the ac voltage and currents in the rotor of a dc machine to dc voltages
and currents at its terminals. It is the most critical part of the design and operation of any dc machine.

The total induced voltage on the loop is:

=

2
0

Commutation: Generator action

According to Flemings right hand rule, the direction
of induced current changes whenever the direction
of motion of the conductor changes.
Lets consider an armature rotating clockwise and a

conductor at the left is moving outwards. When the

armature completes a half rotation, the direction of
motion of that particular conductor will be reversed to

Using slip rings

inwards. Hence, the direction of current in every

armature conductor will be alternating with slip rings

Using a semicircular commutating segments (split
rings), connections of the armature conductors also
gets reversed whenever the current reversal occurs.

And therefore, the output at the fixed contacts

(brushes) is always built up in the same way
resulting in unidirectional DC output current.

Using split rings

Commutation:
Adding more armature coils smooth out induced voltage fluctuation and changes the direct current
from pulsating to regular DC

Two coils in armature

Are there any problems

with commutation???!!!
OF COURSE YES

Four coils in armature

Problems with commutation in DC machines

1. Armature reaction (neutral plane shift + flux weakening):
If the magnetic field windings of a DC machine are connected to the power source and the rotor is
rotated by prime miver, a voltage will be induced in the conductors of the rotor.
This voltage is rectified and can be supplied to external loads. However, if a load is connected, a
current will flow through the armature winding.
Armature current produces its own magnetic field that distorts the original magnetic field from

the machines poles. This distortion of the machines flux as the load increases is called armature

reaction and can cause two problems:

1) neutral-plane shift: The magnetic neutral plane is the plane within the
machine where the velocity of the rotor wires is exactly parallel to the
magnetic flux lines, so that the in the conductors in the plane is
exactly zero.

Problems with commutation in DC machines

1) neutral-plane shift:

This

rotor

field

will

magnetic
affect

the

original magnetic field

from
A two-pole DC machine: initially,
the

pole

flux

is

the

poles.

In

some places under

uniformly

the poles, both fields

distributed and the magnetic

will sum together, in

neutral plane is vertical.

other places, they will

Location of brush must

shift

The effect of the air gap on

subtract from each

other

the pole flux. Fringing effect

When

the

load

is

connected

(generator action), a current flowing

through the rotor will generate a

magnetic

field

from

the

windings.

rotor

Therefore,

the

net

magnetic field will not be

uniform and the neutral
plane will be shifted.

Problems with commutation in DC machines

1) neutral-plane shift:

In general, the neutral plane shifts in the

direction of motion for

generator and

opposite to the direction of motion for a

motor.

The amount of the shift depends on

the amount of rotor current and
hence on the load of the machine.

I still dont get it,

what's the big deal
if the neutral plane
shift?

Problems with commutation in DC machines

A simple 4-loop DC machine has four complete loops buried in slots curved in the laminated steel of its rotor.
The pole faces are curved to make a uniform air-gap and uniform flux density everywhere under the faces.
Under
south pole face

Under
north pole face

Loops 1 and 3 are under pole

Loop 1 stretches between commutator segments a and b, loop 2 stretches between

segments d and c

Brushes are away

and disconnecting
any two
commutator
segments

Commutation: t = 00
At a certain time instance, when t = 00, the 1, 2, 3, and 4
ends of the loops are under the north pole face and the 1, 2,
3, and 4 ends of the loops are under the south pole face. The
voltage in each of 1, 2, 3, and 4 ends is given by:
= =

The voltage in each of 1, 2, 3, and 4 ends is

= =
If the induced voltage on any side of a loop is = , then the
total voltage at the brushes of the machine is:

= 4 t = 0

Under
Under
north pole face south pole face

Commutation: t = 450
If the machine keeps rotating, at t = 450, loops 1 and 3 have rotated into the gap between poles, so the voltage
across each of them is zero.

At the same time, the brushes short circuits the commutator segments ab and cd.
gap between poles then no
voltage is induced

This is ok since the voltage

across loops 1 and 3 is

zero and only loops 2 and 4

are under the pole faces.

= 2 t = 450

Brushes are in contact

and connecting segments
ab and cd together
Loops 1 and 3 are in the gap

Problems with commutation in DC machines

1) neutral-plane shift:

Reduces the brush lifetime,

The commutator must short out the commutator segments right at the moment
when the voltage across them is zero. The neutral-plane shift may cause the

brushes short out commutator segments with a non-zero voltage across them.

This leads to arcing and sparkling at the brushes!

Arcing!

pitting the commutator

segments and greatly

increases maintenance cost

Theory of Commutation
Ideally,

the

process

of

commutation

should

be

1
Coil B=+
Coil A=-

instantaneous, as indicated, This can, however, be

achieved only if the brush width and the commutator

segments are infinitesimally small.

In practice, not only do the brush and the commutator have

2
Coil B=0

finite width but the coil also has a finite inductance.

Therefore, it takes some time for the current reversal to take

place
Coil B=-
At position 2, coil B is undergoing
commutation and the current through
each brush is still . The induced emf in

that coil is NOT equal to zero due to the

armature reaction flux.

Theory of Commutation
For a commutation process to be perfect, the reversal of current from its value in one direction to an equal
value in the other direction must take place during the time interval
When the current reverses its direction during commutation in a straight-line fashion the commutation
process is said to be linear

The coil undergoing

Reasons for under

commutation is the coil
leakage inductance.
Where did it come from?

commutation experiences emf as

well as ac current, as a result an
inductance is formed, known as
leakage inductance.

Ideal commutation

Problems with commutation in DC machines

2) Flux weakening.
Most machines operate at flux densities near
the saturation point.
At the locations on the pole surfaces where the
rotor mmf adds to the pole mmf, only a small
increase in flux occurs (due to saturation).
However, at the locations on the pole surfaces
where the rotor mmf subtracts from the pole
mmf, there is a large decrease in flux.

Therefore, the total average flux under the

entire pole face decreases.

1
0
2

Problems with commutation in DC machines

In generators, flux weakening reduces the voltage
supplied by a generator.
In motors, flux weakening leads to increase of the
motor speed. Increase of speed may increase the
load, which, in turns, results in more flux weakening.
Some shunt DC motors may reach runaway
conditions

this

way (flux

and

speed

are

inversely proportional in motor)

Ideally at this instant (neutral zone) the emf is zero, but due
to armature reaction, there is a flux at this point so there
exists an emf

Observe a considerable decrease in the region

where two mmfs are subtracted

Solutions to the problems with commutation

1- Brush shifting Approach:
If the neutral plane of the machine shifts, why not shift the
brushes with it in order to stop sparking? Looks like a good
idea but there are several problems associated!!
1- The neutral pane shifts for each load and shift direction reverses from
motor to generators action.
2- More flux weakening occurs!

Brush shifting
Approach is
obsolete. Only
used in very
small machines

Brush in
vertical plane

Brush shifted
plane

Solutions to the problems with commutation

2- Commutating poles or interpoles
To avoid sparkling at the brushes while the machines load changes, instead of adjusting the brushes position (by
human interference).
If the voltage in the wires undergoing commutation can be made zero, then there will be no sparking
problem!
it is possible to introduce small poles (commutating poles or interpoles) between the main poles. Such poles are

located directly over the conductors being commutated and provide the flux that can exactly cancel the
voltage in the coil undergoing commutation.
The interpole creates flux which will create an emf that
cancels out the induced emf in the coil undergoing
commutation
since they are so small that only affect few conductors being
commutated. Flux weakening is unaffected as the interpoles
effect does not extend that far. Machine operation is not
changes.

Solutions to the problems with commutation

Interpole windings are connected in series with the rotor

windings. As the load increases and the rotor current

increases, the magnitude of neutral-plane shift increase
increasing

the

voltage

in

the

conductors

undergoing

How does
interpoles
cancels all
voltages for all
load values??

commutation.
However, the interpole flux increases too producing a larger voltage in the conductors that opposes the
voltage due to neutral-plane shift. Therefore, both voltages cancel each other over a wide range of
loads. This approach works for both DC motors and generators.
The interpoles must be of the same polarity as the next upcoming main pole in a generator
The interpoles must be of the same polarity as the previous main pole in a motor.
The use of interpoles is very common because they correct the sparkling problems of DC machines at a

low cost. However, since interpoles do nothing with the flux distribution under the pole faces, fluxweakening problem still persists.

Solutions to the problems with commutation

3- Compensating windings:

To solve the problem of BOTH neutral plane shift and

flux weakening use compensating winding

2.The
flux weakening windings
problem can be very severe for large DC motors with high loading. Therefore,
Compensating
compensating windings can be placed in slots carved in the faces of the poles parallel to the rotor
conductors. These windings are connected in series with the rotor windings, so when the load

changes in the rotor, the current in the compensating winding changes too

Pole
flux

Pole flux in machine

Rotor and comp. fluxes

(equal and opposite)

The net flux

Solutions to the problems with commutation

The mmf due to the compensating windings is equal and
opposite to the mmf of the rotor. These two mmfs cancel
each other, such that the flux in the machine is unchanged.

The main disadvantage of compensating windings is that

they are expensive since they must be machined into the
faces of the poles. Also, any motor with compensative
windings must have interpoles to cancel L di/dt effects
which occurs in the commutator segments being shorted

out by the brushes due to current reversal.

Solutions to the problems with commutation

A stator of a sixpole DC machine
with interpoles and
compensating

windings.

pole

interpole

Questions:
Explain with diagrams how dc voltage and currents are formed in dc machine
Explain what is meant by armature reaction, its effects and how can you reduce its
effects
What causes commutation problems and how can you solve it

Explain the difference in using interpoles and compensating windings in dc machines