Department of Electrical, Electronic and

Computer Engineering

EIR 221
2017

Practical 3

Mini-project:
Design, construction and analysis of a DC machine
Document revision: 30 August 2017, Mr. W. Badenhorst

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1. Introduction
EIR Practical 3 is in the form of a mini-project. For this project a permanent magnet DC machine must
be designed, constructed, and analysed. You are required to read up on the operation and construction
of DC motors. With the knowledge you gain, you will design and build your own DC motor. You will also
analyse your motor by performing various measurements and calculations that are based on the
electrical model of a DC motor.

The project will be performed in groups of two students. Your group will have an opportunity to demon-
strate the motor and present the motor analysis during a practical session near the end of the semester.
The schedules for these sessions will be provided on ClickUP. It is highly recommended that you start
working on the project as soon as possible. Also, remember that according to the study guide, up to
20% of the marks in the semester tests and the examination, may cover the preparation and execution
of the practical experiments and assignments.

NOTE: YOU MUST BUILD YOUR MOTOR FROM SCRATCH; NO KITS OF ANY FORM ARE
PERMITTED. For example, you have to wind the rotor yourself.

2. Theory
You are required to do your own research on DC machines. You will need to understand the following
to successfully complete the project:
1. DC machine operation and construction, and
2. The electrical model of a permanent motor DC machine.

For this you may consider sources such as:

E. Fitzgerald, Charles Kingsley, Jr., Stephen D. Umans, Electric Machinery, McGraw-Hill.
Refer specifically to Ch. 7.1, 7.2 and 7.7. This is also the textbook used by the 3 rd year
electrical engineering students in the course Electrical Machines.
T. Wildi, Electrical machines, drives, and power systems, Prentice Hall
Giorgio Rizzoni, Principles and applications of electrical engineering,
McGrawHill. Allan R. Hambley, Electrical Engineering Principles and
Applications, Pearson.
S.A. Reza Zekavat, Electrical engineering concepts and applications, Pearson.
Other internet sources such as Wikipedia may be used to gain insight, however these
sources are not considered reliable.

3. Construction Requirements
In your design, you must take into account the following requirements:
The motor must be designed to be as low cost as possible (under R200)
The motor must be in the form of a rotational permanent magnet DC machine The motor
must be able to operate from no more than 4 AA batteries
The entire motor assembly must fit into EITHER a standard 2 Liter, rectangular, plastic ice
cream tub OR a standard 1 kg, rectangular margarine tub.

The motor must contain the following components:

a stator using permanent magnets,
a rotor with windings,
a commutator with brushes for transferring power the motor armature, and
a separate slip ring with brushes for speed measurements (see section 5).

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4. Materials
Though there is no requirement on the materials you choose to use, some possible materials you may
consider are as follows:
transformer wire,
permanent magnets,
wood,
bolts or iron rods.

5. Measurements
In the laboratory, you will be required to perform various measurements and calculations on your DC
machine. These measurements and calculations are based on the electrical model of a permanent
magnet DC machine.

The following procedure should be followed:

measure the armature winding resistance (Ra) using the multi-meter,
power the machine with no load with the power source,
measure the voltage of the power source powering the machine (Vt),
measure the current that is drawn by the machine (I a),
measure the rotational speed of the machine in radians per second (! m) [see the discussion
below].

To determine the speed of the machine, you will require a slip ring with brushes (separate to the
commutator and brushes used for transferring power to the motor armature). The figure below
describes the operation of the speed measurement system.

Oscilloscope
Wound Rotor and
Bearing

Bearing

Stator with
permanent magnets

Brush
Resistor
Commutator segments Slip rings for speed
Shaft Voltage source
for power transfer and measurement
measuring Ra.
Brush

In one part of the rotational cycle of the rotor, the brushes are connected to both slip rings as illustrated
above. The brushes are connected together via the slip rings in this part of the rotational cycle. (Note
that the two slip rings are electrically connected together.) If the rotor rotates 90 the brushes will no
longer be connected to the slip rings. This results in the brushes being disconnected from each other.
The slip rings and brushes thus form a switch that opens and closes as the rotor of the DC machine
rotates. A power supply (which can be your batteries or the bench supply) and resistor are connected
to the brushes. As the circuit is sequentially switched on and off via the slip rings and brushes, the
voltage over the resistor will rise and fall. An oscilloscope measuring the voltage over the resistor will
display a pulsed curve as illustrated in the above figure. The period of waveform may be used to
determine the rotational speed of the motor.

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6. Calculations

6.1 No-load calculations

Given your measurements, calculate the following:

1. The electromotive force (EMF) generated by the armature (Ea)
2. The torque constant (Km)
3. The rotational losses (Ploss)
4. The generated machine torque (Tmech)

6.2 Loaded machine calculations

Suppose your motor is loaded such that it runs at 30% of its no-load speed. Calculate the following:

1. The speed of the motor in radians per second

2. The electromotive force (EMF) generated by the armature (Ea)
3. The current through the armature (Ia)
4. The electromagnetic power (Pmech)
5. The output power of the shaft (Pshaft)
6. The generated machine torque (Tmech)

Note that the notation used above is according to A. E. Fitzgerald, Charles Kingsley, Jr., Stephen D.
Umans, Electric Machinery, McGraw-Hill, Chap. 7.

7. Demonstration and Printed Information Sheet

You will be assigned to a session for demonstrating your motor. In demonstrating your motor, you must
show how you obtained the armature current (Ia), source voltage (Vt), and rotational speed (m). Note
that you must have all your measurement equipment connected to the motor simultaneously to measure
these three items in both testing and demonstration.

Please ensure that you label your motor and ice cream (or margarine) tub with your group number and
student numbers as the motors will be collected at the end of the evaluation session. You will be given
an opportunity to collect your motor once all evaluations have been completed.

Your group is required to create a printed information sheet for the demonstration. This printed sheet
should be in the form of a single-sided A4 page with a minimum of 10 point Arial or Times New Roman
font. The printed information sheet must contain the following information:

1. Your group number

2. Your name and student number
3. Your partners name and student number
4. Your measurements in a table format
5. The circuit diagram of the electrical model of a permanent magnet DC machine.
6. Your calculations. (Each calculation must only take up one line. Only show the equation and the
answer)
7. The total cost of your DC machine in Rand.

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8. Evaluation

8.1 DC Machine

The following items will be checked and marked with a maximum mark indicated in brackets:
1. How well does it work? [10 marks]
2. Is it well constructed? [10 marks]
3. Is it creative / innovative? [10 marks]
4. Were instructions properly followed? [10 marks]
5. Does it meet the requirements (see section 3)? [15 marks]

8.2 Printed Information Sheet

The following items will be checked and marked with a maximum mark indicated in brackets:

1. Do the measurements look correct? [3 marks]

2. Was the correct model used (circuit diagram)? [3 marks]
3. Were all 10 calculations performed? [3 marks]
4. Were instructions properly followed [3 marks]
5. Is the motor cheap (under R200)? [3 marks]

9. Test and Measurement Sessions

During the week of 11 or 18 September, you will also be assigned a 90 minute test and measurement
session during which you must test your motor in the lab and take the necessary measurements (sec. 5)
required to do the necessary calculations (sec. 6) which must be included in your printed information
sheet (sec. 7) that forms part of your evaluation (sec. 8). These test and measurement sessions will
already start on Tuesday 12 Sept. You must build and construct your motor prior to the test and
measurement session in order for you to take the necessary measurements required for the
demonstration session.

Remember that that you can build and run your motor without needing a lab. You only need the lab to
take the speed measurements.

10. Groups and Sessions

You must remain in the same groups as for Practicum 1 and 2. You will only be allowed to change
groups if your group member has deregistered in which case we will give you and new group member.

Test and Measurement sessions as well as Demonstration sessions will be assigned in the same order
as in which you completed practicum 1 and 2. Detailed information will be posted on ClickUP.