Chapter 3:

Direct-Current Dynamos,
Construction and Armature Windings
 Generator and Motor Construction

• The term dynamo is a symbol of power.

• It is often used figuratively to indicate great
activity and accomplishments.
• Electrically, a dynamo is defined as a rotating
electrical machine that converts mechanical
energy into electrical energy, vice versa.
• Two kinds of dynamo: electric generators and
electric motors.
• A dynamo may be divided into two section:
Stator (stationary) and Rotor (rotates).
• The most important part of the stator is the
field because of its customary laminated steel
core and windings.
• The field poles are usually bolted to a field
yoke or frame, to which are also fastened the
end bells with their bearings and the brush
rigging.
• The yoke may have a base with feet or a
supporting bracket upon which the whole
structure rests.
• The rotor is built up of a laminated steel core,
slotted to receive the insulated copper
armature winding.
• A shaft through the core center supports both
the armature winding and a securely bolted
commutator.
• The armature-coil ends are fastened and
soldered to the commutator, the latter being
so located that carbon brushes in the brush
rigging line up and rest upon it.
• Spring tension is applied to the brushes so
that good uniform contact is made between
them and the commutator.
• Each one of the field-pole cores is built up a
stack of steel laminations, about 0.025 in.
thick per laminations, having good magnetic
qualities
• Rivets are driven through holes in the sheets
to fasten together a stack of such laminations
equal to the axial length of the armature core.
• The shape of the assembled pole core is such
that a smaller cross section is provided for the
field winding or windings, while a spread-out
called the pole shoe.
• Pole shoe permits the flux to spread out over
a wider area where the flux enters the
armature core.
• The upper projecting face of the shoe also
provides a ledge upon which the field winding
can have mechanical support. This
construction is very desirable for several
reasons:
1. The reduced cross section permits the use of
less copper wire for the field coils
2. The increased area of the pole shoe reduces the
reluctance of the air gap bet. the pole face and
the armature core.
3. It permits the entire pole core and windings to
be assembled before the former is bolted to the
yoke frame
Basic Parts of a D-C Motor
 Fig 21. Main laminated pole-core
assembly for a d-c motor or generator
• There are several field-winding constructions:
1. A shunt field in which there are many
turns of fine wire,
2. A series field in which there are
comparatively few turns of heavy wire,
and
3. A compound field in which both a shunt
and series windings are used.
 Figure 22: Three steps in the
manufacture of one of the sets of field
coils for a compound motor or
generator
• After the field coils are properly wound, they
are dipped in an insulating varnish and baked
in an oven; this operation adds:
1. Stiffness
2. Mechanical strength
3. Good insulating properties to the winding
 Figure 23: Field assembly, after the
dipping and baking operations, ready
to be placed over a pole core
Figure 24: Shunt field-coil and pole-
core assembly for d-c motor or
generator
• The outside frame of the machine, or yoke, is
usually a circular iron or steel ring of
rectangular section, sometimes rounded on
the surface for added strength.
• It is to this yoke ring that the field-pole
assemblies are bolted.

Note: The feet for motor support and an outlet

box have been welded to the yoke.
Figure 25: The Construction for a D-C
motor of small size in which there are
four main poles and two interpoles
• In very small machines, in which weight
is not particularly important, cast iron is
used for the yoke frame;
• In larger dynamos, however, cast steel is
used because this material makes it
possible to reduce the weight by as much
as 60% without any increase in the
reluctance of the magnetic circuit.
• In some recent designs, the yoke has been
rolled to the proper diameter from a
rectangular slab of steel; the ends are welded
where they butt together.
• Like the field core, the armature core is a stack
of steel laminations, but it is circular in
section.
• The circumferential edge is slotted to a
convenient depth to receive the copper
armature winding, the number of slots being
very carefully selected in conjunction with the
number of commutator segments, on the
basis of good design.
Figure 26: 18-slot laminated armature
core
• The commutator is a built-up group of hard-
drawn copper bars, wedge-shaped in section
when viewed on end, and having V-shaped
grooves at each end.
• Figure 27: Sketch of one such commutator
segment with identifying notations.
Figure 28: Exploded view of a typical
commutator for a small d-c machine
• The armature winding is virtually the heart of
the dynamo; it is where the voltage is
generated in the generator or where torque is
developed in the motor.
• The armature coil ends are soldered to the
commutator, after which the latter is turned
down on a lathe and undercut.
• Undercutting is performed on most
commutators by a special undercutter tool
that grooves the mica bet. segments to a
depth of about 0.03 in.
• A winding consists of a group of insulated
copper coil, all alike, placed in the slots of the
armature core with the coil ends properly
connected to the commutator.
• Figure 31: Completed armature ready for
operation.
• The brush rigging consists of groups of brush
holders properly fastened together and bolted
to the yoke.
• It is customary to have as many brush arms as
poles, although in some special cases only two
sets of brush arms are used, regardless of the
number of poles.
• Figure 32: Simple four-pole brush rigging
• Note how each carbon brush fits snugly into a
brush holder and how spring tension is
applied so that good electrical contact can be
made between brush and commutator.
• Figure 33: Clearly illustrates the eight pole
brush rigging fastened to the yoke frame for a
1000-hp motor.
• Obviously, the surfaces of the brushes in
contact with the commutator must be ground
or sandpapered smooth so that perfect
contact exist bet. them.
• When more than two brush arms are used, in
multipolar machines, alternate sets are
electrically connected together: one of the
junctions becomes a positive armature
terminal, while the other junction becomes
the negative armature terminal.
 Types of Armature Windings
• There are only two general types of armature
winding, lap and wave.
• In simplex-lap windings, the coil ends are
connected to adjacent commutator segments.
• In simplex-wave windings the coil ends are
connected to commutator segments very
nearly, but never exactly, equal to the distance
between poles of the same polarity, that is,
alternate poles.
• Since one cycle always occurs in a distance
covered by a pair of poles, this distance is
arbitrarily called 360 electrical degrees.
• This means that in simplex-wave windings the
coil ends are connected to commutator
segments very nearly, but never exactly, equal
to 360 electrical degrees.
• Figure 34: Illustrates how the two types of coil
are connected to commutator segments.
• In this regard it should be emphasized that the
distance between the two coil sides is exactly
the same for both types of winding if the
machines have the same number of poles.
• All two-pole machines have lap windings,
while most four-pole machines, up to about
75 kW or 100 HP for 115 or more volt service,
have wave windings.
• Figure 35 is a photograph of a lap coil,
showing how the coil ends are brought out
midway bet. the sides so that connections to
the commutator may be readily made. This
coil was especially prepared to show the
insulated rectangular wire (1), the insulating
cell (2) the treated cloth (3), and the final layer
of linen tape (4).
• Figure 36 Photograph of a wave coil, showing
how the coil ends are brought out at the sides
so that they may easily be bent outward for
connection to commutator bars about 360
electrical degrees apart.
• Another construction, which combines the
advantages of both lap and wave types and
which is used on machines manufactured by
the Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing Company, is
called a frog leg winding.
• It is actually a combination of a lap and wave
winding, so that it should not be classified as a
fundamentally different type.
• Figure 37 depicts one complete coil for a frog
leg winding. The term frog leg is used to
indicate the similarity between this type of
coil and the legs of a frog.
 Coil Span for All Types of Winding
• The distance between the two sides of a coil
must be equal to the distance between two
adjacent poles. This always means that the
coil span must be 180 electrical degrees, or
approximately so. The reasons for this
important requirement follows from these
facts:
1. In a generator, the voltage generated in one side
of a coil must be away from the observer at the
same instant that the voltage generated in the
other side of the same coil is toward the
observer of the voltages generated in the two
coil sides are to aid one another.
2. In a motor, the force exerted by one side of a coil
must be clockwise, for example, at the same instant
that the force exerted by the other side of the same coil
is also clockwise if both forces are to develop torque for
rotation in the same direction.
 Commutator Pitch for Lap Windings
• As previously pointed out, the ends of the coils
of simplex windings are connected to adjacent
commutator segments.
• Means that coil 1 is connected to segments 1
and 2, coil 2 segments 2 and 3, coil 3 segments
3 and 4 and so on.
• Segment 2 is therefore the place where the
coils 1 and 2 are place together, segment 3 coils
2 and 3 and so on.
• As the connections continue in this regular
order, the final coil will have its last end joined
to the starting segment, that is, segment 1.
the winding is then said to close upon itself, or
reenter; the term reentrancy is used to
designate this important fact.
• Should any of the wires be broken or
disconnected at the commutator while the
machine is in service, the winding would have
an “open”, that is, it would not be reentrant,
then the machine would not operate
unsatisfactorily or not at all.
In general:
1. The commutator pitch, symbolized by Yc, which
designates the coil end connections to the
commutator, is equal to the “plex” of lap wound
armature windings. Thus, Yc is equal to 1, 2, 3, 4,
etc, respectively for simplex, duplex, triplex,
quadruplex, lap windings.
2. The degree of reentrancy of lap windings is
equal to the highest common factor between
the no. of commutator segments and the “plex”
of the winding. Thus, with a 36-segment
commutator, the reentrancy is 2, 3, and, 4
respectively for duplex, triplex, and quadruplex.