What is a DC motor?

A DC motor is an electrical machine that converts electrical energy into mechanical energy. In a DC
motor, the input electrical energy is the direct current which is transformed into the mechanical rotation.
Definition of DC motor
A DC motor is defined as a class of electrical motors that convert direct current electrical energy
into mechanical energy.
From the above definition, we can conclude that any electric motor that is operated using direct current or
DC is called a DC motor. We will understand the DC motor construction and how a DC motor converts
the supplied DC electrical energy into mechanical energy in the next few sections.
DC Motor Working Explained
In the previous section, we discussed the various components of a DC motor. Now, using this knowledge
let us understand the working of DC motors.
A magnetic field arises in the air gap when the field coil of the DC motor is energised. The created
magnetic field is in the direction of the radii of the armature. The magnetic field enters the armature from
the North pole side of the field coil and “exits” the armature from the field coil’s South pole side.

The conductors located on the other pole are subjected to a force of the same intensity but in the opposite
direction. These two opposing forces create a torque that causes the motor armature to rotate.
Working principle of DC motor
When kept in a magnetic field, a current-carrying conductor gains torque and develops a tendency to
move. In short, when electric fields and magnetic fields interact, a mechanical force arises. This is the
principle on which the DC motors work.

DC Motor - Definition, Working Principle, Types, Uses, FAQs (byjus.com)

A DC motor is any of a class of rotary electrical motors that converts direct current electrical
energy into mechanical energy. The most common types rely on the forces produced by magnetic fields.
Nearly all types of DC motors have some internal mechanism, either electromechanical or electronic, to
periodically change the direction of current in part of the motor.
DC motors were the first form of motor widely used, as they could be powered from existing direct-
current lighting power distribution systems. A DC motor's speed can be controlled over a wide range,
using either a variable supply voltage or by changing the strength of current in its field windings. Small
DC motors are used in tools, toys, and appliances. The universal motor can operate on direct current but is
a lightweight brushed motor used for portable power tools and appliances. Larger DC motors are
currently used in propulsion of electric vehicles, elevator and hoists, and in drives for steel rolling mills.
The advent of power electronics has made replacement of DC motors with AC motors possible in many
applications.
DC motor - Wikipedia
What is DC Motor?
A DC motor is an electric motor that runs on direct current power. In an electric motor, the operation is
dependent upon simple electromagnetism. A current-carrying conductor generates a magnetic field, when
this is then placed in an external magnetic field, it will encounter a force proportional to the current in the
conductor and to the strength of the external magnetic field. It is a device that converts electrical energy
to mechanical energy. It works on the fact that a current-carrying conductor placed in a magnetic field
experiences a force that causes it to rotate with respect to its original position. Practical DC Motor
consists of field windings to provide the magnetic flux and armature which acts as the conductor.
The input of a brushless DC motor is current/voltage and its output is torque. Understanding the operation
of the DC motor is very simple from a basic diagram is shown below. DC motor basically consists of two
main parts. The rotating part is called the rotor and the stationary part is also called the stator. The rotor
rotates with respect to the stator.
The rotor consists of windings, the windings being electrically associated with the commutator. The
geometry of the brushes, commutator contacts, and rotor windings are such that when power is applied,
the polarities of the energized winding and the stator magnets are misaligned and the rotor will turn until
it is very nearly straightened with the stator’s field magnets.
As the rotor reaches alignment, the brushes move to the next commutator contacts and energize the next
winding. The rotation reverses the direction of current through the rotor winding, prompting a flip of the
rotor’s magnetic field, driving it to keep rotating.
Quadrant Operation
Generally, a motor can operate in 4 different regions. The four-quadrant operation of dc
motor includes the following.
 As a motor in a forward or clockwise direction.
 As a generator in the forward direction.
 As a motor in a reverse or anticlockwise direction.
 As a generator in the reverse direction.

4 Quadrant Operation of DC Motor

  In the first quadrant, the motor is driving the load with both the speed and torque in a positive
direction.
 In the second quadrant, torque direction reverses and the motor acts as a generator
 In the third quadrant, the motor drives the load with speed and torque in a negative direction.
 In the 4th quadrant, the motor acts as a generator in reverse mode.
 In the first and third quadrant, the motor acts in both forward and reverse directions. For example,
motors in cranes to lift the load and also put it down.
In the second and fourth quadrant, the motor acts as a generator in forward and reverse directions
respectively, and provides energy back to the power source. Thus the way to control a motor operation, to
make it operate in any of the 4 quadrants is by controlling its speed and direction of rotation.
The speed is controlled either by varying the armature voltage or weakening the field. The torque
direction or direction of rotation is controlled by varying the extent to which applied voltage is greater
than or less than the back emf.
DC Motor - Basics, Construction, Types & Its Application (elprocus.com)
DC MOTOR, HOW IT WORKS?
A Direct Current (DC) motor is a motor that turns energy from a direct current and turns this into
mechanical energy. The first DC motor was developed around the 1830’s-1840s. They were
commercially unsuccessful, because these motors were battry powered and batteries were still very
expensive and the quality was low. When the electrical grid was created and the rechargeable
batteries were invented in the late 1800s this all changed. The first commercially viable DC motors
entered the market. DC motors have been improved continiously, but other types of motors, like
the BLDC motor, have been developed in the mean time too.  As a result, the use of brushed Direct
Current  motors in several applications is limeted today.
HOW A DC MOTOR ACTUALLY WORKS
The rotor is normally located on the inside of the motor, while the stator is located on the outside.  The
rotor contains coil windings that are powered by the DC current and the stator contains either permanent
magnets or electromagnetic windings.  When the motor is powered by DC current, a magnetic field is
created within the stator, attracting and repelling the magnets on the rotor. This causes the rotor to start
rotating. To keep the rotor rotating, the motor has a commutator. When the rotor aligns with the magnetic
field, it would stop spinning, but in this case the commutator would reverse the current through the stator
and this way reverse the magnetic field. This way the rotor can keep spinning. See the image on the right
for a schematic display of how the dc motor works.
DC Motor, How It works | DC Adventages | Magnetic Innovations
What is a DC Motor?
A direct current (DC) motor is a type of electric machine that converts electrical energy into mechanical
energy. DC motors take electrical power through direct current, and convert this energy into mechanical
rotation.
DC motors use magnetic fields that occur from the electrical currents generated, which powers the
movement of a rotor fixed within the output shaft. The output torque and speed depends upon both the
electrical input and the design of the motor.
How DC motors work
The term ‘DC motor’ is used to refer to any rotary electrical machine that converts direct current
electrical energy into mechanical energy. DC motors can vary in size and power from small motors in
toys and appliances to large mechanisms that power vehicles, pull elevators and hoists, and drive steel
rolling mills. But how do DC motors work?
DC motors include two key components: a stator and an armature. The stator is the stationary part of a
motor, while the armature rotates. In a DC motor, the stator provides a rotating magnetic field that drives
the armature to rotate.
A simple DC motor uses a stationary set of magnets in the stator, and a coil of wire with a current running
through it to generate an electromagnetic field aligned with the centre of the coil. One or more windings
of insulated wire are wrapped around the core of the motor to concentrate the magnetic field.
The windings of insulated wire are connected to a commutator (a rotary electrical switch), that applies an
electrical current to the windings. The commutator allows each armature coil to be energised in turn,
creating a steady rotating force (known as torque).
When the coils are turned on and off in sequence, a rotating magnetic field is created that interacts with
the differing fields of the stationary magnets in the stator to create torque, which causes it to rotate. These
key operating principles of DC motors allow them to convert the electrical energy from direct current into
mechanical energy through the rotating movement, which can then be used for the propulsion of objects.
Everything You Need To Know About DC Motors | RS Philippines (rs-online.com)
What is a DC Motor?
An electric motor operated by DC (direct current) is known as a DC motor (unlike an induction
motor that operates via an alternating current). A DC motor converts DC electrical energy into
mechanical energy.
Principle of DC Motor
When a current-carrying conductor is placed in a magnetic field, it experiences a torque and has a
tendency to move.
In other words, when a magnetic field and an electric field interact, a mechanical force is produced. The
DC motor or direct current motor works on that principle. This is known as motoring action.

The direction of rotation of this motor is given by Fleming’s left hand rule, which states that if the index
finger, middle finger, and thumb of your left hand are extended mutually perpendicular to each other and
if the index finger represents the direction of the magnetic field, middle finger indicates the direction of
the current, then the thumb represents the direction in which force is experienced by the shaft of the DC
motor.

Structurally and construction wise a direct current motor is exactly similar to a DC generator, but
electrically it is just the opposite.

Here we unlike a generator we supply electrical energy to the input port and derive mechanical energy
from the output port. We can represent it by the block diagram shown below.

In the DC motor above, the supply voltage E and current I is given to the electrical port or the input port
and we derive the mechanical output i.e. torque T and speed ω from the mechanical port or output port.
Parameter K relates the input and output port variables of the direct current motor.

So from the picture above, we can well understand that the motor is just the opposite phenomena of a DC
generator, and we can derive both motoring and generating operation from the same machine by simply
reversing the ports.
Detailed Description of a DC Motor

To understand the DC motor in details lets consider the diagram below,

The circle in the center represents the direct current motor. On the circle, we draw the brushes. On the
brushes, we connect the external terminals, through which we give the supply voltage.
On the mechanical terminal, we have a shaft coming out from the center of the armature, and the shaft
couples to the mechanical load. On the supply terminals, we represent the armature resistance R a in series.
Now, let the input voltage E, is applied across the brushes. Electric current which flows through the rotor
armature via brushes, in presence of the magnetic field, produces a torque Tg. Due to this torque Tg the dc
motor armature rotates.
As the armature conductors are carrying currents and the armature rotates inside the stator magnetic field,
it also produces an emf Eb in a manner very similar to that of a generator.
The generated Emf Eb is directed opposite to the supplied voltage and is known as the back Emf, as it
counters the forward voltage.
The back emf like in case of a generator is represented by

Where, P = no of poles
φ = flux per pole
Z= No. of conductors
A = No. of parallel paths
and N is the speed of the DC Motor.
So, from the above equation, we can see Eb is proportional to speed ‘N.’ That is whenever a direct current
motor rotates; it results in the generation of back Emf. Now let’s represent the rotor speed by ω in rad/sec.
So Eb is proportional to ω.
So, when the application of load reduces the speed of the motor, E b decreases. Thus the voltage difference
between the supply voltage and back emf increases that means E − E b increases.
Due to this increased voltage difference, the armature current will increase and therefore torque, and
hence speed increases. Thus a DC Motor is capable of maintaining the same speed under variable load.
Now armature current Ia is represented by

Now at starting,speed ω = 0 so at starting Eb = 0.

Now since the armature winding electrical resistance Ra is small, this motor has a very high starting
current in the absence of back Emf. As a result, we need to use a starter for starting a DC Motor.
Now as the motor continues to rotate, the back emf starts being generated, and gradually the current
decreases as the motor picks up speed.
DC Motor or Direct Current Motor: What is it? (Diagram Included) | Electrical4U
What is a DC motor?
An electrical motor is a machine that mainly converts electrical energy into mechanical energy. A DC
Motor is an electrical machine that converts mechanical energy into direct current and vice-versa.
Working of DC Motor
How does DC Motor Works?
Consider a part of a multipolar DC motor as shown in the figure. When the main supply is applied to the
armature conductors and field magnets are excited, the conductors experience a force that tends to rotate
the armature.
Armature conductors under N-pole are assumed to carry current downwards and the S-poles carry
upwards. Now by applying Fleming’s Left-hand rule, the direction of the force on each conductor can be
found. This is shown by small arrow marks in the figure in each conductor.

The force ‘F’ experienced by each conductor tends to rotate the armature in the anti-clockwise direction.
The continuous and unidirectional torque is developed by a commutator which reverses the current in
each conductor as it passes from one pole to another.
Read also: A.C Motors: Types, Working, Construction, Applications and More
Working Principle of DC Motor
The operation of D.C. The motor is based on the working principle that when a current-carrying
conductor is located in a magnetic field, it undergoes a mechanical force, guided by Fleming’s left-hand
rule and whose magnitude is given by:
F = BIl newtons.
Where,
 B = Flux density in cub/m²
 I = Current through the conductor in amperes.
 l = Length of the conductor in meters.
Types of DC Motors: Parts, Working, Application [PDF] (theengineerspost.com)