Universal motor

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Modern low-cost universal motor, from a vacuum cleaner. Field windings are copper colored, toward the back,
on both sides. The rotor's laminated core is gray metallic, with darker slots for winding the coils. The
commutator (partly hidden toward the front) has become dark from use. The large brown molded-plastic piece
in the foreground supports the brush guides and brushes (both sides), as well as the front motor bearing.

The universal motor is so named because it is a type of electric motor that can operate on
both AC and DC power. It is a commutated series-wound motor where the stator's field coils are
connected in series with the rotor windings through a commutator. It is often referred to as an AC
series motor. The universal motor is very similar to a DC series motor in construction, but is modified
slightly to allow the motor to operate properly on AC power. This type of electric motor can operate
well on AC because the current in both the field coils and the armature (and the resultant magnetic
fields) will alternate (reverse polarity) synchronously with the supply. Hence the resulting mechanical
force will occur in a consistent direction of rotation, independent of the direction of applied voltage,
but determined by the commutator and polarity of the field coils.[1]
Universal motors have high starting torque, can run at high speed, and are lightweight and compact.
They are commonly used in portable power tools and equipment, as well as many house hold
appliances. They're also relatively easy to control, electromechanically using tapped coils or
electronically. However, the commutator has brushes that wear, so they are much less often used
for equipment that is in continuous use. In addition, partly because of the commutator universal
motors are typically very noisy.[2]
Contents
[hide]

1 Properties
o 1.1 Shunt winding
2 Applications
3 See also
4 References

Properties[edit]

Universal motors' field coils are series wound with the rotor coils and commutator

Equivalent circuit

Not all series wound motors operate well on AC current.[3][note 1] If an ordinary series wound DC motor
were connected to an AC supply, it would run very poorly. The universal motor is modified in several
ways to allow for proper AC supply operation. There is a compensating winding typically added,
along with laminated pole pieces, as opposed to the solid pole pieces found in DC motors.[1] Even
when used with AC power these types of motors are able to run at a rotation frequency well above
that of the mains supply, and because most electric motor properties improve with speed, this
means they can be lightweight and powerful.[4] However, universal motors are usually relatively
inefficient- around 30% for smaller motors and up to 70-75% for larger ones.[4]
One useful property of having the field windings in series with the armature winding is that as the
speed increases the counter EMF naturally reduces the voltage across, and current through the field
windings, giving field weakening at high speeds. This means that the motor has no theoretical
maximum speed for any particular applied voltage. Universal motors can be and are generally run at
high speeds, 4000-16000 rpm, and can go over 20,000 rpm.[4] By way of contrast, AC synchronous
and squirrel cage induction motors cannot turn a shaft faster than allowed by the power line
frequency. In countries with 60 Hz(cycle/Sec) AC supply, this speed is limited to 3600 RPM.[5]
Universal motors's armatures typically have far more coils and plates than a DC motor, and hence
less windings per coil. This reduces the inductance.[4]
Motor damage may occur from over-speeding (running at a rotational speed in excess of design
limits) if the unit is operated with no significant mechanical load. On larger motors, sudden loss of
load is to be avoided, and the possibility of such an occurrence is incorporated into the motor's
protection and control schemes. In some smaller applications, a fan blade attached to the shaft often
acts as an artificial load to limit the motor speed to a safe level, as well as a means to circulate
cooling airflow over the armature and field windings. If there were no mechanical limits placed on a
universal motor it could theoretically speed out of control in the same way any series-wound DC
motor can.[2]
An advantage of the universal motor is that AC supplies may be used on motors which have some
characteristics more common in DC motors, specifically high starting torque and very compact
design if high running speeds are used.[2]
A negative aspect is the maintenance and short life problems caused by the commutator, as well as
EMI issues due to any sparking. Because of the relatively high maintenance commutator brushes,
universal motors are best-suited for devices such as food mixers and power tools which are used

only intermittently, and often have high starting-torque demands. Continuous speed control of a
universal motor running on AC is easily obtained by use of a thyristor circuit, while multiple taps on
the field coil provide (imprecise) stepped speed control. Household blenders that advertise many
speeds frequently combine a field coil with several taps and a diode that can be inserted in series
with the motor (causing the motor to run on half-wave rectified AC).
Another negative aspect is that these motors may only be used where mostly-clean air is present at
all times. totally-enclosed fan cooled universal motors would be impractical, though some have been
made, due to the dramatically increased risk of overheating. Such a motor would need a large fan to
circulate enough air, decreasing efficiency since the motor must use more energy to cool itself. The
impracticality comes from the resulting size, weight, and thermal management issues which open
motors have none of.
Series wound electric motors respond to increased load by slowing down; the current increases and
the torque rises in proportional to the square of the current since the same current flows in both the
armature and the field windings. If the motor is stalled, the current is limited only by the total
resistance of the windings and the torque can be very high, and there is a danger of the windings
becoming overheated. The counter-EMF aids the armature resistance to limit the current through the
armature. When power is first applied to a motor, the armature does not rotate. At that instant, the
counter-EMF is zero and the only factor limiting the armature current is the armature resistance.
Usually the armature resistance of a motor is low; therefore the current through the armature would
be very large when the power is applied. Therefore the need can arise for an additional resistance in
series with the armature to limit the current until the motor rotation can build up the counter-EMF. As
the motor rotation builds up, the resistance is gradually cut out. The output speed torque
characteristic is the most notable characteristic of series wound motors. The speed being almost
entirely dependent on the torque required to drive the load. This suits large inertial loads as the
speed will drop until the motor slowly starts to rotate and these motors have a very high stalling
torque.[6]
As the speed increases, the inductance of the rotor means that the ideal commutating point
changes. Small motors typically have fixed commutation. While some larger universal motors have
rotatable commutation, this is rare. Instead larger universal motors often have compensation
windings in series with the motor, or sometimes inductively coupled, and placed at ninety electrical
degrees to the main field axis. These reduce the reactance of the armature, and improve the
commutation.[4]

Shunt winding[edit]
Universal motors are series wound. Shunt winding was used experimentally, in the late 19th
century,[7] but was impractical owing to problems with commutation. Various schemes of embedded
resistance, inductance and antiphase cross-coupling were attempted to reduce this. Universal
motors, including shunt wound, were favoured as AC motors at this time as they were selfstarting.[3] When self-starting induction motors and automatic starters became available, these
replaced the larger universal motors (above 1 hp) and the shunt wound.

Applications[edit]
Operating at normal power line frequencies, universal motors are often found in a range less
than 1000 watts. Universal motors also form the basis of the traditional railwaytraction
motor in electric railways. In this application, the use of AC to power a motor originally designed to
run on DC would lead to efficiency losses due to eddy current heating of their magnetic components,
particularly the motor field pole-pieces that, for DC, would have used solid (un-laminated) iron.
Although the heating effects are reduced by using laminated pole-pieces, as used for the cores of
transformers and by the use of laminations of high permeability electrical steel, one solution
available at the start of the 20th century was for the motors to be operated from very low frequency

AC supplies, with 25 and 16 23 Hz (the latter subsequently redesignated 16.7 Hz) operation being
common. Because they used universal motors, locomotives using this design could operate from
a third rail or overhead wire powered by DC. As well, considering that steam engines directly
powered many alternators, their relatively low speeds favored low frequencies because
comparatively few stator poles were needed.
In the past, repulsion-start wound-rotor motors provided high starting torque, but with added
complexity. Their rotors were similar to those of universal motors, but their brushes were connected
only to each other. Transformer action induced current into the rotor. Brush position relative to field
poles meant that starting torque was developed by rotor repulsion from the field poles. A centrifugal
mechanism, when close to running speed, connected all commutator bars together to create the
equivalent of a squirrel-cage rotor. As well, when close to operating speed, better motors lifted the
brushes out of contact.
Their high speed makes them useful for appliances such as blenders, vacuum cleaners, and hair
dryers where high speed and light weight are desirable. They are also commonly used in portable
power tools, such as drills, sanders, circular and jig saws, where the motor's characteristics work
well. Many vacuum cleaner and weed trimmer motors exceed10,000 RPM, while many Dremel and
similar miniature grinders exceed 30,000 RPM.
Universal motors also lend themselves to electronic speed control and, as such, were an ideal
choice for domestic washing machines. The motor can be used to agitate the drum (both forwards
and in reverse) by switching the field winding with respect to the armature. The motor can also be
run up to the high speeds required for the spin cycle. Nowadays,variable-frequency drive motors are
more commonly used instead.