DC Motor Design and Fabrication

EE41 – W2L 1st semester 2017-2018

Denzel Camuyot
Alvin Maghirang
Adrian Mallari
Mary Katrina Marasigan
MATERIALS AND METHODS
A DC motor has six important parts, namely, magnets, windings, brushes, terminals, commutator, and
armature. It is important that these parts be made correctly in order for the motor to work and for it to have a high
efficiency. The prices and location of purchase for the materials used in fabricating these parts are shown in tables 1
and 2 together with other parts such as the casing, shaft, etc.

PROTOTYPE
Table 1. The materials used in the prototype of the DC motor together with the price and the store where it is
bought.

Material Price (Php) Store

3 Glue Stick 15 Paponei’s

2 Poster Paint 44 Paponei’s

Yarn 20 Paponei’s

⅛ Illustration Board 10 Paponei’s

Popsicle Sticks 0 *Already available

Alligator Clip
Connecting Wires
Glue Gun
Glue Stick
Stick O Container
Straw

The prototype of this project was designed in a way that it would look as exact as the actual DC motor.

Figure 1. DC Motor (Prototype)

The core of the prototype was made of illustration board that were cut in a gear-like manner. It was designed
like that so that it would be possible to wind the wire in this case, yarn was used. For the shaft, a thick straw was used.
Popsicle sticks were used for the brushes. Alligator clips were then attached. For the magnets, the covering of coffee
from a local store was used and was painted with black poster paint so that it would look so much like a real one.
ACTUAL
Table 2. The materials used in the actual DC motor together with the price and the store where it is bought.
Material Price (Php) Store

Magnets (4) 200 Mendoza (Los Baños)

Copper wire (1/4 kg) 240 Universal Hardware (San Pablo)

Female banana plug (2) 40 M.V. Hernandez (San Pablo)

Bearing (2) 150

Spray can (for brushes) 0 *Already available

Cylindrical container
Stainless steel shaft
Illustration Board
Styrofoam
etc.

In order to start the winding, there must first be a core. The core that was used was made up of three layers
of illustration board and two layers of styrofoam. The styrofoam was used to thicken the core so that a greater length
of the windings will be affected by the magnet. Also, the size of the core was decided with consideration of the size
of the cylindrical container. It was made sure that there was a clearance in the case that the windings will be bulky. A
hole was made in the center of the coil for the shaft. Figure 2 shows the work-in-progress and finished core.

Figure 2. Work-in-progress (left) and finished (right) core

The commutator segments and brushes are made from spray cans. The inner layer of the can is insulated. In
order for the metal to be used, this insulation must be removed. The insulation was sanded with a fine grit sandpaper.
 Figure 3. Insulated (left) and sanded (right) spray can

Since the shaft is metallic, the commutator segments cannot be placed directly into the shaft. In order to avoid the
commutator segments and the shaft from touching, a piece of cardboard was rolled onto the shaft. This is where the
commutator segments were placed.

Figure 4. Commutator segments

For the casing of the motor, a cylindrical plastic container was used. Holes were made on the top and bottom
part of the container. This is where the bearings will be placed. The bearings were secured with hot glue and super
glue. The terminals used are female banana plugs which were also placed on the cover of the container.
 Figure 5. Casing

The brushes will be placed in the inner side of the cover of the container. The metal from the spray cans were
made in to rectangular shapes, with a space for soldering connecting wires on. They were then placed beside the holes
where the shaft and commutator will be.

Figure 6. Brushes on the cover of the case

The next part is the windings. The copper wires used for the windings are size 26. Other information about
the winding can be found in the Design Description section of this paper. After winding the copper wires onto the
core, the ends were then sanded in order to reveal the conducting part of the wire which will be placed on the
commutator segments. The wires were secured onto the segments with electrical tape.
 Figure 7. Windings

After soldering the the connecting wires in place, the core and shaft are then placed inside the casing. It is
made sure that the brushes are touching the commutator segments. In order to avoid the shaft from sliding, electrical
tape was placed at the shaft near the bearings to secure it in place. Also, since the shape of the case is cylindrical, the
motor would not be stable while operating. Because of this, a stand was made to keep it still. The stand will also serve
as a holder for the magnets.

Figure 8. The DC motor on the stand (no magnets)

SCHEDULE MANAGEMENT

DESIGN DESCRIPTION
Figure 9 shows the armature winding diagram of a 2-pole rotating DC motor. It was designed to have 6 slots.
The number of conductors (Z) in the armature is given by the equation:

Z = 2CNc ; where C = No. of Coils, Nc = No. of Turns

Figure 9. DC Motor Armature Winding Diagram

Back pitch determines the slot on which the wire will come out. It is the advancement of the coil on the back
of the armature. It is given by the equation:

P is the number of poles and Z indicates the number of conductors. For computation purposes, we simplify
the value of Z as 12 and P = 2 (North and South). Therefore, the back pitch is now equal to 7.
 From the armature winding diagram, the slot will come out of slot 4 when counting 7 circles clockwise. (In
reality, 150 turns are done before connecting the wire to the commutator). The wire is then inserted to another slot
which would be the start of another coil. The starting slot is called front pitch (Yf) given the formula:

Front pitch is the distance spanned by the coil at the front of the armature in terms of number of conductors.
The obtained value of front pitch is 5. From the last winding, 5 circles is counted counterclockwise lands on slot 2.
That means slot 4 will be inserted in slot 2. These methods are to be repeated until every coil is finished with 150 turns
until the last wound will come out from slot 1 where the wounding started.

As the switch closes, electrical signal travels to the brushes. Current will be received by commutator 1 and
will pass through the wire. A magnetic field can be represented by magnetic field lines. The lines move from North
poles to South poles of a magnet (Young, 2012).

Figure 10. Magnetic Field Lines. Retrieved from: https://i.stack.imgur.com/pDBTW.gif

The direction of the force induced can be determined by the cross product of the current and the magnetic
field vector. Given by the equation:

F = Il x B

Now that the direction is identified, by using the right hand rule in Figure 9, taking the side of the conductor
in commutator 1, the result of the vector force is directed to the right. If done in all conductors, the end result is that
the armature is rotating clockwise.
 Figure 11. Actual DC Motor

The DC motor uses a permanent magnet as a source of its field flux. The magnet used in the design is flat
faced so as a result, torque developed in each conductor is not equal which affects the speed of the motor. The direction
of the torque induced in the armature determines the direction of rotation of the motor. The direction of the magnetic
field is fixed for the reason that the pole faces are fixed. Now, the direction is dependent on the flow of current.

CHALLENGES DURING THE PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION

During the project implementation, the first problem that the group had encountered is that the copper wires
that were bought were not enough to be able to finish all the windings. Thus, one of the members needed to go to the
store, where the copper wires were bought, over the weekend which delays the project construction and testing. A
solution to this problem is to have a good estimation of the materials needed so that the project making may be done
continuously. Another problem that was encountered is that the soldering irons that can be borrowed from the
laboratory room were not in the best condition since the tips of the soldering iron were all covered either with rust or
lead, which makes it hard to solder the connecting wires from the brushes to the terminals. The solution done to
address this problem is that a member of the group bought a soldering iron so that the soldering process will be easier
and faster. The last two problems encountered by the group are during the testing part of the implementation. The first
of the two problems is that the two brushes tend to be bent outwards which causes the motor to stop since the pair of
commutators does not have a contact with the brushes. The problem was resolved by fixing the distance between the
end of the brushes by securing it using and electrical tape. Lastly, the major problem that was encountered during the
whole project implementation is that during the later part of the testing process, the motor stopped working. The
solution done to address the problem is to trace where the problem is. It was traced that the problem came from the
commutators since the winding were attached in the commutator segments using an electrical tape. The tendency of
the winding ends attached in the commutator segment was to be misplaced. One of the members repeated the winding
of the coils and after rewinding, the motor was tested and it functioned properly already.
RECOMMENDATION
One of the recommendation that the group proposes is that upon implementing the DC motor project, all the
materials will be complete upon construction so that there will be no delay upon doing the motor. Another
recommendation is to solder the coil ends on the commutator instead of just wrapping it with electrical tape so that
the winding ends attached in the commutator segment will not be misplaced. It is also recommended to attach a switch
between the connection from the brushes to one of the terminals so that there will be no sudden flow of voltage from
the supply to the motor. Lastly, the group recommends allowing the shaft rotate on bearings for both ends so that the
shaft can rotate smoothly, so the motor can rotate faster.
A recommendation that the group proposes for future EE41 project is the construction of a DC generator to
show, and demonstrate in real life, the difference between a motor and a generator.

REFERENCE
H. D. Young and R. A. Freedman, “Magnetic field lines and magnetic flux,” in University Physics with
Modern Physics, 13th ed. San Francisco, CA: Pearson Education Inc., 2012, p. 889.
Armature Winding (2017). Retrieved November 24, 2017 from https://www.Electrical4u.com /armature-
winding-pole-pitch-coil-spancommutator-pitch/