Electromechanical Education

A tool designed to calculate the maximum speed, minimum time per step and maximum power of a stepper motor

PARTS AND MATERIALS 6-volt battery Low-voltage incandescent lamp (Radio Shack catalog # 272-1130 or equivalent) Long lengths of wire, 22-gauge or larger Household light switch (these are readily available at any hardware store) Household light switches are a bargain for students of basic electricity. They are readily available, very inexpensive, and almost impossible to damage with battery power. Do not get “dimmer” switches, just the simple on-off “toggle” variety used for

So far, we’ve observed simulations of transformers where the primary and secondary windings were of identical inductance, giving approximately equal voltage and current levels in both circuits. Equality of voltage and current between the primary and secondary sides of a transformer, however, is not the norm for all transformers. If the inductances of the two windings are not equal, something interesting happens: transformer v1 1 0 ac 10 sin rbogus1 1 2 1e-12 rbogus2 5 0

Don’t just sit there! Build something!! Learning to analyze relay circuits requires much study and practice. Typically, students practice by working through lots of sample problems and checking their answers against those provided by the textbook or the instructor. While this is good, there is a much better way. You will learn much more by actually building and analyzing real circuits, letting your test equipment provide the “answers” instead

Normally, the rotor windings of a wound rotor induction motor are shorted out after starting. During starting, resistance may be placed in series with the rotor windings to limit starting current. If these windings are connected to a common starting resistance, the two rotors will remain synchronized during starting. (Figure below) This is useful for printing presses and draw bridges, where two motors need to be synchronized during starting. Once

If the ends of a wire loop are attached to two half-circular metal strips, arranged so that the two strips almost form a complete circle, and those strips are contacted by two “brushes” which connect to opposite poles of a battery, which way will the wire loop rotate?

Normally, the ampacity rating of a conductor is a circuit design limit never to be intentionally exceeded, but there is an application where ampacity exceedance is expected: in the case of fuses. What is a Fuse? A fuse is nothing more than a short length of wire designed to melt and separate in the event of excessive current. Fuses are always connected in series with the component(s) to be

Transformers are very versatile devices. The basic concept of energy transfer between mutual inductors is useful enough between a single primary and single secondary coil, but transformers don’t have to be made with just two sets of windings. Consider this transformer circuit: (Figure below) Transformer with multiple secondaries provides multiple output voltages. Here, three inductor coils share a common magnetic core, magnetically “coupling” or “linking” them together. The relationship

Electromechanical watt-hour meters use an aluminum disk that is spun by an electric motor. To generate a constant “drag” on the disk necessary to limit its rotational speed, a strong magnet is placed in such a way that its lines of magnetic flux pass perpendicularly through the disk’s thickness: The disk itself need not be made of a ferromagnetic material in order for the magnet to create a “drag”

Brushless DC motors were developed from conventional brushed DC motors with the availability of solid state power semiconductors. So, why do we discuss brushless DC motors in a chapter on AC motors? Brushless DC motors are similar to AC synchronous motors. The major difference is that synchronous motors develop a sinusoidal back EMF, as compared to a rectangular, or trapezoidal, back EMF for brushless DC motors. Both have stator created

PARTS AND MATERIALS Steel flat bar, 4 pieces Miscellaneous bolts, nuts, washers 28 gauge “magnet” wire Low-voltage AC power supply “Magnet wire” is small-gauge wire insulated with a thin enamel coating. It is intended to be used to make electromagnets, because many “turns” of wire may be wrapped in a relatively small-diameter coil. Any gauge of wire will work, but 28 gauge is recommended so as to make a coil with as many

A popular use of diodes is for the mitigation of inductive “kickback:” the pulses of high voltage produced when direct current through an inductor is interrupted. Take, for example, this simple circuit in Figure below with no protection against inductive kickback. Inductive kickback: (a) Switch open. (b) Switch closed, electron current flows from battery through coil which has polarity matching battery. Magnetic field stores energy. (c) Switch open, Current still

Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) uses digital signals to control power applications, as well as being fairly easy to convert back to analog with a minimum of hardware. Analog systems, such as linear power supplies, tend to generate a lot of heat since they are basically variable resistors carrying a lot of current. Digital systems don’t generally generate as much heat. Almost all the heat generated by a switching device

How is it possible to electrically measure the torque output by a permanent-magnet DC motor? Hint: it is very simple, and for large electric motors it involves the use of a shunt resistor. Modify this circuit diagram to include a meter that provides indirect indication of motor torque:

Single Phase Synchronous Motors Single phase synchronous motors are available in small sizes for applications requiring precise timing such as time keeping, (clocks) and tape players. Though battery powered quartz regulated clocks are widely available, the AC line operated variety has better long term accuracy—over a period of months. This is due to power plant operators purposely maintaining the long term accuracy of the frequency of the AC distribution

A three phase motor may be run from a single phase power source. (Figure below) However, it will not self-start. It may be hand started in either direction, coming up to speed in a few seconds. It will only develop 2/3 of the 3-φ power rating because one winding is not used. 3-φmotor runs from 1-φ power but does not start. Single Coil of a Single Phase Motor The single

In ladder logic symbolism, an electromechanical relay coil is shown as a circle, and the contact(s) actuated by the coil as two parallel lines, almost like a capacitor symbol. Given this knowledge, interpret the following ladder logic diagram: How do we know which relay contact is actuated by which relay coil? How does this convention differ from that of standard electrical/electronic schematic diagrams, where the relay coil is

This calculator helps determine the maximum temperature a device can withstand

Learning Objectives Rheostat use Wiring a potentiometer as a rheostat Simple motor speed control Use of voltmeter over ammeter to verify a continuous circuit Parts and Materials 6-volt battery Potentiometer, single turn, 5 kΩ, linear taper (Radio Shack catalog # 271-1714) Small “hobby” motor, permanent-magnet type (Radio Shack catalog # 273-223 or equivalent) For this experiment, you will need a relatively low-value potentiometer, certainly not more than 5 kΩ. Cross-References Lessons In Electric Circuits,