AC Series Motor An alternating current series motor is a single phase motor, but is not an induction or synchronous motor. It resembles a DC motor in that it has brushes and a commutator. The AC series motor will operate on either AC or DC circuits. It will be recalled that the direction of rotation of a DC series motor is independent of the polarity of the applied voltage, provided the field and armature connections remain unchanged. Hence, if a DC series motor is connected to an AC source, a torque will be developed which tends to rotate the armature in one direction. However, a DC series motor does not operate satisfactorily from an AC supply for the following reasons: The alternating flux sets up large eddy current and hysteresis losses in the unlaminated portions of the magnetic circuit and causes excessive heating and reduced efficiency. The self induction of the field and armature windings causes a low power factor. The alternating field flux establishes large currents in the coils, which are short circuited by the brushes; this action causes excessive sparking at the commutator. To design a series motor for satisfactory operation on AC, the following changes are made: The eddy current losses are reduced by laminating the field poles, frame and armature. Hysteresis losses are minimized by using high permeability, transformer-type, silicon steel laminations. The reactance of the field windings is kept satisfactorily low by using shallow pole pieces, few turns of wire, low frequency (usually 25 cycles for large motors), low flux density, and low reluctance (a short air gap). The reactance of the armature is reduced by using a compensating winding embedded in the pole pieces. If the compensating winding is connected in series with the armature, as shown in Figure 10-299, the armature is conductively compensated. If the compensating winding is designed as shown in Figure 10-300, the armature is inductively compensated. If the motor is designed for operation on both DC and AC circuits, the compensating winding is connected in series with the armature. The axis of the compensating winding is displaced from the main field axis by an angle of 90°. This arrangement is similar to the compensating winding used in some DC motors and generators to overcome armature reaction. The compensating winding establishes a counter magnetomotive force, neutralizing the effect of the armature magnetomotive force, preventing distortion of the main field flux, and reducing the armature reactance. The inductively compensated armature acts like the primary of a transformer, the secondary of which is the shorted compensating winding. The shorted secondary receives an induced voltage by the action of the alternating armature flux, and the resulting current flowing through the turns of the compensating winding establishes the opposing magnetomotive force, neutralizing the armature reactance. Sparking at the commutator is reduced by the use of preventive leads P1, P2, P3, and so forth, as shown in Figure 10-301, where a ring armature is shown for simplicity. When coils at A and B are shorted by the brushes, the induced current is limited by the relatively high resistance of the leads. Sparking at the brushes is also reduced by using armature coils having only a single turn and multipolar fields. High torque is obtained by having a large number of armature conductors and a large diameter armature. Thus, the commutator has a large number of very thin commutator bars and the armature voltage is limited to about 250 volts. Fractional horsepower AC series motors are called universal motors. They do not have compensating windings or preventive leads. They are used extensively to operate fans and portable tools, such as drills, grinders, and saws.

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