Slow-speed synchronous timing motors

Representative are low-torque synchronous motors with a multi-pole hollow cylindrical magnet (internal poles) surrounding the stator structure. An aluminum cup supports the magnet. The stator has one coil, coaxial with the shaft. At ????? so they are parallel with the shaft. They are the stator poles. One of the pair of dirtyryrty a common shading coil. The poles are rather narrow, and between the poles leading from one end of the coil are an identical set leading from the ???? end. In all, this creates a repeating sequence of four poles, unshaded alternating with shaded, that creates a circumferential traveling field to which the rotor's magnetic poles rapidly synchronize. Some stepping motors have a similar structure.

Watthour-meter motors

These are essentially two-phase induction motors with permanent magnets that retard rotor speed, so their speed is quite accurately proportional to wattage of the power passing through the meter. The rotor is an aluminum-alloy disc, and currents induced into it react with the field from the stator. One phase of the stator is a coil with many turns and a high inductance, which causes its magnetic field to lag almost 90 degrees with respect to the applied (line/mains) voltage. The other phase of the stator is a pair of coils with very few turns of heavy-gauge wire, hence quite-low inductance. These coils are in series with the load.

The core structure, seen face-on, is akin to a cartoon mouth with one tooth above and two below. Surrounding the poles ("teeth") is the common flux return path. The upper pole (high-inductance winding) is centered, and the lower ones equidistant. Because the lower coils are wound in opposition, the three poles cooperate to create a "sidewise" traveling flux. The disc is between the upper and lower poles, but with its shaft definitely in front of the field, so the tangential flux movement makes it rotate.

Electronically commutated motors

Such motors have an external rotor with a cup-shaped housing and a radially magnetized permanent magnet connected in the cup-shaped housing. An interior stator is positioned in the cup-shaped housing. The interior stator has a laminated core having grooves. Windings are provided within the grooves. The windings have first end turns proximal to a bottom of the cup-shaped housing and second end turns positioned distal to the bottom. The first and second end turns electrically connect the windings to one another. The permanent magnet has an end face rom the bottom of the cup-shaped housing. At least one galvano-magnetic rotor position sensor is arranged opposite the end face of the permanent magnet so as to be located within a magnetic leakage of the permanent magnet and within a magnetic leakage of the interior stator. The at least one rotor position sensor is designed to control current within at least a portion of the windings. A magnetic leakage flux concentrator is arranged at the interior stator at the second end turns at a side of the second end turns facing away from the laminated core and positioned at least within an angular area of the interior stator in which the at least one rotor position sensor is located.

ECM motors are increasingly being found in forced-air furnaces and HVAC systems to save on electricity costs as modern HVAC systems are running their fans for longer periods of time (duty cycle).^[6] The cost effectiveness of using ECM motors in HVAC systems is questionable, given that the repair (replacement) costs are likely to equal or exceed the savings realized by using such a motor.^{[citation needed]}

Hysteresis synchronous motors

These motors are relatively costly, and are used where exact speed (assuming an exact-frequency AC source) as well as rotation with a very small amount of fast variations in speed (called 'flutter" in audio recordings) is essential. Applications included tape recorder capstan drives (the motor shaft could be the capstan). Their distinguishing feature is their rotor, which is a smooth cylinder of a magnetic alloy that stays magnetized, but can be demagnetized fairly easily as well as re-magnetized with poles in a new location. Hysteresis refers to how the magnetic flux in the metal lags behind the external magnetizing force; for instance, to demagnetize such a material, one could apply a magnetizing field of opposite polarity to that which originally magnetized the material.

These motors have a stator like those of capacitor-run squirrel-cage induction motors. On startup, when slip decreases sufficiently, the rotor becomes magnetized by the stator's field, and the poles stay in place. The motor then runs at synchronous speed as if the rotor were a permanent magnet. When stopped and re-started, the poles are likely to form at different locations.

For a given design, torque at synchronous speed is only relatively modest, and the motor can run at below synchronous speed.

Single-phase AC synchronous motors

Small single-phase AC motors can also be designed with magnetized rotors (or several variations on that idea; see "Hysteresis synchronous motors" below). The rotors in these motors do not require any induced current so they do not slip backward against the mains frequency. Instead, they rotate synchronously with the mains frequency. Because of their highly accurate speed, such motors are usually used to power mechanical clocks, audio turntables, and tape drives; formerly they were also much used in accurate timing instruments such as strip-chart recorders or telescope drive mechanisms. The shaded-pole synchronous motor is one version.

If a conventional squirrel-cage rotor has flats ground on it to create salient poles and increase reluctance, it will start conventionally, but will run synchronously, although it can provide only a modest torque at synchronous speed.

Because inertia makes it difficult to instantly accelerate the rotor from stopped to synchronous speed, these motors normally require some sort of special feature to get started. Some include a squirrel-cage structure to bring the rotor close to synchronous speed. Various other designs use a small induction motor (which may share the same field coils and rotor as the synchronous motor) or a very light rotor with a one-way mechanism (to ensure that the rotor starts in the "forward" direction). In the latter instance, applying AC power creates chaotic (or seemingly chaotic) jumping movement back and forth; such a motor will always start, but lacking the anti-reversal mechanism, the direction it runs is unpredictable. The Hammond organ tone generator used a non-self-starting synchronous motor (until comparatively recently), and had an auxiliary conventional shaded-pole starting motor. A spring-loaded auxiliary manual starting switch connected power to this second motor for a few seconds.

Generator and Motor

A hand-cranked generator can be used to generate voltage to turn a motor. This is an example of energy conversion from mechanical to electrical energy and then back to mechanical energy.

As the motor is turning, it also acts as a generator and generates a "back emf". By Lenz's law, the emf generated by the motor coil will oppose the change that created it. If the motor is not driving a load, then the generated back emf will almost balance the input voltage and very little current will flow in the coil of the motor. But if the motor is driving a heavy load, the back emf will be less and more current will flow in the motor coil and that electric power being used is converted to the mechanical power to drive the load.

AC Generator

The turning of a coil in a magnetic field produces motional emfs in both sides of the coil which add. Since the component of the velocity perpendicular to the magnetic field changes sinusoidally with the rotation, the generated voltage is sinusoidal or AC. This process can be described in terms of Faraday's law when you see that the rotation of the coil continually changes the magnetic flux through the coil and therefore generates a voltage.