What are the functions and all of the components of a Simple Electric Motor???

Question

What are the functions and all of the components of a Simple Electric Motor???

Answer 1

there are ALOT of different types of motors. the simplest is a dc permanent magnet motor.first off you have the housing, shaft and bearings. that is all kind of obvious. on the shaft there will be two things: a commutator (sp?) and at least two windings. in the housing there will be two other important components: the magnets which are rapped around the windings and at least four brushes which contact the commutator. when electricity is applied, current flows into the commutator through a brush through a winding and back out through another brush directly across from the first brush. the current creates a magnetic field in the winding which will repel the away from the magnet on one side and attract to a magnet on the other. as the shaft begins to rotate the commutator moves along the  brushes. when the shaft as turned 180deg the first brush will be on the end of the coil opposite of where is started. this means that the sides of the coil that were attracting are now repelling the magnets in the housing. this continuous reversing is what allows the motor to continue rotating instead of turning half way and locking up.

commutator- mounted to shaft. works as contacts for brushes

brushes- makes contact with commutator. together they act as a rotating switch.

magnets- supply a steady stationary magnetic field.

coils- by reversing the current through the coil (via commutator/brushes) acts as a polarity-switchable  electromagnet.

im sure howstuffworks.com has some great explanations/flash videos.