AC motor

Name:

AC motor

Category:

Physics

Description:

An AC motor is an electric motor driven by an alternating current (AC). The AC motor commonly consists of two basic parts, an outside stator having coils supplied with alternating current to produce a rotating magnetic field, and an inside rotor attached to the output shaft producing a second rotating magnetic field. In an AC motor, there's a ring of electromagnets arranged around the outside (making up the stator), which are designed to produce a rotating magnetic field. Inside the stator, there's a solid metal axle, a loop of wire, a coil, a squirrel cage made of metal bars, and interconnections which can conduct electricity. In an AC motor you send power to the outer coils that make up the stator. The coils are energised in pairs, in sequence, producing a magnetic field that rotates around the outside of the motor. As the coils are energised, the magnetic field they produce between them induces an electric current in the rotor. This current produces its own magnetic field that tries to oppose the thing that caused it (the magnetic field from the outer coils). The interaction between the two fields causes the rotor to turn.