(H. Lb.)
DYNAMITE(Gr.δύναμις, power), the name given to several explosive preparations containing nitroglycerin (q.v.) which are almost exclusively used for blasting purposes. The first practical application of nitroglycerin in this way was made by A. Nobel in 1863. He soaked gunpowder with the liquid and fired the gunpowder by an ordinary fuse. Later he found that nitroglycerin could be detonated by the explosion of several materials such as fulminate of mercury, the use of which as a detonator he patented in 1867. In 1866-1867 he experimented with charcoal and other substances, and found the infusorial earth known as kieselguhr, which consists mainly of silica (nearly 95%), eminently adapted to the purpose, as it was inert, non-combustible, and after a little heating and preparation very porous, retaining a large amount of nitroglycerin as water is held in a sponge, without very serious exudation on standing. This kieselguhr dynamite is generally made by incorporating three parts of nitroglycerin with one part of the dry earth, the paste being then formed into cylindrical cartridges. This work is done by hand. Generally a small percentage of the kieselguhr is replaced by a mixture containing sodium and ammonium carbonates, talc and ochre. This product is known as dynamite No. 1. Disabilities attaching to kieselguhr dynamite are that when placed in water the nitroglycerin is liable to be exuded or displaced, also that, like nitroglycerin itself, it freezes fairly easily and thawing the frozen cartridges is a dangerous operation. Other substances,e.g.kaolin, tripoli, magnesia alba (magnesium carbonate), alumina, sugar, charcoal, some powdered salts and mixtures of sawdust and salts, have been shown to be absorbents more or less adapted to the purpose of making a dynamite. Charcoal from cork is said to absorb about 90% of its weight of nitroglycerin. With the idea of obtaining greater safety, mixtures have been made of nitroglycerin with wood fibre, charcoal and metallic nitrates. Lithofracteur, for instance, consists of 50% nitroglycerin and a mixture of prepared sawdust, kieselguhr and barium nitrate. Carbonite contains 25% of nitroglycerin, the remainder being a mixture of wood-meal and alkali nitrates, with about 1% of sulphur. Dualin, atlas dynamite and potentite are other modifications.
A convenient form in which nitroglycerin can be made up for blasting purposes, especially in wet ground, is the gelatinous material obtained by the action of nitroglycerin, either alone or with the help of solvents, on low-grade or soluble gun-cottons. It is known as blasting gelatin, and was first made by Nobel by incorporating 6 or 7% of low nitrated cellulose (collodion cotton or soluble gun-cotton) with slightly warmed nitroglycerin. The result is a transparent plastic material, of specific gravity 1.5 to 1.6, which may be kept under water for a long time without appreciable change. It is less sensitive to detonation than ordinary dynamite, and although its explosion is slightly slower it is more powerful than dynamite and much superior to the liquid nitroglycerin. Blasting gelatin also freezes and is sensitive to percussion in this state. Camphor and other substances have been added to blasting gelatin to render it more solid and less sensitive. Some modifications of blasting gelatin,e.g.gelignite, contain wood-meal and such oxygen-containing salts as potassium nitrate. Experience has conclusively shown that dynamites are more satisfactory, quicker, and more intense in action than liquid nitroglycerin.
To prevent nitroglycerin and some of the forms of dynamite from freezing it has been proposed to add to them small quantities of either monochlor-dinitroglycerin or of a nitrated poly-glycerin. The former is obtained by first acting upon glycerin with hydrogen chloride to produceu-chlorhydrin or chlor-propylene glycol, C3H7O2Cl, which is then nitrated as in the case of glycerin. The latter is obtained by heating glycerin for six or seven hours to about 300° C., whereby water is split off in such manner that a diglycerin C6H14O5, for the most part, results. This on nitration in the usual manner gives a product C6H10N4O13, which burns and explodes in a similar manner to ordinary nitroglycerin, but is less sensitive and does not so easily freeze. The mono- and di-nitrates of glycerin have also been proposed as additions to ordinary nitroglycerin (q.v.) for the same purpose.
(W. R. E. H.)
DYNAMO(a shortened form of “dynamo-electric machine,” from Gr.δύναμις, power), a machine for converting mechanical into electrical energy.
The dynamo ranks with the telegraph and telephone as one of the three striking applications of electrical and magnetic science to which the material progress that marked the second half of the 19th century was in no small measure due. Since the discovery of the principle of the dynamo by Faraday in 1831 the simple model which he first constructed has been gradually developed into the machines of 5000 horse-power or more which are now built to meet the needs of large cities for electric lighting and power, while at the same time the numbers of dynamos in use have increased almost beyond estimate. Yet such was the insight of Faraday into the fundamental nature of the dynamo that the theory of its action which he laid down has remained essentially unchanged. His experiments on the current which was set up in a coil of wire during its movement across the poles of a magnet led naturally to the explanation of induced electromotive force as caused by the linking or unlinking of magnetic lines of flux with an electric circuit. For the more definite case of the dynamo, however, we may, with Faraday, make the transition from line-linkage to the equivalent conception of “line-cutting” as the source of E.M.F.—in other words, to the idea of electric conductors “cutting” or intersecting1the lines of flux in virtue of relative motion of the magnetic field and electric circuit. On the 28th of October 1831 Faraday mounted a copper disk so that it could be rotated edgewise between the poles of a permanent horse-shoe magnet. When so rotated, it cut the lines of flux which passed transversely through its lower half, and by means of two rubbing contacts, one on its periphery and the other on its spindle, the circuit was closed through a galvanometer, which indicated the passage of a continuous current so long as the disk was rotated (fig. 1). Thus by the invention of the first dynamo Faraday proved his idea that the E.M.F. induced through the interaction of a magnetic field and an electric circuit was due to the passage of a portion of the electric circuitacrossthe lines of flux, or vice versa, and so could be maintained if the cutting of the lines were made continuous.2In comparison with Faraday’s results, the subsequent advance is to be regarded as a progressive perfecting of the mechanical and electro-magnetic design, partly from the theoretical and partly from the practical side, rather than as modifying or adding to the idea which was originally present in his mind, and of which he already saw the possibilities.
A dynamo, then, is a machine in which, by means of continuous relative motion, an electrical conductor or system of conductors forming part of a circuit is caused to cut the lines of a magnetic field or fields; the cutting of the magnetic flux induces an electromotive force in the conductors, and when the circuit is closed a current flows, whereby mechanical energy is converted into electrical energy.
Little practical use could be made of electrical energy so long as its only known sources were frictional machines and voltaic batteries. The cost of the materials for producing electrical currents on a large scale by chemical action was prohibitive, while the frictional machine only yielded very small currents at extremely high potentials. In the dynamo, on the other hand, electrical energy in a convenient form could be cheaply and easily obtained by mechanical means, and with its invention the application of electricity to a wide range of commercial purposes became economically possible. As a converter of energy from one form to another it is only surpassed in efficiency by another electrical appliance, namely, the transformer (seeTransformers). In this there is merely conversion of electrical energy at a high potential into electrical energy at a low potential, or vice versa, but in the dynamo the mechanical energy which must be applied to maintain the relative movement of magnetic field and conductor is absorbed, and reappears in an electrical form. A true transformation takes place, and the proportion which the rate ofdelivery of electrical energy bears to the power absorbed, or in other words theefficiency, is the more remarkable. The useful return or “output” at the terminals of a large machine may amount to as much as 95% of the mechanical energy which forms the “input.” Since it needs some prime mover to drive it, the dynamo has not made any direct addition to our sources of energy, and does not therefore rank with the primary battery or oil-engine, or even the steam-engine, all of which draw their energy more immediately from nature. Yet by the aid of the dynamo the power to be derived from waterfalls can be economically and conveniently converted into an electrical form and brought to the neighbouring factory or distant town, to be there reconverted by motors into mechanical power. Over any but very short distances energy is most easily transmitted when it is in an electrical form, and turbine-driven dynamos are very largely and successfully employed for such transmission. Thus by conducing to the utilization of water-power which may previously have had but little value owing to its disadvantageous situation, the dynamo may almost be said to have added another to our available natural resources.
Little practical use could be made of electrical energy so long as its only known sources were frictional machines and voltaic batteries. The cost of the materials for producing electrical currents on a large scale by chemical action was prohibitive, while the frictional machine only yielded very small currents at extremely high potentials. In the dynamo, on the other hand, electrical energy in a convenient form could be cheaply and easily obtained by mechanical means, and with its invention the application of electricity to a wide range of commercial purposes became economically possible. As a converter of energy from one form to another it is only surpassed in efficiency by another electrical appliance, namely, the transformer (seeTransformers). In this there is merely conversion of electrical energy at a high potential into electrical energy at a low potential, or vice versa, but in the dynamo the mechanical energy which must be applied to maintain the relative movement of magnetic field and conductor is absorbed, and reappears in an electrical form. A true transformation takes place, and the proportion which the rate ofdelivery of electrical energy bears to the power absorbed, or in other words theefficiency, is the more remarkable. The useful return or “output” at the terminals of a large machine may amount to as much as 95% of the mechanical energy which forms the “input.” Since it needs some prime mover to drive it, the dynamo has not made any direct addition to our sources of energy, and does not therefore rank with the primary battery or oil-engine, or even the steam-engine, all of which draw their energy more immediately from nature. Yet by the aid of the dynamo the power to be derived from waterfalls can be economically and conveniently converted into an electrical form and brought to the neighbouring factory or distant town, to be there reconverted by motors into mechanical power. Over any but very short distances energy is most easily transmitted when it is in an electrical form, and turbine-driven dynamos are very largely and successfully employed for such transmission. Thus by conducing to the utilization of water-power which may previously have had but little value owing to its disadvantageous situation, the dynamo may almost be said to have added another to our available natural resources.
The two essential parts of the dynamo, as required by its definition, may be illustrated by the original disk machine of Faraday. They are (1) theiron magnet, between the poles of which a magnetic field exists, and (2) theelectrical conductors, represented by the rotating copper disk. The sector of the disk cutting the lines of the field forms part of a closed electric circuit, and has an E.M.F. induced in it, by reason of which it is no longer simply a conductor, but has become “active.” In its more highly developed form the simple copper disk is elaborated into a system of many active wires or bars which form the “winding,” and which are so interconnected as to add up their several E.M.F.’s. Since these active wires are usually mounted on an iron structure, which may be likened to the keeper or “armature” of a magnet rotating between its poles, the term “armature” has been extended to cover not only the iron core, but also the wires on it, and when there is no iron core it is even applied to the copper conductors themselves. In the dynamo of Faraday the “armature” was the rotating portion, and such is the case with modern continuous-current dynamos; in alternators, however, the magnet, or a portion of it, is more commonly rotated while the armature is stationary. It is in fact immaterial to the action whether the one or the other is moved, or both, so long as their relative motion causes the armature conductors to cut the magnetic flux. As to the ultimate reason why an E.M.F. should be thereby induced, physical science cannot as yet yield any surer knowledge than in the days of Faraday.3For the engineer, it suffices to know that the E.M.F. of the dynamo is due to the cutting of the magnetic flux by the active wires, and, further, is proportional to the rate at which the lines are cut.4
The equation of theelectromotive forcewhich is required in order to render this statement quantitative must contain three factors, namely, the density of the flux in the air-gap through which the armature conductors move, the active length of these wires, and the speed of their movement. For given values of the first and third factors and a single straight wire moved parallel to itself through a uniform field, the maximum rate of cutting is evidently obtained when the three directions of the lines of the conductor’s length and of the relative motion are respectively at right angles to each other, as shown by the three co-ordinate axes of fig. 2. The E.M.F. of the single wire is then
E = BgLV × 10−8volts
(1)
where Bgis the density of the flux within the air-gap expressed in C.G.S. lines per square centimetre, L is the active length of the conductor within the field in centimetres, and V is the velocity of movement in centimetres per second. Further, the direction in which the E.M.F. has the above maximum value is along the length of the conductor, its “sense” being determined by the direction of the movement5in relation to the direction of the field.
The second fundamental equation of the dynamo brings to light its mechanical side, and rests on H.C. Oersted’s discovery of the interaction of a magnetic field and an electric current. If a straight electric conductor through which a current is passing be so placed in a magnetic field that its length is not parallel to the direction of the lines of flux, it is acted on by a force which will move it, if free, in a definite direction relatively to the magnet; or if the conductor is fixed and the magnet is free, the latter will itself move in the opposite direction. Now in the dynamo the active wires are placed so that their length is at right angles to the field; hence when they are rotated and an electric current begins to flow under the E.M.F. which they induce, a mutual force at once arises between the copper conductors and the magnet, and the direction of this force must by Lenz’s law be opposed to the direction of the movement. Thus as soon as the disk of fig. 1 is rotated and its circuit is closed, it experiences a mechanical pull or drag which must be overcome by the force applied to turn the disk. While the magnet must be firmly held so as to remain stationary, the armature must be of such mechanical construction that its wires can be forcibly driven through the magnetic field against the mutual pull. This law of electrodynamic action may be quantitatively stated in anequation of mechanical force, analogous to the equation (I.) of electromotive force, which states the law of electromagnetic induction. If a conductor of length L cm., carrying a current C amperes, is immersed in a field of uniform density Bg, and the length of the conductor is at right angles to the direction of the lines, it is acted on by a force
F = BgLC × 10−1dynes,
(2)
and the direction of this force is at right angles to the conductor and to the field. The rate at which electrical energy is developed, when this force is overcome by moving the conductor as a dynamo through the field, is EC = BgLVC × 10−8watts, whence the equality of the mechanical power absorbed and the electrical power developed (as required by the law of the conservation of energy) is easily established. The whole of this power is not, however, available at the terminals of the machine; if Rabe the resistance of the armature in ohms, the passage of the current Cathrough the armature conductors causes a drop of pressure of CaRavolts, and a corresponding loss of energy in the armature at the rate of Ca²Rawatts. As the resistance of the external circuit Reis lowered, the current C = Ea/ (Re+ Ra) is increased. The increase of the current is, however, accompanied by a progressive increase in the loss of energy over the armature, and as this is expended in heating the armature conductors, their temperature may rise so much as to destroy the insulating materials with which they are covered. Hence the temperature which the machine may be permitted to attain in its working is of great importance in determining its output, the current which forms one factor therein being primarily limited by the heating which it produces in the armature winding. The lower the resistance of the armature, the less the rise of its temperature for a given current flowing through it; and the reason for the almost universal adoption of copper as the material for the armature conductors is now seen to lie in its high conductivity.6
Since the voltage of the dynamo is the second factor to which its output is proportional, the conditions which render the induced E.M.F. a maximum must evidently be reproduced as far as possible in practice, if the best use is to be made of a given mass of iron and copper. The first problem, therefore, in the construction of the dynamo is the disposition of the wires and field in such a manner that the three directions of field, length of active conductors, and movement are at right angles to one another, and so that the relative motion is continuous. Reciprocating motion, such as would be obtained by direct attachment of the conductors to the piston of a steam-engine, hasbeen successfully employed only in the special case of an “oscillator,”7producing a small current very rapidly changing in direction. Rotary motion is therefore universally adopted, and with this two distinct cases arise. Either (A) the active length of the wire is parallel to the axis of rotation, or (B) it is at right angles to it.
(A) If a conductor is rotated in the gap between the poles of a horse-shoe magnet, and these poles have plane parallel faces opposing one another as in fig. 3, not only is the density of the flux in the interpolar gap small, but the direction of movement is not always at right angles to the direction of the lines, which for the most part pass straight across from one opposing face to the other. When the conductor is midway between the poles (i.e.either at its highest or lowest point), it is at this instant sliding along the lines and does not cut them, so that its E.M.F. is zero. Taking this position as the starting-point, as the conductor moves round, its rate of line-cutting increases to a maximum when it has moved through a right angle and is opposite to the centre of a pole-face (as in fig. 3), from which point onward the rate decreases to zero when it has moved through 180°. Each time the conductor crosses a line drawn symmetrically through the gap between the poles and at right angles to the axis of rotation, the E.M.F. along its length is reversed in direction, since the motion relatively to the direction of the field is reversed. If the ends of the active conductor are electrically connected to two collecting rings fixed upon, but insulated from, the shaft, two stationary brushesbbcan be pressed on the rings so as to make a sliding contact. An external circuit can then be connected to the brushes, which will form the “terminals” of the machine, the periodically reversed or alternating E.M.F. induced in the active conductor will cause an alternating current to flow through conductor and external circuit, and the simplest form of “alternator” is obtained. If the field cut by the straight conductor is of uniform density, and all the lines pass straight across from one pole-face to the other (both of which assumptions are approximately correct), a curve connecting the instantaneous values of the E.M.F. as ordinates with time or degrees of angular movement as abscissae (as shown at the foot of fig. 3), will, if the speed of rotation be uniform, be a sine curve. If, however, the conductor is mounted on an iron cylinder (fig. 4),8a sufficient margin being allowed for mechanical clearance between it and the poles, not only will the reluctance of the magnetic circuit be reduced and the total flux and its density in the air-gap Bgbe thereby increased, but the path of the lines will become nearly radial, except at the “fringe” near the edges of the pole-tips; hence the relative directions of the movement and of the lines will be continuously at right angles. The shape of the E.M.F. curve will then be as shown in fig. 4—flat-topped, with rounded corners rapidly sloping down to the zero line.
But a single wire cannot thus be made to give more than a few volts, and while dynamos for voltages from 5 to 10 are required for certain purposes, the voltages in common use range from 100 to 10,000. It is therefore necessary to connect a number of such wires in series, so as to form an “armature winding.” If several similar conductors are arranged along the length of the iron core parallel to the first (fig. 5), the E.M.F.’s generated in the conductors which at any moment are under the same pole are similarly directed, and are opposite to the directions of the E.M.F.’s in the conductors under the other pole (cf fig. 5 where the dotted and crossed ends of the wires indicate E.M.F.’s directed respectively towards and away from the observer). Two distinct methods of winding thence arise, the similarity of the E.M.F.’s under the same pole being taken advantage of in the first, and the opposite E.M.F.’s under N and S poles in the second.
1. The first, orring-winding, was invented by Dr Antonio Pacinotti of Florence9in 1860, and was subsequently and independently reintroduced in 187010by the Belgian electrician, Zénobe Théophile Gramme, whence it is also frequently called the “Gramme” winding. By this method the farther end of conductor 1 (fig. 5) is joined in series to the near end of conductor 2; this latter lies next to it on the surface of the core or immediately above it, so that both are simultaneously under the same pole-piece. For this series connexion to be possible, the armature core must be a hollow cylinder, supported from the shaft on an open non-magnetic spider or hub, between the arms of which there is room for the internal wire completing the loop (fig. 6). The end of one complete loop or turn embracing one side of the armature core thus forms the starting-point for another loop, and the process can be continued if required to form a coil of two or more turns. In the ring armature the iron core serves the double purpose of conducting the lines across from one pole to the other, and also of shielding from the magnetic flux the hollow interior through which the connecting wires pass. Any lines which leak across the central space are cut by the internal wires, and the direction of cutting is such that the E.M.F. caused thereby opposes the E.M.F. due to the active conductors proper on the external surface. If, however, the section of iron in the core be correctly proportioned, the number of lines which cross the interior will bear but a small ratio to those which pass entirely through the iron, and the counter E.M.F. of the internal wires will become very small; they may then be regarded simply as connectors for joining the external active wires in series.
2. The second ordrummethod was used in the original “shuttle-wound” armatures invented by Dr Werner von Siemens in 1856, and is sometimes called the “Siemens” winding. The farther end of conductor 1 (fig. 5) is joined by a connecting wire to the farther end of another conductor 2’ situated nearly diametrically opposite on the other side of the core and under the opposite pole-piece. The near end of the complete loop or turn is then brought across the end of the core, and can be used as the starting-point for another loop beginning with conductor 2, which is situated by the side of the first conductor. The iron core may now be solid from the surface to the shaft, since no connecting wires are brought through the centre, and each loop embraces the entire armature core (fig. 7). By the formation of two loops in the ring armature and of the single loop in the drum armature, two active wires are placed in series;the curves of instantaneous E.M.F. are therefore similar in shape to that of the single wire (fig. 4), but with their ordinates raised throughout to double their former height, as shown at the foot of fig. 6.
Next, if the free ends of either the ring or drum loops, instead of being connected to two collecting rings, are attached to the two halves of a split-ring insulated from the shaft (as shown in fig. 7 in connexion with a drum armature), and the stationary brushes are so set relatively to the loops that they pass over from the one half of the split-ring to the other half at the moment when the loops are passing the centre of the interpolar gap, and so are giving little or no E.M.F., each brush will always remain either positive or negative. The current in the external circuit attached to the brushes will then have a constant direction, although the E.M.F. in the active wires still remains alternating; the curve of E.M.F. obtained at the brushes is thus (as in fig. 7) entirely above the zero line. The first dynamo of H. Pixii,11which immediately followed Faraday’s discovery, gave an alternating current, but in 183212the alternator was converted into a machine giving aunidirected currentby the substitution of a rudimentary “commutator” in place of mercury collecting cups.
(B) So far the length of the active wires has been parallel to the axis of rotation, but they may equally well be arranged perpendicularly thereto. The poles will then have plane faces and the active wires will be disposed with their length approximately radial to the axis of the shaft. In order to add their E.M.F.’s in series, two types of winding may be employed, which are precisely analogous in principle to the ring and drum windings under arrangement (A).
3. Thediscoidalor flat-ring armature is equivalent to a ring of which the radial depth greatly exceeds the length, with the poles presented to one side of the ring instead of embracing its cylindrical surface. A similar set of poles is also presented to the opposite side of the ring, like poles being opposite to one another, so that in effect each polar surface is divided into two halves, and the groups of lines from each side bifurcate and pass circumferentially through the armature core to issue into the adjacent poles of opposite sign.
4. In thediskmachine, no iron core is necessary for the armature, the two opposite poles of unlike sign being brought close together, leaving but a short path for the lines in the air-gap through which the active wires are rotated.
If the above elementary dynamos are compared with fig. 1, it will be found that they all possess a distinctive feature which is not present in the original disk machine of Faraday. In the four types of machine above described each active wire in each revolution first cuts the group of lines forming a field in one direction, and then cuts the same lines again in the opposite direction relatively to the sense of the lines, so that along the length of the wire the E.M.F. alternates in direction. But in the dynamo of fig. 1 the sector of the copper disk which is at any moment moving through the magnetic field and which forms the single active element is always cutting the lines in the same manner, so that the E.M.F. generated along its radial length is continuous and unchanged in direction. This radical distinction differentiates the two classes ofheteropolarandhomopolardynamos, Faraday’s disk machine of fig. 1 being the type of the latter class. In it the active element may be arranged either parallel or at right angles to the axis of rotation; but in both cases, in order to increase the E.M.F. by placing two or more elements in series, it becomes necessary either (1) to employ some form of sliding contact by which the current may be collected from the end of one active element and passed round a connecting wire into the next element without again cutting the field in the reverse direction, or (2) to form on the armature a loop of which each side is alternately active and inactive. The first method limits the possibilities of the homopolar machine so greatly when large currents and high voltages are required that it is now only used in rare instances, ase.g.occasionally in dynamos driven by steam-turbines which have a very high speed of rotation. The second alternative may be carried into effect with any of the four methods of armature winding, but is practically confined to the drum and disk types. In its drum form the field is divided into two or more projecting poles, all of the same sign, with intervening neutral spaces of equal width, and the span of the loop in the direction of rotation is at least equal to the width of a polar projection, as in fig. 8, where two polar projections are shown. Each side of the loop then plays a dual part; it first cuts the lines of one polar projection and generates an E.M.F., and next becomes an inactive connecting wire, while the action is taken up by the opposite side of the loop which has previously served as a connector but now cuts the lines of the next polar projection. The E.M.F. is thus always in the same direction along the side which is at any moment active, but alternates round the loop as a whole, and the distinctive peculiarity of the homopolar machine, so soon as any form of “winding” is introduced into its armature, is lost. It results that the homopolar principle, which would prima facie appear specially suitable for the generation of a unidirectional E.M.F. and continuous current, can seldom be used for this purpose and is practically confined to alternators. It may therefore be said that in almost all dynamos, whether they supply an alternating or a continuous current in the external circuit, the E.M.F. and current in the armature are alternating.
Ring winding was largely employed in early continuous-current dynamos and also in the alternators of Gramme and H. Wilde, and later of Auguste de Méritens. Disk winding was also successfully introduced for alternators, as in the magneto-machines of Nollet (1849) and the alternators of Wilde (1866) and Siemens (1878), and its use was continued in the machines of W.M. Mordey and S.Z. Ferranti. But although the ring, discoidal-ring and disk methods of winding deserve mention from their historical importance, experience has shown that drum winding possesses a marked superiority for both electrical and manufacturing reasons; the three former methods have in fact been practically discarded in its favour, so that the drum method will hereafter alone be considered.
The drum coil, composed of several loops wound side by side, may therefore be regarded as the constituent active element out of which the armature winding of the modern dynamo is developed. Its application to the multipolar machine is easily followed from fig. 9, which illustrates the heteropolar type of dynamo. The span of the loops, which is nearly 180° or across the diameter of the two-pole machine, is reduced approximately to 90° in the four-pole or to 60° in the six-pole machine and so on, the curvature of the coil becoming gradually less as the number of poles is increased. The passage of a coil through two magnetic fields of opposite direction yields a complete wave of E.M.F., such as is shown in fig. 6, and the time in seconds taken to pass through such a complete cycle is the “period” of the alternating E.M.F. The number of complete periods through which the E.M.F. of the coil passes per second is called the “periodicity” or “frequency” of the machine. In the bipolar machine thisis equal to the number of revolutions per second, and in the multipolar machine it is equal to the number of pairs of fields through which the coil passes in one second; hence in general the periodicity is pN / 60, where N = the number of revolutions per minute and p = the number of pairs of poles, and this holds true of the E.M.F. and current round the coil, even though the E.M.F. and current furnished to the external circuit may be rendered unidirectional or continuous. The only difference on this point is that in the continuous-current machine the poles are usually fewer than in the alternator, and the periodicity is correspondingly lower. Thus in the former case the number of poles ranges from 2 to 12 and the usual frequencies from 5 to 20; but with alternators the frequencies in commercial use range from 25 to 120, and in large machines driven by slow-speed engines the number of poles may even be as high as 96.
The drum coil may be applied either to the external surface of a rotating armature, the field-magnet being external and stationary (fig. 9), or to the internal surface of a stationary armature (fig. 10), the field-magnet being internal and rotating. While the former combination is universally adopted in the continuous-current dynamo, the latter is more usual in the modern alternator. In either case the iron armature core must be “laminated”; the passage of the lines of the field across its surface sets up E.M.F.’s which are in opposite directions under poles of opposite sign, so that if the core were a solid mass a current-sheet would flow along its surface opposite to a pole, and complete its circuit by passing through the deeper layers of metal or by returning in a sheet under a pole of opposite sign. Such “eddy-currents” can be practically avoided by dividing the metal core into laminations at right angles to the length of the active wires which are themselves arranged to secure the greatest rate of line-cutting and maximum E.M.F. The production of the eddy-current E.M.F. is not thereby prevented, but the paths of the eddy-currents are so broken up that the comparatively high resistance with which they meet reduces their amount very greatly. The laminae must be lightly insulated from one another, right up to their edges, so that the E.M.F.’s which still act across their thickness will not be added up along the length of the core, but will only produce extremely small currents circulating through the interior of the separate laminations. Each thin iron plate is either coated with an insulating varnish or has one of its sides covered with a sheet of very thin paper; the thickness of the laminae is usually about one-fortieth of an inch, and if this is not exceeded the rate at which energy is dissipated by eddy-currents in the core is so far reduced that it does not seriously impair the efficiency of the machine.
Lastly, the drum coils may be either attached to the surface of a smooth armature core (fig. 9, I.), or may be wound through holes formed close to the periphery of the core, or may be embedded in the slots between projecting iron teeth (figs. 9 [II.] and 10). Originally employed by Antonio Pacinotti in connexion with ring winding, the toothed armature was after some considerable use largely discarded in favour of the smooth core; it has, however, been reintroduced with a fuller understanding of the special precautions necessitated in its design, and it is now so commonly used that it may be said to have superseded the smooth-surface armature.
Not only does the toothed armature reduce the length of the air-gap to the minimum permitted by mechanical and magnetic considerations, and furnish better mechanical protection to the armature coils, but it also ensures the positive holding of the active wires against the mechanical drag which they experience as they pass through the magnetic field. Further, the active wires in the toothed armature are relieved of a large proportion of this mechanical drag, which is transferred to the iron teeth. The lines of the field, after passing through the air-gap proper, divide between the teeth and the slots in proportion to their relative permeances. Hence at any moment the active wires are situated in a weak field, and for a given armature current the force on them is only proportional to this weak field. This important result is connected with the fact that when the armature is giving current the distribution of the lines over the face of each tooth is distorted, so that they become denser on the “trailing” side than on the “leading” side;13the effect of the non-uniform distribution acting on all the teeth is to produce a magnetic drag on the armature core proportional to the current passing through the wires, so that the total resisting force remains the same as if the armature had a smooth core. The amount by which the stress on the active wires is reduced entirely depends upon the degree to which the teeth are saturated, but, since the relative permeability of iron even at a flux density of 20,000 lines per sq. cm. is to that of air approximately as 33 : 1, the embedded wires are very largely relieved of the driving stress. An additional gain is that solid bars of much greater width can be used in the toothed armature than on a smooth core without appreciable loss from eddy-currents within their mass.A disadvantage of the slotted core is, however, that it usually necessitates the lamination of the pole-pieces. If the top of the slot is open, and its width of opening is considerably greater than the length of the air-gap from the iron of the pole-face to the surface of the teeth, the lines become unequally distributed not only at the surface of the teeth, but also at the face of the pole-pieces; and this massing of the lines into bands causes the density at the pole-face to be rhythmically varied as the teeth pass under it. No such variation can take place in a solid mass of metal without the production of eddy-currents within it; hence if the width of the slot-opening is equal to or exceeds twice the length of the single air-gap, lamination of the pole-pieces in the same plane as that of the armature core becomes advisable.If the wires are threaded through holes or tunnels pierced close to the periphery of the core, the same advantages are gained as with open slots, and lamination of the pole-pieces is rendered unnecessary. But on the other hand, the process of winding becomes laborious and expensive, while the increase in the inductance ofthe coils owing to their being surrounded by a closed iron circuit is prejudicial to sparkless commutation in the continuous-current dynamo and to the regulation of the voltage of the alternator. A compromise is found in the half-closed slot, which is not uncommon in alternators, although the open slot is more usual in continuous-current dynamos.
Not only does the toothed armature reduce the length of the air-gap to the minimum permitted by mechanical and magnetic considerations, and furnish better mechanical protection to the armature coils, but it also ensures the positive holding of the active wires against the mechanical drag which they experience as they pass through the magnetic field. Further, the active wires in the toothed armature are relieved of a large proportion of this mechanical drag, which is transferred to the iron teeth. The lines of the field, after passing through the air-gap proper, divide between the teeth and the slots in proportion to their relative permeances. Hence at any moment the active wires are situated in a weak field, and for a given armature current the force on them is only proportional to this weak field. This important result is connected with the fact that when the armature is giving current the distribution of the lines over the face of each tooth is distorted, so that they become denser on the “trailing” side than on the “leading” side;13the effect of the non-uniform distribution acting on all the teeth is to produce a magnetic drag on the armature core proportional to the current passing through the wires, so that the total resisting force remains the same as if the armature had a smooth core. The amount by which the stress on the active wires is reduced entirely depends upon the degree to which the teeth are saturated, but, since the relative permeability of iron even at a flux density of 20,000 lines per sq. cm. is to that of air approximately as 33 : 1, the embedded wires are very largely relieved of the driving stress. An additional gain is that solid bars of much greater width can be used in the toothed armature than on a smooth core without appreciable loss from eddy-currents within their mass.
A disadvantage of the slotted core is, however, that it usually necessitates the lamination of the pole-pieces. If the top of the slot is open, and its width of opening is considerably greater than the length of the air-gap from the iron of the pole-face to the surface of the teeth, the lines become unequally distributed not only at the surface of the teeth, but also at the face of the pole-pieces; and this massing of the lines into bands causes the density at the pole-face to be rhythmically varied as the teeth pass under it. No such variation can take place in a solid mass of metal without the production of eddy-currents within it; hence if the width of the slot-opening is equal to or exceeds twice the length of the single air-gap, lamination of the pole-pieces in the same plane as that of the armature core becomes advisable.
If the wires are threaded through holes or tunnels pierced close to the periphery of the core, the same advantages are gained as with open slots, and lamination of the pole-pieces is rendered unnecessary. But on the other hand, the process of winding becomes laborious and expensive, while the increase in the inductance ofthe coils owing to their being surrounded by a closed iron circuit is prejudicial to sparkless commutation in the continuous-current dynamo and to the regulation of the voltage of the alternator. A compromise is found in the half-closed slot, which is not uncommon in alternators, although the open slot is more usual in continuous-current dynamos.
With the addition of more turns to the elementary drum loop or of several complete coils, new questions arise, and in connexion therewith the two great classes of machines, viz. alternators and continuous-current dynamos, which have above been treated side by side, diverge considerably, so that they are best considered separately. The electromotive-force equation of the alternator will be first deduced, and subsequently that of the continuous-current machine.
Corresponding to the number of pairs of poles in the multipolar alternator, it is evident that there may also be an equal number of coils as shown diagrammatically in fig. 11. The additional coils, being similarly situated in respect to other pairs of poles, will exactly reproduce the E.M.F. of the original coil in phase and magnitude, so that when they are connected in series the total E.M.F. will be proportional to the number of coils in series; or if they are connected in parallel, while not adding to the E.M.F., they will proportionately increase the current-carrying capacity of the combination. But within each coil the addition of more loops will not cause an equal increase in the total E.M.F., unless the phases of the component E.M.F.’s due to the several turns are identical, and on this account it becomes necessary to consider the effect of the width of the coil-side.
If the additional loops are wound within the same slots as the original loop, the winding is “concentrated,” and each turn will then add the same E.M.F. But if the coil-side is divided between two or more slots, the phase of the E.M.F. yielded by the wires in one slot being different from that of the wires in another neighbouring slot, the sum of all the E.M.F.’s will be less than the E.M.F. of one component loop multiplied by the number of loops or turns in the coil. The percentage reduction in the E.M.F. will depend upon the number of the slots in a coil-side and their distance apart,i.e.on the virtual width of the coil-side expressed as a fraction of the “pole-pitch” or the distance measured along the pitch-line from the centre of one pole to the centre of a neighbouring pole of opposite sign (fig. 12). The winding is now to be regarded as “grouped,” since a small number of distinct phases corresponding to the groups within the two, three or four slots have to be compounded together. As the number of slots per coil-side is increased, an approach is gradually made to the case of “uniform distribution,” such as would obtain in a smooth-core armature in which the turns of the coil are wound closely side by side. Thus in the six-turn coil of fig. 12 A, which represents the development of a two-pole armature when the core is cut down to the shaft and opened out flat, there are in effect six phases compounded together, each of which differs but little from that of its next neighbour. With numerous wires lying still closer together a large number of phases are compounded until the distribution becomes practically uniform; the decrease in the E.M.F., as compared with that of a single turn multiplied by the number in series, is then immediately dependent upon the width of the coil-side relatively to the pole-pitch.
If the width of the inner loop of fig. 12 A is less than that of the pole-face, its two sides will for some portion of each period be moving under the same pole, and “differential action” results, the net E.M.F. being only that due to the difference between the E.M.F.’s of the two sides. The loop of smallest width must therefore exceed the width of pole-face, if direct differential action is to be avoided. The same consideration also determines the width of the outer loop; if this be deducted from twice the pole-pitch, the difference should not be less than the width of the pole-face, so that,e.g., in a bipolar machine the outer loop may stand to the S. pole exactly as the inner loop stands to the N. pole (fig. 13). In other words, the width of the coil-side must not exceed the width of the interpolar gap between two fields. Evidently then if the ratio of the pole-width to the pole-pitch approaches unity, the width of the coil-side must be very small, and vice versa. A compromise between these conflicting considerations is found if the pole is made not much more than half the pole-pitch, and the width of the coil-side is similarly about half the pole-pitch and therefore equal in width to the pole (fig. 13). A single large coil, such as that of fig. 12 A, can, however, equally well be divided into two halves by taking the end-connexions of one half of the turns round the opposite side of the shaft (fig. 12 B), as indeed has already been done in fig. 13. Each sheaf or band of active wires corresponding to a pole is thereby unaffected, but the advantages are gained that the axial length of the end-connexions is halved, and that they have less inductance. Thus if in fig. 11 there are four turns per coil, fig. 14 is electrically equivalent to it (save that the coils are here shown divided into two parallel paths, each carrying half the total current). When the large coils are divided as above described, it results that there are as many coils as there are poles, the outer loop of the small coil having a width equal to the pole-pitch, and the inner a width equal to the pole-face.
Such is the form which the “single-phase alternator” takes, but since only one-half of the armature core is now covered with winding, an entirely distinct but similar set of coils may be wound to form a second armature circuit between the coils of the first circuit. The phase of this second circuit will differ by 90° or a quarter of a period from that of the first, and it may either be used to feed an entirely separate external circuit possibly at a different pressure or, if it be composed of the same number of turns and therefore gives the same voltage, it may be interconnected with the first circuit to form a “quarter-phase alternator,” as will be more fully described later. By an extension of the same process, if the width of each side of a coil is reduced to one-sixth of the pole-pitch, three armature circuits can be wound on the same core, and a “three-phase alternator,” giving waves of E.M.F. differing in phase by 120°, is obtained.