To answer the question of what a collector engine is, you need to understand what is called an engine in general. And this is an electric machine, the reverse of a generator. Together, the generator and motor are called DC machines. It is designed to convert mechanical energy into electrical energy (that is, to work as a generator) or vice versa - electrical to mechanical (to work as an engine). If we supply a DC synchronous machine with a collector, then we will get a collector motor. In generator mode, the collector will play the role of a rectifier, in motor mode - a frequency converter. It is thanks to him that alternating current flows through the armature winding, and direct current flows in the external circuit.
From all of the above, it follows that the collector motor is an electric synchronous machine, in which the rotor position sensor and the current switch in the windings are a brush-collector assembly. Naturally, as already mentioned, he can simply become a generator.
The smallest commutator motor (a few watts) consists of such mandatory parts as a three-pole rotor, plain bearings,collector assembly (it also consists of two copper brush plates), a bipolar stator with permanent magnets. The smallest devices of this type are used in some children's toys.
The commutator motor of higher power has, as a rule, a multi-pole rotor, rolling bearings, a collector assembly on four graphite brushes, a four-pole permanent magnet stator. It is motors of this design that are found in cars, in fan drives, in cooling and ventilation systems, in pumps, wipers, and so on. The main advantage of such a device as a collector motor can be called ease of operation, repair and manufacture.
Powerful devices (several hundred watts) contain electromagnet stators. There are several main ways to connect such windings: in series with the rotor (series excitation, decent maximum torque, but fast idle), in parallel with the rotor (the so-called parallel excitation, the advantage of which can be called speed stability, but the disadvantages include a small maximum torque). There are also options with mixed and independent excitation, but they are used quite rarely.
There is also such a machine as a collector AC motor. However, it cannot be considered separately. Such a machine is usually understood as a universal collector motor. This is the kind of machine thatworks on both direct current and alternating current. Such a device has become widespread in hand power tools and in some household appliances, due to its small size, weight, low price, and ease of operation. Such a universal commutator motor can be directly connected to the network, it has a small starting current, a simple control circuit.
