Copper is the most common magnet wire choice due to its high conductivity and relatively low cost. For most motors like the one shown below, we use copper with a very thin enamel coating and tightly wrap the wire to create the winding that will build the electromagnetic field to drive the motor.
Are all motor windings copper?
In most circumstances the motors are copper wound and could be worth more money if you wanted to take them apart, but sometimes they are wound with aluminum. In the case of aluminum wound motors, we never suggest taking them apart but only scrapping them.
What are motor windings made of?
The most commonly used material for winding is copper. Aluminum can also be used but it should be thicker to hold a similar load securely. The copper winding allows for a tiny sized motor. These motor windings are very important components within an electrical machine.
How can you tell if winding is copper or Aluminium?
Although the conductivity of copper is stronger, pound for pound aluminium proves to be almost double as effective a conductor. Aluminium is more flexible than copper making it easier to wind in production processes. The higher resistivity of aluminium gives inherently lower eddy losses in the windings.
Which wire is used in motor winding?
Thus enameled copper wire is used for generator, motor winding, and field windings.
Do all electric motors use copper?
Copper is a major component in EVs used in electric motors, batteries, inverters, wiring and in charging stations. A pure electric vehicle can contain more than a mile of copper wiring in its stator windings. The increasing demand will significantly impact the copper market.
How many pounds of copper are in a electric motor?
An average electric motor that you will come across while scrapping will weigh about 10-20 pounds including the housing and all the copper and steel inside of it.
| Scrap Metal | Scrap Price | Updated Price Date |
|---|---|---|
| Copper National Average | $3.42/lb | Updated 02/15/2022 |
| Steel National Average | $225.00/ton | Updated 02/15/2022 |
How much copper is in a motor winding?
The copper content varies among different types of motors, while small motors have a higher percentage of copper per weight than heavy motors. On average, fractional electric motors are 9-10 percent copper by weight. AC motors average 7-9 percent copper; DC motors have 15-18 percent copper content.
Why is copper used for motors?
Copper is a great choice for motor windings because of its high conductivity and relatively low cost, but it is also a highly dense and heavy material; this is even more of a problem for motors used in electric vehicles or aircraft, which need to be lightweight.
What are motor windings?
Motor windings are conductive wires wrapped around a magnetic core; they provide a path for current to flow to create then magnetic field to spin the rotor.When motor windings fail it’s very seldom that the actual conductors fail, rather it is the polymer coating (insulation) surrounding the conductors that fail.
Can aluminum replace copper in electric motors?
Due to the better connection to the laminated core and more favorable utilization of the installation space results in a much better thermal and electromagnetic behavior. For this reason, it is possible to replace wound copper coils with cast aluminum coils for improved performance and lower material costs.
Can aluminum be used in motor windings?
The junctions would become so hot, the heat would transfer to the wire itself, eventually deteriorating the wire insulation. Consequently, all forms of aluminum wire received a bad rap. This is unjustified; aluminum can be a perfectly good material for motor windings in many applications.
Which winding is good for motor?
Advantages of Aluminum Winding
- 1) Less Cost. Aluminium costs a lot less than copper and thus brings commercial advantages.
- 2)Corrosion resistive.
- 3)Conductivity.
- 4)More Flexible.
- 5) lower eddy losses.
- 2) Higher Resistivity.
What does winding copper wire do?
Winding wire is an insulated conductor used for interchanging electrical energy with magnetic energy. In most cases, the wire is coated copper or aluminum that has some form of thin layered insulation.
What is copper wire?
Copper electrical wires are safer to use than wires made of most other conductive metals because they are resistant to heat. As you can see, copper is the preferred metal for electrical wires for several reasons. It has high electrical conductive; it’s inexpensive; it’s ductile; and it’s thermal resistant.
What metals make up an electric motor?
Powder metal components for motors generally consist of iron, nickel, and cobalt.
- Iron is the cheapest of the three, so many designers turn there first.
- Cobalt is rarely used on its own, but is sometimes added to iron.
- Nickel is expensive but valuable to motor applications.
How much copper is in a Tesla?
While conventional cars have 18-49 pounds of copper, hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) contain approximately 85 pounds, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) use 132 pounds, battery electric vehicles (BEVs) contain 183 pounds, a hybrid electric bus contains 196 pounds, and a battery electric bus contains 814 pounds,
How much copper is in a 1hp motor?
2) Copper weight is @ 600gm per HP (+/-) 10%.
What type of copper is used in electric motors?
ETP copper is used for power transmission, power distribution, and telecommunications. Common applications include building wire, motor windings, electrical cables, and busbars.
How do you calculate the weight of copper in a motor?
The copper weight is calculated by the cross section of a cable x 9.6 and will be shown in kg / km. For example FLRY 1.50 mm² has a copper weight of 14.4 kg / km (9.6 x 1.5).
What items have a lot of copper in them?
Blogs
- Old houses. Although PVC pipe is now the standard material used in household plumbing, there are plenty of old houses around the state that still use copper pipes.
- Thrift stores.
- Auto parts.
- Roofing.
- Household appliances.
- Computers and TVs.
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