page_title: Armature (electrical)
section_title: Winding circuits
hierarchical_section_title: Armature (electrical) / Winding circuits
caption_attribution_description: English: When the completed winding of fig. 22 is developed as in this figure, it is seen to work continuously forwards round the armature in zigzag waves, one of which is marked in heavy lines, and the number of complete tours is equal to the average of the back and front pitches.
context_page_description: In electrical engineering, an armature is the component of an electric machine which carries alternating current. The armature windings conduct AC even on DC machines, due to the commutator action or due to electronic commutation, as in brushless DC motors. The armature can be on either the rotor or the stator, depending on the type of electric machine.
  The armature windings interact with the magnetic field in the air-gap; the magnetic field is generated either by permanent magnets, or electromagnets formed by a conducting coil.
  The armature must carry current, so it is always a conductor or a conductive coil, oriented normal to both the field and to the direction of motion, torque, or force. The armature's role is twofold. The first is to carry current across the field, thus creating shaft torque in a rotating machine or force in a linear machine. The second role is to generate an electromotive force.
  In the armature, an electromotive force is created by the relative motion of the armature and the field.
context_section_description: Coils of the winding are distributed over the entire surface of the air gap, which may be the rotor or the stator of the machine.  In a "lap" winding,  there are as many current paths between the brush (or line) connections as there are poles in the field winding.  In a "wave" winding, there are only two paths, and there are as many coils in series as half the number of poles. So, for a given rating of machine, a wave winding is more suitable for large currents and low voltages.
  Windings are held in slots in the rotor or armature covered by stator magnets.  The exact distribution of the windings and selection of the number of slots per pole of the field greatly influences the design of the machine and its performance, affecting such factors as commutation in a DC machine or the waveform of an AC machine.
caption: A schematic winding diagram for a DC machine with a commutator, showing a wave winding - shown as if the surface of the armature was flattened out.
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