Motor–generator

Common card · No. 494940

A motor–generator (an MG set) is a device for converting electrical power to another form. Motor–generator sets are used to convert frequency, voltage, or phase of power. They may also be used to isolate electrical loads from the electrical power supply line. Large motor–generators were widely used to convert industrial amounts of power while smaller motor–generators (such as the one shown in the picture) were used to convert battery power to higher DC voltages. While a motor–generator set may consist of distinct motor and generator machines coupled together, a single unit dynamotor (for dynamo–motor) has the motor coils and the generator coils wound around a single rotor; both the motor and generator therefore share the same outer field coils or magnets. Typically the motor coils are driven from a commutator on one end of the shaft, while the generator coils provide output to another commutator on the other end of the shaft. The entire rotor and shaft assembly is smaller, lighter, and...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Audrius Meškauskas, CC BY-SA 3.0