In practice, every modern person every day and many times encounters one or another engine - they start cars, allow our refrigerators, air conditioners, and washing machines to work. But in reality, for many modern Russians, these units remain mysterious and incomprehensible ...
In fact, under the engine today it is customary to mean any device that is designed to convert energy of any kind into mechanical energy. A synonym for the word engine in the modern reading is the word motor, which has been used since the end of the last century, as a rule, meaning the so-called internal combustion engines, as well as electric motors.
It is curious that the very first engine can be safely called ... an ordinary sail. In addition, the waterwheel can easily be attributed to the category of early motors. It is noteworthy that the first began to be used more than seven thousand years ago, and the second was actively used in ancient China, Egypt and India.
The modern classification of engines is quite rich and extensive, but the most significant feature here is the energy source. In this case, the engines are divided into:
- electric (constant and variable (here we can distinguish asynchronous and synchronous motors);
- electrical;
- gravitational;
- pneumatic;
- hydraulic;
- chemical;
- laser;
- nuclear.
Let's talk a little more about synchronous and asynchronous motors.
A synchronous motor (a typical example is an SDV motor) is an alternating current (electric) unit, the rotational speed in which (meaning the rotation of the rotor) is equal to the rotational speed in the air gap of the magnetic field.
The main parts of any synchronous motor are the armature and the inductor. In this case, the first is most often located on the stator, while the second is located on the rotor, separated from it by an air gap.
What is an anchor? This is several or one AC winding. The currents transmitted here usually create magnetic rotating fields, which, interlocking with the field of the inductor, generate electricity.
Now about the inductor. It consists of permanent magnets or electromagnets (meaning DC magnets). These elements can have different designs - implicit-pole or explicit-pole. The second is distinguished by the fact that the poles are pronounced here and are characterized by a design similar to the poles of the so-called DC machines.
Induction motors (a typical example is motor 4a) are alternating current units, the speeds in which are different (meaning the rotation of the rotor and the magnetic field). By the way, it is precisely this factor, that is, asynchronous rotation, that gave rise to the name of this category of motors.
Asynchronous motors are widely used in almost all branches of technology. In particular, rather simple in terms of design and very reliable three-phase models with squirrel-cage rotors are in demand. The fact is that such products are much cheaper and more reliable than all electric motors. In addition, there is virtually no need for any maintenance.
In conclusion, it should be noted that quite often engines with the same operating principle, for example, can be called differently - "ship", "space", "automobile", "aviation", etc. This is due to the fundamentally different requirements for motors, which are imposed depending on their purpose.
