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Other Vintage Household Electrical or Electromechanical Items For discussions about other vintage (over 25 years old) electrical and electromechanical household items. See the sticky thread for details. |
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1st Sep 2021, 10:14 pm | #1 |
Pentode
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Banbury, Oxfordshire, UK.
Posts: 204
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Application?? Mystery Mini AC induction motor
Hi Folks,
Any ideas where this tiny ac motor came from? It runs on only 6V a few 10s of mW ..but very low torque. It had a worm drive fitted so obviously geared right down. Clock? Timer?… But why low AC V?? Found with various 50s / 60s kit. Suggestions welcome! Cheers, Cre8anet
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2nd Sep 2021, 3:01 am | #2 |
Nonode
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: North Somerset, UK.
Posts: 2,130
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Re: Application?? Mystery Mini AC induction motor
Possibly to operate a flap or damper for controlling air flow in an air conditioning system. Somewhat similar units are still used today, but more commonly in 24 volts AC.
Or perhaps to actuate a valve for heating or cooling control, again still made today but for 24 volts AC. Or even to drive a number of mechanical cams that operate microswitches in a sequence. Used to control advertising signs in which differing parts are lit in sequence. Or for other processes that require a controlled sequence, e.g. industrial laundry machinery, agitate clockwise for 2 minutes, then anti clockwise for 2 minutes, repeat this four times for a 16 minute wash cycle, then run drain pump for one minute, then spin for six minutes, for example. Or to start a number of large electric motors in sequence, either to limit starting current, or for other reasons such as a large conveyor system. |
2nd Sep 2021, 11:45 am | #3 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Wiltshire, UK.
Posts: 14,010
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Re: Application?? Mystery Mini AC induction motor
It looks rather too expensively well-engineered to be something from a piece of consumer-gear; I'd suspect it had a professional use - something like driving a capacitor or roller-coaster in a 'remote' antenna tuner?
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2nd Sep 2021, 12:06 pm | #4 |
Rest in Peace
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: London, UK.
Posts: 2,508
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Re: Application?? Mystery Mini AC induction motor
Extra-low voltage motors are cheaper and more robust than mains voltage due to the much shorter, heavier-gauge winding. There is often an advantage to avoiding having mains voltage on control contacts if the rest of the system is ELV and a suitable voltage is already available. So pinball gameplay camswitches, jukebox selector and accumulator drives etc can usefully run from the auxiliary supply e.g. 24V AC. I could see your motor rotating a colour wheel or something that requires near zero torque.
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2nd Sep 2021, 5:08 pm | #5 |
Pentode
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Banbury, Oxfordshire, UK.
Posts: 204
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Re: Application?? Mystery Mini AC induction motor
Jolly good stuff - thank you all.
Yes, it is quite possible 24 VAC .. I tried ramping up the volts a bit.. but without the worm and gearing, the pole-sync gets a bit chaotic and it seems to stall / reverse. (..was some old electricity meter kit with it... but I can't see that being low-VAC).
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2nd Sep 2021, 11:00 pm | #6 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Staffordshire Moorlands, UK.
Posts: 5,276
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Re: Application?? Mystery Mini AC induction motor
is it definitely a motor, or just something that acts like one when you power it? Maybe out of a large electric clock? Or a rotary solenoid? Mercury switch actuator from a power-factor correction circuit? A motor with very little torque seems pretty useless to me!
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2nd Sep 2021, 11:48 pm | #7 |
Nonode
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, UK.
Posts: 2,476
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Re: Application?? Mystery Mini AC induction motor
Some ELV low torque motors were used in various different makers/ point of sale shop signs etc, the colour wheel for such things has already been mentioned in a previous post.
I know we had a Toshiba sign that covered/uncovered various fibre optics that made the Toshiba sign lights look like it was sweeping left to right, a bit like a modern day Christmas tree type thing.
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