A pair of carbon brushes

In electrical engineering, brushes conduct current between stationary wires and moving parts, most commonly in a rotating shaft. Most importantly, in an electric motor, an alternator or electric generator, the coils of the rotor have to be connected. To accomplish this, two metal (copper or brass) 'slip rings' are affixed on the shaft and springs press braided copper wire 'brushes' onto the rings which conduct the current. Later, these copper wire brushes were replaced with carbon blocks — but these blocks are still called brushes. As the brushes are slowly abraded, they may have to be replaced, if this is possible. Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 800 × 572 pixelsFull resolution (981 × 701 pixel, file size: 97 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 800 × 572 pixelsFull resolution (981 × 701 pixel, file size: 97 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Electrical Engineers design power systems… … and complex electronic circuits. ... In electricity, current refers to electric current, which is the flow of electric charge. ... A wire is a single, usually cylindrical, elongated strand of drawn metal. ... A shaft can be Look up shaft in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Rotating magnetic field as a sum of magnetic vectors from 3 phase coils An electric motor converts electrical energy into mechanical energy. ... Early 20th century Alternator made in Budapest, Hungary, in the power generating hall of a hydroelectric station. ... Generator redirects here. ... A coil is a series of loops. ... The rotor is the non-stationary part of a rotary electric motor or alternator, which rotates because the wires and magnetic field of the motor are arranged so that a torque is developed about the rotors axis. ... General Name, Symbol, Number copper, Cu, 29 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 11, 4, d Appearance metallic pinkish red Standard atomic weight 63. ... For other uses, see Brass (disambiguation). ... A slip ring (in electrical engineering terms) is a method of making an electrical connection through a rotating assembly. ... A braid Step by step creation of a basic braid using three strings To braid is to interweave or twine three or more separate strands of one or more materials in a diagonally overlapping pattern. ... General Name, Symbol, Number carbon, C, 6 Chemical series nonmetals Group, Period, Block 14, 2, p Appearance black (graphite) colorless (diamond) Standard atomic weight 12. ...

If the copper rings are split into parts with "interlaced" connections, the arrangement is called a commutator. Conventional continuous current flows from the battery. ...

Metal fiber brushes are currently being developed again. These brushes may have advantages over current carbon brushes, but have not yet seen wide implementation.

External links

• Article in maintenanceworld.com
• Ace Carbon
• HiPerCon LLC, Metal Fiber Brushes