Motor|Basic
Short Braking
2022.01.12
Points of this article
・By shorting the brushes, a rotation force in the opposite direction occurs, so that a braking effect that stops the rotation is obtained.
In succession to the principle of rotation and the principle of power generation of a brushed DC motor, short braking is here explained. This is part of a series of the principles of operation of brushed DC motors, and so they should all be understood conjointly.
Short Braking of a Brushed DC Motor
In a brushed DC motor, in order to quickly stop the rotor when it is rotating due to inertia after having turned off power, the brushes can be shorted (short-circuited) to apply braking.

When the brushes are disconnected from the power supply, and with the coils (rotor) still rotating counterclockwise, the brushes are shorted together.
In state ①, as explained in the previous article on the principle of power generation, a positive (+) emf occurs in the left-side brush relative to the right-side brush, and so because the brushes are shorted to each other, current flows. As a result, the outside of coil A is N, while the outsides of coils B and C are S.
When the motor has transitioned to state ② as well, current flows similarly, so that
the outside of coil B is S, and the outsides of coils A and C are N
.
Thus, when the brushes are shorted together in this way, a rotation force that is opposite the current rotation direction occurs (solid black arrows), resulting in braking to stop the original rotation. This is called short braking.
Because the larger the current flowing, the greater is the force stopping the rotation, at high rotation rates a strong braking force is applied, but as the rotation rate falls the braking is weakened, and when rotation stops, the force becomes zero.
【Download Documents】 Basics of Brushed DC Motors and Drive Methods
Brushed DC motors are the most versatile motors and are used in a great many applications. This handbook provides the basics of brushed DC motors, explaining their construction, principle of operation, characteristics, and driving methods.
Motor
Basic
-
Brushed DC Motor
- Construction of Brushed Motors
- Principle of Rotation
- Power Generation Principle
- Short Braking
- Characteristics of Brushed DC Motors
- Driving Brushed DC Motors with an H-Bridge:Principles
- Driving Brushed DC Motors with an H-Bridge:Switching Output States
- Driving Brushed DC Motors with an H-Bridge:High-Side Voltage Linear Control
- Driving of Brushed DC Motors Using BTL Amplifier Circuits: Linear Voltage Driving
- Driving of Brushed DC Motors Using BTL Amplifier Circuits: Linear Current Driving
- Driving Brushed DC Motors Using PWM Output: Principles of PWM Driving
- Driving Brushed DC Motors Using PWM Output: Current Regeneration Methods in PWM Driving
- Driving Brushed DC Motors Using PWM Output: Losses and Points to be Noted
- Driving Brushed DC Motors Using PWM Output: PWM Driving with an H-Bridge Circuit
- Driving Brushed DC Motors Using PWM Output: H Bridge Constant-Current Driving
- Driving Brushed DC Motors Using PWM Output: Driving in the Form of BTL Amplifier Input
- Single-Switch Circuit Driving and Half-Bridge Circuit Driving
- Driving Circuits for Brushed DC Motors – Summary
-
Stepping Motors
- Structure of Stepping Motors
- Basic Operating Principles of Stepping Motors
- Stepping Motors: Microstep Operation Principles
- Basic Characteristics of Stepping Motors
- Structure and Operating Principles of Hybrid Type Stepping Motors
- Stepping Motor Driving: Bipolar Connections and Unipolar Connections
- Driving 2-Phase Bipolar Stepping Motors: Part 1
- Driving 2-Phase Bipolar Stepping Motors: Part 2
- Driving 2-Phase Unipolar Stepping Motors
- Stepping Motors – Summary
-
3-Phase Brushless Motors
- Structure of 3-Phase Full-Wave Brushless Motors
- Principles of Rotation of 3-Phase Full-Wave Brushless Motors
- Position Detection in 3-Phase Full-Wave Brushless Motors
- Driving 3-Phase Full-Wave Brushless Motors: 120° Commutation Linear-Current Driving with Sensors
- Driving 3-Phase Full-Wave Brushless Motors: Sinusoidal Commutation PWM Driving with Sensors
- Driving 3-Phase Full-Wave Brushless Motors: Advance Angle Control
- Driving 3-Phase Full-Wave Brushless Motors: Maximization of Motor-Applied Voltage
- Driving 3-Phase Full-Wave Brushless Motors: Sensorless 120° Commutation Driving
- Methods of Sensorless 120° Commutation Driving Startup 1: Startup on Detection of Induced Voltage from Synchronous Operation
- Methods of Sensorless 120° Commutation Driving Startup 2: Startup on Detection of Permanent Magnet Stopped Position
- Features and Applications of 3-Phase Full-Wave Brushless Motors ーSummaryー
- What is a Motor?