Replacing Aluminium windings for Motors with copper wires

AI Thread Summary
Replacing aluminum windings in motors with copper wire is feasible, but requires careful consideration of wire size and number of turns. A common recommendation is to reduce the sectional area of the aluminum wire by 15% when selecting copper wire, which corresponds to a diameter ratio of approximately 1.265:1. Maintaining the same number of turns is crucial to avoid altering coil inductance and resistance, which can affect motor performance. Additionally, the differing coefficients of expansion and heat conductivity between copper and aluminum can lead to connection issues if not properly managed. Overall, using the provided table for wire sizing has proven effective without excessive heat generation.
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Good Day,

I have defective Aluminium windings motor.

As you know Aluminium is very difficult to winding.

So, I want to use Copper wire to re-winding the motor.

How can I do that?

What size should I use and what will be the number of turns?

Someone told me that you can use Copper by reducing 15% from the sectional area of Aluminium wire.

Another one gave me this table:

[PLAIN]http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/2595/tablebf.jpg

Copper Diamet mm Aluminium Diameter mm
0.3 0.3795
0.35 0.44275
0.4 0.506
0.45 0.56925
0.5 0.6325
0.55 0.69575
0.6 0.759
0.65 0.82225
0.7 0.8855
0.75 0.94875
0.8 1.012
0.85 1.07525
0.9 1.1385
0.95 1.20175
1 1.265
1.05 1.32825
1.1 1.3915
1.15 1.45475
1.2 1.518
1.25 1.58125
1.3 1.6445


I need your advice, please.
 
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This table shows that the aluminum to copper cross section area ratio should be 1.6:1

http://www.tpub.com/neets/book4/11e.htm

so the diameter ratio should be about 1.265:1, as per your table.

Bob S
 
Thank you

So, I can use that table without changing the number of turns.


Regards
 
Currently, I am using that table, and it is very good , no excessive heat.
 
You could probably improve the motor characteristics slightly by going to a slightly larger diameter copper wire, but if you change the number of turns, you will change both the coil inductance (important in ac motors) and the Tesla per amp. Also, in some ac induction motors (split phase), wire resistance is an important part of the design. Also, in some dc brush motors (shunt wound), wire resistance is important.

Bob S
 
Though I doubt it's relevant to this apparently one time fix:

Copper and aluminum have different coefficients of expansion and heat conductivity. Aluminum wiring when attached to electrical terminations not designed to accommodate the difference has been shown to cause electrical fires through on/off power cycling, causing the connection to loosen over time thus increasing resistance which accelerates the mechanical issue to the point of connection failure.
 
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