Why SQUIRREL CAGE INDUCTION MOTOR got the name “squirrel cage”?
*An AC induction motor consists of two assemblies,stator and rotor. The stator structure is composed of steel lamination shaped to form poles. Copper wire coils are wound around these poles. These primary windings are connected to a voltage source to produce a rotating magnetic field. Three-phase motors with windings spaced 120 electrical degrees apart are standard for industrial, commercial and residential use. The rotor is another assembly made of lamination over a steel shaft core. Radial slots around the lamination’s periphery house rotor bars,cast-aluminum or copper conductors shorted at the ends and positioned parallel to the shaft. Arrangement of the rotor bars resembles a squirrel cage; hence, the term squirrel-cage induction motor. The name “induction motor” comes from the AC “induced” into the rotor via the rotating magnetic flux produced in the stator.