A winding of wire placed on the stator or rotor of an electric motor or generator that produces the main magnetic field when direct current passes through it. The interaction between this field and the armature current creates the torque in motors or the voltage in generators. Adjusting the current in the field coil directly controls the machine's speed or output voltage.
Heard on the job
The generator output dropped to zero because we lost excitation to the field coil.
Also heard as
- excitation coil
- field winding