DC motors have a rotating armature winding but non-rotating armature magnetic field and a static field winding or permanent magnet. Different connections of the field and armature winding provide different inherent speed/torque regulation characteristics. The speed of a DC motor can be controlled by changing the voltage applied to the armature or by changing the field current. The introduction of variable resistance in the armature circuit or field circuit allowed speed control. Modern DC motors are often controlled by power electronics systems called DC drives.
The introduction of DC motors to run machinery eliminated the need for local steam or internal combustion engines, and line shaft drive systems. DC motors can operate directly from rechargeable batteries, providing the motive power for the first electric vehicles. Today DC motors are still found in applications as small as toys and disk drives, or in large sizes to operate steel rolling mills and paper machines.
There are three types of electrical connections between the stator and rotor possible for DC electric motors: series, shunt/parallel and compound ( various blends of series and shunt/parallel) and each has unique speed/torque characteristics appropriate for diffent loading torque profiles/signatures.
Series connection
A series DC motor connects the armature and field windings in series with a common D.C. power source. The motor speed varies as a non-linear function of load torque and armature current; current is common to both the stator and rotor yielding I^2 (current) squared behavior[citation