Understanding Motor Controls, Cengage International Edition,
5th Edition

Stephen L. Herman, Frank Seiler

ISBN-13: 9798214129464
Copyright 2026 | Published
657 pages | List Price: USD $250.95

Herman/Seiler's UNDERSTANDING MOTOR CONTROLS, Cengage International Edition, is designed for students with no previous motor control experience. It introduces basic principles and common motor control components to build simple control circuits. Illustrations depict troubleshooting circuits using basic types of meters and test equipment. While the use of modern equipment is highlighted throughout the book, legacy types of timers and other motor control devices are included for reference. Updates include the most recent edition of the National Electrical Code®, clearly illustrating how to select overloads and protect the control circuitry. Motor control components and hands-on laboratory experiments enable students to practice and apply the concepts, starting with simple circuits and advancing to more complicated circuits involving timing relays, electronic control devices and auto-transformer starters.

Purchase Enquiry INSTRUCTOR’S eREVIEW COPY

Electrical and Material Safety.
Section I: BASIC CONTROL CIRCUITS AND COMPONENTS.
1. General Principles of Motor Control.
2. Symbols and Schematic Diagrams.
3. Manual Starters.
4. Overload Relays.
5. Relays, Contactors, and Motor Starters.
6. The Control Transformer.
Section II: BASIC CONTROL CIRCUITS.
7. Start-Stop Pushbutton Control.
8. Multiple Pushbutton Stations.
9. Forward-Reverse Control.
10. Jogging and Inching.
11. Timing Relays.
12. Sequence Control.
Section III: SENSING DEVICES.
13. Pressure Switches and Sensors.
14. Float Switches and Liquid Level Sensors.
15. Flow Switches.
16. Limit Switches.
17. Temperature Sensing Devices.
18. Hall Effect Sensors.
19. Proximity Detectors.
20. Photodetectors.
21. Reading Large Schematic Diagrams.
22. Installing Control Systems.
Section IV: STARTING AND BRAKING METHODS.
23. Across-the-Line Starting.
24. Resistor and Reactor Starting for AC Motors.
25. Autotransformer Starting.
26. Wye-Delta Starting.
27. Part Winding Starting.
28. DC Motors.
29. Single-Phase Motors.
30. Braking.
Section V: WOUND ROTOR, SYNCHRONOUS, AND CONSEQUENT POLE MOTORS.
31. Wound Rotor Motors.
32. Synchronous Motors.
33. Consequent Pole Motors.
Section VI: VARIABLE SPEED DRIVES.
34. Variable Voltage and Magnetic Clutches.
35. Solid State DC Motor Controls.
36. Variable Frequency Control.
Section VII: MOTOR INSTALLATION.
37. Motor Installation.
Section VIII: PROGRAMMABLE LOGIC CONTROLLERS.
38. Programmable Logic Controllers.
39. Programming a PLC.
40. Analog Sensing for PLCs.
Section IX: DEVELOPING CONTROL CIRCUITS AND TROUBLESHOOTING.
41. Developing Control Circuits.
42. Troubleshooting.
Section X: ELECTRONICS FOR INDUSTRIAL MOTOR CONTROL.
43. Direct Drives and Pulley Drives.
44. Semiconductors.
45. The PN Junction.
46. The Zener Diode.
47. Light Emitting Diodes and Photodiodes.
48. The Transistor.
49. The Unijunction Transistor (UJT).
50. The SCR.
51. The Diac.
52. The Triac.
53. The 555 Timer.
54. The Operational Amplifier.
Section XI: LAB EXERCISES.

  • Stephen L. Herman

    As a retired electrician and proficient instructor with more than 30 years of practical experience, Stephen L. Herman is known for his reader-friendly approach. A seasoned author, Mr. Herman has written leading books on electricity and mathematics that are popular with students and instructors alike. For two decades Mr. Herman served as lead instructor for the Electrical Technology Curriculum at Lee College in Baytown, Texas, where he received an Excellence in Education Award from the Halliburton Education Foundation. He also taught at Randolph Community College in Asheboro, North Carolina, for nine years and helped pioneer an electrical curriculum for Northeast Texas Community College in Mount Pleasant, Texas. His additional publications include ELECTRIC MOTOR CONTROL, ELECTRICITY AND CONTROLS FOR HVAC/R, INDUSTRIAL MOTOR CONTROLS, UNDERSTANDING MOTOR CONTROLS, ELECTRONICS FOR ELECTRICIANS, ALTERNATING CURRENT FUNDAMENTALS, DIRECT CURRENT FUNDAMENTALS, ELECTRICAL STUDIES FOR TRADES, ELECTRICAL PRINCIPLES, EXPERIMENTS IN ELECTRICITY FOR USE WITH LAB VOLT EQUIPMENT, THE COMPLETE LABORATORY MANUAL FOR ELECTRICITY, and PRACTICAL PROBLEMS IN MATHEMATICS FOR ELECTRICIANS.

  • Frank Seiler

    With three decades of both in-the-field and instructional experience, Frank Seiler is able to convey practical installation requirements as well as code compliance in his teaching and writing. Mr. Seiler has been a member of the International Association of Electrical Inspectors for almost 30 years, teaching for the local Eastern Washington chapter as well as on occasion for IEC, IBEW and motor controls in the Electrical Maintenance and Automation department at Spokane Community College. Prior to working in academia, Mr. Seiler served as a lead electrical inspector for the Department of Labor and Industries of Washington State. Seeing a need for more extensive training opportunities, he has been the director of INW Industrial Training LLC since 2011, where he continues to teach continuing education classes, test preparation and electrical safety for onsite customers.

  • Expanded coverage highlights industrial motor control topics and basic electronics coverage needed for modern installation as well as repairs of older systems.

  • The abundance of clear illustrations have been thoroughly updated to depict recent components and technologies to help students visualize and reinforce challenging principles.

  • The hands-on lab experiments are designed so that you and your students can construct and complete the experiments with materials you have access to.

  • Detailed examples and associated troubleshooting test questions clarify difficult topics and prepare students for real-life situations they will encounter in the field.

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