Carbon Brushes for DC motors

Our research efforts result in brush materials which provide better commutating ability, longer life, and reduced commutator maintenance. Mersen produces advanced brush grades for service conditions ranging from high loads to low loads, contaminated environments (chemicals, moisture, oil vapors), and other difficult operating conditions. Graphite grades that meet your requirements can thus be readily selected from our variety of materials. Please refer to Mersen’s Technical Guide "Carbon brushes for motors and generators" for further information.

Mersen, a reference supplier of electric motor manufacturers, also offers dedicated services of refurbishment, replacement of brushes and brush-holders, re-engineering and trainings.

Mersen is capable of supplying you with carbon brushes of various designs, shapes and sizes, with high quality of manufacturing. When required, we could adjust the design (grade, cable, top pad, wafer size…) to adapt the carbon brush specifically to your DC motor application. 

Operations of brushes can be optimized by enhancing their mechanical stability (shape, components, friction coefficient), electrical performances (voltage drop at contact, commutation ability, load capacity), and reducing their sensitivity to environmental condition (protecting / polishing / lubricating action on the commutator skin), etc. The function of a good brush is further explained in our technical data sheet reference TDS 01. 

In addition, Mersen offers solutions for alerting users on brush wear (indicator devices, linked to the brush or to the brush-holder), or, to go even further, monitoring operational parameters with our complete solution MERSEN Total Monitoring.

As a summary, Mersen’s carbon brushes main features are:

• Specific designs
• Selected grades
• High quality tamping
• Optimized cable dimensions
• Good mechanical stability
• Low friction coefficient
• Adapted range of current density
• High transient current load capacity
• Good acceptability for commutation 
• Wide speed range (from 15 m/s to 55 m/s)

Carbon brushes from Mersen lead the way in many adverse applications of DC motors such as: traction (locomotives, metros, mining…), lifting (forklifts, cranes, elevators…), conveyors (mining, cement and metalworking industries), extruders (plastics, metallurgy), and also winders, ventilators, pumps, etc.

Click on links below to discover our range of products for each market:

• Electric and Diesel Electric Locomotives (traction motors)
• Transit & Metro (traction motors of metros, tramways or trolleybusses)
• Aerospace (auxiliary motors)
• Metallurgy (rolling mills, winders, wire drawing machines, extruders, winding machines)
• Paper plants (paper machines, winders)
• Cement plants (furnace motors, ventilators, ground or aerial conveyors)
• Plastic Industry (extruders)
• Forklifts (lifting motors, traction motors)
• Mining (draglines, shovels, wheel motors for front loaders and trucks, conveyors)
• Ports & marine (lifting motors for cranes and gantry cranes, propulsion motors, onboard motors)
• Oil & gas (drilling, lifting, pump and anchor motors)
• Elevators (lifting)
• Ski lifts (motors)