When the main winding of the shaded pole motor is energized, the shaded pole winding will also generate induced current, which will make the magnetic flux of the covered part of the stator pole and the uncovered part rotate in the direction of the covered part.

The construction of the motor is very simple because it does not contain any commutator, brushes, collector rings, etc. or any other part. The shaded pole induction motor does not have any centrifugal switch. Thus, the chances of failure of the motor are less.

The shaded pole induction motor is simply a self-starting single-phase induction motor whose one of the pole is shaded by the copper ring. The copper ring is also called the shaded ring. This copper ring act as a secondary winding for the motor. The shaded pole motor rotates only in one particular direction, and the reverse movement of the motor is not possible.

The motor has the advantages of simple structure, convenient manufacture, low cost, low noise and no radio interference during operation.

AC shaded-pole motors are widely used in small household appliances such as electric fans, hair dryers and vacuum cleaners because of their simple structure, low manufacturing cost and low running noise.

A Shaded Pole motor is an AC single phase induction motor. The auxiliary winding, which is composed of a copper ring, is called a shading coil. The current in this coil delay the phase of magnetic flux in that part of the pole in order to provide a rotating magnetic field. The direction of rotation is from the unshaded side to the shaded ring.

The shaded pole motor features stable structure, reliable operation, low noise and no electromagnetic interference.