A variable speed motor is disclosed. The variable speed motor includes: a main winding including first and second main windings, and an auxiliary winding including first and second auxiliary windings, wherein the main winding and the auxiliary winding are wound on a
stator to form a plurality of poles; and a plurality of relays for performing a switching operation between serial / parallel connections of the first and second main windings or the first and second auxiliary windings. The variable speed motor includes: a
stator on which a 4-pole winding and a 12-pole winding are wound; a plurality of tap windings connected in series to a 4-pole main winding forming 4 poles, for extending a variable range of rotation speed of the motor during a 4-pole
operation mode; and a
phase control circuit for varying rotation speed of the motor by controlling a phase of an input power-supply
signal during a 12-pole
operation mode. Therefore, the variable speed motor greatly extends the range of a variable speed of the motor, and does not require an additional drive unit for varying the
motor speed, such that production costs are greatly reduced, and
electromagnetic vibration noise caused by a low-speed
control mode of the motor is also greatly reduced. Rotation speed of the motor is controlled by a
phase control operation and a winding switching operation, such that the variable speed motor effectively controls the
motor speed, and greatly reduces
power consumption.