Electrical Machine System

SYNCHRONOU
S
GENERATOR/
ALTERNATOR
Dr. M. Julkarnain
 Synchronous Generators
Outlines of lecture # 1
❖ Working principles
❖ Construction details
❖ How to supply field current?
❖ Armature winding: Single layer and double layers winding,
full pitched and short-pitched winding,
❖ Different factors
❖ Problems solution
 Working Principles
The working principle of an
alternator or AC generator is similar
to the basic working principle of DC
generator. According to the Faraday's
law of electromagnetic induction,
whenever a conductor moves in a
magnetic field EMF gets induced
across the conductor. If close path is
provided to the conductor, induced
emf causes current to flow in the
circuit.

Direction of induced current can be

given by Fleming's right hand rule.
Main parts of the alternator,Construction
obviously, consists of stator and rotor.
But, the unlike other machines, in
most of the alternators, field exciters
are rotating and the armature coil is
stationary.

Stator: The stator consist of cast-iron

frame, which supports the armature core,
having slots on its inner periphery for
housing the armature conductors. The
stator core is made up of lamination
of steel alloys or magnetic iron, to
minimize the eddy current losses.

Rotor: The rotor is like a flywheel

having alternate N and S poles fixed
to its outer rim.
Advantages of Stationary armature: Construction
• The high voltage output can be directly taken out from
the stationary armature. Whereas, for a rotary armature,
there will be large brush contact drop at higher voltages,
also the sparking at the brush surface will occur.

• At high voltages, it easier to insulate stationary armature

winding for high ac voltages, which may be as high as
30 kV or more.

• The sliding contacts i. e. slip-rings are transferred to the

low-voltage, low-power dc field circuit which can,
therefore, be easily insulated.

• The armature winding can be braced well, so as to

prevent deformation caused by the high centrifugal
force.
 Construction
Rotor: There are two types of rotor
used in an AC generator / alternator:
(i) Salient and (ii) Cylindrical type

(i) Salient pole type: A salient pole is a

magnetic pole that sticks out radially
from the shaft of the rotor. This type of
rotor consists of large number of
projected poles (called salient poles),
bolted on a magnetic wheel. These
poles are also laminated to minimize
the eddy current losses. Alternators
featuring this type of rotor are large in
diameters and short in axial length.
Salient pole type rotor is used in low
and medium speed (1200 RPM or less)
alternators.
 Construction
Rotor: There are two types of rotor used in an AC generator / alternator:
(i) Salient and (ii) Cylindrical type

Cylindrical type: a non-salient pole or cylindrical pole is a magnetic pole with

windings embedded flush with the surface o f the rotor. This type of rotor
consists of a smooth and solid steel cylinder having slots along its outer
periphery. Field windings are placed in these slots. Cylindrical type rotors are
used in high speed alternators, especially in turbo alternators.
 Construction
Rotor: There are two types of rotor used in an AC generator / alternator:
(i) Salient and (ii) Cylindrical type
Construction
 Construction

• Dumper winding are useful in preventing the hunting in generators.

• The dumper winding also tends to maintain balanced 3-phase
voltage under unbalanced load conditions.
 How to supply field current?

There are two common approaches to supplying this dc power:

1. Supply the dc power from an external dc source to the rotor by means
of slip rings and brushes.
2. Supply the dc power from a special dc power source mounted directly
on the shaft of the synchronous generator.
.

Slip rings and brushes

Need regular maintenance: brush
wearied
Significant power loss due to voltage
drop in brush
 How to supply field current?

Exciter
A brushless exciter is a small ac
generator with its field circuit
mounted on the stator and its
armature circuit mounted on the
rotor shaft. The three-phase output
of the exciter generator is rectified
to direct current by a three-phase
rectifier circuit also mounted on the
shaft of the ( generator, and is then
fed into the main dc field circuit.
 How to supply field current?

Self-Exciter
To make the excitation of a
generator completely independent of
any external power sources, a small
pilot exciter is often included in the
system. A pilot exciter is a small ac
generator with permanent magnets
mounted on the rotor shaft and a
three-phase winding on the stator. It
produces the power for the field
circuit of the exciter, which in turn
controls the field circuit of the main
machine.
 Armature Windings
Winding are two types:
(i) Single Layer
(ii) Double Layer

Single Layer
 Armature Windings
Double Layer
 Armature Windings
Double Layer
 Armature Windings
Star-Delta connection
 Armature Windings

COIL PITCH : The distance between the two sides of a coil is called the
coil span or coil pitch.

POLE PITCH: The angular distance between the central line of one pole
to the central line of the next pole is called Pole Pitch. A pole pitch
always 180 electrical degrees regardless of the number of poles on the
machine.
 Armature Windings
Full Pitch Coil: A coil having a span equal to 180 electrical degree is
called a full pitch coil as show in fig.

Short Pitch Coil: A coil having a span less than 180 electrical degree is
called Short pitch coil or frictional pitch coil. It is also called chorded
coil.
 Armature Windings
Advantages of short pitch winding

• They save copper of end connections

• They improve the wave-form of the generated emf i.e. the

generated emf can be made to approximate to a sine wave
more easily and the distorting harmonics can be reduced or
totally eliminated

• Due to elimination of high frequency harmonics, eddy

current and hysteresis losses are reduced thereby increasing
the efficiency
 Armature Windings
Coil Span Factor or Pitch factor: Kc is the defined as the
ratio of the voltage generated in short pitch coil to the voltage
generated in full pitch coil. the coil span factor is also called chording
Factor.

For full pitch coil, α = 0 cos( α/2 ) = 1 and Kc =1 . for a short pitch
coil Kc < 1.
 Armature Windings
Problem solution-1
 Armature Windings
Distribution/Breadth/ Spread/ Winding Factor:

3-phase, 4-pole single layer winding

Total 36 slots: 9 slots/pole;
3 slots/pole/phase
Angular displacement between any
two adjacent slots=180/9= 20 deg
 Armature Windings
Distribution/Breadth/ Spread/ Winding Factor:

If three coils on one slot,

total emf = 3Es (Fig. a)

For distributed coil the vector sum can be found from Fig. b
 Armature Windings
Distribution/Breadth/ Spread/ Winding Factor:
 Armature Windings
Distribution/Breadth/ Spread/ Winding Factor:
 Armature Windings
Distribution/Breadth/ Spread/ Winding Factor:
 Synchronous Generators
Outlines of lecture # 2
❖ Relation between Speed, Frequency, and Pole
❖ Equation of induced EMF
❖ Equivalent circuits and phasor diagram of synchronous
machine
❖ Efficiency and losses
❖ Power and torque equations
 Relation between Speed, Frequency, and
Pole
Let
P= total number of magnetic poles
N= rotative speed of the rotor in rpm
f= frequency of generated emf in Hz
Since one cycle of emf is produced when a pair of
poles passes past a conductor, the number of cycles
of emf produced in one revolution of the rotor is
equal to the number of pair of poles.
No of cycles/revolution = P/2
No of revolutions/second =N/60
Thus, frequency, f = P/2 X N/60= PN/120 Hz
Equation of induced EMF
Equation of induced EMF
 Equivalent Circuit of a Synchronous Machines
Power conversion reversed in motor

Synchronous Generator Synchronous Motor

 Equivalent Circuit of a Synchronous Machines
Power conversion reversed in motor

Synchronous Generator Synchronous Motor

 Efficiency and losses
•
 Efficiency and losses
Losses in AC machines

The losses that occur in ac machines can be divided into four basic
categories:

• Electrical or copper losses (l2R losses)

• Core losses
• Mechanical losses
• Stray losses
 Efficiency and losses
•
 Efficiency and losses
Losses in AC machines
CORE LOSSES: The core losses are the hysteresis losses and eddy
current losses occurring in the metal of the motor.

MECHANICAL LOSSES: The mechanical losses in an ac machine

are the losses associated with mechanical effects. There are two
basic types of mechanical losses: friction and windage. Friction
losses are losses caused by the friction of the bearings in the
machine, while windage losses are caused by the friction between
the moving parts of the machine and the air inside the motor's
casing. These losses vary as the cube of the speed of rotation of the
machine.
The mechanical and core losses of a machine are often lumped
together and called the no-load rotational loss of the machine.
 Efficiency and losses
Losses in AC machines
STRAY LOSSES (OR MISCELLANEOUS LOSSES): Stray
losses are losses that cannot be placed in one of the previous
categories. No matter how carefully losses are accounted for, some
always escape inclusion in one of the above categories. All such
losses are lumped into stray losses. For most machines, stray losses
are taken by convention to be 1 percent of full load.
 Determination of machine parameters

To obtain the parameters of a synchronous

generator, we perform three simple tests:

❖The resistance test

❖The open-circuit test
❖The short-circuit test
Determination of machine parameters
Determination of machine parameters
Determination of machine parameters
Determination of machine parameters
Determination of machine parameters
Determination of machine parameters
Determination of machine parameters
Determination of machine parameters
Determination of machine parameters
Determination of machine parameters
Determination of machine parameters
Voltage Regulation of Alternator
Voltage Regulation of Alternator
 Voltage Regulation of Alternator
Synchronous Impedance/ EMF method
 Voltage Regulation of Alternator
Synchronous Impedance/ EMF method
 Voltage Regulation of Alternator
Synchronous Impedance/ EMF method
Voltage Regulation of Alternator
 Voltage Regulation of Alternator
Ampere-Turn/ MMF method
 Voltage Regulation of Alternator
Ampere-Turn/ MMF method
 Voltage Regulation of Alternator
Ampere-Turn/ MMF method
 Voltage Regulation of Alternator
Ampere-Turn/ MMF method
 Voltage Regulation of Alternator
Zero Power Factor/ Potier method
 Voltage Regulation of Alternator
Zero Power Factor/ Potier method
 Voltage Regulation of Alternator
Zero Power Factor/ Potier method