ELEC3130 ELECTRIC

MACHINES AND POWER

SYSTEMS

3.1 Synchronous Machines

Colin Coates
School of Electrical Engineering and Computing
Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment

July 2017
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Synchronous Machine Construction

• A synchronous machine most typically has;

– A stator housing a three-phase sinusoidally distributed
winding. The stator winding is referred to as the
armature winding as it is the main current carrying
winding and it is where the main electromotive force
(emf) is induced.
– A rotor housing a DC field field or excitation winding.
The rotor winding is referred to as a field winding as it
produces the main magnetic field in the machine.

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Rotor Structures

• The rotor of the synchronous machine is either

constructed with salient poles or is cylindrical

Used in lower speed machines (e.g. hydro and used in higher speed machines (.e.g. steam
diesel generators) and gas generators, turbo-generators)

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Field Excitation

• DC current must be supplied to the field circuit on the

rotor. There are two methods to do this;
– Supply the DC power from an external DC source
to the rotor by means of slip rings and brushes.
– Supply the DC power from a DC power source
mounted on the shaft of the synchronous machine.

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Slip Rings

• Slip rings are metal rings

encircling the shaft but
insulated from it.
• Each end of the DC rotor
winding is attached to a
separate slip ring.
• A stationary carbon brush
rides on each slip ring.
The brush provides the connection point to the external
DC source

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Brushless Exciters

• Larger synchronous
machines (1000-
2000MVA) use
brushless exciters to
supply the DC field
current.
• Brushless exciters
reduces losses in the
machine

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Brushless Exciters

• The permanent
magnets of the
pilot generator
produces a
field current of
the exciter
which in turns
produces the
field current of
the main
machine.
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Speed of Rotation

• Synchronous generators are by definition synchronous

meaning that the electrical frequency is locked in or
synchronized with the mechanical rate of rotation of
the generator.
𝑃
𝑓𝑒 = 𝑓𝑚
2
𝑛𝑚 𝑃
𝑓𝑒 =
120

where, 𝑛𝑚 = mechanical speed of rotor (rpm)

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Internal Generated Voltage

• Consider a rotating rotor with a sinusoidally distributed

magnetic field in the center of a stationary coil.

𝐵 = 𝐵𝑀 cos 𝛼

𝐵 = 𝐵𝑀 cos 𝜔𝑡 − 𝛼

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Internal Generated Voltage

• Voltage induced in a single coil

𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑑 = 2 × 𝐵𝑙𝑣
𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑑 = 2 × 𝐵𝑚 cos 𝜔𝑡 𝑙𝑣
𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑑 = 2𝑙 𝑟𝜔 𝐵𝑚 cos 𝜔𝑡

𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑑 = 𝜙𝜔 cos 𝜔𝑡

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Internal Generated Voltage

• If the coil has 𝑁𝑐 turns

𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑑 = 𝑁𝑐 𝜙𝜔 cos 𝜔𝑡

• The peak voltage in the winding is

𝐸𝑚𝑎𝑥 = 𝑁𝑐 𝜙𝜔 = 2π𝑁𝑐 𝜙𝑓

• RMS voltage in the winding is

𝐸𝐴 = 2𝜋𝑁𝐶 𝜙𝑓

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Magnetisation Curve

𝐸𝐴 = 2𝜋𝑁𝐶 𝜙𝑓 𝐸𝐴 = 𝐾𝜙𝜔

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Equivalent Circuit of a Synchronous Generator

• The voltage that appears at the synchronous

generators terminals differs from the internal
generated voltage due to;
– Armature reaction
– Self inductance of the armature coils
– Resistance of the armature coils
– Effect of the salient pole shape
• Incorporating these effects leads to a model of the
synchronous generator

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Armature Reaction

a) No load connected to the generator. Rotor field 𝐵𝑅 produces an

internal generated voltage 𝐸𝐴 whose peak aligns with the peak
of the rotor field
b) Generator connected to a lagging load. Peak current will occur
behind the peak voltage

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Armature Reaction

c) Stator current produces its own magnetic field 𝐵𝑆 and the stator
field produces its own voltage 𝐸𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑡
d) Terminal voltage (V) is the sum of the internally generated
voltage (EA) plus the armature reaction voltage (Estat). Net field
is the sum of the rotor and stator fields

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Modelling Armature Reaction

• Note 𝐸𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑡 lies 90°behind the stator current, 𝐼𝐴 , and

its magnitude is directly proportional to 𝐼𝐴 .

𝐸𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑡 = −𝑗𝑋𝐼𝐴

𝑉𝜙 = 𝐸𝐴 − 𝑗𝑋𝐼𝐴

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Per Phase Equivalent Circuit

• Incorporating the self-inductance and resistance of the

stator coils.
𝑉𝜙 = 𝐸𝐴 − 𝑗𝑋𝐼𝐴 − 𝑗𝑋𝐴 𝐼𝐴 − 𝑅𝐴 𝐼𝐴
𝑋𝑆 = 𝑋 + 𝑋𝐴
𝑉𝜙 = 𝐸𝐴 − 𝑗𝑋𝑆 𝐼𝐴 − 𝑅𝐴 𝐼𝐴

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Example (Chapman problem 5.2)

A 480V, 200kVA, 0.8 power factor lagging, two-pole Y-

connected generator has a synchronous reactance of
0.25Ω and an armature resistance of 0.03Ω.
At 60Hz, its friction and windage losses are 6kW, and its
core losses are 4kW. The field circuit has a DC voltage
of 200V, and the maximum IF is 10A. The resistance of
the field circuit is adjustable over the range from 20 to
200Ω.

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Example (Chapman problem 5.2)

(a) How much current is required to make VT equal to

480V when the generator is running at no load?

𝐼𝐹 = 4.55𝐴

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Example (Chapman problem 5.2)

(b) What is the internal generated voltage of this machine

at rated conditions?
Rated conditions 480V, 200kVA, 0.8 pf lagging
Y-connected stator so,
𝑆 200𝑘
𝐼𝐴 = 𝐼𝐿 = = = 240.6𝐴 at angle -36.87°
3𝑉𝐿𝐿 3×480

Noting: 𝜃 = − cos −1 0.8 = −36.87°

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Example (Chapman problem 5.2)

Equivalent circuit
jXS RA 𝐼𝐴 = 240.6∠ − 36.87°

480∠0°
EA 𝑉∅ = = 277∠0°
3

𝐸𝐴 = 𝑉𝜙 + 𝐼𝐴 𝑅𝐴 + 𝑗𝑋𝑆 𝐼𝐴

𝐸𝐴 = 277∠0° + 0.03 × 240.6∠ − 36.87°

+𝑗0.25 × 0.03 × 240.6∠ − 36.87°
𝐸𝐴 = 322∠7.8°
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Example (Chapman problem 5.2)

(c) How much field current is required to make VT equal

to 480V when the generator is running at rated
conditions?

𝐼𝐹 = 7𝐴

3 × 322 = 558𝑉

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Example (Chapman problem 5.2)

(d) How much power and torque must the generators

prime mover be capable of supplying?

𝑃𝑜𝑢𝑡 = 200kVA × 0.8 = 160kW

𝑃𝑐𝑢 = 3𝐼𝐴2 𝑅𝐴 = 3 240.6 2
0.03 = 5.2kW

𝑃𝑓+𝑤 = 6kW

𝑃𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑒 = 4kW
𝑃𝑖𝑛 = 160 + 5.2 + 6 + 4 = 175.2𝑘𝑊

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Example (Chapman problem 5.2)

The generator is a 2-pole machine so spins at 60Hz (or

3600rpm)
𝑃𝑖𝑛 175.2k
𝜏= = = 465Nm
𝜔𝑚 60 × 2𝜋

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Questions?

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