CHAPTER FIVE

SYNCHRONOUS MACHINES

By: Abdulfeta.M
Outline
 Introduction
 Construction
 Synchronous generator
 Working principle of SG
 The Infinite Bus /synchronization
 Parallel operation of SG
 Synchronous motor
 Principle of Operation SM
 Application of SM
 Advantage/dis-advantage of SM
 5.1. INTRODUCTION
 A synchronous machine rotates at a constant
speed in the steady state.
 Unlike induction machines, the rotating air gap
field and the rotor in the synchronous machine
rotate at the same speed, called the
synchronous speed.
 Synchronous machines are used primarily as
generators of electrical power.
In this case they are called synchronous
generators or alternators.
 They are usually large machines generating
electrical power at hydro, nuclear, or, thermal
power stations.
Synchronous generators with power ratings
of several hundred MVA (mega- volt -
amperes) are quite common in stations.

 Synchronous generators are the primary energy

conversion devices of the world's electrical
power systems today.
 Like most rotating machines, a synchronous
machine can also operate as both a generator
and a motor.
 In large sizes (several hundred or thousand
kilowatts) synchronous motors are used for
pumps in generating stations and
 in small sizes (fractional horsepower) they are
used in electrical clocks, timers, record
turntables, and so forth where constant speed is
desired.
 Most industrial drives run at variable speeds.
 In industrial, synchronous motor are used
mainly where a constant speed is desired.
 In industrial drives, therefore, synchronous
motors are not as widely used as induction or dc
motors.
 A linear version of the synchronous motor (LSM)
is being considered for high-speed
transportation systems of the future.
 An important feature of a synchronous motor is
that it can draw either lagging or leading
reactive current from the ac supply system.
 A synchronous machine is a doubly excited
machine.
Its rotor poles are excited by a dc current
and its stator windings are connected to
the ac supply .
 The air gap flux is therefore the resultant of the
fluxes due to both rotor current and stator
current.
 In induction machines, the only source of
excitation is the stator current, because rotor
currents are induced currents.
 Therefore, induction motors always
operate at a lagging power factor, because
lagging reactive current is required to
establish flux in the machine.
 On the other hand, in a synchronous motor:
 if the rotor field winding provides just the
necessary excitation, the stator will draw
no reactive current; that is, motor will
operate at a unity power factor.
  If the rotor excitation current is decreased,
lagging reactive current will be drawn from
the ac source to aid magnetization by the
rotor field current and the machine will
operate at a lagging power factor.
 If the rotor field current is increased,
leading reactive current will be drawn from
the ac source to oppose magnetization by
the rotor field current and the machine will
operate at a leading power factor.
 Thus, by changing the field current, the power
factor of the synchronous motor can be
controlled.
 If the motor is not loaded but is simply floating on
the ac supply system, it will thus behave as a
variable inductor or capacitor as its rotor field
current is changed.
 A synchronous machine with no load is called a
synchronous condenser .
 It may be used in power transmission
systems to regulate line voltage.
 In industry, synchronous motors are sometimes
used with other induction motors and operated in
an overexcited mode so that they draw leading
current to compensate the lagging current drawn
by the induction motors, thereby improving the
overall plant power factor.
 5.2 CONSTRUCTION OF THREE- PHASE SYNCHRONOUS
MACHINES
The stator of the three - phase synchronous
machine has a three- phase distributed winding
similar to that of the three - phase induction
machine.
Unlike the dc machine, the stator winding, which
is connected to the ac supply system, is
sometimes called the armature winding. It is
designed for high voltage and current.
The rotor has a winding called the field
winding, which carries direct current.
 The field winding on the rotating structure is
normally fed from an external dc source
through slip rings and brushes
 Synchronous machines can be broadly divided
into two groups as follows:
I. High - speed machines with cylindrical (or
non- salient pole) rotors.
II. Low - speed machines with salient pole
rotors.
 The cylindrical or non- salient pole rotor has one
distributed winding and an essentially uniform
air gap.
 These motors are used in large generators
(several hundred megawatts) with two or
sometimes four poles and are usually driven by
steam turbines.
 The rotors are long and have a small diameter
 salient pole rotors have concentrated windings
on the poles and a non-uniform air gap.
 Salient pole generators have a large number of
poles, sometimes as many as 50, and operate at
lower speeds.
 The synchronous generators in hydroelectric
power stations are of the salient pole type and
are driven by water turbines.
 These generators are rated for tens or hundreds
of megawatts.
 The rotors are shorter but have a large
diameter
 Smaller salient pole synchronous machines in
the range of 50 kW to 5 MW are also used.
 Such synchronous generators are used
independently as emergency power supplies.
 Salient pole synchronous motors are used to
drive pumps, cement mixers, and some other
industrial drives.
 Working of Synchronous generator
A DC current is applied to the rotor winding,
which then produces a rotor magnetic field.
The rotor is then turned by a prime mover (eg.
Steam, water etc.) producing a rotating
magnetic field.
This rotating magnetic field induces a 3-phase
set of voltages within the stator windings of
the generator.
 SYNCHRONOUS GENERATORS
 when the field current If flows through the rotor field
winding, it establishes sinusoidal distributed flux in
the air gap.
 If the rotor is now rotated by the prime mover (which
can be a turbine or diesel engine or dc motor or
induction motor), a revolving field is produced in the
air gap.
 This field is called the excitation field, because
it is produced by the excitation current If.
 The rotating flux so produced will change the flux
linkage of the armature windings aa', bb', and cc' and
will induce voltages in these stator windings.
 These induced voltages, shown in Fig below, have
the same magnitudes but are phase - shifted by
120 ° electrical degrees. And called excitation
voltage
 The rotor speed and frequency of the induced
voltage are related by:
 The excitation voltage is proportional to the
machine speed and excitation flux, and the latter
in turn depends on the excitation current If.
 The variation of the excitation voltage with the
field current is shown in Fig below
 and known as open-circuit characteristic (OCC)or-
magnetization characteristic of the synchronous
machine.
 THE INFINITE BUS
 Synchronous generators are rarely used to supply
individual loads.
 These generators, in general, are connected to a
power supply system known as an infinite bus or
grid.
 Because a large number of synchronous
generators of large sizes are connected together,
the voltage and frequency of the infinite bus
hardly change.
 Loads are tapped from the infinite bus at various
load canters.
 A typical infinite bus or grid system is shown in
Figure below
• Synchronisation/ Parallel operation of Alternators
 Synchronization of alternator means connecting
an alternator into grid in parallel with many
other alternators, that is in a live system of
constant voltage and constant frequency.

 Many alternators and loads are connected into a

grid, and all the alternators in grid are having
same output voltage and frequency (whatever
may be the power). It is also said that
the alternator is connected to infinite bus-bar.
Note:
 A stationary alternator is never connected
to live bus-bars, because it will result in
short circuit in the stator winding (since
there is no generated emf yet).
 In a power plant the synchronous generators
are connected to or disconnected from the
infinite bus, depending on the power demand
on the grid system.
 The operation of connecting a synchronous
generator to the infinite bus is known as
paralleling with the infinite bus .
 Before the alternator can be connected to the
infinite bus, the incoming alternator and the
infinite bus must have the same.
i. Voltage
ii. Frequency
iii. Phase sequence
iv. Phase
Before connecting an alternator into grid,
following conditions must be satisfied..
Same voltage: The terminal voltage of
incoming alternator must be equal to the
bus-bar voltage.
Same frequency: The frequency of
generated voltage must be equal to the
frequency of the bus-bar voltage.
Same Phase sequence: The phase
sequence of the three phases of alternator
must be similar to that of the grid or bus-
bars.
Zero Phase angle: The phase angle
between the generated voltage and the
voltage of grid must be zero.
 Advantages of Parallel Operating Alternators
 When there is maintenance or an inspection, one
machine can be taken out from service and the
other alternators can keep up for the continuity
of supply.
 Load supply can be increased.
 During light loads, more than one alternator can
be shut down while the other will operate in
nearly full load.
 High efficiency.
 The operating cost and generating costs are
reduced.
 Ensures the protection of supply and enables
cost-effective generation.
 Breaking down of a generator does not
cause any interruption in the supply.
 Reliability of the whole power system
increases.
 5.4. SYNCHRONOUS MOTORS
Features:
 Synchronous motors are inherently not self starting.
They require some external means to bring their
speed close to synchronous speed to before they are
synchronized.
 The speed of motor is in synchronism with the
supply frequency and hence for constant supply
frequency they behave as constant speed motor
irrespective of load condition.
 This motor has the unique characteristics of
operating under any electrical power factor.
 This makes it being used in electrical power
factor improvement.
Principle of Operation of Synchronous Motor
 When stator is supplied, it produces an RMF(rotating
magnetic field) which rotates at synchronous speed (Ns)
and DC supplied to rotor winding sets up a two pole field
which is stationary.
 Let stator induced poles at A-B as shown in fig.(a), it is
clear that poles N1&N2 and S1& S2 repelled each other.
 Therefore, rotor tends to move in anticlockwise direction.
 After a period of half cycle(1/2f) the poles of stator are
reversed but the rotor poles remain the same as shown in
fig(b).
 Now S1 &N2 attract each other and so do N1& S2,
therefore rotor tend to move in clockwise.
 Since the stator poles their polarities rapidly,
they tend to pull the rotor in one direction first
and then after a period of half cycle in the other.
Due to high inertia of rotor motor fails to start.
 By rotating the rotor by external means at a
speed of RMF, then the rotor will experience a
continuous unidirectional torque.
 Applications of synchronous motor

An overexcited synchronous motor operates at

leading power factor and takes a leading current
from the bus bars, so it can be used to raise
overall the power factor of the installation.

When a synchronous motor is run without load

with over-excitation for improving the power
factor of an installation it is called as the
synchronous capacitor or synchronous
condenser.
Such motors are also used to regulate the voltage at the
end of transmission lines.
Because of the higher efficiency possible with
synchronous motors, they can be used for loads where
constant speed is required.
Typical applications of a high-speed synchronous motor
(above 500 rpm) are fans, blowers, pumps and
compressors.
Since synchronous motors can be built for speeds as low
as 120 rpm. They are well-suited for direct connection to
reciprocating compressors, Pulp beaters and grinders,
steel and metal rolling mills, rock and ore crushers are
generally coupled or geared to the motor.
 Advantages of Synchronous Motor
 It can be operated under a wide range of power
factors both lagging and leading. Hence, it can be used
for power factor correction, in addition to supplying
torque to drive loads.
 Most synchronous motors are rated between 15 kW and
150 kW and run at speeds from 150 to 1800 rpm.
 It is less costly in certain kW and speed ranges i.e. for
35 to 350 kW rating at speeds less than 500 rpm.
 It usually runs at higher efficiencies, especially in low-
speed unity power factor
 It can be constructed with wider air gaps than induction
motors, which makes it batter mechanically.
 Disadvantages of Synchronous Motor
 It is not self-starting. Special methods are
adopted to make it self-starting.
 It needs frequent maintenance.
 External DC source is necessary for
providing excitation.
 Additional damper winding is necessary.
 Hunting takes place if the load is changed
suddenly.
Induction vs synchrnous motor
Thank you!!!