1

Synchronous machines

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Construction of synchronous
machines
Synchronous machines are AC machines that have a field
circuit supplied by an external DC source.
In a synchronous generator, a DC current is applied to the rotor winding
producing a rotor magnetic field. The rotor is then turned by external means
producing a rotating magnetic field, which induces a 3-phase voltage within
the stator winding.
In a synchronous motor, a 3-phase set of stator currents produces a
rotating magnetic field causing the rotor magnetic field to align with it. The
rotor magnetic field is produced by a DC current applied to the rotor
winding.
Field windings are the windings producing the main magnetic field (rotor
windings for synchronous machines); armature windings are the windings
where the main voltage is induced (stator windings for synchronous
machines).
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Construction of synchronous
machines
The rotor of a synchronous machine is a large electromagnet. The magnetic poles
can be either salient (sticking out of rotor surface) or non-salient construction.

Non-salient-pole rotor: usually two- and four-pole rotors. Salient-pole rotor: four
and more poles.

Rotors are made laminated to reduce eddy current losses.

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Construction of synchronous
machines
A synchronous rotor with 8 salient poles

Salient pole without

Salient pole with field
field windings –
windings
observe laminations

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Construction of synchronous
machines
Two common approaches are used to supply a DC current to the field circuits on
the rotating rotor:

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 machine.

Slip rings are metal rings completely encircling the shaft of a machine but insulated
from it. One end of a DC rotor winding is connected to each of the two slip rings on
the machine’s shaft. Graphite-like carbon brushes connected to DC terminals ride on
each slip ring supplying DC voltage to field windings regardless the position or speed
of the rotor.
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Construction of synchronous
machines

Slip rings

Brush

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Construction of synchronous
machines
Slip rings and brushes have certain disadvantages: increased friction and wear
(therefore, needed maintenance), brush voltage drop can introduce significant
power losses. Still this approach is used in most small synchronous machines.
On large generators and motors, brushless exciters are used.
A brushless exciter is a small AC generator whose field circuits are
mounted on the stator and armature circuits are mounted on the rotor
shaft. The exciter generator’s 3-phase output is rectified to DC by a 3-
phase rectifier (mounted on the shaft) and fed into the main DC field
circuit. It is possible to adjust the field current on the main machine by
controlling the small DC field current of the exciter generator (located on
the stator).
Since no mechanical contact occurs between the rotor and the stator, exciters of
this type require much less maintenance.

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Construction of synchronous
machines
A brushless exciter: a
low 3-phase current is
rectified and used to
supply the field circuit
of the exciter (located
on the stator). The
output of the exciter’s
armature circuit (on the
rotor) is rectified and
used as the field
current of the main
machine.

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Construction of synchronous
machines
To make the
excitation of a
generator completely
independent of any
external power
source, a small pilot
exciter is often added
to the circuit. The pilot
exciter is an AC
generator with a
permanent magnet
mounted on the rotor
shaft and a 3-phase
winding on the stator
producing the power
for the field circuit of
the exciter.

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Construction of synchronous
machines

A rotor of large
synchronous machine
with a brushless exciter
mounted on the same
shaft.

Many synchronous
generators having
brushless exciters also
include slip rings and
brushes to provide
emergency source of
the field DC current.

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Construction of synchronous
machines
A large
synchronous
machine with
the exciter
and salient
poles.

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Principle of operation

Synchronous generator operation

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More pictures

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Rotation speed of synchronous

generator
By the definition, synchronous generators produce electricity whose
frequency is synchronized with the mechanical rotational speed.

nm P
fe  (7.11.1)
120
Where fe is the electrical frequency, Hz;
nm is mechanical speed of magnetic field (rotor speed for synchronous
machine), rpm;
P is the number of poles.
Steam turbines are most efficient when rotating at high speed; therefore,
to generate 60 Hz, they are usually rotating at 3600 rpm and turn 2-pole
generators.
Water turbines are most efficient when rotating at low speeds (200-300
rpm); therefore, they usually turn generators with many poles.

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Internal generated voltage of a

synchronous generator
The magnitude of internal generated voltage induced in a given stator is

EA  2 NC f  K
where K is a constant representing the construction of the machine,  is flux in it
and  is its rotation speed.

Since flux in the

machine depends
on the field current
through it, the
internal generated
voltage is a
function of the
rotor field current.
Magnetization curve (open-circuit characteristic) of a
synchronous machine
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Equivalent circuit of a synchronous

generator
The internally generated voltage in a single phase of a
synchronous machine EA is not usually the voltage appearing
at its terminals. It equals to the output voltage V only when
there is no armature current in the machine. The reasons
that the armature voltage EA is not equal to the output
voltage V are:
1. Distortion of the air-gap magnetic field caused by the
current flowing in the stator (armature reaction);
2. Self-inductance of the armature coils;
3. Resistance of the armature coils;
4. Effect of salient-pole rotor shapes.

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Equivalent circuit of a synchronous

generator
Armature reaction (the
largest effect):

When the rotor of a synchronous

generator is spinning, a voltage
EA is induced in its stator. When
a load is connected, a current
starts flowing creating a Lagging
load
magnetic field in machine’s
stator. This stator magnetic field
BS adds to the rotor (main)
magnetic field BR affecting the
total magnetic field and,
therefore, the phase voltage.

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Equivalent circuit of a synchronous

generator
Assuming that the generator is connected to a lagging load, the load current IA will
create a stator magnetic field BS, which will produce the armature reaction voltage
Estat. Therefore, the phase voltage will be

V  E A  Estat (7.16.1)

The net magnetic flux will be

Bnet  BR  BS (7.16.2)

Rotor field Stator field

Note that the directions of the net magnetic flux and the phase voltage are the
same.

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Equivalent circuit of a synchronous

generator
Assuming that the load reactance is X, the armature reaction voltage is

Estat   jXI A
The phase voltage is then V  E A  jXI A (7.17.2)

Armature reactance can be modeled by the following

circuit…
However, in addition to armature reactance effect,
the stator coil has a self-inductance LA (XA is the
corresponding reactance) and the stator has
resistance RA. The phase voltage is thus

V  E A  jXI A  jX A I A  RI A (7.17.3)

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Equivalent circuit of a synchronous

generator
Often, armature reactance and self-inductance are combined into the synchronous
reactance of the machine:

XS  X  X A (7.18.1)

Therefore, the phase voltage is

V  E A  jX S I A  RI A (7.18.2)

The equivalent circuit of a 3-phase

synchronous generator is shown.

The adjustable resistor Radj controls the

field current and, therefore, the rotor
magnetic field.

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Equivalent circuit of a synchronous

generator
A synchronous generator can be Y- or -connected:

The terminal voltage will be

VT  3V  forY 

(7.19.1) VT  V  for (7.19.2)

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Equivalent circuit of a synchronous

generator
Note: the discussion above assumed a balanced load on the generator!

Since – for balanced loads – the three phases of a synchronous generator are
identical except for phase angles, per-phase equivalent circuits are often used.

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Phasor diagram of a synchronous

generator
Since the voltages in a synchronous generator are AC voltages, they are usually
expressed as phasors. A vector plot of voltages and currents within one phase is
called a phasor diagram.
A phasor diagram of a synchronous generator
with a unity power factor (resistive load)

Lagging power factor (inductive load): a larger

than for leading PF internal generated voltage
EA is needed to form the same phase voltage.

Leading power factor (capacitive load).

For a given field current and magnitude of

load current, the terminal voltage is lower for
lagging loads and higher for leading loads.
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Power and torque in synchronous

generators
A synchronous generator needs to be connected to a prime mover whose speed is
reasonably constant (to ensure constant frequency of the generated voltage) for
various loads.
The applied mechanical power
Pin   appm (7.22.1)

is partially converted to electricity

Pconv   ind m  3EA I A cos  (7.22.2)

Where  is the angle between

EA and IA.

The power-flow diagram of a

synchronous generator.

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Power and torque in synchronous

generators
The real output power of the synchronous generator is

Pout  3VT I L cos   3V I A cos  (7.23.1)

The reactive output power of the synchronous generator is

Qout  3VT I L sin   3V I A sin  (7.23.2)

Recall that the power factor angle  is the angle between V and IA and not the
angle between VT and IL.
In real synchronous machines of any size, the
armature resistance RA << XS and, therefore,
the armature resistance can be ignored. Thus,
a simplified phasor diagram indicates that
E A sin 
I A cos   (7.23.3)
XS
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Power and torque in synchronous

generators
Then the real output power of the synchronous generator can be approximated as

3V EA sin 
Pout  (7.24.1)
XS
We observe that electrical losses are assumed to be zero since the resistance is
neglected. Therefore:
Pconv  Pout (7.24.2)

Here  is the torque angle of the machine – the angle between V and EA.

The maximum power can be supplied by the generator when  = 900:

3V E A
Pmax  (7.24.3)
XS
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Power and torque in synchronous

generators
The maximum power specified by (7.24.3) is called the static stability limit
of the generator. Normally, real generators do not approach this limit: full-
load torque angles are usually between 150 and 200.
The induced torque is

 ind  kBR  BS  kBR  Bnet  kBR Bnet sin  (7.25.1)

Notice that the torque angle  is also the angle between the rotor magnetic field
BR and the net magnetic field Bnet.

Alternatively, the induced torque is

3V E A sin 
 ind  (7.25.2)
m X S

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Measuring parameters of
synchronous generator model
The three quantities must be determined in order to describe the generator model:
1. The relationship between field current and flux (and therefore between the field
current IF and the internal generated voltage EA);
2. The synchronous reactance;
3. The armature resistance.

We conduct first the open-circuit test on the synchronous generator: the generator
is rotated at the rated speed, all the terminals are disconnected from loads, the
field current is set to zero first. Next, the field current is increased in steps and the
phase voltage (whish is equal to the internal generated voltage EA since the
armature current is zero) is measured.

Therefore, it is possible to plot the dependence of the internal generated voltage

on the field current – the open-circuit characteristic (OCC) of the generator.

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Measuring parameters of
synchronous generator model
Since the unsaturated core of the machine has a
reluctance thousands times lower than the
reluctance of the air-gap, the resulting flux
increases linearly first. When the saturation is
reached, the core reluctance greatly increases
causing the flux to increase much slower with
the increase of the mmf.

We conduct next the short-circuit test on the synchronous generator: the generator
is rotated at the rated speed, all the terminals are short-circuited through
ammeters, the field current is set to zero first. Next, the field current is increased in
steps and the armature current IA is measured as the field current is increased.

The plot of armature current (or line current) vs. the field current is the short-circuit
characteristic (SCC) of the generator.
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Measuring parameters of
synchronous generator model
The SCC is a straight line since, for the
short-circuited terminals, the magnitude of
the armature current is
EA
IA  (7.28.1)
RA2  X S2
The equivalent generator’s circuit during SC

The resulting
phasor diagram

The magnetic
fields during
Since BS almost cancels BR, the short-circuit test
net field Bnet is very small.
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Measuring parameters of
synchronous generator model
An approximate method to determine the synchronous reactance XS at a given
field current:
1. Get the internal generated voltage EA from the OCC at that field current.
2. Get the short-circuit current IA,SC at that field current from the SCC.
3. Find XS from
EA
XS  (7.29.1)
I A, SC

Since the internal machine impedance is

EA
ZS  R  X  2
A
2
S  X S since X S RA  (7.29.2)
I A, SC

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Measuring parameters of
synchronous generator model
A drawback of this method is that the internal generated voltage EA is measured
during the OCC, where the machine can be saturated for large field currents, while
the armature current is measured in SCC, where the core is unsaturated.
Therefore, this approach is accurate for unsaturated cores only.

The approximate value of synchronous

reactance varies with the degree of
saturation of the OCC.
Therefore, the value of the synchronous
reactance for a given problem should be
estimated at the approximate load of the
machine.
The winding’s resistance can be
approximated by applying a DC voltage
to a stationary machine’s winding and
measuring the current. However, AC
resistance is slightly larger than DC
resistance (skin effect).
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Measuring parameters of
synchronous generator model: Ex
Example 7.1: A 200 kVA, 480 V, 50 Hz, Y-connected synchronous generator with a
rated field current of 5 A was tested and the following data were obtained:
1. VT,OC = 540 V at the rated IF.
2. IL,SC = 300 A at the rated IF.
3. When a DC voltage of 10 V was applied to two of the terminals, a current of 25 A
was measured.
Find the generator’s model at the rated conditions (i.e., the armature resistance and
the approximate synchronous reactance).
Since the generator is Y-connected, a DC
voltage was applied between its two
phases. Therefore:
VDC
2 RA 
I DC
VDC 10
RA    0.2
2 I DC 2  25
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Measuring parameters of
synchronous generator model: Ex
The internal generated voltage at the rated field current is
VT 540
EA  V ,OC    311.8V
3 3
The synchronous reactance at the rated field current is precisely
E A2 311.8 2
X S  Z S2  RA2   RA2   0.2 2
 1.02
I A2 , SC 300 2

We observe that if XS was estimated via the approximate formula, the result would
be:
EA 311.8
XS    1.04
I A, SC 300
Which is close to the previous result.
The error ignoring RA is much smaller
than the error due to core saturation.
The equivalent circuit
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The Synchronous generator

operating alone
The behavior of a synchronous generator varies greatly under
load depending on the power factor of the load and on
whether the generator is working alone or in parallel with other
synchronous generators.

Although most of the synchronous generators in the world

operate as parts of large power systems, we start our
discussion assuming that the synchronous generator works
alone.

Unless otherwise stated, the speed of the generator is

assumed constant.

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The Synchronous generator

operating alone
Effects of load changes
A increase in the load is an
increase in the real and/or
reactive power drawn from the
generator.
Since the field resistor is unaffected, the field current is constant and, therefore, the
flux  is constant too. Since the speed is assumed as constant, the magnitude of
the internal generated voltage is constant also.
Assuming the same power factor of the load, change in load will change the
magnitude of the armature current IA. However, the angle will be the same (for a
constant PF). Thus, the armature reaction voltage jXSIA will be larger for the
increased load. Since the magnitude of the internal generated voltage is constant

E A  V  jX S I A (7.34.1)

Armature reaction voltage vector will “move parallel” to its initial position.
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The Synchronous generator

operating alone
Increase load effect on generators with

Leading PF

Lagging PF

Unity PF
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The Synchronous generator

operating alone
Generally, when a load on a synchronous generator is added, the following
changes can be observed:

1. For lagging (inductive) loads, the phase (and terminal) voltage

decreases significantly.
2. For unity power factor (purely resistive) loads, the phase (and
terminal) voltage decreases slightly.
3. For leading (capacitive) loads, the phase (and terminal) voltage rises.
Effects of adding loads can be described by the voltage regulation:

Vnl  V fl
VR  100% (7.36.1)
V fl
Where Vnl is the no-load voltage of the generator and Vfl is its full-load voltage.

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The Synchronous generator

operating alone
A synchronous generator operating at a lagging power factor has a fairly large
positive voltage regulation. A synchronous generator operating at a unity power
factor has a small positive voltage regulation. A synchronous generator operating
at a leading power factor often has a negative voltage regulation.
Normally, a constant terminal voltage supplied by a generator is desired. Since the
armature reactance cannot be controlled, an obvious approach to adjust the
terminal voltage is by controlling the internal generated voltage EA = K. This
may be done by changing flux in the machine while varying the value of the field
resistance RF, which is summarized:
1. Decreasing the field resistance increases the field current in the generator.
2. An increase in the field current increases the flux in the machine.
3. An increased flux leads to the increase in the internal generated voltage.
4. An increase in the internal generated voltage increases the terminal voltage of
the generator.
Therefore, the terminal voltage of the generator can be changed by adjusting the
field resistance.
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The Synchronous generator

operating alone: Example
Example 7.2: A 480 V, 60 Hz, Y-connected six-pole synchronous generator has a
per-phase synchronous reactance of 1.0 . Its full-load armature current is 60 A at
0.8 PF lagging. Its friction and windage losses are 1.5 kW and core losses are 1.0
kW at 60 Hz at full load. Assume that the armature resistance (and, therefore, the
I2R losses) can be ignored. The field current has been adjusted such that the no-load
terminal voltage is 480 V.

a. What is the speed of rotation of this generator?

b. What is the terminal voltage of the generator if
1. It is loaded with the rated current at 0.8 PF lagging;
2. It is loaded with the rated current at 1.0 PF;
3. It is loaded with the rated current at 0.8 PF leading.
c. What is the efficiency of this generator (ignoring the unknown electrical losses)
when it is operating at the rated current and 0.8 PF lagging?
d. How much shaft torque must be applied by the prime mover at the full load?
how large is the induced countertorque?
e. What is the voltage regulation of this generator at 0.8 PF lagging? at 1.0 PF? at
0.8 PF leading?
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The Synchronous generator

operating alone: Example
Since the generator is Y-connected, its phase voltage is

V  VT 3  277V
At no load, the armature current IA = 0 and the internal generated voltage is EA =
277 V and it is constant since the field current was initially adjusted that way.
a. The speed of rotation of a synchronous generator is
120 120
nm  fe  60  1200rpm
P 6
1200
which is m  2  125.7rad s
60
b. For the generator at the rated current and the 0.8
PF lagging, the phasor diagram is shown. The phase
voltage is at 00, the magnitude of EA is 277 V,

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The Synchronous generator

operating alone: Example
and that jX S I A  j 1 60  36.87  6053.13

Two unknown quantities are the magnitude of V and the angle  of EA. From the
phasor diagram:

E  V  X S I A sin     X S I A cos  

2 2 2
A

Then:
V  E   X S I A cos    X S I A sin   236.8V
2 2
A

Since the generator is Y-connected,

VT  3V  410V

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The Synchronous generator

operating alone: Example
b.2. For the generator at the rated current and
the 1.0 PF, the phasor diagram is shown.
Then:

V  EA2   X S I A cos    X S I A sin   270.4V

2

and VT  3V  468.4V

b.3. For the generator at the rated current and the

0.8 PF leading, the phasor diagram is shown.
Then:

V  EA2   X S I A cos    X S I A sin   308.8V

2

and VT  3V  535V

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The Synchronous generator

operating alone: Example
c. The output power of the generator at 60 A and 0.8 PF lagging is

Pout  3V I A cos   3  236.8  60  0.8  34.1kW

The mechanical input power is given by

Pin  Pout  Pelecloss  Pcoreloss  Pmechloss  34.1  0  1.0  1.5  36.6kW

The efficiency is
Pout 34.1
 100%  100%  93.2%
Pin 36.6
d. The input torque of the generator is
Pin 36.6
 app    291.2 N - m
m 125.7

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The Synchronous generator

operating alone: Example
The induced countertorque of the generator is

Pconv 34.1
 app    271.3N - m
m 125.7
e. The voltage regulation of the generator is

480  410
Lagging PF: VR  100%  17.1%
410
480  468
Unity PF: VR  100%  2.6%
468
480  535
Lagging PF: VR  100%  10.3%
535

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Terminal characteristics of
synchronous generators
All generators are driven by a prime mover, such as a steam, gas, water, wind
turbines, diesel engines, etc. Regardless the power source, most of prime movers
tend to slow down with increasing the load. This decrease in speed is usually
nonlinear but governor mechanisms of some type may be included to linearize this
dependence.

The speed drop (SD) of a prime mover is defined as:

nnl  n fl
SD  100% (7.44.1)
n fl

Most prime movers have a speed drop from 2% to 4%. Most governors have a
mechanism to adjust the turbine’s no-load speed (set-point adjustment).

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Terminal characteristics of
synchronous generators
A typical speed
vs. power plot
A typical
frequency vs.
power plot

Since the shaft speed is linked to the electrical frequency as

nm P
fe  (7.45.1)
120
the power output from the generator is related to its frequency:

P  s p  f nl  f sys  (7.45.2)

Slope of curve, W/Hz Operating frequency of the system

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Terminal characteristics of
synchronous generators
A similar relationship can be derived for the reactive power Q and terminal voltage
VT. When adding a lagging load to a synchronous generator, its terminal voltage
decreases. When adding a leading load to a synchronous generator, its terminal
voltage increases.
The plot of terminal voltage vs.
reactive power is not necessarily
linear.
Both the frequency-power and
terminal voltage vs. reactive power
characteristics are important for
parallel operations of generators.

When a generator is operating alone supplying the load:

1. The real and reactive powers are the amounts demanded by the load.
2. The governor of the prime mover controls the operating frequency of the system.
3. The field current controls the terminal voltage of the power system.

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Parallel operation of synchronous

generators

Most of synchronous generators are operating in parallel with other

synchronous generators to supply power to the same power system.
Obvious advantages of this arrangement are:
1. Several generators can supply a bigger load;
2. A failure of a single generator does not result in a total power loss to the load
increasing reliability of the power system;
3. Individual generators may be removed from the power system for maintenance
without shutting down the load;
4. A single generator not operating at near full load might be quite inefficient.
While having several generators in parallel, it is possible to turn off some of
them when operating the rest at near full-load condition.

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Conditions required for paralleling

A diagram shows that Generator 2

(oncoming generator) will be connected
in parallel when the switch S1 is closed.
However, closing the switch at an
arbitrary moment can severely
damage both generators!

If voltages are not exactly the same in both lines (i.e. in a and a’, b and b’ etc.), a
very large current will flow when the switch is closed. Therefore, to avoid this,
voltages coming from both generators must be exactly the same. Therefore, the
following conditions must be met:
1. The rms line voltages of the two generators must be equal.
2. The two generators must have the same phase sequence.
3. The phase angles of two a phases must be equal.
4. The frequency of the oncoming generator must be slightly higher than the
frequency of the running system.
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Conditions required for paralleling

If the phase sequences are different,

then even if one pair of voltages
(phases a) are in phase, the other two
pairs will be 1200 out of phase creating
huge currents in these phases.

If the frequencies of the generators are different, a large power transient may occur
until the generators stabilize at a common frequency. The frequencies of two
machines must be very close to each other but not exactly equal. If frequencies
differ by a small amount, the phase angles of the oncoming generator will change
slowly with respect to the phase angles of the running system.
If the angles between the voltages can be observed, it is possible to close the
switch S1 when the machines are in phase.

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General procedure for paralleling

generators
When connecting the generator G2 to the running system, the following steps
should be taken:
1. Adjust the field current of the oncoming generator to make its terminal voltage
equal to the line voltage of the system (use a voltmeter).
2. Compare the phase sequences of the oncoming generator and the running
system. This can be done by different ways:
1) Connect a small induction motor to the terminals of the oncoming generator
and then to the terminals of the running system. If the motor rotates in the
same direction, the phase sequence is the same;
2) Connect three light bulbs across the
open terminals of the switch. As the phase
changes between the two generators, light
bulbs get brighter (large phase difference)
or dimmer (small phase difference). If all
three bulbs get bright and dark together,
both generators have the same phase
sequences.
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General procedure for paralleling

generators
If phase sequences are different, two of the conductors on the oncoming
generator must be reversed.
3. The frequency of the oncoming generator is adjusted to be slightly higher than
the system’s frequency.
4. Turn on the switch connecting G2 to the system when phase angles are equal.
The simplest way to determine the moment when two generators are in phase is by
observing the same three light bulbs. When all three lights go out, the voltage
across them is zero and, therefore, machines are in phase.

A more accurate way is to use a synchroscope – a meter

measuring the difference in phase angles between two a
phases. However, a synchroscope does not check the
phase sequence since it only measures the phase
difference in one phase.

The whole process is usually automated…

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Operation of generators in parallel

with large power systems
Often, when a synchronous generator is added to a power system, that system is
so large that one additional generator does not cause observable changes to the
system. A concept of an infinite bus is used to characterize such power systems.
An infinite bus is a power system that is so large that its voltage and frequency do
not vary regardless of how much real and reactive power is drawn from or supplied
to it. The power-frequency and reactive power-voltage characteristics are:

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Synchronous motors

The field current IF of the motor

produces a steady-state rotor
magnetic field BR. A 3-phase set of
voltages applied to the stator produces
a 3-phase current flow in the windings.

A 3-phase set of currents in an

armature winding produces a uniform
rotating magnetic field Bs.

Two magnetic fields are present in the machine, and the rotor field tends to align
with the stator magnetic field. Since the stator magnetic field is rotating, the rotor
magnetic field will try to catch up pulling the rotor.
The larger the angle between two magnetic fields (up to a certain maximum), the
greater the torque on the rotor of the machine.

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Synchronous motor equivalent

circuit
A synchronous motor has the same
equivalent circuit as synchronous
generator, except that the direction of
power flow (and the direction of IA) is
reversed. Per-phase circuit is shown:

A change in direction of IA changes the Kirchhoff’s voltage law equation:

V  E A  jX S I A  RA I A (7.69.1)

Therefore, the internal generated voltage is

E A  V  jX S I A  RA I A (7.69.2)

We observe that this is exactly the same equation as the equation for the generator,
except that the sign on the current terms is reversed.

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Synchronous motor vs.

synchronous generator
Let us suppose that a phasor
diagram of synchronous
generator is shown. BR produces
EA, Bnet produces V, and BS
produces Estat = -jXSIA. The
rotation on both diagrams is
counterclockwise and the
induced torque is
 ind  kBR  Bnet (7.70.1)

clockwise, opposing the direction of rotation. In other words, the induced torque in
generators is a counter-torque that opposes the rotation caused by external torque.
If the prime mover loses power, the rotor will slow down and the rotor field BR will
fall behind the magnetic field in the machine Bnet. Therefore, the operation of the
machine changes…

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Synchronous motor vs.

synchronous generator
The induced torque becomes
counter-clockwise, being now in the
direction of rotation. The machine
starts acting as a motor.
The increasing torque angle 
results in an increasing torque in
the direction of rotation until it
equals to the load torque.
At this point, the machine operates at steady state and synchronous speed but as a
motor.
Notice that, since the direction of IA is changed between the generator and motor
actions, the polarity of stator voltage (-jXSIA) also changes.
In a summary: in a generator, EA lies ahead of V, while in a motor, EA lies
behind V.

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Steady-state operation of motor:

Torque-speed curve
Usually, synchronous motors are connected to large power systems (infinite bus);
therefore, their terminal voltage and system frequency are constant regardless
the motor load. Since the motor speed is locked to the electrical frequency, the
speed should be constant regardless the load.
The steady-state speed of the motor is
constant from no-load to the maximum torque
that motor can supply (pullout torque).
Therefore, the speed regulation of
synchronous motor is 0%.
The induced torque is

 ind  kBR Bnet sin  (7.72.1)

3V E A
 ind  sin 
or
(7.72.2)
m X S
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Steady-state operation of motor:

Torque-speed curve
The maximum pullout torque occurs when  = 900:
3V EA
 max  kBR Bnet  (7.73.1)
m X S
Normal full-load torques are much less than that (usually, about 3 times smaller).

When the torque on the shaft of a synchronous motor exceeds the pullout torque,
the rotor can no longer remain locked to the stator and net magnetic fields. It starts
to slip behind them. As the motor slows down, the stator magnetic field “laps” it
repeatedly, and the direction of the induced torque in the rotor reverses with each
pass. As a result, huge torque surges of alternating direction cause the motor
vibrate severely. The loss of synchronization after the pullout torque is exceeded is
known as slipping poles.

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Steady-state operation of motor:

Effect of field current changes
A plot of armature current vs. field current is
called a synchronous motor V curve. V
curves for different levels of real power
have their minimum at unity PF, when only
real power is supplied to the motor. For field
currents less than the one giving the
minimum IA, the armature current is lagging
and the motor consumes reactive power.
For field currents greater than the one
giving the minimum IA, the armature current
is leading and the motor supplies reactive
power to the system.

Therefore, by controlling the field current of a synchronous

motor, the reactive power consumed or supplied to the power
system can be controlled.

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Steady-state operation of motor:

Effect of field current changes
When the projection of the phasor EA onto
V (EAcos) is shorter than V, a
synchronous motor has a lagging current
and consumes Q. Since the field current is
small in this situation, the motor is said to
be under-excited.

When the projection of the phasor EA

onto V (EAcos) is longer than V, a
synchronous motor has a leading
current and supplies Q to the system.
Since the field current is large in this
situation, the motor is said to be over-
excited.

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Steady-state operation of motor:

power factor correction
Assuming that a load contains a
synchronous motor (whose PF
can be adjusted) in addition to
motors of other types. What
does the ability to set the PF of
one of the loads do for the
power system?

Let us consider a large power system operating at 480 V. Load 1 is an induction

motor consuming 100 kW at 0.78 PF lagging, and load 2 is an induction motor
consuming 200 kW at 0.8 PF lagging. Load 3 is a synchronous motor whose real
power consumption is 150 kW.
a. If the synchronous motor is adjusted to 0.85 PF lagging, what is the line current?
b. If the synchronous motor is adjusted to 0.85 PF leading, what is the line current?
c. Assuming that the line losses are PLL = 3IL2RL, how du these losses compare in
the two cases?
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Steady-state operation of motor:

power factor correction
a. The real power of load 1 is 100 kW, and the reactive power of load 1 is
Q1  P1 tan   100 tan  cos 1 0.78  80.2kVAR
The real power of load 2 is 200 kW, and the reactive power of load 2 is
Q2  P2 tan   200 tan  cos 1 0.8   150kVAR
The real power of load 3 is 150 kW, and the reactive power of load 3 is
Q3  P3 tan   150 tan  cos 1 0.85   93kVAR
The total real load is Ptot  P1  P2  P3  100  200  150450kW
The total reactive load is Qtot  Q1  Q2  Q3  80.2  150  93kVAR
The equivalent system PF is
 Q  323.2 
PF  cos   cos  tan 1   cos  tan 1   0.812lagging
 P  450 
The line current is
Ptot 450000
IL    667 A
3VL cos  3  480  0.812
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Steady-state operation of motor:

power factor correction
b. The real and reactive powers of loads 1 and 2 are the same. The reactive power
of load 3 is

Q3  P3 tan   150 tan   cos 1 0.85   93kVAR

The total real load is Ptot  P1  P2  P3  100  200  150450kW

The total reactive load is Qtot  Q1  Q2  Q3  80.2  150  93kVAR
The equivalent system PF is
 Q  137.2 
PF  cos   cos  tan 1   cos  tan 1   0.957lagging
 P  450 
The line current is
Ptot 450000
IL    566 A
3VL cos  3  480  0.957

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Steady-state operation of motor:

power factor correction
c. The transmission line losses in the first case are

PLL  3I L2 RL  1344700RL
The transmission line losses in the second case are

PLL  3I L2 RL  96170RL
We notice that the transmission power losses are 28% less in the second
case, while the real power supplied to the loads is the same.

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Steady-state operation of motor:

power factor correction
The ability to adjust the power factor of one or more loads in a power system can
significantly affect the efficiency of the power system: the lower the PF, the greater
the losses in the power lines. Since most loads in a typical power system are
induction motors, having one or more over-excided synchronous motors (leading
loads) in the system is useful for the following reasons:
1. A leading load supplies some reactive power to lagging loads in the system.
Since this reactive power does not travel along the transmission line,
transmission line current is reduced reducing power losses.
2. Since the transmission line carries less current, the line can be smaller for a
given power flow reducing system cost.
3. The over-excited mode of synchronous motor increases the motor’s maximum
torque.
Usage of synchronous motors or other equipment increasing the overall system’s
PF is called power-factor correction. Since a synchronous motor can provide PF
correction, many loads that can accept constant speed are driven by over-excited
synchronous motors.

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Starting synchronous motors

Three basic approaches can be used to safely start a synchronous motor:

1. Reduce the speed of the stator magnetic field to a low enough value
that the rotor can accelerate and two magnetic fields lock in during one
half-cycle of field rotation. This can be achieved by reducing the
frequency of the applied electric power (which used to be difficult but
can be done now).
2. Use an external prime mover to accelerate the synchronous motor up
to synchronous speed, go through the paralleling procedure, and bring
the machine on the line as a generator. Next, turning off the prime
mover will make the synchronous machine a motor.
3. Use damper windings or amortisseur windings – the most popular.

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Motor starting by amortisseur or

damper windings
Amortisseur (damper) windings are special bars
laid into notches carved in the rotor face and then
shorted out on each end by a large shorting ring.

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Relationship between synchronous

generators and motors
Synchronous generator and synchronous
motor are physically the same machines!
A synchronous machine can supply real
power to (generator) or consume real
power (motor) from a power system. It
can also either consume or supply
reactive power to the system.
1. The distinguishing characteristic of a
synchronous generator (supplying P)
is that EA lies ahead of V while for a
motor EA lies behind V.
2. The distinguishing characteristic of a
machine supplying reactive power Q
is that Eacos > V (regardless
whether it is a motor or generator).
The machine consuming reactive
power Q has Eacos < V .

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Synchronous machine ratings

The speed and power that can be obtained from a synchronous motor or generator
are limited. These limited values are called ratings of the machine. The purpose of
ratings is to protect the machine from damage. Typical ratings of synchronous
machines are voltage, speed, apparent power (kVA), power factor, field current and
service factor.

1. Voltage, Speed, and Frequency

The rated frequency of a synchronous machine depends on the power system to
which it is connected. The commonly used frequencies are 50 Hz (Europe, Asia),
60 Hz (Americas), and 400 Hz (special applications: aircraft, spacecraft, etc.).
Once the operation frequency is determined, only one rotational speed in possible
for the given number of poles:
120 f e
nm  (7.93.1)
P

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Synchronous machine ratings

A generator’s voltage depends on the flux, the rotational speed, and the
mechanical construction of the machine. For a given design and speed, the higher
the desired voltage, the higher the flux should be. However, the flux is limited by
the field current.
The rated voltage is also limited by the windings insulation breakdown limit, which
should not be approached closely.

Is it possible to operate a synchronous machine at a frequency other than the

machine is rated for? For instance, can a 60 Hz generator operate at 50 Hz?

The change in frequency would change the speed. Since EA = K, the
maximum allowed armature voltage changes when frequency changes.
Specifically, if a 60 Hz generator will be operating at 50 Hz, its operating
voltage must be derated to 50/60 or 83.3 %.

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Synchronous machine ratings

2. Apparent power and Power factor

Two factors limiting the power of electric machines are
1) Mechanical torque on its shaft (usually, shaft can handle much more torque)
2) Heating of the machine’s winding
The practical steady-state limits are set by heating in the windings.
The maximum acceptable armature current sets the apparent power rating for a
generator:
S  3V I A (7.95.1)

If the rated voltage is known, the maximum accepted armature current determines
the apparent power rating of the generator:

S  3V ,rated I A,max  3VL,rated I L,max (7.95.2)

The power factor of the armature current is irrelevant for heating the
armature windings.
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Synchronous machine ratings

The stator cupper losses also do not depend on the current angle:

PSCL  3I A2 RA (7.96.1)

Since the current angle is irrelevant to the armature heating, synchronous

generators are rated in kVA rather than in KW.
The rotor (field winding) cupper losses are:
PRCL  I F2 RF (7.96.2)

Allowable heating sets the maximum field current,

which determines the maximum acceptable
armature voltage EA. These translate to
restrictions on the lowest acceptable power factor:
The current IA can have different angles (that
depends on PF). EA is a sum of V and jXSIA. We
see that, (for a constant V) for some angles the
required EA exceeds its maximum value.

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Synchronous machine ratings

If the armature voltage exceeds its maximum allowed value, the windings could be
damaged. The angle of IA that requires maximum possible EA specifies the rated
power factor of the generator. It is possible to operate the generator at a lower
(more lagging) PF than the rated value, but only by decreasing the apparent power
supplied by the generator.
Synchronous motors are usually rated in terms of real output power and the lowest
PF at full-load conditions.

3. Short-time operation and service factor

A typical synchronous machine is often able to supply up to 300% of its rated
power for a while (until its windings burn up). This ability to supply power above the
rated values is used to supply momentary power surges during motor starts.
It is also possible to use synchronous machine at powers exceeding the rated
values for longer periods of time, as long as windings do not have time to hit up too
much before the excess load is removed. For instance, a generator that could
supply 1 MW indefinitely, would be able to supply 1.5 MW for 1 minute without
serious harm and for longer periods at lower power levels.
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Synchronous machine ratings

The maximum temperature rise that a machine can stand depends on the
insulation class of its windings. The four standard insulation classes with they
temperature ratings are:
A – 600C above the ambient temperature
B – 800C above the ambient temperature
F – 1050C above the ambient temperature
H – 1250C above the ambient temperature
The higher the insulation class of a given machine, the greater the power that can
be drawn out of it without overheating its windings.

The overheating is a serious problem and synchronous machines should not be

overheated unless absolutely necessary. However, power requirements of the
machine not always known exactly prior its installation. Because of this, general-
purpose machines usually have their service factor defined as the ratio of the
actual maximum power of the machine to the rating on its plate.
For instance, a machine with a service factor of 1.15 can actually be operated at
115% of the rated load indefinitely without harm.

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