College of Engineering &

Technology
Department of Electrical and
Computer Engineering
Introduction to Electrical Machines ECEg3131
Chapter-5
Synchronous Machines

04/17/2024
 Synchronous Generators
 Synchronous generators or alternators are synchronous machines
used to convert mechanical power to ac electric power.
SYNCHRONOUS GENERATOR CONSTRUCTION:
 In a synchronous generator, a dc current is applied to the rotor
winding, which produces a rotor magnetic field.
 The rotor of the generator is then turned by a prime mover,
producing a rotating magnetic field within the machine.
 This rotating magnetic field induces a three-phase set of voltages
within the stator windings of the generator.
 Two terms commonly used to describe the windings on a machine
are field windings and armature windings.
 In general, the term “field windings” applies to the windings that produce
the main magnetic field in a machine, and the term “armature windings”
applies to the windings where the main voltage is induced.
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 For synchronous machines, the field windings are on the rotor, so
the terms “rotor-windings” and “field-windings” are used
interchangeably. Similarly, the terms “stator windings” and
“armature windings” are used interchangeably.
 The rotor of a synchronous generator is essentially a large
electromagnet.
 The magnetic poles on the rotor can be of either salient or non-
salient construction.
 The term salient means “protruding” or “sticking out,” and a salient
pole is a magnetic pole that sticks out from the surface of the rotor.

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 On the other hand, a non-salient pole is a magnetic pole embedded
flush with the surface of the rotor.
 Non-salient pole rotors are normally used for two and four-pole
rotors, while salient-pole rotors are normally used for rotors with
four or more poles.
 B/c the rotor is subjected to changing magnetic fields, it is
constructed of thin laminations to reduce eddy current losses.

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 A salient-pole rotor (above)
and a non-salient pole rotor
(below) is shown in the
respectively Figs.
 A dc current must be
supplied to the field circuit
on the rotor.
 Since the rotor is rotating, a
special arrangement is
required to get the dc power
to its field windings.
 There are two common
approaches to supplying this
dc power.

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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.
The Speed Of Rotation of A Synchronous Generator
 Synchronous generators are by definition synchronous, meaning that
electrical frequency produced is locked in or synchronized with
mechanical rate of rotation of generator.
 A synchronous generator’s rotor consists of an electromagnet to
which direct current is supplied.
 The rotor’s magnetic field points in whatever direction the rotor is
turned. Now, the rate of rotation of the magnetic fields in the
machine is related to the stator electrical frequency by:

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 nmP
fe 
120
where fe  electrical frequency, in Hz
nm  mechanical speed of magnetic field, in r/ min
P  number of poles

 Since the rotor turns at the same speed as the magnetic field, this
equation relates the speed of rotor rotation to the resulting electrical
frequency.
 Electric power is generated at 50 or 60 Hz, so the generator must
turn at a fixed speed depending on the number of poles.

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THE INTERNAL GENERATED VOLTAGE OF A SG
 The magnitude of the voltage induced in a given stator phase was
found to be:
E A  2 NC f
 This voltage depends on the flux  in the machine, the frequency or
speed of rotation, and machine’s construction.
 In solving problems with synchronous machines, this equation is
sometimes rewritten in a simpler form that emphasizes the
quantities that are variable during machine operation.
E A  K
NC
K , ifi  s exp ressed in electrical radians per sec ond
2
N P
K  C , ifi  s exp ressed in mechanical radians per sec ond
2

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 The internal generated voltage E A is directly proportional to the flux
and to the speed, but the flux itself depends on the current flowing
in the rotor field circuit.
 The field circuit IF is related to the flux  in the manner shown in
Fig a­.
 Since internal generated voltage is directly proportional to the flux,
EA is related Ito
F
as shown in Fig b.
 This plot is called the magnetization curve or the open-circuit
characteristic of the machine.

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THE EQUIVALENT CIRCUIT OF A SG
 Fig shows the equivalent circuit of the loaded alternator.
 The armature reaction effects and the self-inductance in the machine
are both represented by reactance's, and it is customary to combine
them into a single reactance, called the synchronous reactance of
the machine: X XX S A

 Therefore, the final equation is:

V  E A  jX S IA  RAIA
 It is now possible to sketch the equivalent
circuit of a 3-ph synchronous generator.
 This Fig shows a dc power source supplying
the rotor field circuit, which is modeled by the
coil’s inductance and resistance in series.

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 In series with RF is an adjustable resistor Radj which controls the
flow of field current. The rest of the equivalent circuit consists of
the models for each phase.
 Each phase has E A with a series inductance X S (consisting of the
sum of the armature reactance and the coil’s self-inductance) and a
series resistance RA .
 The voltages and currents of the three phases are 120° apart in
angle, but other­wise the three phases are identical.
 If they are Y-connected, then the terminal voltage is related to the
phase voltage by
VT  3V
 If they are  -connected , then

VT  V

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 The fact that the
three phases of a
synchronous
generator are
identical in all
respects except for
phase angle
normally leads to
the use of a per-
phase equivalent
circuit.
 The per-phase
equivalent circuit
of this machine is
shown in Fig.

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 One important fact must be kept in mind when the per-phase
equivalent circuit is used: The three phases have the same voltages
and currents only when the loads attached to them are balanced. If
the generator’s loads are not balanced, more sophisticated
techniques of analysis are required.
THE PHASOR DIAGRAM OF A SG
 Because the voltages in a synchronous generator are ac voltages,
they are usually expressed as phasors.
 Since phasors have both a magnitude and an angle, the relationship
between them must be expressed by a two-dimensional plot.
 When the voltages within a phase ( E A , V , jX S IA ,and RAI A ) and the
current IA in the phase are plotted in such a fashion as to show the
relationships among them, the resulting plot is called a phasor-
diagram.

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 Fig below shows these relationships when the generator is supplying a
load at unity power factor (a purely resistive load).
EA
 The total voltage differs from the terminal voltage of the phase
V by the resistive and inductive voltage drops.
 All voltages and currents are referenced to V , which is arbitrarily
assumed to be at an angle of 0°.

 This phasor diagram can be compared to the phasor diagrams of

generators operating at lagging and leading power factors. These
phasor diagrams are shown below in Fig a and b respectively.

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 Notice that, for a given
phase voltage and
armature current, a larger
EA is needed for lagging
loads than for leading
loads.
 Therefore , a larger field
current is needed with
lagging loads to get the
same terminal voltage:
E A  K

and  must be constant to keep a constant frequency.

 Alternatively, 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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 In real synchronous machines, the synchronous reactance is
normally much larger than the winding resistance RA, so RA is often
neglected in the qualitative study of voltage variations.
 For accurate numerical results ,RA must of course be considered.
POWER AND TORQUE IN SG
 A SG is a synchronous machine used as a generator. It converts
mechanical power to three-phase electrical power.
 The source of mechanical power, the prime mover, may be a diesel
engine, a steam turbine, a water turbine, or any device.
 Whatever the source, it must have the basic property that its speed is
almost constant regardless of the power demand.
 If that were not so, then the resulting power system’s frequency
would wander.

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 Not all the mechanical power going into a synchronous generator
becomes electrical power out of the machine.
 The difference between input power and output power represents
the losses of the machine .
 A power-flow diagram for a synchronous generator is shown.

 The input mechanical power is the shaft power in the

generator Pin   appm , while the power converted from
mechanical to electrical form internally is given by:
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 Pconv   indm
 3E AIA cos 
where  is the angle between E A and IA .
 The difference between the input power to the generator and the
power converted in the generator represents the mechanical, core,
and stray losses of the machine.
 The real electrical output power of the synchronous generator can
be expressed in line quantities as
Pout  3VT IL cos
and in phase quantities as
Pout  3V IA cos
 Reactive power output can be expressed in line quantities as:

Qout  3VT IL sin

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and in phase quantities as
Qout  3V IA sin
 If the armature resistance RA is ignored (since X S RA ), then a
very useful equation can be derived to approximate the output
power of the generator.
 To derive this equation, examine the phasor diagram in Fig.

 The Fig shows a simplified phasor diagram of a generator with the

stator resistance ignored . Notice that the vertical segment bc can be
expressed as either E sin or X I sin . Therefore,
A S A
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 E A sin
I A cos 
XS

and substituting this expression Pout

3V E A sin
Pout 
XS
 Since the resistances are assumed to be zero, there are no electrical
losses in this generator, thus Pconv  Pout .
 The power produced by a synchronous generator depends on the
angle  between V and E .
 A
 The angle  is known as the torque angle of the machine.
 Notice also that the maximum power that the generator can supply
occurs when   90 . At   90 , sin  1 , and
3V E A
Pmax 
XS
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 The maximum power is called the static stability limit of the
generator. Normally, real generators never even come close to that
limit. Full-load torque angles of 15 to 20° are more typical of real
machines.
 If V , is assumed constant, then the real power output is directly
proportional to the quantities IA cos and E A sin , and the
reactive power output is directly proportional to the quantity IA sin
.
These facts are useful in plotting phasor diagrams of synchronous
generators as loads change.
 The induced torque in this generator can be expressed as
 ind  kBR x BS
or  ind  kBR x Bnet
 The magnitude can be expressed as
 ind  kBR Bnet sin

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where  is the angle between the rotor and net magnetic fields (the
so-called torque angle).
Since BR produces the voltage E A & Bnet produces the voltage V ,
the angle  b/n E A andV , is the same as the angle b/n BR
and Bnet .
 An alternative expression for the induced torque in a synchronous
generator can be derived from the above Equation.
 Because Pconv   indm can be expressed as:
3V E A sin
 ind 
m X S
 This expression describes the induced torque in terms of electrical
quantities, whereas the former Equation gives the same
information in terms of magnetic quantities.

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MEASURING SG MODEL PARAMETERS
 The equivalent circuit of a synchronous generator that has been
derived contains three quantities that must be determined in order
to completely describe the behavior of a real synchronous generator:
1. The relationship between field current and flux (and therefore
between the field current and E A )
2. The synchronous reactance
3. The armature resistance
 The first step in the process is to perform the open-circuit test.
 To perform this test, the generator is turned at the rated speed, the
terminals are disconnected from all loads, and the field current is
set to zero.

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 Then the field current is gradually increased in steps, and the
terminal voltage is measured at each step along the way.
 With the terminals open, IA  0 , so E A  V . It is thus possible to
construct a plot of E A or VT versus IF from this information
 This plot is the open-circuit
characteristic (OCC) of a
generator.
 With this characteristic, it is
possible to find the internal
generated voltage of the
generator for any given field
current.
A typical open-circuit
characteristic is shown in Fig

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 Notice that at first the curve is almost perfectly linear, until some
saturation is observed at high field currents.
 The unsaturated iron in the frame of the synchronous machine has
reluctance several thousand times lower than air-gap reluctance, so
at first almost all the mmf is across the air gap, and the resulting
flux increase is linear.
 When the iron finally saturates, the reluctance of the iron increases
dramatically, and the flux increases much more slowly with an
increase in magneto motive force.
 The linear portion of an OCC is called the air-gap line of the
characteristic.
 The second step is to conduct the short-circuit test.
 To perform the short-circuit test, adjust the field current to zero
again and short-circuit the terminals of the generator through a set
of ammeters.

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 Then the armature current IA or the line current IL is measured as
the field current is in creased. Such a plot is called a short-circuit
characteristic (SCC) and is shown in Fig b.
 It is essentially a straight line.
 To understand why this
characteristic is a straight line,
look at the equivalent circuit is
shown in Fig a below.
 Notice that when the terminals
are short-circuited, the IA is
given by:
EA
IA 
RA  jX S

and its magnitude is just given by

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 EA
IA 
RA2  X S 2
 The resulting phasor diagram is shown in Fig b, and the
corresponding magnetic fields are shown in Fig c.

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 Since BS almost cancels BR , the Bnet is very small
(corresponding to internal resistive & inductive drops only).
 Since the net magnetic field in the machine is so small , the
machine is unsaturated and the SCC is linear.
 To understand what information these two characteristics
yield, notice that, with V equal to zero in Fig above, the
internal machine impedance is given by
2 2 EA
Z S  RA  X S 
IA
 Since X S RA ,this equation reduces
E A V ,OC
XS  
IA IA ,SC
 If E and IA are known for a given situation, then the
A
synchronous reactance X can be found.
S
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 Therefore, an approximate method for determining the synchronous
reac­tance X S at a given field current is
1. Get the internal generated voltage E A from the OCC at that field
current.
2. Get the short-circuit current flow IA ,SC at that field current from the
SCC.
3. Find X S by applying the above Equation.
 The E A comes from the OCC, where the machine is partially
saturated for large field currents, while IA is taken from the SCC,
where the machine is unsaturated at all field currents.
 Therefore, at higher field currents, the E A taken from the OCC at a
given field current is not the same as the E A at the same field
current under short-circuit conditions, and this difference makes the
resulting value of X S only approximate.

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 However, the answer given by this approach is accurate up to the
point of saturation, so the unsaturated synchronous reactance X S ,u of
the machine can be found simply by applying the simplified equation
at any field current in the linear portion (on the air-gap line) of the
OCC curve.
 The approximate value of
synchronous reactance varies
with the degree of saturation
of the OCC, so the value of the
synchronous reactance to be
used in a given problem should
be one calculated at the
approximate load on the
machine as shown in the Fig.

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 If it is important to know a winding’s resistance as well as its
synchronous reactance, the resistance can be approximated by
applying a dc voltage to the windings while the machine is
stationary and measuring the resulting current flow.
 The use of dc voltage means that the reactance of the windings will
be zero during the measurement process.
 This technique is not perfectly accurate, since the ac resistance will
be slightly larger than the dc resistance (as a result of the skin effect
at higher frequencies).
 The measured value of the resistance can even be plugged into the
simplified equation to improve the estimate of X S ,if desired.
 Such an improvement is not much help in the approximate
approach-saturation causes a much larger error in the X S ,
calculation than ignoring RA does.

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The Short-Circuit Ratio
 The short-circuit ratio of a generator is defined as the ratio of the
field current required for the rated voltage at open circuit to the
field current required for the rated armature current at short
circuit.
 It can be shown that this quantity is just the reciprocal of the per-
unit value of the approximate saturated synchronous re­actance
calculated by the simplified equation.
 Although the short-circuit ratio adds no new information about the
generator that is not already known from the saturated synchronous
reactance, it is im­portant to know what it is, since the term is
occasionally encountered in industry.

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 The Conditions Required for Paralleling

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 the two a phases must be
equal.
4. The frequency of the new generator, called the
oncoming generator, must be slightly higher or
equal to than the frequency of the running system.
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04/17/2024
 Synchronous Motors
 Synchronous motors are synchronous machines used to convert
electric power to mechanical power.
BASIC PRINCIPLES OF MOTOR OPERATION:
 To understand the basic concept of a synchronous motor, look at Fig
below, which shows a two-pole synchronous motor.
 The field current IF of the motor
produces a steady state BR .
 A three-phase set of voltages is
applied to the stator or the
machine, which produces a
three-phase current flow in the
windings.

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 A three-phase set of currents in an armature winding produces a
uniform rotating magnetic field BS .
 Therefore, there are two magnetic fields present in the machine,
and the rotor field will tend to line up with the stator field, just as
two bar magnets will tend to line up if placed near each other.
 Since the stator magnetic field is rotating, the rotor magnetic field
(and the rotor it self) will constantly try to catch up.
 The larger the angle between the two magnetic fields (up to a
certain maximum), the greater the torque on the rotor of the
machine.
 The basic principle of synchronous motor operation is that the rotor
“chases” the rotating stator magnetic field around in a circle, never
quite catching up with it.

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 Since a synchronous motor is the same physical machine as a
synchronous generator, all of the basic speed, power, and torque
equations of SG apply to synchronous motors also.
The Equivalent Circuit of a Synchronous Motor
 A synchronous motor is the same in all respects as a synchronous
generator, except that the direction of power flow is reversed. Thus,
the direction of current flow in the stator of the motor is expected to
reverse also.
 Therefore, the equivalent circuit of a synchronous motor is exactly
the same as the equivalent circuit of a SG, except that the reference
direction of IA is reversed.
 The resulting full equivalent circuit and the per-phase equivalent
circuit is shown in Fig a & b respectively.
 As before, the circuit may be either Y- or  -connected.

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• Because of the change in
direction of IA , the Kirchhoff’s
voltage law equa­tion for the
equivalent circuit changes too.
• Writing a Kirchhoff’s voltage
law equation for the new
equivalent circuit yields
V  E A  jX S IA  RAIA
E A  V  jX S IA  RAIA
The Synchronous Motor from a
Magnetic Field Perspective:
To begin to understand synchronous motor operation, take
another look at a SG connected to an infinite bus.
The generator has a prime mover turning its shaft, causing it
to rotate.
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• The direction of the applied torque  app from the prime
mover is in the direction of motion, because the prime mover
makes the generator rotate in the first place.
• The phasor diagram of the generator operating with a large
field current, and the corresponding magnetic field diagram
is shown in Fig a and b respectively.
As described before, BR
corresponds toE A ,Bnet
(produces) V , and BS
corresponds to
E stat   jX S IA

• The rotation of both the phasor diagram and magnetic field

diagram is counterclockwise in the figure, following the
standard mathematical convention of increasing angle.
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• The induced torque in the generator can be found from the
magnetic field diagram. Its given by:
 ind  kBR x Bnet
 ind  kBR Bnet sin
• Notice that from the magnetic field diagram the induced
torque in this machine is clockwise, opposing the direction of
rotation. In other words, the induced torque in the generator
is a counter-torque, opposing the rotation caused by the
external applied torque  app .
• Suppose that, instead of turning the shaft in the direction of
motion, the prime mover suddenly loses power and starts to
drag on the machine’s shaft.
What happens to the machine now?

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• The rotor slows down because of the drag on its shaft and
falls behind the net magnetic field in the machine (see Fig a).

• As the rotor, and therefore B , slows down and falls behind B

R net
the operation of the machine suddenly changes.
• When B is behind Bnet the induced torque’s direction
R
reverses and becomes counterclockwise.

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• In other words, the machine’s torque is now in the direction
of motion, and the machine is acting as a motor.
• The increasing torque angle results in a larger and larger
torque in the direc­tion of rotation, until eventually the
motor’s induced torque equals the load torque on its shaft.
• At that point , the machine will be operating at steady state
and synchronous speed again, but now as a motor.
• The reason that the quantity , points from to ,
in the gen­erator and from  jXtoS IA in the motorVis thatE the
A
reference direction of E Awas re­
Vversed in the definition of
the motor equivalent circuit.
IA
• The basic difference between motor and generator operation
in synchronous machines can be seen either in the magnetic
field diagram or in the phasor diagram.

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 In a generator, E A lies ahead of V and BR lies ahead of Bnet .
 In a motor, E A lies behind V and BR lies behind Bnet .
 In a motor the induced torque is in the direction of motion, and in a
generator the induced torque is a counter-torque opposing the
direction of motion.
STEADY-STATE SYNCHRONOUS MOTOR OPERATION
The Synchronous Motor Torque-Speed Characteristic Curve
 Synchronous motors supply power to loads that are basically
constant-speed de­vices.
 They are usually connected to power systems very much larger than
the individual motors, so the power systems appear as infinite
buses to the motors. This means that the terminal voltage and the
system frequency will be constant regard­less of the amount of
power drawn by the motor.

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 The speed of rotation of the motor is locked to the applied electrical
frequency, so the speed of the motor will be constant regardless of
the load. The fixed rate of rotation is:
120 fse
nm 
P
nm  mechanical rate of rotation
 The resulting torque-speed
characteristic curve is shown in Fig.
The steady-state speed of the motor is
constant from no load all the way up
to the maximum torque that the motor
can supply (called the pull out torque),  ind  kBR Bnet sin
so the speed regulation of this motor is
3V E A sin
0 %. The torque equation is:  ind 
m X S

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 The maximum or pullout torque occurs when   90 .


 Normal full-load torques are much less than that, however. In fact,
the pullout torque may typically be 3 times the full-load torque of
the machine.
 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. Instead, the rotor starts to slip behind them.
 As the rotor slows down, the stator magnetic field “laps” it
repeatedly, and the direction of the induced torque in the rotor
reverses with each pass.
 The resulting huge torque surges, first one way and then the other
way, cause the whole motor to vibrate severely.
 The loss of synchronization after the pullout torque is exceeded is
known as slipping poles.

04/17/2024 45
The maximum or pullout torque of the motor is given by
 ind  kBR Bnet
or 3V E A
 ind 
m X S
 These equations indicate that the larger the field current (and
hence E A ), the greater the maximum torque of the motor.
 There is therefore a stability advantage in operating the motor
with a large field current or a large E .
A

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 STARTING SYNCHRONOUS MOTORS
Three basic approaches can be used to safely start a synchronous motor:
I. Reduce the speed ofthe stator mngneticfield to a low enough value that the
rotor can accelerate and lock in with it during one half-cycle of the
magnetic
field 's rotation. Thi s can be done by reducing the frequency of the applied
electric power.
2. Use an external prime mover to accelerate the synchronous motor up to
synchronous speed, go through the parall eling procedure, and bring the
machine on the line as a generator. TIlen, turning off or disconnecting the
prime mover wilI make the synchronous machine a motor.
3. Use damper windings or amortisseur windings. The fun ction of damper
windings and their use in motor starting will be explained below.

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 SYNCHRONOUS MOTOR RATINGS
 Since synchronous motors are the same physical machines as SGs,
the basic machine ratings are the same.
 The one major difference is that a large E A gives a leading PF
instead of a lagging one, and therefore the effect of the maximum
field current limit is expressed as a rating at a leading power factor.
 Also, since the output of a synchronous motor is mechanical power,
a synchronous motor’s power rating is usually given in horsepower
rather than kilowatts.
 The nameplate of a large synchronous motor is shown in Fig.
 In addition to the information shown in the figure, a smaller
synchronous motor would have a service factor on its nameplate.

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 In general, synchronous motors are more adaptable to low-speed,
high power applications than induction motors.
 Therefore, they are commonly used for low-speed, high-power loads.

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 END

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04/17/2024