Lecture 4: AC Machines-Generator

Contents

Synchronous generator
• Operation Principle
• Construction of
Synchronous
Generator
• Salient pole Type
and Non salient
Pole Type
Classification of AC Introduction of a Concept of Rotating • DC Power Supply
Machines rotating machine Magnetic Field (slip rings and
brushes)
• Brushless Exciter
and Pilot Exciter
• Rotation Speed of
Synchronous
Generator
• Per phase equivalent
circuit of Generator
1
Classification of AC Machines

Synchronous

Rotating Asynchronous

Induction Motors

Stationary Transformers
3
 Introduction of Rotating Machine
 Stator:
 The Stationary part of the machine
 Built up of sheet-steel laminations having slots on its inner
periphery
 Rotor:
 The Rotating part is the part of the machine which is mounted on
the shaft and rotates inside the hollow stator.
 The resultant flux across the air gap between the stator and rotor
generates voltages in the coils if the armature windings and
provides the electromagnetic torque between the stator and rotor;
Figure 1. A rotating machine

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 Concept of Rotating Magnetic Field
 A rotating magnetic field (RMF) is a magnetic field that has moving polarities in which its
opposite poles rotate about a central point or axis
 Ideally, the rotation changes direction at a constant angular rate
 This is a key principle in the operation of the alternating current motor
 Sine wave current in each of the three stationary coils produce three sine varying magnetic
fields perpendicular to the rotation axis
 The three magnetic fields add as vectors to produce a single rotating magnetic field

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 Synchronous Generator
 Synchronous generators or alternators are synchronous machines used to convert mechanical
power to AC electric power.
 Basic parts of a synchronous generator
 Rotor:
 Carry a field winding (DC Excited Winding) supplied with direct current through slip rings by a separate DC
source
 Rotor construction is of salient pole type and non-salient (cylindrical) pole by type
 Note that rotors are made laminated to reduce eddy current losses
 Stator:
 3 phase winding serving as the armature winding in which the AC emf is generated
 The armature winding is connected in star with neutral grounded

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Synchronous Generator (cont.)

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Operation Principle of Generator
The rotor of the generator is driven
by a prime mover

A DC current is flowing in the rotor

winding which produces a rotating
magnetic field within the machine

The rotating magnetic field induces

a 3-phase voltage in the stator
winding of the generator
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 Construction of 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
 Field windings are the windings producing the main magnetic field (rotor windings)
 Armature windings are the windings where the main voltage is induced (stator windings)
 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 (a
magnetic pole with windings embedded flush with the surface of the rotor)
Salient pole generator Non-Salient pole rotor

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 Salient Pole Type
 Salient or projected poles are mounted on a large circular steel frame which is fixed to the shaft
of the alternator
 The individual field pole windings are connected in series such that when the field winding is
energized by the exciter, adjacent poles have opposite polarities
 Application: Low and medium speed generators (120-400 rpm) driven by diesel engines or
water turbines
 Note:
 Number of poles: large number

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 Non-Salient Pole Type
 Made of smooth solid forged-steel cylinder having a number of slots along the outer surface
 Field windings are embedded in the slots and are connected in series to the slip rings through
which they are energized by the DC exciter
 The regions forming the poles are left unslotted
 Application: high speed generators (1500 to 3000 rpm), driven by steam turbines
 Note:
 Number of poles: 2 or 4 poles

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 Salient-Pole Synchronous Generator
 Most hydraulic turbines have to turn at low speeds (between 50 and 300 rpm)
 A large number of poles are required on the rotor

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Cylindrical-Rotor Synchronous Generator

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 DC Power Supply
 Two common approaches are used to supply a DC current to the field cicruits on the rotating rotor
1. External DC source to the rotor by means of slip rings and brushes
2. Special DC power source mounted directly on the shaft of the machine
 Slip rings:
 Metal rings completely encircling the shaft of a machine but insulated on it
 One end of the dc rotor winding its tied to each of the two slip rings on the shaft of the synchronous
machine, and a stationary brush rides on each slip ring
 Brushes:
 Graphite-like carbon brushes connected to DC terminals ride on each slip ring supplying DC voltage to
field windings
 Slip rings and brushes are used on all smaller synchronous machines because of its cost-effective.
 On large generators and motors, brushless exciters are used to supply the DC field current to the machine

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 Brushless Exciter
 A brushless exciter is a small AC generator whose
field circuits are mounted on the stator and
armature circuits mounted on the rotor shaft.
 The three phase output of the exciter generator is
rectified to DC (direct current) by a three phases
rectifier circuit (also mounted on the shaft) and fed
into the main DC field circuit.
 By controlling the small DC field current of the
exciter generator (located on the stator), it is
possible to adjust the field current on the main
machine without slip rings and brushes.

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Brushless Exciter (cont.)

A brushless exciter circuit

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 Brushless Exciter (cont.)

https://www.slideshare.net/superbhuppi/brushless-excitation/2
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 A Pilot Exciter
 To make the excitation of a generator completely
independent of any external power sources, a
small pilot exciter is often included in the system.
 A pilot exciter is an AC generator with permanent
magnets mounted on the rotor shaft and a three-
phase winding on the stator.
 The pilot exciter produces the power for the field
circuit of the exciter, which in turn controls the field
circuit of the main machine.
 If a pilot exciter is included on the generator shaft,
not external electric power is required to run the
generator (seen in Figure).
A brushless exciter circuit with pilot exciter

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 Rotation Speed of Synchronous Generator
 For synchronous generator, the electrical frequency produced is locked in or synchronized with the
mechanical rotational speed.

where
electrical frequency (Hz)
: speed of rotor (equivalent to mechanic speed of magnetic field) (r/min)
: number of poles
 The rotor of synchronous generator consist of an electromagnet to which direct current is supplied.
 The rotor’s magnetic field points in whatever direction the rotor is turned
 Steam turbines are most efficient when rotating at high speed, e.g. to generate 60 Hz, they are usually rotating
at 3600 rpm (2-poles)
 Water turbines are most efficient when rotating at low speeds (200-300 rpm), i.e. they usually turn generators
with many poles
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 Internal Voltage Generated (i)
 In 3 coils, each of N turns placed around the rotor magnetic field, the induced in each coil will have the
same magnitude and phases differing by
 Peak voltage:

 The magnitude of the voltage induced in a given stator phase (RMS voltage) is given by
(1)
 Equation (1) can be re-written for synchronous machine as

where is a constant representing the construction of the machine.

 If is expressed in electrical radians per second,

 If is expressed in mechanical radians per second,

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 Internal Voltage Generated (ii)

 The internal generated

voltage is directly
proportional to the
flux and to the speed  The internal
 The flux depends on generated voltage is
the current flowing in a function of the
the rotor field circuit rotor field current

a) b)

Figure 8. Magnetization curve (open circuit characteristic) of a synchronous

machine. a) Field circuit vs Flux ; b) Induced voltage vs Field circuit

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 Equivalent Circuit of Synchronous Generator
 The internal generated voltage is produced in one phase of a synchronous generator.
 is not usually the voltage that appears at the terminals of the generator because
1. The distortion of the air-gap magnetic field by the current flowing in the stator, called armature reaction
2. The self-inductance of the armature coils
3. The resistance of the armature coils
4. The effect of salient-pole rotor shapes
 In fact, the only time internal voltage is the same as the output voltage ( = ) when there is no armature
current flowing in the machine.

Per phase equivalent circuit

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