UNIT-5

SYNCHRONOUS GENERATOR
(ALTERNATOR-A.C.GENERATOR)

An A.C. Generator is an electrical generator that converts

mechanical energy to electrical energy in the form
of alternating current.

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 Reason Behind the name

Alternator

When an AC generator is directly feeding its own local load, it could be driven
at any desired speed. Here, the operating speed combined with the number of
poles in the generator, determines the frequency of the voltage and current
supplied to the load. The generator operating under this condition is called as
alternator.

Synchronous Generator

When an AC generator operates in parallel with a supply grid, the speed of the
generator is decided by the frequency of the grid or the speed is synchronous with
the frequency. The generator operating in this manner is called synchronous
generator.

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 A Brief History of Generators
The generator evolved from work by Michael Faraday and Joseph
Henry in the 1820s. Once these two inventors discovered and
documented the phenomena of electromagnetic induction, it leads
to experimentation by others in both Europe and North America.
1886-1891 - Polyphase AC generators are developed by C.S.
Bradly (US), August Haselwander (Germany), Mikhail Dolivo-
Dobrovsky (Germany/Russia), Galileo Ferraris (Italy), and others.

1890s - Generator design is improved , Westinghouse, Siemens,

Oerlikon, and General Electric developed the world's most
powerful generators. Some generators still operate 115 years
later. (Mechanicville, NY)

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 Principle of operation

The electrical machine which converts mechanical energy into

electrical energy which is an alternating current(AC) in nature
is called as AC generator

Based on Faraday’s laws of electromagnetic induction

❖ Whenever flux linking in a conducting coil changes, an emf induced in it.

❖ The amount of induced emf in a conducting coil is directly

proportional to the rate of change of flux linked by the coil.

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 Constructional Requirements

1. Field system - Flux

2. System of conductors or coils -Induced emf

3. Relative motion between the two system -Prime-mover

The third requirement can be satisfied either by

1. Field system- stationary and system of conductors- rotating member.
or
2. System of conductors- stationary and Field system- rotating member.

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Stationary field system type
➢Field system – stator – field winding is excited by DC supply
➢System of conductors or coils – Rotor-connected to electrical load
➢ Connection between the rotating system of conductors and
external circuit can be established by means of three or four slip
rings and associated brushes in the case of 3-phase AC machine.
Single-phase- only two slip rings

Prime
mover
DC

Stator Rotor To
electrical
AC output load
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 Rotating field system type
➢Field system – Rotor – field winding is excited by DC supply
➢System of conductors or coils – stator-connected to electrical
load
➢ Connection between the rotating field system and DC supply
can be established by means of two slip rings and associated
brushes in the case of 3-phase AC machine.

To Prime
Electrical mover
load

Stator Rotor

DC supply
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 Advantages of rotating field system
1. The armature windings, being stationary, are not subjected to
vibration and centrifugal forces.
2. It is easy to provide necessary cooling arrangement for stationary
armature windings.
3. A stationary armature is more easily insulated for the high voltage
for which the alternator is designed. The generated voltage may
be as high as 33kV.
4. The output current can be taken directly from fixed terminals on
the stationary armature without using slip rings, brushes, etc.
5. The field system requires about 2% of the power capacity.
Therefore, a small power can be easily supplied to the field
system through slip rings and brushes.
6. Connection between external circuit and stationary armature
windings enable the machine to handle large amounts of volt-
ampere as high as 500MVA
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 2. Hydraulic Turbines

a. Pelton Wheel
b. Francis turbines
c. Kaplan turbines

The choice of particular type depends upon the water-head available.

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a.Pelton Wheel

Water head 400 meter and above – pelton

wheel – high speed operation
The turbine and generator may be vertical or
horizontal type (1500 rpm)

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 3. Internal Combustion engines
IC engines fuelled by diesel or gas etc.,- horizantal type – salient pole type-
4 0r 6 poles

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 Construction of an Alternator

All alternators above 5 kVA employ a stationary armature (or stator)

and a revolving d.c. field.

An alternator has 3,-phase winding on the stator and a d.c. field

winding on the rotor.
1. Stator
It is the stationary part of the machine and is built up of sheet-
steel laminations having slots on its inner periphery. A 3-phase
winding is placed in these slots and serves as the armature
winding of the alternator. The armature winding is always
connected in star and the neutral is connected to ground.

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To Prime
Electrical mover
load

Stator Rotor

DC supply
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Stator core with 3-phase winding

15
STATOR

Stator slots
and
windings

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2. Rotor
The rotor carries a field winding which is supplied with direct
current through two slip rings by a separate d.c. source. This d.c.
source (called exciter) is generally a small d.c. shunt or compound
generator mounted on the shaft of the alternator. Rotor
construction is of two types, namely;

(i) Salient (or projecting) pole type

(ii) Non-salient (or cylindrical) pole type

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 (i) Salient (or projecting) pole type
In this type, salient or projecting poles are mounted on a large circular
steel frame which is fixed to the shaft of the alternator as shown in
Fig. The individual field pole windings are connected in series in such
a way that when the field winding is energized by the d.c. exciter,
adjacent poles have opposite polarities.

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 Two slip rings and carbon DC Exciter
brushes

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Low and medium-speed alternators (120-400 r.p.m.) such as those
driven by diesel engines or water turbines have salient pole type
rotors due to the
following reasons:
(a) The salient field poles would cause an excessive windage loss if
driven at high speed and would tend to produce noise.
(b) Salient-pole construction cannot be made strong enough to
withstand the mechanical stresses to which they may be subjected
at higher speeds.
Since a frequency of 50 Hz is required, we must use a large number
of poles on the rotor of slow-speed alternators. Low-speed rotors
always possess a large diameter to provide the necessary space for
the poles. Consequently, salient-pole type rotors have large
diameters and short axial lengths.

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 Salient pole type

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Purpose of damper winding in salient pole type rotor

The salient pole type rotors have their pole shoes slotted for
receiving copper Bars of a grid or damper winding (also known
as squirrel cage winding). The Copper bars are short circuited
at both ends by heavy copper rings.

These dampers are useful in preventing the hunting

(momentary speed fluctuations) in synchronous generators
and are needed in synchronous motors to provide the
starting torque.

Note: Non - salient pole type rotors usually do not require damper
windings,(except in special cases to assist in synchronizing) because solid
field poles themselves act as Efficient dampers.

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 Damper winding

Rotor field
winding

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 END ring

Copper Bars

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 (ii) Non-salient pole type
In this type, the rotor is made of smooth solid forged-steel
radial cylinder having a number of slots along the outer
periphery. The field windings are embedded in these slots
and are connected in series to the slip rings through which
they are energized by the d.c. exciter. The regions forming
the poles are usually left unslotted as shown in Fig. It is clear
that the poles formed are non-salient i.e., they do not
project out from the rotor surface.

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 (ii) Non- salient or smooth cylindrical type

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High-speed alternators (1500 or 3000 r.p.m.) are driven by steam
turbines and use non-salient type rotors due to the following
reasons:
(a) This type of construction has mechanical robustness and
gives noiseless operation at high speeds.
(b) The flux distribution around the periphery is nearly a sine
wave and hence a better e.m.f. waveform is obtained than in the
case of salient-pole type.

Since steam turbines run at high speed and a frequency of 50 Hz is

required, we need a small number of poles on the rotor of high-speed
alternators (also called turbo alternators). We can use not less than 2
poles and this fixes the highest possible speed. For a frequency of 50
Hz, it is 3000 r.p.m. The next lower speed is 1500 r.p.m. for a 4-pole
machine. Consequently, turbo alternators possess 2 or 4 poles and
have small diameters and very long axial lengths.

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 Salient pole type of rotor Non- salient type or smooth cylindrical
type rotor
1. Poles are projected out from the 1.Unslotted portion forms the poles-
rotor surface poles are non projected.

2. Non Uniform air-gap 2. Uniform air-gap

3. Large diameter and small axial length 3. Small diameter and large axial length

4. Mechanically weak 4. Mechanically robust

5. Preferred for low speed operation 5. Preferred for high speed operation

6. Prime movers – water turbine, IC 6. Prime movers – steam turbine

engines

7. For same size rating is smaller than 7. For same size rating is higher than
cylindrical type cylindrical type

8. Separate damper winding is provided 8. Separate damper winding is not

necessary.
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