GENERATOR

CHARACTERISTICS
Generator Characteristics
The three most important characteristics or
curves of a d.c. generator are

1. No-load saturation characteristic (ENL/If)

It is also know as Magnetic characteristic
or Open circuit Characteristic (O.C.C).
• It shows the relation between the no-load
generated e.m.f. in armature, ENL and the field
or exciting current If at a given fixed speed.
• It is just the magnetization curve for the
material of the electromagnets.
• Its shape is practically the same for all
generators whether separately-excited or self-
excited.
2. Internal Characteristic
• When the generator is loaded, flux per pole is reduced due to
armature reaction. Therefore, e.m.f. E generated on load is less than
the e.m.f. generated at no load.
3. External Characteristic

•It gives the relation between terminal voltage VL and load current IL.
• External characteristic curve will lie below the internal characteristic
curve by an amount equal to drop in the armature circuit.
EXTERNAL CHARACTERISTIC OF:
SERIES GENERATOR
SHUNT GENERATOR
VL or VT
ENL
VFL
VL or VT

IL
IFL
IL
 CUMULATIVE COMPOUND GENERATOR Over-compounded
ENL
Flat-compounded
Under-compounded
VL or VT

IFL IL

•The voltage drop, which occurs in the shunt machine, is compensated for by the voltage rise, which
occurs in the series machine.
•The addition of a sufficient number of series turns offsets the armature IR drop and armature reaction
effect, resulting in a flat-compound generator, which has a nearly constant voltage.
• If more series turns are added, the voltage may rise with load and the machine is known as an over-
compound generator.

NOTE: Shunt field winding is made up of many turns of thin wire.

Series field winding is made up of few turns of wire with large cross section.
BUILDING-UP OF A SELF – EXCITED GENERATOR
Basic Requirements:
1. Presence of residual magnetism
2. Field resistance must be less than the critical resistance
3. Armature speed must be greater than critical speed
Field resistance must be less than the critical resistance
Critical resistance, RC – The resistance of the field, the line
of which is tangent to the saturation curve
EG RC
RF1

RF2

IF
Armature speed must be greater than critical speed
Critical speed, NC – The speed at which the generator’s the saturation
curve is tangent to the field resistance line

RF
EG
N2

N1

NC

IF
EXAMPLE
The magnetization characteristic for a 4-pole, 110-V, 1000 r.p.m. shunt
generator is as follows :
Field current (A) : 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
Induced e.m.f. (V): 5 50 85 102 112 116 120
If the shunt field resistance is 45Ω,

find
(a) voltage the machine will build up at no load.
(b) the critical resistance.
(c) the speed at which the machine just fails to excite.
(d) residual flux per pole.
OA represents the 45Ω line

a) The voltage to which machine will build up:

OM = 118 V
 b) OT is tangent to
the initial part of the
O.C.C.
• It represents
critical resistance.

• Take point B lying on this line.

• Voltage and exciting current corresponding to this point are
110 V and 1.1 A respectively.

∴ Rc = 110/1.1 = 100 Ω
As given in the
table, induced e.m.f.
due to residual flux
(i.e. when there is
no exciting current)
is 5 V.