EEET 421

(AC MACHINERY)
PART 1.1: ALTERNATORS

INSTRUCTOR
Engr. Jerny D. Catibayan
The Lasallian Prayer

“Let us remember
that we are in the holy presence of God.”

26 June 2019 Prepared By: Engr. Jerny D. Catibayan 2

 AC Power History
• 1835 - Hippolyte Pixii builds the first alternator. Pixii builds a device with a rotating magnet.
He doesn't know how to make his creation useful since all the other experimenters of the
time were building DC devices. Others like Faraday and Henry were experimenting at the time
with primitive electric motors using electromagnets.
• 1855 - Guillaume Duchenne uses alternating current in electrotherapeutic triggering of
muscle contractions. (Paris, France)AC power is not viewed as useful for anything else at the
time.
• 1878 - Ganz Company starts working with single phase AC power systems in Budapest,
Austro-Hungary
• 1879 - London: Walter Baily makes a copper disc rotate using alternating current (this is a
weak early AC motor) which was not effective for bearing any load.
• The 1880s: This decade proved to be an exciting time for the development of electric power,
read below to find out some of the major developments by year.
• 1882 - London, Sabastian Ferranti (Englishman with an Italian parent) works at Siemens
Brothers firm in London with Lord Kelvin (William Thompson), and Ince. With the help of Lord
Kelvin Ferranti pioneers early AC power technology, including an early transformer. Later on
John Gibbs and Lucien Gaulard would base their designs off of Ferranti
• 1884 - Turin, Italy: Lucien Gaulard develops transformers and the power transmission system
from Lanzo to Turino. The demonstration of AC power includes a 25 mile trolley with step
down transformers that allow low power Edison incandescent lights to light the path along
with arc lamps. Galileo Ferraris was head of the Electrical Department. The next year Ferraris
would invent the polyphase motor

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 AC Power History
• 1885 - Ferraris conceives the idea of the first polyphase AC
motor: " In the summer of 1885 he conceived the idea that two
out-of-phase, but synchronized, currents might be used to
produce two magnetic fields that could be combined to
produce a rotating field without any need for switching or for
moving parts. "
• 1885 - Elihu Thomson at Thomson-Houston starts
experimenting with AC power (the first company in the US to
start work on AC)
• 1885 - George Westinghouse is intrigued by AC power and buys
North American rights to Gaulard and Gibbs system for
$50,000
• 1885 - George Westinghouse orders a Siemens alternator (AC
generator) and a Gaulard and Gibbs transformer. Stanley begin
experimenting with this system.

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 AC POWER HISTORY
An important year for AC power

• 1886 - Great Barrington, Massachusetts - the first full AC power system in the
world is demonstrated using step up and step down transformers. The system was
built by William Stanley and funded by Westinghouse.
1886 - November - Buffalo, New York receives the first commercial AC power
system in the USA. This system designed by George Westinghouse, William
Stanley, and Oliver B. Shallenberger
• 1886 - William Stanley designs an improved version of the Siemens single phase
alternator
1886 - Fall - Elihu Thomson's AC power system is rejected by the patent office.
Westinghouse is already far ahead, having sold its system commercially already.
• 1886 - Nikola Tesla tries to sell his AC power system to investors in New York City,
but it fails to be of interest in a city which is already heavily invested in DC power
systems. Other inventors around the world also promoting AC power have similar
problems. This is especially due to the fact that no one has yet to invent an AC
electric motor which is efficient.
• 1886 - Otto Blathy comes to the USA and Thomas Edison buys options on
the Z.B.D. Transformer. This would put him in the position to rival Westinghouse
that controlled the Gaulard and Gibbs transformer patent. Later Edison decides
that it is not worth going into AC and drops his options on the Z.B.D. Transformer.

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 Principle of AC Generators

• AC Generators are usually called alternators. They operate

on the same fundamental principles of electromagnetic
induction as dc generators.
• Alternators are driven at a definite constant speed called
synchronous speed and the frequency of the generated
emf is determined by that speed.

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 In practice, stationary armature and moving fields is preferable
than a stationary field and moving armature for several reasons:

• The armature winding is more complex than the field and

can be constructed more easily on a stationary structure.
• The armature winding can be braced more securely in a
rigid frame.
• The armature winding is cooled more readily.
• The low voltage field can be constructed for efficient high-
speed operation.

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ALTERNATOR’S PARTS

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 Generated Voltage in an Alternator

The fundamental law of generator action states that an

average of 1 volt is generated in one turn of wire if the flux
passing through that turn changes at the rate 1 x 108
maxwells per second.

Where:
ERMS = effective generated voltage
EAVE = average generated voltage
N= No. of coil turns
F= Frequency, Hertz
Φ= flux per pole, maxwells
Note: 1 weber = 1x108 maxwells

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 Armature Windings

The armature windings in the alternators are different from those used in
dc machines. In alternators one end of the windings is joined to the neutral
point and the other is brought out as output terminals (star – connected
armature).

The two (2) types of armature windings most commonly used for 3 – phase
alternators:
• Single – layer winding (half – coiled)
• 1 coil side per slot
• ½ coil per slot
• P/2 groups of coils
• Coils are connected such that successive
groups of coils carry current in opposite direction.
• Double – layer winding (whole – coiled)
• 2 coil sides per slot
• 1 coil per slot
• P (poles) groups of coils
• Coils are connected such that successive
groups of coils carry current in the opposite
direction

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 Coil Pitch and Pitch Factor

• The pole pitch is the distance between the centrelines of

adjacent north and south poles, measured along the
circumference at the armature surface (always 180 electrical
degrees). The distance between the 2 sides of a coil is its coil
pitch. If the 2 sides of an armature coil is equal to the pole
pitch, the armature winding is a full pitch. F the coil pitch is less
than 180 electrical degrees, the winding is called a fractional
pitch winding. The ratio of the voltage generated in the
fractional – pitch coil to the voltage generated in the full –pitch
coil is called the pitch factor.

Where:
Kp = pitch factor
P0 = span of coils in electrical degrees

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 Distribution Factor
When several coils in a group are connected in series, the
total voltage generated by that group is not equal to the
voltage per coil multiplied by the no. of coils in the group.
The factor to be multiplied to the voltage generated per
coil is called distribution factor.

Where:
Kd = distribution factor
n= number of slots per pole per phase
do= no. of electrical degrees between adjacent slots

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Corrected Voltage of Alternators

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 Example 1

A 3 – phase alternator has the following data:

Slots = 48, P = 4, armature winding: lap –
wound single layer distributed type
Turns /coil = 8
φ/pole = 4.2 x 106 maxwells
coil pitch is short by 2 slots.
Find the generated voltage per phase.

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 Example 2

A 3-φ, 10-pole, Y-connected alternator

runs at 600 r.p.m. It has 120 stator
slots with 8 conductors per slot and
the conductors of each phase are
connected in series. Determine the
phase and line e.m.fs. if the flux per
pole is 56 mWb. Assume full-pitch
coils.

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 Example 3

A 3-phase, 16-pole alternator has a

star-connected winding with 144 slots
and 10 conductors per slot. The flux
per pole is 30 mWb sinusoidally
distributed. Find the frequency, the
phase and line voltage if the speed is
375 rpm.

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 SEATWORK
1. A 3-phase, 16-pole alternator has a star-
connected winding with 144 slots and 10
conductors per slot. The flux per pole is
0.03 Wb, Sinusoidally distributed and the
speed is 375 r.p.m. Find the frequency
and the phase and line e.m.f. pitch short
by 2.
2. Find the no-load phase and line voltage of
a star-connected 3-phase, 6-pole
alternator which runs at 1200 rpm,
having flux per pole of 0.1 Wb sinusoidally
distributed. Its stator has 54 slots having
double layer winding. Each coil has 8
turns and the coil is chorded by 1 slot.
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The Lasallian Prayer

“I will continue, O my God,

to do all my actions for the love of Thee.”

Saint John Baptist de La Salle, pray for us.

Live Jesus in our hearts, forever.

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