DC Machines: DC Generator

Characteristics
 DC Shunt Generator - OCC
• Plot between Ea and If, with Ia = zero and wm= constant

• Obtained by running the shunt generator as a separately excited generator

and hence the characteristics is similar to the separately excited generator.
 DC Shunt Generator – Load Characteristic
• Plot between Vt and If, with Ia and wm = constant

• The load characteristics is same as that of separately excited generator. The slight
difference is due to the different armature currents. Shunt generator: Ia = IL + If ;
Separately excited generator: Ia = IL
• Different armature currents result in different armature reaction, giving
slightly different voltage drops in the two cases.
 DC Shunt Generator – External charact.
• Plot between Vt and IL, with If and wm = constant

The drop in terminal voltage is due to (a) armature resistance drop, (b) reduction in
main field flux due to armature reaction and (c) further reduction in field current since
the terminal voltage has fallen because of the first two effects.
 Voltage Build-up in Shunt Generators

• Straight line Oa is the graphical plot of

Ohm’s law for the field circuit.
• Stable point n is the intersection of OCC
and Oa.
• Beyond the point n, the generated emf
given by the OCC is less than that required
to maintain the corresponding field current.
• If the voltage build-up from Oc to np fails,
then reverse the shunt field terminals to
obtain the voltage build up.
Critical Field Resistance and Critical Speed
• The field resistance represented by
line OB is called the critical field
resistance at a given speed.
• If shunt field resistance is more
than the critical field resistance,
there will be no voltage ebuild-up.
• The critical field resistance at a
given speed is obtained by drawing
a line through origin O and
touching the maximum straight line
portion of the magnetization curve.
• Critical speed is the speed at which
the dc shunt generator just fails to
𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑡𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑦𝑡 build up with no external resistance
𝑐𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑛! = ×𝑛" in field circuit.
𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑡𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑦𝑠
 Reasons for Failure to Build-up Voltage
The process of connecting the shunt field winding to a
• No residual magnetism separate dc source for creating the necessary residual
magnetism in the main poles is called field flashing.

• Field connections reversed

• High field circuit resistance

• Speed less than critical speed

DC Series Generator – OCC and Load characteristics

• Both the characteristics are obtained by separately exciting its

field from a low voltage source and hence the characteristics is
similar to the separately excited generator.
DC Series Generator – External characteristics
 DC Compound Generator – OCC
• For the no-load characteristic, same current flows
through the series field and shunt field turns in
case of a long shunt compound generator.
• Since the number of series field turns is far less
than that of the shunt field turns, the effect of
Long shunt compound wound dc generator
series field mmf may be neglected in comparison
with the shunt field mmf at no-load.
• For a short shunt compound generator, series
field carries no current when obtaining its no-
load characteristic.
• Thus, the no-load characteristic of a long shunt
or short shunt compound generator is the same
as if it were a shunt generator.
Short shunt compound wound dc generator
DC Compound Generator – External characteristics
Based on the degree of compounding
(number of series field turns)
• Under compounded: VtFL < VtNL
• Level or flat compounded: VtFL = VtNL
• Over compounded: VtFL > VtNL

Diverter can be used to control the degree of

compounding
DC Generator – External characteristics
 Problem 1
A 2-pole dc shunt generator charges a 100-V battery of negligible internal
resistance. The armature of the machine is made up of 1000 conductors, each of 2
milli-ohm resistance. The charging currents are found to be 10 A and 20 A for
generator speeds of 1055 and 1105 rpm respectively. Find the field-circuit
resistance and flux per pole of the generator. Neglect armature reaction effects.

Ans. (i) 100 ohm

(ii) 6 mWb