Chapter 4: DC Generators

Armature Reaction
• Current flowing in the armature coils
creates a powerful magnetomotive force
that distorts and weakens the flux coming
from the poles

• Considering the armature along, the

armature current produces a magnetic
field that acts at a right angle to the field
produced by the poles
• The flux intensity depends on the current
 Armature Reaction
• Contrary to the field flux, the armature flux
is not constant, but varies with the load
• The flux in the neutral zone is no longer
zero, and a flux is induced in the coils
shorted by the brushes
• The armature mmf distorts the flux
produced by the poles
– the neutral zones have shifted in the
direction of rotation
• Flux is concentrated at the far end of
the poles (positions 2 & 3 in fig.)
– increase in flux causes saturation to set in the far ends
– the total flux produced by the poles is less than when the generator runs at
no load
 Improving Commutation
• The shift in the neutral zone causes an increase in arcing
– we can move the brushes in the direction of rotation to reduce
the arcing
• For time varying loads, the fluctuating current raises and
lowers the armature magnetic-motive force and the neutral
zone shifts back and forth
– it is not practical to continuously move the brushes to
minimize the arcing
– for small machines the brushes are set in an intermediate
position to ensure reasonably good commutation at all loads
 Commutating Poles
In larger machines, a set of
commutating poles are placed to
counter the effect of armature
reaction
– narrow poles carry windings
that are designed to develop a
MMF equal and opposite to the
MMF of the armature
– as load current varies, the two
MMF’s rise and fall together
– the vertical component of the
field is nullified and the neutral
zone is restored
 Separately Excited Generators
• Instead of using permanent
magnets to create the magnetic
field, pairs of electromagnets
called field poles are employed
• Separately excited field poles
are supplied by an independent
current source
– batteries or another generator
– the current source is referred to
as the exciter
 Machine Saturation Curve
In a separately excited, no-load,
generator a change in excitation
current causes a corresponding
change in the induced voltage
– the saturation curve relates the
flux produced to the current
– for small currents, the flux is
linearly proportionate
– at higher currents, the flux
output decreases due to iron
saturation
– the segment from a to b is the
saturation knee
– the induced voltage curve is
identical to the flux curve No-load Saturation Curve
 Equivalent Circuit Model
Circuit model development
– armature circuit
• windings containing a set of identical coils and possessing a certain
resistance, which can be modeled as a series resistance w.r.t. the
terminals
• total armature resistance R0 is measured between the terminals when
the machine is at rest
• resistance is in series with the induced voltage, which is represented
by a voltage source, E0
– field winding circuit
• winding containing a set of
identical coils in series
• total field resistance Rf
 Loading Characteristics
• Consider the generator operating
under constant speed and field
excitation
– the exciting current is controlled by
a potentiometer
– the induced voltage E0 is fixed
• The voltage at the terminals E12
– is equal to the induced voltage E0
at no-load current condition, I = 0
– decreases as the load current
increases E12  E0 I  R0 I

– E0 also decreases under load

because of pole-tip saturation
Load Characteristic Curve
 Shunt Generators
• A shunt-excited generator is
a machine with the field
winding in parallel with
the armature terminals
– this eliminates the need
for an external source of
excitation
– the generator becomes self-exciting – this results in a small mmf, acting in
• Starting the self-excitation the same direction as the remanent
flux and causing the flux per pole to
– remanent flux in the pole induce a increase
small armature voltage when there
is rotation – the increased flux raises E0, which
feeds back to increase IX
– the voltage produces a small
exciting current, IX – E0 increases until Rf and the
saturation limits the feedback
 Voltage Control
•The induced voltage of the
shunt generator is easily
controlled by varying the
excitation current by means of a
rheostat connected in series with
the shunt field coil
• The no-load value of E0 is
determined from the saturation
curve and Rf
– it is the intersection of the Rf line
and the voltage curve
 Shunt Generator Under Load
•The terminal voltage of a self-
excited shunt generator falls off
more sharply with increasing
load than that of a separately
excited generator
– the field current in a separately
excited generator remains
constant under any load
– the field current in a shunt
generator is a function of the • For a self-excited shunt
terminal voltage generator the voltage drop from
– increased loading causes a drop no-load to full-load is about
in terminal voltage and 15% of the full-load voltage
consequently a drop in – for separately excited
excitation current generators, it is less than 10%
 Compound Generator
The compound generator
prevents the terminal voltage of
a shunt generator from
decreasing with increasing load
– a compound generator is
similar to a shunt generator
except that it has additional
field coils connected in series
with the armature circuit
– these series field coils are
composed of a few turns of
heavy gage wire for carrying
the armature load current
– the total resistance of the series
coils is very small
Equivalent Circuit
At no-load, the current in the
series coils is zero
the shunt coils carry the
excitation current, IX to produce
the field flux
As load increases
the terminal voltage tends to drop,
but the load current Ic now flows
through the series field coils
the mmf developed by the series
field coils acts in the same
direction as the mmf of the shunt
field coils
the flux increases under rising load
 Differential Compound Generator
In a differential compound generator, the mmf of the series
field acts opposite to the shunt field
– under load, the terminal voltage falls drastically with
increasing load
– the series field circuit is reversed in polarity to make a
compound generator into a differential compound generator
– useful in welding applications
– limits short-circuit currents
 Loading Characteristics
loading characteristics of
several generator types