Chapter # 5

Synchronous Generators

Week # 13, Lecture 38

Power Factor:
• Always use Phasor quantities (currents & Voltages) for
calculating Power Factor.

• If Line-Line quantities (currents & Voltages) are used while

calculating P.F. then the 30⁰ angle (which comes into play for
currents in Δ-connections & for voltages in Y-connections)
will make the calculations Wrong.

• For Example: The Power factor of the 3-Φ resistive load

(Either Y or Δ) is always cos (0⁰) = 1.

• But if we take Line-Line quantities then the Power factor of

the same load would come out to be cos(30⁰) which is totally
wrong as resistive load can NOT have such P.F.

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Power Factor:
• There are 4 possible types for the 3-Φ Generator – Load
configuration

 Y-Y
 Y-Δ
 Δ-Y
 Δ-Δ

 In each case it can be easily proved that Power factor of the

load is SAME as the Power factor of the generator.

 Thus the Power factor mentioned for the load (angle between
VΦL and IΦL) in the question could have been used for the
generator (angle between VΦG and IΦG)

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5.9: Parallel Operation of AC Generators
• An isolated generator supplying its own load independent of
the other generators is very rare, may be an emergency
generator.
• Practically, there is more than one generator operating in
parallel to supply the power demand. U.S. power system
has literally thousands of generators sharing the load of the
entire country.
• Advantages of Parallel Operation:
1) Several generators can supply bigger loads than one
machine by itself.
2) Having many generators increases the reliability of the
power system, since the failure of one of them does not
cause a total power loss to the load.
3) Having many generators operating in parallel allows the
removal of one or more of them for shut down and
preventive maintenance.
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5.9: Parallel Operation of AC Generators
4) If only one generator is used and it is not operating near
full load, then it will be relatively inefficient. With smaller
several machines in parallel, it is possible to operate only
fraction of them. The ones that do operate are operating
near full load and thus more efficient.
• Generator G1 is
supplying power to a
load, with another
generator G2 about to be
paralleled with G1 by
closing switch S1.
• What conditions must be
met before the switch
can be closed and two
generators connected
together.
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5.9: Parallel Conditions for AC Generators
1. The rms line voltages of the two generators must be equal.

2. The two generators must have same phase sequence.

3. The phase angle must be the same.

4. The frequency of the two generator must be about the

same. The frequency of new generator, called oncoming
generator should be slightly higher than the frequency of
the running system.

• In the large generators belonging to power systems, the

whole process of paralleling a new generator to the line is
automated, and a computer does this job. For smaller
generators the operator checks these conditions manually
before putting the new generator in parallel with an existing
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one.
Thank You