Unit III

SYNCHRONOUS MACHINES
AND STEPPER MOTOR

Yusra Meraj
(Guest Teacher)
Electronics Engineering Section, Women’s Polytechnic
 Difference between salient pole and cylindrical rotor
Salient pole rotor Cylindrical rotor

Projecting poles along the rotor periphery. Rotor forms a smooth cylinder with no
physical poles to be seen.
Non-uniform air gap Uniform air gap

Due to non-uniform weight distribution, it is Smooth rotor of the machine makes it

mechanically unbalanced. mechanically balanced.
Rotor is rotated at lower speed to avoid damage. Rotor is rotated at higher speed.

Rotor speed varies between 50 rpm to 1000 rpm. Rotor speed varies between 1500 rpm to 3000
rpm.

It has a large diameter and short axial length. It has small diameter and long axial length.

Due to large diameter, it can accommodate large It is bound only for 2 or 4 poles.
number of poles. Poles lies in between 6 and 120.
Salient rotor synchronous generator are also Cylindrical rotor synchronous generator are
known as hydro-alternators. also known as turbo-alternators.
Synchronous Machine
• Speed and frequency relationship

where , is the frequency of the generated voltage

is the total number of field poles
• The r.m.s value of the generated voltage per phase is given by

where, =frequency of generated voltage (Hz)

useful flux per pole in webers (Wb)
= total number of coils or turns per phase
Excitation system for synchronous machines
• Excitation means production of flux by passing current in the field winding.

• Direct current is required to excite the field winding on the rotor of machine.

• For small machines, d.c. is supplied to the rotor field by a d.c. generator called exciter.

• The output of exciter is given to field winding through brushes and slip rings.

• For medium size machines a.c. exciters are used in place of d.c. exciters.

• A.c exciters are three phase a.c. generators.

• The output of an a.c. exciter is rectified and supplied through brushes and slip rings to the rotor winding of
main synchronous machine.

• For large size machine brushless excitation systems are used.

Excitation system for synchronous machines

• A brushless exciter is a small direct coupled a.c. generator with its field circuit on stator and
armature circuit on rotor.

• The three phase output of the a.c. exciter generator is rectified by solid state rectifiers.

• The rectified output is connected directly to the field winding, thus eliminating the use of
brushes and slip rings.

• Brushless excitation system requires less maintenance due to absence of brushes and slip rings.

• Power loss is also reduced.

Voltage Generation

• The rotor of alternator is run at its proper speed by its prime mover.

• Prime mover is a machine which supplies mechanical energy input to alternator.

• Water wheels or hydraulic turbines are used as prime mover for slow and medium speed
alternators.

• Steam and gas turbines are used as prime mover in large alternators.

• As the poles of the rotor move under the armature conductor on the stator, field flux cuts the
armature conductors.

• Therefore voltage is generated in these armature conductors. This voltage is of alternating

nature since poles of alternate polarity successively pass by a given stator conductor.
Voltage Generation

• A 3-phase alternator has a stator with three sets of windings arranged so that there is a phase
displacement of 120 degrees.

• These windings are connected in a star to provide three phase output.

Fig.1. Delta and star connection

Three phase synchronous motor
• Synchronous machine can operate as both generator and motor.
• Synchronous motor is a machine that converts ac electric power to mechanical power at a
constant speed called synchronous speed.
• Synchronous motor is a doubly excited machine.
• It's rotor poles are excited by direct current and it's stator windings are connected to the a.c.
supply.

Fig.2. Synchronous Motor with three phase a.c. supply to stator and d.c. supply to
rotor
Three phase synchronous motor

• Air gap flux=flux due to rotor current + flux due to stator current.

Construction of Synchronous Motor

• It's construction is same as that of a synchronous generator.

• The three phase (star or delta connected) armature winding (stator winding) is on the stator.

• The rotor of a synchronous motor can be of salient pole or cylindrical pole type of construction.

• Generally it is of salient pole except for high speed machine.

• An additional set of winding, called damper winding, is mounted on the rotor.

• This winding is placed in slots located in the pole faces.

• The ends of the copper bar are short circuited.

 • Damper windings provide a means of starting the synchronous motor. They also serve to
increase the stability of the motor during load transients

Fig.3. Poles of a synchronous motor showing damper winding Fig.4. Damped winding on the poles of rotor
Principle of operation
• When a three phase a.c. voltage is applied to stator winding, a rotating magnetic field is
produced in the air gap (When we apply a three-phase supply to a three-phase distributed
winding of a rotating machine, a rotating magnetic field is produced which rotates with
synchronous speed.
• This magnetic field is such that its poles do not remain in a fixed position on the stator but go
on shifting their positions around the stator. For this reason, it is known as rotating magnetic
field (RMF) or RMF).
Principle of operation
• The stator field rotates at synchronous speed.
• The field current of rotor produces a steady state magnetic field.

Fig.5. Rotating magnetic field of stator

Fig.6. Two pole synchronous motor
Principle of operation
• Stator Rotating magnetic field.
• Rotor Constant magnetic field.
• Rotor acts like a permanent magnet.
• Therefore, there are two magnetic field present in the machine
• The rotor will tend to align with the stator field just as two bar magnets will tend to align if
placed near each other.
• Since the stator magnetic field is rotating, the rotor magnetic field and the rotor will tend to
rotate with the rotating field of stator.
• In order to develop a continuous torque, the two fields must be stationary with respect to each
other.
• This is possible when the rotor rotates at synchronous speed.
Principle of operation
• Basic principle of synchronous motor operation is that the rotor ‘chases’ the stator magnetic
field.
• The stator rotating magnetic field tends to “drag” the rotor along, as if north pole on the stator
‘locks in’ with a south pole of rotor.