Ministry Of Higher Education And

Scientific Research
Department of technical education
Technical college /Mousaib
Electrical power technical engineering
Fourth stage
By
Synchronous Generator Construction . 1
A DC current is applied to the rotor winding, which then produces a rotor magnetic
field. The rotor is then turned by a prime mover (eg. Steam, water etc.) producing
a rotating magnetic field .This rotating magnetic field induces a 3-phase set of
voltages within the stator windings of the generator. "Field windings
applies to the windings that produce the main magnetic field in a machine,
and "armature windings applies to the windings where the main voltage is induced.
For synchronous machines, the field windings are on the rotor,
so the terms "rotor windings and "field windings are used interchangeably.
Generally a synchronous generator must have at least 2 components:
1-Rotor Windings or Field Windings
a) Salient Pole
b) Non Salient Pole
2-Stator Windings or Armature Windings
on-saIient rotor for a
synchronous machine
The rotor of a synchronous generator is a Iarge eIectromagnet and
the magnetic poIes on the rotor
can either be saIient or non saIient construction. on-saIient poIe rotors are normaIIy
used for rotors with 2 or 4 poIes rotor, whiIe saIient poIe rotors are used for
4 or more poIes rotor.
$,03974947
A dc current must be supplied to the field circuit on the rotor. Since the rotor is
rotating, a special arrangement is required to get the dc power to its field windings.
The common ways are:
a) Supply the dc power from an external dc source to the rotor by means of slip rings
and brushes.
b) Supply the dc power from a special dc power source mounted directly on the shaft
of the synchronous generator.
Slip rings are metal rings completely encircling the shaft of a machine
but insulated from it. One end of the dc rotor winding is tied to each of the
2 slip rings on the shaft of the synchronous machine, and a stationary brush
rides on each slip ring. A "brush is a block of graphite like carbon compound
that conducts electricity freely but has very low friction, hence it doesn't wear
down the slip ring. f the positive end of a dc voltage source is connected to
one brush and the negative end is connected to the other, then the same dc
voltage will be applied to the field winding at all times regardless of the angular
position or speed of the rotor.
Some problems with slip rings and brushes:
-They increase the amount of maintenance required on the machine,
since the brushes must be checked for wear regularly.
-Brush voltage drop can be the cause of significant power losses on machines
with larger field currents.
Small synchronous machines use slip rings and brushes.
Larger machines brushless exciters are used to supply the dc field current.
A brushless exciter is a small ac generator with its field circuit mounted on the stator
and its armature circuit mounted on the rotor shaft. The 3-phase output of the exciter
generator is rectified to direct current by a 3-phase rectifier circuit also mounted on
the shaft of the generator, and is then fed to the main dc field circuit. By controlling
the small dc field current of the exciter generator (located on the stator), we can adjust
the field current on the main machine without slip rings and brushes. Since no
mechanical contacts occur between the rotor and stator, a brushless exciter requires
less maintenance
A brushless exciter circuit : A small 3-phase current is rectiIied and used to
supply the Iield circuit oI the exciter, which is located on the stator. The
output oI the armature circuit oI the exciter (on the rotor) is then rectiIied
and used to supply the Iield current oI the main machine.
To make the excitation of a generator completely independent of any external
power sources, a small pilot exciter can be used.
A pilot exciter is a small ac generator with permanent magnets mounted on
the rotor shaft and a 3-phase winding on the stator. t produces the power for
the field circuit of the exciter, which in turn controls the field circuit of the main
machine. f a pilot exciter is included on the generator shaft, then no external
electric power is required.