Electric generator

Student: Gutulescu Daniel-Marius

Grupa: ET31
History
Before the connection between magnetism and electricity was
discovered, electrostatic generators were invented. They operated
on electrostatic principles, by using moving electrically charged belts,
plates, and disks that carried charge to a high potential electrode. The
charge was generated using either of two mechanisms: electrostatic
induction or the triboelectric effect. Such generators generated very
high voltage and low current. Because of their inefficiency and the difficulty
of insulating machines that produced very high voltages, electrostatic
generators had low power ratings, and were never used for generation of
commercially significant quantities of electric power. Their only practical
applications were to power early X-ray tubes, and later in some
atomic particle accelerators.

In electricity generation, a generatoris a device that converts motive

power (mechanical energy) into electrical power for use in an
external circuit. Sources of mechanical energy include steam turbines, gas
turbines, water turbines, internal combustion engines and even
hand cranks. The first electromagnetic generator, the Faraday disk, was
invented in 1831 by British scientist Michael Faraday. Generators provide
nearly all of the power for electric power grids.
The reverse conversion of electrical energy into mechanical energy is done
by an electric motor, and motors and generators have many similarities.
Many motors can be mechanically driven to generate electricity and
frequently make acceptable manual generators.
 Terminology
Electromagnetic generators fall into one of two broad categories, dynamos
and alternators.

 Dynamos generate pulsing direct current through the use of

a commutator.
 Alternators generate alternating current.
Mechanically a generator consists of a rotating part and a stationary part:
Rotor
The rotating part of an electrical machine.
Stator
The stationary part of an electrical machine, which surrounds the
rotor.
One of these parts generates a magnetic field, the other has a wire
winding in which the changing field induces an electric current:
Field winding or field (permanent) magnets
The magnetic field producing component of an electrical machine.
The magnetic field of the dynamo or alternator can be provided by
either wire windings called field coils or permanent magnets.
Electrically-excited generators include an excitation system to
produce the field flux. A generator using permanent magnets (PMs) is
sometimes called a magneto, or permanent magnet synchronous
generators (PMSMs).
Armature
The power-producing component of an electrical machine. In a
generator, alternator, or dynamo, the armature windings generate the
electric current, which provides power to an external circuit. The
armature can be on either the rotor or the stator, depending on the
design, with the field coil or magnet on the other part.

Synchronous generators (alternating current

generators)
Through a series of discoveries, the dynamo was succeeded by many later
inventions, especially the AC alternator, which was capable of
generating alternating current. It is commonly known to be the
Synchronous Generators (SGs). The synchronous machines are directly
connected to the grid and need to be properly synchronized during
startup. Moreover, they are excited with special control to enhance the
stability of the power system.
Alternating current generating systems were known in simple forms
from Michael Faraday's original discovery of the magnetic induction of
electric current. Faraday himself built an early alternator. His machine was
a "rotating rectangle", whose operation was heteropolar - each active
conductor passed successively through regions where the magnetic field
was in opposite directions.
Large two-phase alternating current generators were built by a British
electrician, J.E.H. Gordon, in 1882. The first public demonstration of an
"alternator system" was given by William Stanley, Jr., an employee
of Westinghouse Electric in 1886.
Sebastian Ziani de Ferranti established Ferranti, Thompson and Ince in
1882, to market his Ferranti-Thompson Alternator, invented with the help of
renowned physicist Lord Kelvin. His early alternators produced frequencies
between 100 and 300 Hz. Ferranti went on to design the Deptford Power
Station for the London Electric Supply Corporation in 1887 using an
alternating current system. On its completion in 1891, it was the first truly
modern power station, supplying high-voltage AC power that was then
"stepped down" for consumer use on each street. This basic system
remains in use today around the world.

A small early 1900s 75 kVAdirect-driven power station AC alternator, with a

separate belt-driven exciter generator.
After 1891, polyphase alternators were introduced to supply currents of
multiple differing phases. Later alternators were designed for varying
alternating-current frequencies between sixteen and about one hundred
hertz, for use with arc lighting, incandescent lighting and electric motors.
Specialized types of generator
Direct current (DC)
An important class of direct-current generators are the dynamos - these are
electrical machines with commutators to produce (DC) direct current, and
are self excited - their field electromagnets are powered by the machine's
own output. Other types of DC generator use a separate source of direct
current to energize their field magnets.

Homopolar generator
A homopolar generator is a DC electrical generator comprising an
electrically conductive disc or cylinder rotating in a plane perpendicular to a
uniform static magnetic field. A potential difference is created between the
center of the disc and the rim (or ends of the cylinder), the electrical
polarity depending on the direction of rotation and the orientation of the
field.
It is also known as a unipolar generator, acyclic generator, disk dynamo,
or Faraday disc. The voltage is typically low, on the order of a few volts in
the case of small demonstration models, but large research generators can
produce hundreds of volts, and some systems have multiple generators in
series to produce an even larger voltage. They are unusual in that they can
produce tremendous electric current, some more than a million amperes,
because the homopolar generator can be made to have very low internal
resistance.

Common use cases

Vehicular generators
Roadway vehicles
Motor vehicles require electrical energy to power their instrumentation,
keep the engine itself operating, and recharge their batteries. Until about
the 1960s motor vehicles tended to use DC generators with
electromechanical regulators. Following the historical trend above and for
many of the same reasons, these have now been replaced
by alternators with built-in rectifier circuits.
Bicycles
Bicycles require energy to power running lights and other equipment. There
are two common kinds of generator in use on bicycles: bottle
dynamos which engage the bicycle's tire on an as-needed basis, and hub
dynamos which are directly attached to the bicycle's drive train. The name
is conventional as these they are small permanent-magnet alternators, not
self-excited DC machines as are dynamos. Some electric bicycles are
capable of regenerative braking, where the drive motor is used as a
generator to recover some energy during braking.

Sailboats
Sailing boats may use a water- or wind-powered generator to trickle-charge
the batteries. A small propeller, wind turbine or impeller is connected to a
low-power generator to supply currents at typical wind or cruising speeds.

Human powered electrical generators

A generator can also be driven by human muscle power (for instance, in
field radio station equipment).
Human powered direct current generators are commercially available, and
have been the project of some DIY enthusiasts. Typically operated by
means of pedal power, a converted bicycle trainer, or a foot pump, such
generators can be practically used to charge batteries, and in some cases
are designed with an integral inverter. An average "healthy human" can
produce a steady 75 Watts (0.1 horsepower) for a full eight hour period,
while a "first class athlete" can produce approximately 298 Watts (0.4
horsepower) for a similar period. At the end of which an undetermined
period of rest and recovery will be required. At 298 Watts the average
"healthy human" becomes exhausted within 10 minutes. The net electrical
power that can be produced will be less, due to the efficiency of the
generator. Portable radio receivers with a crank are made to reduce battery
purchase requirements, see clockwork radio. During the mid 20th century,
pedal powered radios were used throughout the Australian outback, to
provide schooling (School of the Air), medical and other needs in remote
stations and towns.
 Mechanical measurement
Designed to measure shaft speed, a tachogenerator is a device which
produces an output voltage proportional to that speed. Tachogenerators
are frequently used to power tachometers to measure the speeds of
electric motors, engines, and the equipment they power. speed. With
precise construction and design, generators can be built to produce very
precise voltages for certain ranges of shaft speeds.

Equivalent circuit

Equivalent circuit of generator and load.

 G, generator
 VG, generator open-circuit voltage
 RG, generator internal resistance
 VL, generator on-load voltage
 RL, load resistance
An equivalent circuit of a generator and load is shown in the adjacent
diagram. The generator is represented by an abstract generator consisting
of an ideal voltage source and an internal resistance. The generator's
and parameters can be determined by measuring the winding resistance
(corrected to operating temperature), and measuring the open-circuit and
loaded voltage for a defined current load.
This is the simplest model of a generator, further elements may need to be
added for an accurate representation. In particular, inductance can be
added to allow for the machine's windings and magnetic leakage flux, but a
full representation can become much more complex than this.