SYNCHRONOUS GENERATOR
By Lal Said
Types of Alternators/Generators
There are two types of generator
Rotating armature (smaller Power,
Produces spark between brushes and
split rings at high voltages)
• Rotating field type (High Power)
(33KV to 66KV)
• Electrical frequency generated is locked-in ie
synchronized with mechanical rate of rotation
of the field of the generator.
SYNCHRONOUS GENERATOR
CONSTRUCTION
• In a synchronous generator, a rotor magnetic
field is produced either by
• Designing the rotor as a permanent magnet or by
applying a dc current to a rotor winding to create an
electromagnet.
• The rotor of the generator is then turned by a prime
mover, producing a rotating magnetic field within the
machine. This rotating magnetic field induces a
three-phase set of voltages within the stator
windings of the generator.
Synchronous generator
Mechanism of ac voltage generation
• Rotor flux is produced by a dc field current If.
• Rotor is driven by a prime mover, producing rotating field in
the air gap.
• A voltage is induced in the stator winding due to
the rotating field.
Induced voltage is sinusoidal due to the sinusoidal distributed
flux density in the air gap.
Synchronous generator
(The Speed of Rotation of a Synchronous Generator)
Synchronous generators are by definition synchronous,
meaning that the electrical frequency produced is locked in
or synchronized with the mechanical rate of rotation of the
generator.
The rate of rotation of the magnetic fields in the machined is
related to the stator electrical frequency is
nm P
fe
120
Where fe = electrical frequency (Hz)
nm = mechanical speed of the magnetic field, rpm (= speed of
rotor)
P = number of poles
The Internal Generated Voltage of a Synchronous Generator
• In chapter 3 we have find that
• The peak voltage in any phase
• Since
The Internal Generated Voltage of a Synchronous Generator
The magnitude of the voltage induced in a stator phase is
E A 2N C f
or
E A K
Where
NC = no of conductors at an angle of 00
NC
K
2
Flux, Field current and Ea
• As E A K
• And Ǿ is proportional to field current
The Equivalent Circuit of a Synchronous Generator
The voltage E A K is the internal voltage generated produced
in one phase of a synchronous generator. However, this voltage EA
is not usually the voltage VФ that appears at the terminals of the
generator.
There are many factors that cause the difference between EA and
VФ.
1. The distortion of the air gap magnetic filed by the
current flowing in the stator called armature reaction.
2. The self inductance of the armature coils.
3. The resistance of the armature coils.
4. The effect of salient pole rotor shapes.
The Development of a Model for Armature Reaction
Figure (a) shows a two pole rotor spinning inside a three phase
stator. A rotating magnetic field produces the internal generated
voltage EA.
There is no load connected to the stator. The rotor magnetic
field BR produces an internal generated voltage EA whose peak
value coincides with the direction of BR. With no load on the
generator, there is no armature current flow, and EA will be
equal to the phase voltage VФ.
The Development of a Model for Armature Reaction
Figure (b): The resulting voltage produces a lagging current
flow when connected to a lagging load
The Development of a Model for Armature Reaction
Figure (c): The stator current produces its own magnetic filed BS,
which produces its own voltage Estat in the stator windings of
the machine
The current flowing in the stator in the stator windings produces
a magnetic filed of its own. This stator magnetic filed is called BS
and its direction is given by the right hand rule. The stator
magnetic filed Bs produces a voltage of its own in the stator, and
this voltage is called Estat.
The Development of a Model for Armature Reaction
Figure (d): The field BS adds to BR, distorting it into Bnet. The voltage Estat adds to
EA, producing VФ at the output of the phase.
With two voltages present in the stator windings, the total
voltage in a phase is just the sum of the internal generated EA and
the armature reaction voltage Estat:
V E A Estat
The Development of a Model for Armature Reaction
The net magnetic field Bnet is just the sum of the rotor and the
stator magnetic fields:
Bnet BR BS
Since the angles of EA and BR are the same and the angles of
Estat and Bs, are the same, the resulting magnetic field Bnet
will coincide with the net voltage VФ.
We know, the voltage Estat is directly proportional to the
current IA. If X is a constant of proportionality, then the
armature reaction voltage can be expressed as:
Estat jXI A
The Development of a Model for Armature Reaction
The voltage on a phase is
V E A jXI A
The Development of a Model for Armature Reaction
In addition to the effects of armature reaction, the stator
coils have a self inductance and a resistance. If the stator self
inductance is called LA (and its corresponding reactance is
called XA) while the stator resistance is called RA, then the
total difference between EA and VФ is given by
V E A jXI A jX A I A RA I A
Combine the armature reaction effects and the self
inductance in the machine
X S X X A
The Development of a Model for Armature Reaction
So
V E A jX S I A RA I A
The Development of a Model for Armature Reaction
If the machine is Wye (Y ) connection
VT 3V
If the machine is Delta (Δ) connection
VT V
The Per Phase Equivalent Circuit of a Synchronous Generator
The Phasor Diagram of A Synchronous Generator
The Phasor Diagram of A Synchronous Generator at Unity
Power Factor
The Phasor Diagram of A Synchronous Generator
(a) Lagging (b) Leading
Power and Torque in Synchronous Generator
Input mechanical power
Pin appm
Power converted from mechanical to electrical is
Pconv ind m 3E A I A cos
Where γ is the angle between EA and IA
Power and Torque in Synchronous Generator
The difference between the input power to the generator
and the power converted in generator is mechanical
(friction & windage), core and stray losses.
Real output power is
Pout 3VT I L cos (Line quantities)
Pout 3V I A cos (Phase quantities)
Reactive output power is
Qout 3VT I L sin (Line quantities)
Qout 3V I A sin (Phase quantities)
Measuring synchronous generator model parameter
The behavior of a real synchronous generator is determine by
• The relationship between field current and flux (and therefore between field
current and EA)
• The synchronous reactance, Xs
• The armature resistance, RA
The quantities above are determined by open circuit test and short circuit
test
Open Circuit Test
First step:
• To perform this test, the generator is turned at the rated speed.
• The terminals are disconnected from all loads.
• The field current is set to zero.
Second step:
The field current is gradually increased in steps, and the terminal voltage is
measured at each step along the way with the terminals open. (I A = 0, so EA
is equal to VФ)
Plot EA or VA versus IF from this information
Open Circuit Test
Air gap line
The curve almost perfectly linear, until some
saturation is observed at high field currents.
The unsaturated iron in the frame of the
synchronous machine has a relunctance
several thousand times lower than the air gap
reluctance, so at the first almost all the
magnetomotive force is across the air gap, and
the resulting flux increase is linear.
When the iron finally saturates, the reluctance
of the iron increases dramatically, and the flux
increases much more slowly with an increase
This plot called open circuit characteristics in magnetomotive forces. The linear portion of
an OCC is called the air gap line of
characteristic.
Short Circuit Test
Adjust the field current to zero again and short circuit terminals of the generator
through a set of ammeters. Then the armature current IA or the line current IL is
measured as the field increased.
Short Circuit Test
When the terminals are short circuited, the armature currents I A is
EA
IA
RA jX S
Its magnitude is
EA
IA
RA2 jX S2
Refer to Figure (b), BS almost cancels BR, the net magnetic field Bnet is very small,
so the machine is unsaturated and the SCC is linear.
Short Circuit Test
The internal machine impedance is
2 2 EA
Z S ( unsat ) R X
A S ( unsat )
IA
If XS >> RA, this equation reduces to
E A V ,OC
XS
IA IA
Therefore, an approximate method for determining the synchronous reactances
at a given field current is
1) Get the internal generated voltage EA from the OCC at the field
changing.
2) Get the short circuit current flow IA,SC at that field current from SCC.
3) Find XS by equation above.
The saturated synchronous reactance may also found by taking the rated
terminal voltage (line to line) measured on the OCC and dividing by the
current read from SCC corresponding to the field current that produces at
rated terminal voltage.
E A ,rated E A
Z S ( sat ) RA jX S ( sat )
I A ,SC I ba
If it is important to know a winding's resistance as well as its synchronous
reactance, the resistance can be approximated by applying a dc voltage to
the windings while the machine is stationary and measuring the resulting
current flow. The use of dc voltage means that the reactance of the
windings will be zero during the measurement process
