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Automotive Alternator
Chapter 4 - AC Circuits

PARTS AND MATERIALS

Automotive alternator (one required, but two recommended)

Old alternators may be obtained for low prices at automobile wrecking

yards. Many yards have alternators already removed from the automobile,
for your convenience. I do not recommend paying full price for a new
alternator, as used units cost far less money and function just as well for
the purposes of this experiment.

I highly recommend using a Delco-Remy brand of alternator. This is the

type used on General Motors (GMC, Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick,
Oldsmobile) vehicles. One particular model has been produced by
Delco-Remy since the early 1960’s with little design change. It is a very
common unit to locate in a wrecking yard, and very easy to work with.

If you obtain two alternators, you may use one as a generator and the other
as a motor. The steps needed to prepare an alternator as a three-phase
generator and as a three-phase motor are the same.

CROSS-REFERENCES

Lessons In Electric Circuits, Volume 1, chapter 14: “Magnetism and

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Electromagnetism”

Lessons In Electric Circuits, Volume 2, chapter 10: “Polyphase AC Circuits”

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Effects of electromagnetism
Effects of electromagnetic induction
Construction of real electromagnetic machines
Construction and application of three-phase windings

SCHEMATIC DIAGRAM

An automotive alternator is a three-phase generator with a built-in rectifier

circuit consisting of six diodes. As the sheave (most people call it a “pulley”)
is rotated by a belt connected to the automobile engine’s crankshaft, a
magnet is spun past a stationary set of three-phase windings (called the
stator), usually connected in a Y configuration. The spinning magnet is

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actually an electromagnet, not a permanent magnet. Alternators are

designed this way so that the magnetic field strength can be controlled, in
order that output voltage may be controlled independently of rotor speed.
This rotor magnet coil (called the field coil, or simply field) is energized by
battery power, so that it takes a small amount of electrical power input to
the alternator to get it to generate a lot of output power.

Electrical power is conducted to the rotating field coil through a pair of

copper “slip rings” mounted concentrically on the shaft, contacted by
stationary carbon “brushes.” The brushes are held in firm contact with the
slip rings by spring pressure.

Many modern alternators are equipped with built-in “regulator” circuits that
automatically switch battery power on and off to the rotor coil to regulate
output voltage. This circuit, if present in the alternator you choose for the
experiment, is unnecessary and will only impede your study if left in place.
Feel free to “surgically remove” it, just make sure you leave access to the
brush terminals so that you can power the field coil with the alternator fully
assembled.

ILLUSTRATION

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INSTRUCTIONS

First, consult an automotive repair manual on the specific details of your

alternator. The documentation provided in the book you’re reading now is
as general as possible to accommodate different brands of alternators. You
may need more specific information, and a service manual is the best place
to obtain it.

For this experiment, you’ll be connecting wires to the coils inside the
alternator and extending them outside the alternator case, for easy
connection to test equipment and circuits. Unfortunately, the connection
terminals provided by the manufacturer won’t suit our needs here, so you
need to make your own connections.

Disassemble the unit and locate terminals for connecting to the two carbon
brushes. Solder a pair of wires to these terminals (at least 20 gauge in size)
and extend these wires through vent holes in the alternator case, making
sure they won’t get snagged on the spinning rotor when the alternator is
re-assembled and used.

Locate the three-phase line connections coming from the stator windings
and connect wires to them as well, extending these wires outside the
alternator case through some vent holes. Use the largest gauge wire that is
convenient to work with for these wires, as they may be carrying substantial
current. As with the field wires, route them in such a way that the rotor will

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turn freely with the alternator reassembled. The stator winding line
terminals are easy to locate: the three of them connect to three terminals
on the diode assembly, usually with “ring-lug” terminals soldered to the
ends of the wires.

I recommend that you solder ring-lug terminals to your wires, and attach
them underneath the terminal nuts along with the stator wire ends, so that
each diode block terminal is securing two ring lugs.

Re-assemble the alternator, taking care to secure the carbon brushes in a

retracted position so that the rotor doesn’t damage them upon re-insertion.
On Delco-Remy alternators, a small hole is provided on the back case half,
and also at the front of the brush holder assembly, through which a paper
clip or thin-gauge wire may be inserted to hold the brushes back against
their spring pressure. Consult the service manual for more details on
alternator assembly.

When the alternator has been assembled, try spinning the shaft and listen

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for any sounds indicative of colliding parts or snagged wires. If there is any
such trouble, take it apart again and correct whatever is wrong.

If and when it spins freely as it should, connect the two “field” wires to a
6-volt battery. Connect an voltmeter to any two of the three-phase line
connections:

With the multimeter set to the “DC volts” function, slowly rotate the
alternator shaft. The voltmeter reading should alternate between positive
and negative as the shaft it turned: a demonstration of very slow alternating
voltage (AC voltage) being generated. If this test is successful, switch the
multimeter to the “AC volts” setting and try again. Try spinning the shaft
slow and fast, comparing voltmeter readings between the two conditions.

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Short-circuit any two of the three-phase line wires and try spinning the
alternator. What you should notice is that the alternator shaft becomes
more difficult to spin. The heavy electrical load you’ve created via the short
circuit causes a heavy mechanical load on the alternator, as mechanical
energy is converted into electrical energy.

Now, try connecting 12 volts DC to the field wires. Repeat the DC

voltmeter, AC voltmeter, and short-circuit tests described above. What
difference(s) do you notice?

Find some sort of polarity-insensitive 6 or 12 volts loads, such as small

incandescent lamps, and connect them to the three-phase line wires. Wrap
a thin rope or heavy string around the groove of the sheave (“pulley”) and
spin the alternator rapidly, and the loads should function.

If you have a second alternator, modify it as you modified the first one,
connecting five of your own wires to the field brushes and stator line
terminals, respectively. You can then use it as a three-phase motor,
powered by the first alternator.

Connect each of the three-phase line wires of the first alternator to the
respective wires of the second alternator. Connect the field wires of one
alternator to a 6 volt battery. This alternator will be the generator. Wrap
rope around the sheave in preparation to spin it. Take the two field wires of
the second alternator and short them together. This alternator will be the
motor:

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Spin the generator shaft while watching the motor shaft’s rotation. Try
reversing any two of the three-phase line connections between the two
units and spin the generator again. What is different this time?

Connect the field wires of the motor unit to the a 6 volt battery (you may
parallel-connect this field with the field of the generator unit, across the
same battery terminals, if the battery is strong enough to deliver the several
amps of current both coils will draw together). This will magnetize the rotor
of the motor. Try spinning the generator again and note any differences in
operation.

In the first motor setup, where the field wires were simple shorted together,
the motor was functioning as an induction motor. In the second setup,

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where the motor’s rotor was magnetized, it functioned as a synchronous

motor.

If you are feeling particularly ambitious and are skilled in metal fabrication
techniques, you may make your own high-power generator platform by
connecting the modified alternator to a bicycle. I’ve built an arrangement
that looks like this:

The rear wheel drives the generator sheave with a long v-belt. This belt
also supports the rear of the bicycle, maintaining a constant tension when a
rider is pedaling the bicycle. The generator hangs from a steel support
structure (I used welded 2-inch square tubing, but a frame could be made
out of lumber). Not only is this machine practical, but it is reliable enough to
be used as an exercise machine, and it is inexpensive to make:

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You can see a bank of three 12-volt “RV” light bulbs behind the bicycle unit
(in the lower-left corner of the photograph), which I use for a load when
riding the bicycle as an exercise machine. A set of three switches is
mounted at the front of the bicycle, where I can turn loads on and off while
riding.

By rectifying the three-phase AC power produced, it is possible to have the

alternator power its own field coil with DC voltage, eliminating the need for
a battery. However, some independent source of DC voltage will still be
necessary for start-up, as the field coil must be energized before any AC
power can be produced.

Published under the terms and conditions of the Design Science License
(https://www.gnu.org/licenses/dsl.html)

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