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CHAPTER 7

GENERATORS AND TRANSFORMERS

Electric Generators
Generator: A device used to convert mechanical
energy into electrical energy.
Mechanical motion turns the armature which creates current.
Many DC motors can function as a generator.

N N S S

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From the Power Plant to Your Home

Image courtesy of Sacramento Municipal Utility District

Power plants
generate electricity.

From the Power Plant to Your Home

Step up transformers increase voltage for

transmission across large towers.
Increased voltage increases efficiency.

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From the Power Plant to Your Home

Images courtesy of DOE / NREL

Large towers transmit electricity over long

distances.

From the Power Plant to Your Home

Step down transformers reduce voltage

at substations to acceptable levels for the
end user.

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From the Power Plant to Your Home

Electricity arrives at your home at a

junction box.
Usage is measured with a meter.

Generators
• Use energy to generate electric currents.
• A moving magnet pushes the electrons along a wire.
• The energy used to move the magnet is carried by the
electric current.

magnet

torch
bulb

Coil of wire

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The inventor of the generator

Michael Faraday 1791-1867

invented the generator in 1831.
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What do we need to make a generator

for a power station?

• Strong magnets
• Lots of wire

then lots of

energy
to turn the generator.

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Factories, homes and schools

need huge amounts of energy

• Generators in
power stations supply
electricity to factories,
homes and schools.

• These generators are

in power stations

• and are huge!

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Generators in power stations are

very, very big
Huge generators
need huge amounts
of energy.

The energy turns

the generators.

The electric
current carries the
energy to where it
is needed.

Size of a person
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How can a generator be turned?

Steam can be used

to turn a turbine
to turn the generator.

Turbine

Source
of
steam
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A power station

electric
current

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How can water be heated to make steam?

Old way: The smoke is dirty and pollutes the

atmosphere.
Burn coal Also produces lots of carbon
dioxide which is a green house gas –
heats up the Earth.

Newer way: Gas is cleaner than coal but still makes

Burn gas lots of carbon dioxide

Eventually the world will run out of coal and gas.

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Steam from nuclear energy

• Nuclear reactors can be used

- to split atoms
- to release energy
- to boil water
– to make steam splits to give

- to turn the generators.

This does not cause pollution
but some waste is
+
very dangerous and has to be
handled very carefully.

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Steam from the Earth

5000 C

- giving energy 70000 C

to generate
electricity.

In some countries there

are hot rocks close to the
surface of the Earth.
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Energy from the Earth

• In some countries energy

from the Earth can be used
to boil water
to turn generators.

• This does not cause

pollution
• and will not run out.
NREL geo pacific gas and electric

But is not an option in the UK !

It would need very very deep holes!
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Electricity from waste

• Vegetation and animal dung give off energy as they rot. This
can be used to heat homes and greenhouses directly.

• Also waste can be burned

- to boil water
- to make steam
- to turn generators.

The process uses up waste.

But produces carbon dioxide.

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How else can we turn a generator

without polluting the Earth?

Use flowing water.

top of dam

Hoover Dam in USA – 220m high

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Hydroelectricity
Running water turns the generator
Water
from a
mountain
lake

(Tennessee Valley Authority)

Does not pollute the atmosphere.

The dam must be high in mountains.
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Waves
• Energy from
waves can be used
to turn
generators.

• We have lots of
waves in the seas
around the UK.

Does not cause pollution.

There are more problems to solve.
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We can make a windmill

• When you blow the

windmill it turns.

• The moving air pushes

the blades round.

What happens
if you blow
harder?
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Wind can turn generators

Many years ago
windmills were used to turn
mill stones to grind grain.

• Now modern wind turbines are

used to turn generators.
• Do not pollute the air.
• Wind is not used up.
• But sometimes the wind does
not blow.

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Energy from the Sun

NASA 25

Solar cells
Use solar cells to change the energy in sunlight
into electricity
– no generator needed
- needs lots of sunlight.

Solar
cells

traffic
sign parking meter
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The space station has huge solar panels

The
International
Space Station
uses solar
panels to
collect energy,
making it
possible for
scientists to
live on board
and do NASA
experiments. The framework is 109 metres long.
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Fusion
• Makes the Sun shine.

• Scientists are finding ways to get huge amounts of energy.

– when small atoms join together,
energy is given out
– like in the Sun. +
gives

• Will not run out.

• Does not pollute the air.

• The future? Not possible for another 20 years!

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Energy Sources:
Fossil fuels
Coal - pollution
Gas - pollution sources – do not run out
Renewable
Oil -Hydroelectricity
pollution – needs mountains
Wind - only works when wind blowing
Waste & rotting vegetation – greenhouse gases
Sunlight – best in sunny countries
Geothermal – only in countries with hot springs
Waves – small scale only – so far
Energy from nuclear reactions
Fission – waste needs very careful handling
Fusion – waste less dangerous
will not run out - but very difficult !
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Re-cap
• A generator generates an electric current
by moving magnets near a coil of wire.

• We need a source of energy to turn the

generator:
Burn fossil fuels?
Nuclear reactions?
Renewable energy?

• You will have to choose !

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TRANSFORMER
• A transformer can change electrical energy of a given
voltage into electrical energy at a different voltage
level. It consists of two coils arranged in such a way
that the magnetic field surrounding one coil cuts
through the other coil. When an alternating voltage
is applied to (across) one coil, the varying magnetic
field set up around that coil induces an alternating
voltage in the other coil. Transformers will not work
with direct current, since no changing magnetic field
is produced, and therefore no current can be induced

This transformer's job is to reduce

the 4160 volts down to the 240
volts that makes up normal
household electrical service. It is
a step down transformer

http://science.howstuffworks.com/power3.htm

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Step Up Transformer at Power Plant

http://bigvalleynews.net/BigValleyPower/TourOfBigValleyPowerLLC.html

TRANSFORMER
• The factor which determines whether a
transformer is a step up( increasing the
voltage) or step down (decreasing the voltage)
type is the "turns" ratio. The turns ratio is the
ratio of the number of turns in the primary
winding to the number of turns in the
secondary winding.

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Converters
Electronic power converter is the term that is used to refer to a
power electronic circuit that converts voltage and current from
one form to another.

• Rectifier converting an ac voltage to a dc voltage

• Inverter converting a dc voltage to an ac voltage
• Chopper or a switch-mode power supply that converts a
dc voltage to another dc voltage
• Cycloconverter and cycloinverter converting an ac voltage
to another ac voltage.

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Rectifiers
Rectifiers may be classified as uncontrolled and controlled rectifiers.
Controlled rectifiers can be further divided into semi-controlled and fully-
controlled rectifiers. Uncontrolled rectifier circuits are built with diodes,
and fully-controlled rectifier circuits are built with SCRs.
Both diodes and SCRs are used in semi-controlled rectifier circuits.

• Single-phase semi-controlled bridge rectifier

• Single-phase fully-controlled bridge rectifier
• Three-phase three-pulse, star-connected rectifier
• Double three-phase, three-pulse star-connected rectifiers with inter-
phase transformer (IPT)
• Three-phase semi-controlled bridge rectifier
• Three-phase fully-controlled bridge rectifier
• Double three-phase fully-controlled bridge rectifiers with IPT.

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DC to AC Conversion
The converter that changes a DC to AC is called an inverter. Earlier inverters were
built with SCRs. Since the circuitry required to turn the SCR off tends to be
complex, other power semiconductor devices such as bipolar junction
transistors, power MOSFETs, insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBT) and MOS-
controlled thyristors (MCTs) are used nowadays. Currently only the inverters
with a high power rating, such as 500 kW or higher.

• Emergency lighting systems

• AC variable speed drives
• Uninterrupted power supplies
• Frequency converters.

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