ALTENATOR

How does an Alternator

work ?
Alternators are the workhorse of the power
generation industry.
It is capable to generate AC power at a
specified frequency.
They are also referred as Synchronous
generators.
This presentation gives a detailed and
illustrative introduction on working of
alternators.

The Basic Principle

Electricity is produced in alternators by electromagnetic induction. To generate electricity in a coil

either :
the coil should rotate with respect to a magnetic field or
a magnetic field should rotate with respect to the coil.

Two methods to produce electricity: Rotating coil and Rotating magnetic field concept

Main Parts and Working

Rotor and Armature coils are the 2 main parts of

an alternator.
Rotor produces a rotating magnetic field.
Armature coils are stationary
Rotating magnetic flux associated with the rotor induces
electricity in the armature coils.

Rotor and Armature coils are the 2 main parts of an alternator

Armature Winding in Alaternator

is Stationary, why?
At high voltages, it easier to insulate stationary
armature winding, which may be as high as 30 kV or
more.
The high voltage output can be directly taken out from
the stationary armature. Whereas, for a rotary
armature, there will be large brush contact drop at
higher voltages, also the sparking at the brush surface
will occur.
Field exciter winding is placed in rotor, and the low dc
voltage can be transferred safely.
The armature winding can be braced well, so as to
prevent deformation caused by the high centrifugal
force.

Type of pole rotor

Salient Pole Rotor

Insalient poletype of rotor consist of large number
of projected poles(salient poles) mounted on a magnetic
wheel.Construction of a salient pole rotoris as shown in
the figure at right. The projected poles are made up from
laminations of steel. Therotor windingis provided on
these poles and it is supported by pole shoes.

Non-Salient Pole (Cylindrical) Rotor

Non-salient pole rotorsare cylindrical in shape having parallel slots
on it to placerotor windings. It is made up of solid steel.
Theconstruction of non-salient pole rotor(cylindrical rotor) is as
shown in figure above. Sometimes, they are also called as drum rotor.

Salient Pole Rotor

Salient pole rotorshave large diameter and shorter axial
length.
They are generally used in lower speed electrical machines, say
100 RPM to 1500 RPM.
As the rotor speed is lower, more number of poles are required to
attain the required frequency. (Ns=120f/P therefore, f=Ns*p/120
i.e. frequency is proportional to number of poles). Typically
number of salient poles is between 4 to 60.
Flux distribution is relatively poor than non-salient pole rotor,
hence the generated emf waveform is not as good as cylindrical
rotor.
Salient pole rotors generally need damper windings to prevent
rotor oscillations during operation.
Salient polesynchronous generatorsare mostly used in
hydro power plants.

Non-Salient Pole (Cylindrical)

Rotor

They are smaller in diameter but having longer axial length.

Cylindrical rotorsare used in high speed electrical
machines, usually 1500 RPM to 3000 RPM.
Windage loss as well as noise is less as compared to salient
pole rotors.
Their construction is robust as compared to salient pole
rotors.
Number of poles is usually 2 or 4.
Damper windings are not needed innon-salient pole
rotors.
Flux distribution is sinusoidal and hence gives better emf
waveform.
Non-salient pole rotorsare used innuclear, gas and
thermal power plants

The kind of rotor shown in below is known

asSalient pole rotor. For gaining better insight of
its working lets consider a rotor with just 4 poles.
Rotor coils are excited with a DC power source.
Magnetic field produced around it would be as
shown.

A 4 pole salient pole rotor and magnetic filed produced around it when
excited by a D.C power supply

The rotor is made to rotate by a prime mover. This

makes the rotor flux also rotate along with it, at
the same speed.
Such revolving magnetic flux now intersects the
armature coils, which is fitted around the rotor.
This will generate an alternating E.M.F across the
winding.

When rotor is made to rotate electricity gets induced in armature

coils

Frequency of Induced
E.M.F

Since 4 pole rotor has got 2 pairs of N-S pole,

when the rotor turns a half revolution the induced
E.M.F takes one complete cycle. So it is clear that
frequency of the induced E.M.F is directly
proportional to the number of poles and rotor
speed. It can be easily established that frequency
of induced E.M.Ff(Hz), rotor speedN(rpm) and
number of polesP are connected through the
following relationship.
f

P.N
120

It is clear from this relationship that, frequency of

electricity produced is synchronized with
mechanical rotational speed.

Production of 3 Phase
Electricity

For producing 3 phase A.C current, 2 more such

armature coils which are in 120 degree phase
difference with the first is put in the stator winding.

For producing 3 phase electricity 2 more armature windings which are 120
degree apart from the first is introduced

Generally one end of these 3 coils are star

connected and 3 phase electricity is drawn from
the other ends. Neutral cable can be drawn from
the star connected end.

When to use a Salient pole rotor

?

It is clear from the equation above that in order to produce 60 Hz

electricity a 4 pole rotor should run at following a speed of 1800
RPM. Such huge RPM will induce a tremendous centrifugal force
on poles of the rotor and it may fail mechanically overtime.

Rotors with less number of poles require high RPM, this in turn induces huge
centrifugal force on poles of the rotor

So salient pole rotors are generally having 10-40 poles;

which demands lower rpm. Or salient pole rotors are used
when the prime mover rotates at relatively lower speed
(120 - 400 RPM), such as water turbines and I.C engines.

Pole core & Stator core

Pole core is used to effectively transfer magnetic flux and

they are made with fairly thick steel lamina. Such insulated
lamina reduces energy loss due to eddy current formation.
At the stator side also core lamina are used to enhance the
magnetic flux transfer.

Pole and stator core enhances magnetic flux transfer and they are made of
laminated steel lamina

Self Excited Generator

DC current is supplied to rotor via a pair of slip

rings. This is the reason why rotating magnetic
field approach is used in alternator. If rotating coil
method were used, slip rings have to fitted along
with the armature coils in order to collect
electricity. But transferring such high voltage
electricity via slip ring is rather impractical. It is
quite possible to transfer low voltage DC
excitation current via slip rings.
This DC current is supplied either from an
external source or from a small DC generator
which is fitted on the same prime mover. Such
alternators are called self excited.

Slip rings are used to supply DC current to the rotor coil; this DC current could come
from an inbuilt DC generator

With variation of load generator terminal output

voltage will vary. It is desired to keep the terminal
voltage in a specified limit. An automatic voltage
regulator helps in achieving this. Voltage regulation
can be easily achieved by controlling the field
current. If terminal voltage is below the desired limit
AVR increases the field current, thus the field
strength. This will result in increase in terminal
voltage. If terminal voltage is below the specified
limit the reverse is done.

Comparison between Star and

Delta Connections

Star (Y) Connection

In STAR connection, the starting
or finishing ends (Similar ends)
of three coils are connected
together to form the neutral
point. A common wire is taken
out from the neutral point
which is called Neutral.

There is aNeutralorStar Point

Three phase four wire system is

derived from Star
Connections(3-Phase, 4
Wires System) We may Also
derived 3 Phase 3 Wire System
from Star Connection
Line Current is Equal to Phase
Current. i.e.
Line Current = Phase Current
IL= IPH

Delta () Connection
In DELTA connection, the
opposite ends of three coils
are connected together. In
other words, the end of each
coil is connected with the start
of another coil, and three
wires are taken out from the
coil joints
No Neutral Point in Delta
Connection

Three phase three wire system

is derived from Delta
Connections(3-Phase, 3
Wires System)
Line Voltage is Equal to Phase
Voltage. i.e.
Line Voltage = Phase Voltage
VL= VPH

Line Voltage is 3 times of

Phase Voltage. i.e.
VL= 3 VPH
The Total Power of three
phases could be found by
P = 3 x VLx ILx Cos.
Or
P = 3 x VPH xIPHx Cos
The speeds of Star connected
motors are slow as they
receive1/3voltage.
In Star Connection, the phase
voltage is low as 1/3 of the
line voltage, so, it needs low
number of turns, hence,
saving in copper.

Star (Y) Connection

Line Current is 3 times of

Phase Current. i.e.
IL= 3 IPH
The Total Power of three
phases could be found by
P = 3 x VLx ILx Cos
or
P = 3 x VPH xIPHx Cos
The speeds of Delta
connected motors are high
because each phase gets the
total of line voltage
In Delta connection, The
phase voltage is equal to the
line voltage, hence, it needs
more number of turns.

Delta () Connection

Low insulation
required as phase
voltage is low
In Power Transmission,
Star Connection
system is general and
typical to be used.
Star (Y) Connection

Heavy insulation
required as Phase
volta
In Power Distribution
and industries, Delta
Connection is general
and typical to be
used.ge = Line
Voltage.

Delta () Connection