ME4-B_GROUP2

Electricity Generation in the 19th Century

*Michael Faraday and Joseph Henry were first, in
the 1920s, to document electromagnetic
induction, which is the basic principle behind
electrical power production. In 1832, a French
inventor, Hippolyte Pixii, was the first to
construct an electric dynamo. His early version
was actually an alternator, but he did not know
how to handle the alternating current, so he
created a commutator to produce DC current.
This first machine produced electricity only in
pulses with each revolution.
Electricity Generation in the 19th Century
*A Hungarian company began commercial
installations of AC generators. At this point, the
techniques for electricity generation were split
between AC in Europe and DC in the U.S. market.
Although it was clear that AC generators were
more efficient, in America the problem was a
lack of distribution infrastructure that could
handle AC power. By the turning of the 20th
Century, however, the largest generators built in
America were AC generators, or alternators.
Automobile Electricity Production
*Only as cars became more sophisticated and
employed electric starters, cigarette lighters,
headlights, signals, radios and other electrical
equipment, did the need for onboard power
generation become necessary. DC generators at the
time were the simplest to manufacture in spite of
their operating deficiencies. Their major drawback is
that the total current generated has to pass through
the brushes and commutator, which require frequent
replacement or refurbishment. Another serious
disadvantage is that DC generators produce little or
no power when the car’s engine is at idle speed.
Automobile Electricity Production
*World War II was the beginning of the end for
DC generators in automobiles. U.S. military
services demanded alternators on their
vehicles because of their reliability and
increased power to size ratio. Once an
economical way to regulate an alternator’s
three-phase AC output into DC was enabled by
silicon rectifiers, the path was clear for their
use in domestic cars as well.
Minor Drawbacks to Alternators
*As car fuel efficiency has become a high
priority in car design, automotive
alternators have continued to evolve by
becoming lighter and more power efficient.
Early alternators required two horsepower
of engine power to produce a single
horsepower of electrical current. Modern
alternators are up to 80% efficient at mid-
range operating speeds.
Minor Drawbacks to Alternators
*DC generators do have a couple of
advantages over alternators however.
Reverse polarity or strong electrical spikes
are far more likely to damage an alternator
than a generator. Furthermore, in the case
of a dead battery, a DC generator can still
produce power, whereas an alternator may
not or may damage itself due to high
voltage.
 Alternator - Construction
Standard construction consists of :
*Armature windings on stationery stator
*Field poles on rotor.
*The field windings are excited by DC supply
from the exciter and given through the slip rings
*Prime mover
 ALTERNATOR operates on the same principle of
electromagnetic induction as direct current generators,
but they have no commutator to change the alternating
current produced in the armature into direct current.

 There are two basic type of alternator: revolving

armature type and revolving field type. Although there
are some single-phase alternators that are used as
portable power units for emergency use or to operate
power tools in a remote location, most alternators are
three-phase.

*
* Revolving Armature Type Alternators
It is the least used of the two basic type
Uses an armature similar to that of direct current machine
with the exception that the loops of the wire are
connected to slip rings instead of commutator
The armature windings are rotated inside a magnetic field
Power is carried to the outside circuit using brushes riding
against the slip rings
Produces limited amount of output voltage and kilovolt-
amp capacity it can develop.

*
*Revolving Field Type
Alternators
Uses stator and a rotating magnetic field
Produces higher voltage and kVA ratings
because the outside circuit is connected
directly to the stator and is not routed
through slip rings and brushes

*
* The ROTOR is the rotating member of the
machine.
 It provides magnetism needed to induce voltage into the
stator winding.
 The magnets of the rotor are electromagnets that requires
some external direct current to excite the alternator. This
direct current is known as excitation current.
 Alternators cannot produces an output voltage until the rotor
has been excited.
 Some alternators use slip rings and brushes to provide
excitation
 An example of this rotor can be found in the alternator of
most automobiles.

*
* Most large alternator use an exciter that contains no
brushes. This is accomplished by adding a separate small
alternator of the armature type on the same shaft of the
rotor of the larger alternator. The armature rotates
between wound electromagnets. The DC excitation current
is connected to the wound stationary magnets.
* The amount of voltage induced in the rotor can be varied by
changing the amount of excitation current supplied to the
electromagnets.

*
 Cooling and ventilation
The losses produced in the core and
conductors of electrical machines are converted
into heat . It raises the temperature of several
parts of the machine . Hence cooling media is
necessary to reduce the heat .
Different methods of cooling
Axial cooling , Radial cooling , Radial Axial
cooling , & multiple inlet system of cooling

*
*There are two methods of cooling
alternators.
• Alternators of small kVA rating are generally air-
cooled. Open spaces are left in the stator
winding, and slots are often provided in the
core of the material for the passage of air. Air-
cooled alternators have fans attached to the
one end of the shaft that circulates air through
the entire assembly.

*
• Large-capacity alternators are often enclosed and
operate in a hydrogen atmosphere.

 Two advantage of using hydrogen.

• Hydrogen has lesser density than air. The lower density

reduces the windage loss on the spinning rotor
• Hydrogen has the ability to absorb and remove heat
faster than air

*
 Testing of Alternator
Performance can be studied from –
• Direct method
• Indirect method
Direct method : it is loaded directly in step by step upto full load
. A curve is drawn between load current and terminal voltage at
each load condition .
Indirect method : In this method it is not loaded directly . Here
open circuit and short circuit tests are carried out to study the
performance of an alternator at various load condition.
 Parallel operation
When one alternator cannot produce all the power that is
required, it often becomes necessary to use more than one machine.
When more than one alternator is to be used, they are connected in
parallel with each other.
Advantages of parallel operation
1. It increases the load capacity
2. Increases reliability
3. one or more of them can be shut down for preventive
maintenance
4. Less efficient machines can be stopped
 Conditions for parallel operation
1. same terminal voltage
2. same frequency
3. same phase sequence

Methods for synchronising:

a. Dark lamp method
b. Bright lamp method
c . Synchroscope Method
* The out frequency of an alternator is determined by two
factors:
• Number of stator poles
• Speed of the rotation of the rotor

The following chart shows the speed of rotation needed to produce 60

Hz for alternators using different number of poles.
RPM STATOR POLES
3600 2
1800 4
1200 6
900 8

*
*

*
*

*
*

*
One of the effects that determine the output voltage is the
length of the conductor or number of turns of wire. The
voltage induced in this turns add.
Increasing the number of turns of the wire has the same
effects as increasing the length of one conductor.
The output voltage is controlled by increasing or decreasing
the strength of the magnetic field of the rotor. The
magnetic field strength can be controlled by controlling the
DC excitation current to the rotor.

*
*Most power generation stations use
synchronous machines as their
generators. Connection of these
generators to the utility grid requires
synchronization conditions to be
met..

*
*Alternators are used in
modern automobiles to charge
the battery and to power the
electrical system when its engine is
running.

*
*The first diesel electric locomotives, and many
of those still in service, use DC generators as,
before silicon power electronics, it was easier
to control the speed of DC traction motors.
Most of these had two generators: one to
generate the excitation current for a larger
main generator.

*
*Marine alternators used in yachts are similar to
automotive alternators, with appropriate adaptations
to the salt-water environment. Marine alternators are
designed to be explosion proof so that brush sparking
will not ignite explosive gas mixtures in an engine
room environment. They may be 12 or 24 volt
depending on the type of system installed. Larger
marine diesels may have two or more alternators to
cope with the heavy electrical demand of a modern
yacht. On single alternator circuits, the power may
be split between the engine starting battery and the
domestic or house battery (or batteries) by use of
a split-charge diode (battery isolator) or a voltage-
sensitive relay.

*
*High frequency alternators of the variable-
reluctance type were applied commercially to
radio transmission in the low-frequency radio
bands. These were used for transmission of Morse
code and, experimentally, for transmission of
voice and music. In the Alexanderson alternator,
both the field winding and armature winding are
stationary, and current is induced in the armature
by virtue of the changing magnetic reluctance of
the rotor (which has no windings or current
carrying parts). Such machines were made to
produce radio frequency current for radio
transmissions, although the efficiency was low.
*