Chapter 4

Synchronous Machine

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Introduction
3-phase AC system is being extensively used for
generation, transmission and distribution of electric
power
The machine which produces 3-phase electric power
from mechanical power is called an alternator or
synchronous generator
Alternator is the largest energy converters found in the
world
The construction, the characteristic and the working
principle is discussed in this chapter

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Alternator (Synchronous Generator)
It works on the same
fundamental principle
of electromagnetic
induction as a DC generator
It has armature winding
and field winding
The field winding is placed in the rotor where as the
armature winding in the stator
Why?
 No commutation
 More convenient and advantageous

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Advantages of Stationary Armature
i. Easier to insulate stationary winding for high voltages
(no centrifugal force and space is available)
ii. The stationary three phase armature can be directly
connected the load without slip rings or brush
iii. Only two slip rings are required for DC supply to the
field winding
iv. Due to simple and robust construction of the rotor,
higher speed of rotating DC field is possible
 Alternators above 5kVA employs this arrangement

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Construction of an Alternator
An alternator has 3-phase winding on the stator and a DC
field winding on the rotor.
Stator
 Made of sheet-steel laminations having slots on its
inner periphery
 A 3-phase winding is placed in these slots and serves as
the armature winding of the alternator
 The armature winding is always connected in star and
the neutral is connected to ground
 It is nearly always wound for three phase winding

5
Cont…
Rotor
 It carries a field winding which is supplied with a
separated DC source through two slip rings
 The DC source (exciter) is generally a small DC
generator mounted on the shaft of the alternator and
driven by the prime mover
Two types of construction
i. Salient (projecting) pole type
ii. Non-salient(cylindrical) pole type

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Cont…
Salient Pole Type
 Projecting poles are
mounted on a large
circular steel frame
which is fixed to the shaft of
the alternator as shown in the figure
 The individual field pole windings connected in series
 Low and medium-speed alternators (120-400 r.p.m.)
have salient pole type rotor
 Why?

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 Cont…
i. The salient pole causes excessive windage loss and
produce noise at high speed
ii. Can’t withstand the high mechanical stress that occurs
at high speed

 A frequency of 50hz/60hz is require

=> large number of poles (space) on the rotor
=> the rotor has large diameter and short axial length

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Cont…
Cylindrical Pole Type
 Smooth solid radial cylinder
having a number of slots
along the outer periphery
as shown in the figure
 The region that are left unslotted form the poles
 High-speed alternators (1500 or 3000 r.p.m.)
(turbognerators) use cylindrical rotors
 Why?

9
 Cont…
i. It has mechanical robustness and gives noiseless
operation at high speeds.
ii. The flux distribution around the periphery is nearly a
sine wave and hence a better e.m.f. waveform is
obtained than in the case of salient-pole type
 A frequency of 50hz/60hz is require
=> Small number of poles (space) on the rotor
=> 2 or 4 poles
=> the rotor has small diameter and long axial length

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Frequency
The frequency of induced e.m.f. in the armature
conductors depends upon speed and the number of poles
It is given by:

As P is fixed, an alternator should be run at a constant

speed (NS) to get the desired frequency (50HZ or 60HZ)

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 Armature Winding
They are always of the nonsalient-pole type and are
usually symmetrically distributed in the slots around the
circumference of the stator
They are generally open-circuit type
General features
 They are generally uniformly distributed windings. Two
advantages:
i. Uniform sinusoidal voltage generation
ii. Can be easily cooled

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Cont…
 A.C. armature windings may use full-pitch coils or
fractional-pitch coils
 The three windings of the three phases are identical but
spaced 120 electrical degrees apart
 A group of adjacent slots belonging to one phase under
one pole pair is known as phase belt. The angle subtended
by a phase belt is known as phase spread. The 3-phase
windings are always designed for 60° phase spread

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Cont…

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Internally Generator Voltage
 The rotor winding is energized from the DC exciter
& N and S are developed in the rotor
 The rotor is rotated in anti-clockwise direction by a
prime mover, the stator or armature conductors are
cut by the magnetic flux of rotor poles
 Alternating emf is generated, the same magnitude
in each but differ in 1200 electrical

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EMF equation of an Alternator
The magnitude of the emf in each phase
depends upon the rotor flux, the number and
position of the conductors in the phase and the
speed of the rotor
In one revolution (i.e., 60/N second), each
stator conductor is cut by Pɸ webers
 Average e.m.f. induced in one stator conductor
is

Average e.m.f./phase=

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Armature Reaction
 At no load the air gap flux is due to only the rotor
ampere-turn
 When the alternator is loaded the air gap flux will
be due to the armature flux and rotor flux (armature
rxn)
Let the load currents be:

These currents produce mmf distribution:

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Cont..
The armature flux and the flux produced by rotor
ampere-turns rotate at Ns in the same direction and,
therefore, the two fluxes are fixed in space relative to
each other
The effect of armature reaction depends on the
magnitude of stator current and on the power factor
of the load
=> purely inductive loads (0 pf lagging) produce
weakening flux, reduction in the generated voltage
=>Purely capacitive loads (pf leading) produce
aiding flux, increase in the generated voltage
=>purely resistive loads generate distorting flux
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Equivalent Circuit
 Represents the generated voltage as a
result of the rotor flux
 The voltage drops due to
 Armature resistance (RA)
 Leakage reactance (XL)
 Armature reaction (XAR)

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Standard Equivalent Circuit
 Synchronous reactance (XS): a fictitious
reactance that takes in to account the
effect of the leakage and the armature
rxn

 XS =XL + XAR

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Phasor Diagram
 A two dimensional plot that shows the
relationship between the voltages (E, V, jIAXS and
IARA) and IA
 Dependent on the loading condition
 V is taken as a reference

Phasor diagram of unity power factor load 21

Cont…

Phasor diagram of lagging power factor load

Phasor diagram of leading power factor load

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Power and Torque

Power Flow Diagram

The source input is mechanical power is a prime mover
(diesel engine, steam turbine, hydro turbine…)
The induced power is given by:

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Cont..

Pconv  3E A I L cos 
The real and the reactive power output is given by:

Assume armature resistance is ignored as XS>>RA

Examine the phasor diagram

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Cont..

From the phasor diagram, the vertical element bc can be

expressed as XSIAcosϕ or Esinδ. That is

Substituting in the expression of Pout

E AV
P3 sin 
Xs

 The above equation is known as

power angle equation of the synchronous generator 25
Cont..
P=Pout=Pconv

Pmax which is attained at δ=900 is

E AV
Pmax  3
Xs
 Pmax is called static stability limit of the generator
 The practical value of full load torque angle is between
150 and 200

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Determining Parameters of an Alternator
 The equivalent circuit contains three quantities that
must be determined in order to completely describe
the behavior of a real synchronous generator
 These quantities are
a) armature resistance (RA)
b) relationship between If and flux (If and E)
c) the synchronous reactance (XS)
 RA is determined by direct current and volt-
ammeter method
 RA=1.5Rdc

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Cont…
 The other parameters are determined
from:
a) OCC
b) SCC
a) Open-Circuit Characteristic

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 Cont..
 OCC is a curve between armature terminal voltage
(phase value) on open circuit and the field current
when the alternator is running at rated speed
 E at a given If obtained from OCC
 The air-gap line and the OCC differs after the saturation
point

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 Cont…
b) Short-Circuit Characteristic
 The generator is run at rated speed and the armature
terminals are short-circuited through identical
ammeters

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 Cont..
 If is gradually increased from zero until ISC about twice
the rated current
 SCC is a graph between If and Ish
 SCC is essentially a straight line
 When the terminals are short-circuited, the armature
current IA is given by:

=>

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 Cont..
Since, XS>>RA the above equation is reduced to

Procedure to determine XS

1. Get E from the OCC at a given field current

2. Get the IA,SC at that field current
3. determine XS

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