Maintenance and Testing of Electrical Machines

Week 07 Lecture 19

Synchronous Alternators

Synchronous machines are principally used as alternating current generators. They supply the
electric power used by all sectors of modern society. Synchronous machine is an important
electromechanical energy converter. Synchronous generators usually operate in parallel
forming a large power system supplying electrical power to consumers or loads. For these
applications the synchronous generators are built in large units, their rating ranging form tens
to hundreds of Megawatts. These synchronous machines can also be run as synchronous
motors. Synchronous machines are AC machines that have a field circuit supplied by an external
DC source. Synchronous machines are having two major parts namely stationary part stator and
a rotating field system called rotor. In a synchronous generator, a DC current is applied to the
rotor winding producing a rotor magnetic field. The rotor is then driven by external means
producing a rotating magnetic field, which induces a 3-phase voltage within the stator winding.
Field windings are the windings producing the main magnetic field (rotor windings for
synchronous machines); armature windings are the windings where the main voltage is induced
(stator windings for synchronous machines). Types of synchronous machines According to the
arrangement of armature and field winding, the synchronous machines are classified as rotating
armature type or rotating field type. In rotating armature type the armature winding is on the
rotor and the field winding is on the stator. The generated emf or current is brought to the load
via the slip rings. These type of generators are built only in small units. In case of rotating field
type generators field windings are on the rotor and the armature windings are on the stator.
Here the field current is supplied through a pair of slip rings and the induced emf or current is
supplied to the load via the stationary terminals. Based on the type of the prime movers
employed the synchronous generators are classified as

1. Hydro generators: The generators which are driven by hydraulic turbines are called hydro
generators. These are run at lower speeds less than 1000 rpm.
2. Turbo generators: These are the generators driven by steam turbines. These generators are
run at very high speed of 1500rpm or above.

3. Engine driven Generators: These are driven by IC engines. These are run at a speed less than
1500 rpm.

Construction of synchronous machines

1. Salient pole Machines: These types of machines have salient pole or projecting poles with
concentrated field windings. This type of construction is for the machines which are driven by
hydraulic turbines or Diesel engines.

2. Non-salient pole or Cylindrical rotor or Round rotor Machines: These machines are having
cylindrical smooth rotor construction with distributed field winding in slots. This type of rotor
construction is employed for the machine driven by steam turbines.

Stator core: The stator is the outer stationary part of the machine, which consists of

• The outer cylindrical frame called yoke, which is made either of welded sheet steel, cast iron.
• The magnetic path, which comprises a set of slotted steel laminations called stator core
pressed into the cylindrical space inside the outer frame. The magnetic path is laminated to
reduce eddy currents, reducing losses and heating. CRGO laminations of 0.5 mm thickness are
used to reduce the iron losses.

A set of insulated electrical windings are placed inside the slots of the laminated stator. The
cross-sectional area of these windings must be large enough for the power rating of the
machine. For a 3-phase generator, 3 sets of windings are required, one for each phase
connected in star. Fig. 1 shows one stator lamination of a synchronous generator. In case of
generators where the diameter is too large stator lamination can not be punched in on circular
piece. In such cases the laminations are punched in segments. A number of segments are
assembled together to form one circular laminations. All the laminations are insulated from
each other by a thin layer of varnish.
 Non Salient pole generator

Salient pole generator

Rotor of water wheel generator consists of salient poles. Poles are built with thin silicon steel
laminations of 0.5mm to 0.8 mm thickness to reduce eddy current laminations. The laminations
are clamped by heavy end plates and secured by studs or rivets. For low speed rotors poles
have the bolted on construction for the machines with little higher peripheral speed poles have
dove tailed construction as shown in Figs. Generally rectangular or round pole constructions are
used for such type of alternators. However the round poles have the advantages over
rectangular poles. Generators driven by water wheel turbines are of either horizontal or vertical
shaft type. Generators with fairly higher speeds are built with horizontal shaft and the
generators with higher power ratings and low speeds are built with vertical shaft design.
Vertical shaft generators are of two types of designs (i) Umbrella type where in the bearing is
mounted below the rotor. (ii) Suspended type where in the bearing is mounted above the rotor.
In case of turbo alternator the rotors are manufactured form solid steel forging. The rotor is
slotted to accommodate the field winding. Normally two third of the rotor periphery is slotted
to accommodate the winding and the remaining one third un slotted portion acts as the pole.
Rectangular slots with tapering teeth are milled in the rotor. Generally rectangular aluminum or
copper strips are employed for filed windings. The field windings and the overhangs of the field
windings are secured in place by steel retaining rings to protect against high centrifugal forces.
Hard composition insulation materials are used in the slots which can with stand high forces,
stresses and temperatures. Perfect balancing of the rotor is done for such type of rotors.
Damper windings are provided in the pole faces of salient pole alternators. Damper windings
are nothing but the copper or aluminum bars housed in the slots of the pole faces. The ends of
the damper bars are short circuited at the ends by short circuiting rings similar to end rings as in
the case of squirrel cage rotors. These damper windings are serving the function of providing
mechanical balance; provide damping effect, reduce the effect of over voltages and damp out
hunting in case of alternators. In case of synchronous motors they act as rotor bars and help in
self starting of the motor.

Pitch Factor: Pitch factor Kp= emf induced in a short pitched coil/ emf induced in a full pitched
coil = (2E cos α/2 )/ 2E Kp = cos α/2

Where, α is called chording angle.

Distribution Factor: Even though we assumed concentrated winding in deriving emf equation,
in practice an attempt is made to distribute the winding in all the slots coming under a pole.
Such a winding is called distributed winding.
In concentrated winding the emf induced in all the coil sides will be same in magnitude and in
phase with each other. In case of distributed winding the magnitude of emf will be same but
the emfs induced in each coil side will not be in phase with each other as they are distributed in
the slots under a pole. Hence the total emf will not be same as that in concentrated winding but
will be equal to the vector sum of the emfs induced. Hence it will be less than that in the
concentrated winding. Now the factor by which the emf induced in a distributed winding gets
reduced is called distribution factor and defined as the ratio of emf induced in a distributed
winding to emf induced in a concentrated winding.

Distribution factor Kd = emf induced in a distributed winding/ emf induced in a concentrated

winding = vector sum of the emf/ arithmetic sum of the emf

Let

E = emf induced per coil side, m = number of slots per pole per phase n = number of slots per
pole β = slot angle = 180/n

The emf induced in concentrated winding with m slots per pole per phase = mE volts.

Operation of Alternators:

Similar to the case of DC generator, the behavior of a Synchronous generator connected to an

external load is different than that at no-load. In order to understand the performance of the
Synchronous generator when it is loaded, consider the flux distributions in the machine when
the armature also carries a current. Unlike in the DC machine in alternators the emf peak and
the current peak will not occur in the same coil due to the effect of the power factor of the
load. The current and the induced emf will be at their peaks in the same coil only for upf loads.
For zero power factor lagging loads, the current reaches its peak in a coil which falls behind that
coil wherein the induced emf is at its peak by 90 electrical degrees or half a pole- pitch. Likewise
for zero power factor leading loads, the current reaches its peak in a coil which is ahead of that
coil wherein the induced emf is at its peak by 90 electrical degrees or half a pole-pitch. For
simplicity, assume the resistance and leakage reactance of the stator windings to be negligible.
Also assume the magnetic circuit to be linear i.e. the flux in the magnetic circuit is deemed to
be proportional to the resultant ampere-turns - in other words 10 the machine is operating in
the linear portion of the magnetization characteristics. Thus the emf induced is the same as the
terminal voltage, and the phase-angle between current and emf is determined only by the
power factor (pf) of the external load connected to the synchronous generator.

Armature Reaction: Magnetic fluxes in alternators There are three main fluxes associated with
an alternator:

(i) Main useful flux linked with both field & armature winding.

(ii) Leakage flux linked only with armature winding.

(iii )Leakage flux linked only with field winding.

The useful flux which links with both windings is due to combined mmf of the armature winding
and field winding. When the armature winding of an alternator carries current then an mmf
sets in armature. This armature mmf reacts with field mmf producing the resultant flux, which
differs from flux of field winding alone. The effect of armature reaction depends on nature of
load (power factor of load). At no load condition, the armature has no reaction due to absence
of armature flux. When armature delivers current at unity power factor load, then the resultant
flux is displaced along the air gap towards the trailing pole tip. Under this condition, armature
reaction has distorting effect on mmf wave as shown in Figure. At zero lagging power factor
loads the armature current is lagging by 90° with armature voltage. Under this condition, the
position of armature conductor when inducing maximum emf is the centre line of field mmf.
Since there is no distortion but the two mmf are in opposition, the armature reaction is now
purely demagnetizing as shown in Figure. Now at zero power factors leading, the armature
current leads armature voltage by 90°. Under this condition, the mmf of armature as well as the
field winding is in same phase and additive. The armature mmf has magnetizing effect due to
leading armature current.