In a permanent magnet generator, the magnetic field of the rotor is produced by permanent

magnets. Other types of generator use electromagnets to produce a magnetic field in a rotor
winding. The direct current in the rotor field winding is fed through a slip-ring assembly or
provided by a brushless exciter on the same shaft.

Permanent magnet generators (PMG's) or alternators (PMA's) do not require a DC supply for
the excitation circuit, nor do they have slip rings and contact brushes. The future economics
of PMA's or PMG's as they are sometimes called is now largely controlled by China as they
have the global monopoly on neodymium material used to make the most powerful and also
the most desirable types of magnets used today. The flux density of high performance
permanent magnets is limited giving China an unfair advantage in setting the global price. A
key disadvantage in PMA's or PMG's is that the air gap flux is not controllable, so the voltage
of the machine cannot be easily regulated. A persistent magnetic field imposes safety issues
during assembly, field service or repair. High performance permanent magnets, themselves,
have structural and thermal issues. Torque current MMF vectorially combines with the
persistent flux of permanent magnets, which leads to higher air-gap flux density and
eventually, core saturation. In this permanent magnet alternators the speed is directly
proportional to the output voltage of the alternator.

Electrical Machines - Generators

(Description and Applications)

The primary supply of all the world's electrical energy is generated in three phase
synchronous generators using machines with power ratings up to 1500 MW or more.
Though the variety of electric generators is not as great as the wide variety of electric
motors available, they obey similar design rules and most of the operating principles
used in the various classes of electric motors are also applicable to electric
generators. The vast majority of generators are AC machines (Alternators) with a
smaller number of DC generators (Dynamos).

Voltage and Frequency Regulation

Most generator applications require some way controlling the output voltage and in
the case of AC machines a method of controlling the frequency. Voltage and
frequency regulation is normally accomplished in very large machines carrying very
high currents, by controlling the generator excitation and the speed of the prime
mover which drives the generator.
 Stand Alone (Island) Systems
In smaller, stand alone systems particularly those designed to capture energy
from intermittent energy flows such as wind and wave power the voltage and
frequency control may be carried out electronically. In principle these control
systems are similar to Motor Controls and the various components are outlined in
that section.
 Grid Connected Systems
In grid connected systems the generator voltage and frequency are locked to the
grid system. Changing the energy output from the prime mover does not affect
 the frequency and voltage but will cause the output current to increase resulting
in an equivalent change in the generator output power. When connecting a
generator to the grid, it's speed should be run up so that it's output frequency
matches the grid frequency before the connection is made. See more details
about, and examples of voltage and frequency regulation of grid connected
systems on the Wind Power page.

Generator Power Handling

The mechanical shaft power P in Watts applied to a generator is given by:
P = ωT
Where ω is the speed in radians per second and T is the torque in Newton
metres.
As with electric motors, the maximum power handling capability of the generator is
determined by its maximum permissible temperature.

Generator Load
Voltage and frequency regulation correct for minor deviations in the generator output
as noted above but large changes in the load demand (current) can only be
accommodated by adjusting the torque of the prime mover driving the generator
since generally, in electric machines, torque is proportional to current or vice versa.

Generator Types

AC Generators (Alternators)
 Stationary Field Synchronous AC Generator
In a stationary field generator, the stator in the form of fixed permanent magnets
(or electromagnets fed by DC) provides the magnetic field and the current is
generated in the rotor windings.
When the rotor coil is rotated at constant speed in the field between the stator
poles the EMF generated in the coil will be approximately sinusoidal, the actual
waveform being dependent on the size and shape of the magnetic poles. The
peak voltage occurs when the moving conductor is passing the centre line of the
magnetic pole. It diminishes to zero when the conductor is in the space between
the poles and it increases to a peak in the opposite direction as the conductor
approaches the centre line of the opposite pole of the magnet. The frequency of
the waveform is directly proportional to the speed of rotation. The magnitude of
the wave is also proportional to the speed until the magnetic circuit saturates
when rate of voltage increase, as the speed increases, slows dramatically .

 Generator Speed and Frequency

The output frequency is proportional to the number of poles per phase and
the rotor speed in the same way as a synchronous motor. See Motor Speed
Table.

The alternating current output generated in the rotor can be connected to

external circuits via slip rings and does not need a commutator.
 Typical applications are portable AC generators with output power up to 5
kilowatts.

Small low cost applications such as domestic wind turbine generators are usually
designed to run at high speed. For a given power handling requirement, the
higher the speed, the lower the required torque. This means that the generator
can be smaller and lighter. Furthermore, the high speed generator needs fewer
poles, simplifying the design and reducing the costs.

 Rotating Field Synchronous AC Generator

The power handling capacity of a brushed machine is usually constrained by the
current handling capability of the slip rings in an AC machine (or even more by
the commutator in a DC machine). Since the generator load current is generally
much higher than the field current, it is usually desirable to use the rotor to create
the field and to take the power off the generator from the stator to minimise the
load on the slip rings.
By interchanging the fixed and moving elements in the above example a rotating
field generator is created in which the EMF is instead generated in the stator
windings. In this case, in its simplest form, the field is provided by a permanent
magnet (or electromagnet) which is rotated within a fixed wire loop or coil in the
stator. The moving magnetic field due to the rotating magnet of the rotor will then
cause a sinusoidal current to flow in the fixed stator coil as the field moves past
the stator conductors. If the rotor field is provided by an electromagnet, it will
need direct current excitation fed through slip rings. It does not need a
commutator.
If instead of a single coil, three independent stator coils or windings , spaced 120
degrees apart around the periphery of the machine, are used, then the output of
these windings will be three phase alternating current.

 Series Wound Generator

Classified as a constant speed generator, they have poor voltage regulation
and few are in use.
 Shunt Wound Generator
Classified as a constant voltage generator, the output voltage can be
controlled by varying the field current. They have reasonably good voltage
regulation over the speed range of the machine.

 Brushless Excitation
Rotating field machines are used for the high power generating plant in most
of the world's national electricity grid systems. The field excitation power
needed for these huge machines can be as much as 2.5% of the output
power ( 25 KW in a 1.0 MW generator) though this reduces as the efficiency
improves with size so that a 500 MW generator needs 2.5 MW (0.5%) of
excitation power. If the field voltage is 1000 Volts, the required field current
will be 2500 Amps. Providing such excitation through slip rings is an
engineering challenge which has been overcome by generating the
 necessary power within the machine itself by means of a pilot, three phase,
stationary field generator on the same shaft. The AC current generated in the
pilot generator windings is rectified and fed directly to the rotor windings to
supply the excitation for the main machine.

 Cooling
The efficiency of a very large generator can be as high as 98% or 99% but for
a 1000 MW generator, an efficiency loss of just 1% means 10 MegaWatts of
losses must be dissipated, mostly in the form of heat. To avoid overheating,
special cooling precautions must be taken and two forms of cooling are
usually employed simultaneously. Cooling water is circulated through copper
bars in the stator windings and hydrogen is passed through the generator
casing. Hydrogen has the advantages that its density is only about 7% of the
density of air resulting in fewer windage losses due to the rotor churning up
the air in the machine and its thermal capacity is 10 times that of air giving it
superior heat removal capability.

 Permanent Magnet AC Generators

Smaller versions of both of the above machines can use permanent magnets to
provide the machine's magnetic field and since no power is used in providing the
field this means that the machines are simpler and more efficient . The drawback
however is that there is no simple way to control such machines. Permanent
magnet synchronous generators (PMSGs) are typically used in low cost
"gensets" to provide emergency power.
The voltage and frequency output of the permanent magnet generator are
proportional to the speed of rotation and though this may not be a problem for
applications powered by fixed speed mechanical drives, many applications such
as wind turbines, require a fixed voltage and frequency output but are powered
by variable speed prime movers. In these cases, complex feedback control
systems or external power conditioning may be required to provide the desired
stabilised output.
Generally the output will be rectified and the varying output voltage fed through
the DC link to a buck - boost regulator which provides a fixed voltage coupled
with an inverter which provides a fixed frequency output.

 Variable/Switched Reluctance Generators

Similar in construction to the switched reluctance motor, the generator is a doubly
salient machine with no magnets or brushes. As the inert, iron rotor poles of the
reluctance generator are driven past the stator poles, the changing reluctance of
the generator's magnetic circuit is accompanied by a corresponding change in
the inductance of the stator poles which in turn causes a current to be induced in
the stator windings. A pulsed waveform therefore appears at each stator pole. In
polyphase machines the outputs from each phase are fed to a converter which
switches each phase sequentially on to the DC Link to provide a DC voltage. The
system needs position sensing on the rotor shaft to control the timing of the
triggering of the converter switches. These position sensors also enable the
 current to be controlled by varying the turn on and turn off angles of the output
current depending on the rotor position. As with the permanent magnet
generator, buck - boost regulators are also used to provide control over the
output.
The machine unfortunately is not inherently self exciting and various methods
have been adopted to enable start up, including the provision of a DC excitation
current from a backup battery through the stator windings during start up, or the
use of small permanent magnets embedded in some of the rotor poles.
 Characteristics
Compact, robust designs.
Variable speed operation.
The generator phases are completely independent.
Inexpensive to manufacture.
Because they have simple, inert rotors with no windings or embedded
magnets they can be driven at very high speed and can operate in high
ambient temperature conditions.
Suitable for designs up to megawatt capacity and speeds of more than
50,000 rpm.
 Applications
Hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) drive systems, automotive starter generators,
aircraft auxiliary power generation, wind generators, high speed gas turbine
generators.
See also Integrated Starter Generator

 Induction Generators
Induction generators are essentially induction motors which are run slightly above
the synchronous speed associated with the supply frequency. See an
explanation of how induction motors work on the AC Motors page. Induction
generators however have no means of producing or generating voltage unless
they are connected to an external source of excitation. The squirrel cage
construction is used for small scale power generation because it is simple, robust
and inexpensive to manufacture.

As with an induction motor, when the stator coils of a multi-phase induction

generator are connected to an alternating current grid, by transformer action a
voltage is induced into the rotor windings, or the conducting bars of a squirrel
cage rotor, with the frequency of this induced voltage in the rotor being equal to
the frequency of the applied stator voltage. When the individual rotor windings
are short circuited, or connected together through an external impedance, (the
conducting bars of the squirrel cage rotor are already short-circuited together), a
large current flows through the coils creating a magnetic field, which by Lenz's
Law has a polarity opposite to stator field. This causes the rotor to rotate, being
dragged along by magnetic attraction behind the rotating field created by the
stator. The magnitude of the torque on the rotor depends on the magnitude of the
relative speed between the rotating rotor and the rotating field created by the
stator, commonly called the slip. The rotor thus accelerates up towards the
synchronous speed set by the frequency of the grid suppy reaching a maximum
when the magnitude of the induced rotor current and torque balances the applied
load, while at the same time, the frequency of the currents induced in the rotor
windings are reduced, keeping in line with the slip frequency. But the faster the
rotor rotates, the lower is the resulting relative speed difference between the rotor
cage and the rotating stator field, or the slip, and thus the voltage induced into
the rotor winding. As the rotor nears synchronous speed, its torque decreases in
line with the slip reducing the acceleration as the weakening rotor magnetic field
is insufficient to overcome the friction losses of the rotor in idle mode. The result
is that the rotor remains rotating slower than synchronous speed. This means
that in motor mode, an induction machine can never reach its synchronous speed
because at that speed there would be no current induced into the rotors squirrel
cage, no magnetic field and thus no torque.

In generator mode however, the stator is still connected to the grid providing the
necessay rotating field, but the rotor shaft is driven by external means at a speed
faster than the synchronous speed so that the electromagnetic reactions are
reversed since the rotor will rotate faster than the rotating magnetic field of the
stator so that the polarity of the slip is reversed and the polarity of the voltage and
current induced in the rotor will likewise be reversed. At the same time, by
transformer action, the current in the rotor will induce a current in the stator coils
which now supply the generator's output energy to the load. As the rotor speed is
increased above the synchronous speed, the induced voltage and the current in
the rotor bars and the stator coils will increase as the relative speed between the
rotor and the stator's rotating field and hence the slip increases. This in turn will
require a higher torque to maintain the rotation.
The output voltage of the generator is controlled by the magnitude of the
excitation current.

The following diagram illustrates the characteristics of a multi- phase induction

machine when configured as either a motor or as a generator.
Since the rotor current is proportional to the relative motion between the stator's
rotating field and the rotor speed, known as the "slip", the rotor current and hence
the torque are both directly proportional to the slip within the stable operating
region around the synchronous speed of the machine and the frequency of the
rotor current is the same as the slip frequency.
At the synchronous speed the slip is zero, and no electricity would be consumed
by the motor or produced by the generator. Though both machines operate at
speeds within a few percent of the synchronous speed they are asynchronous
machines.
Increasing the load on the generator reduces its speed and hence its output
frequency, while increasing the torque on the drive shaft increases its speed and
output frequency, Reducing the load and the driving torque have he opposite
effect.

 Fixed Speed Induction Generator

Fixed speed induction generators like the one described above actually run
over a small speed range associated with the generator slip. They receive
their excitation from the electricity supply grid and can only be run in parallel
with that supply. When used on line, they are fine for returning power to the
grid from which they derive their excitation current but useless as standby
 generators when the electric grid goes down. Their limited speed range
restricts the possible applications.

 Variable Speed - Self Excited Induction Generator(SEIG)

Small scale electricity generating systems are quite often stand alone
applications, remote from the electricity supply grid, utilising widely fluctuating
energy sources such as wind and water power for their source of energy. The
fixed speed induction generator is not suitable for such applications. Variable
speed induction generators need some form of self excitation as well as
power conditioning to be able to make practical use of their unregulated
voltage and frequency output.
 Operation
Self excitation is obtained by connecting capacitors across the stator
terminals of the generator. When driven by an external prime mover, a
small current will be induced in the stator coils as the flux due to the
residual magnetism in the rotor cuts the windings and this current charges
the capacitors. As the rotor turns, the flux cutting the stator windings will
change to the opposite direction as the orientation of the remanent
magnetic field turns with the rotor. The induced current in this case will be
in the opposite direction and will tend to discharge the capacitors. At the
same time the charge released from the capacitors will tend to reinforce
the current increasing the flux in the machine. As the rotor continues to
turn the induced EMF and current in the stator windings will continue to
rise until steady state is attained, depending on the saturation of the
magnetic circuit in the machine. At this operating point the voltage and
current will continue to oscillate at a given peak value and frequency
determined by the characteristics of the machine, the air gap , the slip, the
load and the choice of capacitor sizes. The combination of these factors
sets maximum and minimum limits on the speed range over which self
excitation occurs. The operating slip is generally small and the variation of
the frequency depends on the operating speed range.
If the generator is overloaded the voltage will collapse rapidly (see
diagram above) providing a measure of built in self-protection.
 Control
In variable-speed operation, an induction generator needs a frequency
converter to adapt the variable frequency output of the generator to the
fixed frequency of the application or the electricity supply grid. During
operation the only controllable factor available in a self excited induction
generator to influence the output is the mechanical input from the prime
mover, so the system is not amenable for effective feedback control. To
provide a controllable output voltage and frequency, external AC/DC/AC
converters are required. A three-phase diode bridge is used to rectify the
generator output current providing a DC link to a three-phase thyristor
inverter which converts the power from the DC link to the required voltage
and frequency.
 See also examples and description of an asynchronous Doubly Fed
Induction Generators (DFIG) and in- line frequency control of a fixed speed
synchronous generator, both used to provide regulated frequency and
voltage output from variable torque, variable speed drives in wind turbine
generator applications.

DC Generators (Dynamos)
Direct Current (DC) Generator
The stationary field AC generator described above can be modified to deliver a
unidirectional current by replacing the slip rings on the rotor shaft with a suitable
commutator to reverse the connection to the coil each half cycle as the conductor
passes alternate north and south magnetic poles. The current will however be a
series of half sinusoidal pulses just like the waveform from a full wave rectifier as
shown below.

The output voltage ripple can be minimised by using multipole designs.

The construction of a DC generator is very similar to the construction of a DC motor.
The rotor consists of an electromagnet providing the field excitation. Current to the
rotor is derived from the stator or in the case of very large generators, from a
separate exciter rotating on the same rotor shaft. The connection to the rotor is
through a commutator so that the direction of the current in the stator windings
changes direction as the rotor poles pass between alternate north and south stator
poles. The rotor current is very low compared with the current in the stator windings
and most of the heat is dissipated in the more massive stator structure.

In self excited machines, when starting from rest, the current to start the
electromagnets working is derived from the small residual magnetism which exists in
the electromagnets and surrounding magnetic circuit.

Automotive Alternators
The automotive generator is a variable speed AC machine delivering a fixed level
DC output.

The typical generator is a self excited alternating current machine. By using an

alternator rather than a DC generator the use of a commutator and its potential
reliability problems can be avoided. However, direct current is required for all the
loads in the vehicle including the battery and furthermore, the DC output voltage
must be constant regardless of the engine speed or the current load. The charging
system must therefore include a rectifier to convert the AC to DC and a regulator to
maintain the generated voltage within design limits independent of the engine speed.

The rotor is driven by the engine and provides the field excitation. Its speed is
directly related to the engine speed and depends on the ratios of the gearing or
pulleys driving it. The output current is taken from the stator.

Automotive alternators are usually three phase machines to enable a compact

design and at the same time a reduction in the current in the stator windings by
spreading it between three sets of windings. This also gives a reduction in the
potential voltage ripple after rectification.

 Construction
The rotor is a claw pole rotor in which the two ends of the rotor form the north
and south poles of an electromagnet. The "claws" extend between each other
effectively producing alternate north and south poles as they pass the stator
poles. The rotor current energising the electromagnet is fed from the stator
windings via three auxiliary diodes which rectify it, before passing it through two
slip rings to a single rotor coil.
The moving magnetic field associated with the rotor poles causes a current to
flow in the stator windings as the field passes over the stator conductors.
The three phase current produced by the alternator is rectified in a full wave,
diode bridge circuit to produce a DC output. The alternator EMF is directly
proportional to the alternator (or engine) speed. The alternator is however
designed to deliver full voltage, normally 14.2 Volts for a 12 Volt nominal lead
acid battery, at idle speed and to maintain the output voltage constant at this
level as the engine speed increases.

 Voltage Regulator
To prevent the battery from being overcharged the DC output voltage must be
kept below the 14.2 Volts maximum charging voltage specified for the battery.
This is the function of the regulator which senses the alternator's output voltage
and if it is greater than the 14.2 Volts reference voltage, provided by a Zener
diode, it interrupts the current to the field (rotor) coil. Without a field current the
alternator voltage begins to fall. When the alternator voltage falls below the
reference voltage, current will be supplied to the field coil once more maintaining
the output voltage at the desired level. The rotor thus receives a pulsed DC
current over the engine operating speed range, smoothed somewhat by the rotor
 winding inductance.
Alternative designs monitor the load current on the alternator and provide a
feedback mechanism using pulse width modulation to control the stator current to
provide a constant output voltage regardless of the load.

We use a cylindrical rotor or a salient pole rotor in a synchronous machines.

Cylindrical rotor
 Uniform airgap
 Used in high speed operations generally steam turbine or gas turbine.
 Due to uniform airgap the flux distribution is uniform and hence smooth and less noisy
operation.

Salient pole rotor

 Non uniform airgap
 Used in low speed operation generally in hydel power plants.
 Due to non-uniform flux distribution the operation is quite noisy.

12.6k Views · View Upvotes

Sachin Sharma, Btech Bachelor of Technology in Electrical and Electronics Engineering

& Electrical Engineering, Dr. A.P.J....
Written 3 Mar
There are mainly two types of Synchronous Generator from rotor construction point of
view. The two main types of synchronous machine are Cylindrical Rotor and Salient
Pole. Saliency simply means projection outward. Therefore from the literal meaning of
Saliency one can guess that Salient Pole machines must have poles projecting outward.
In general, the Cylindrical Rotor type machines are confined to 2 and 4 pole turbine
generators, while salient pole types are built with 4 poles upwards and include most
classes of duty. Both classes of machine are similar in Stator construction point of view.
Each has a stator carrying a three-phase winding distributed over its inner periphery.
 Within the stator bore is the rotor which is magnetised by a winding carrying DC current.
The main difference between the Cylindrical Rotor and Salient Pole classes of machine
lies in the rotor construction. The cylindrical rotor type has a uniformly cylindrical rotor
that carries its excitation winding distributed over a number of slots around its periphery.
This construction is unsuited to multi-polar machines but it is very sound mechanically.
Hence it is particularly well adapted for the highest speed electrical machines and is
universally employed for 2 pole units, and some 4 pole units.

The salient pole type has poles that are physically separate, each carrying a
concentrated excitation winding. This type of construction is in many ways
complementary to that of the cylindrical rotor and is employed in machines having 4
poles or more. Except in special cases its use is exclusive in machines having more than
6 poles. Two and four pole generators are most often used in applications where steam
or gas turbines are used as the prime mover. This is because the steam turbine tends to
be suited to high rotational speeds. Four pole steam turbine generators are most often
found in nuclear power stations as the relative wetness of the steam makes the high
rotational speed of a two-pole design unsuitable.

Most generators with gas turbine prime mover are four pole machines to obtain
enhanced mechanical strength in the rotor since a gearbox is often used to couple the
power turbine to the generator; the choice of synchronous speed of the generator is not
subject to the same constraints as with steam turbines. Generators with diesel engine
drivers are invariably of four or more pole design, to match the running speed of the
driver without using a gearbox. Four-stroke diesel engines usually have a higher running
speed than two stroke engines, so generators having four or six poles are most
common. Two stroke diesel engines are often derivatives of marine designs with
relatively large outputs and may have running speeds of the order of 125 rpm. This
requires a generator with a large number of poles (48 for a 125 rpm, 50Hz generator)
and consequently is of large diameter and short axial length. This is a contrast to
turbine-driven machines that are of small diameter and long axial length.

Further it shall be noted that in Hydro Power plant, Salient Pole Generators are used as
the speed of the prime mover (here water turbine is the prime mover) is less and
therefore number of poles required will be more from P = 120f / N. To accommodate
larger number of poles, Salient Pole construction is well suited.

It shall also be noted that Salient Pole machines cannot be used at higher speed
because at higher speed the centrifugal forces will be large which may damage the
Salient pole bolted on the Rotor core. This is why Turbo Generators uses Cylindrical
Pole construction whereas Hydro generators use Salient Pole construction.

To summarize, the main differences between the Cylindrical Rotor and Salient Pole
machines are as follows:

In salient pole type of rotor consist of large number of projected poles i.e. salient poles
mounted on a magnetic wheel. Construction of a salient pole rotor is as shown in the
figure at left. The projected poles are made up from laminations of steel. The rotor
winding is provided on these poles and it is supported by pole shoes.

 Salient pole rotors have 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 is required to attain the required
frequency. (N = 120f / P). 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 pole synchronous generators are mostly used in hydro power plants.
Non-salient pole or Cylindrical rotors are cylindrical in shape having parallel slots on it to
place rotor windings. It is made up of solid steel. Sometimes, they are also called as
drum rotor.

 They are smaller in diameter but having longer axial length.

 Cylindrical rotors are 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 in non-salient pole rotors.
 Flux distribution is sinusoidal and hence gives better emf.
 Non-salient pole rotors are used in nuclear, gas and thermal power plants.

In cylindrical pole rotor a solid rotor has winding dristibuted on the periphery of rotor. But
each of the slots have different number of turns in them so as to produce sinusoidal flux
when excited.
Whereas in salient pole there are projections out of a solid cylindrical rotor which houses
the winding. These are chamfered at the pole shoe to provide sinusoidal flux.