SYNCHRONOUS

GENERATOR
Types of Synchronous
Machine
According to the arrangement of the field and
armature windings, synchronous machines may be
classified as

(a) Stationary Armature - Rotating Field (Above 5 kVA)

(b)Stationary Field – Rotating Armature (Below 5 kVA)

 Advant ages of
r ot at i ng f i el d and
st at i onar y ar mat ur e t ype

High voltage generation

Better insulation
Rotor weight – less
Current collection - easy
Lesser number of slip rings
Less mechanical losses
Cooling Arrangement - easy
Salient Pole type {Projected
Poles}
It is also called Projected Poles.
Poles are mounted on
the larger circular
frame.
Made up of Thick Steel Laminations.
Field Winding are connected in series.
Ends of the field winding are
connected to the DC Supply through
Slip Rings

Features
Large Diameter and short Axial
Length.
Poles are Laminated to
reduced Eddy Current Losses

Employed for Low and

Medium Speed
120 RMP to 500 RPM
(Diesel & Hydraulic Turbines)
 Damper winding

In the pole faces of the salient

rotor, small holes are provided
and copper bars are inserted
in the slots.
The ends of all the bars in both
sides are short circuited by
copper rings to make closed
circuit.
This winding is called as
damper winding
 Single Layer and Double Layer Winding
Single- layer winding

• One coil-side occupies the total slot area

• Used only in small ac machines

Double- layer winding

• Coil-sides in two layers

•Double-layer winding is more common used

above about 5kW machines

The advantages of double-layer winding

over single layer winding:
a. Easier to manufacture and lower cost of
the coils
b. Fractional-slot winding can be used
[Link]-winding is possible
d. Lower-leakage reactance and
therefore , better performance of the
machine
e. Better emf waveform in case of
 Advant ages of chor ded
pi t ch winding
It saves copper of end connections
Reduction in resistance and inductance of the
winding due to the lesser length of the coil ends
The wave form of the induced emf is improved
The distorting harmonics can be reduced
Due to elimination of high frequency harmonics
eddy current and hysterisis losses are reduced ,
thereby increasing the efficiency
 Advant ages of
di st r i but i on
Winding
Harmonics are reduced
Induced voltage approached sinusoidal wave
form
Losses are reduced
Efficiency is improved
Provide better cooling
 Hydrogen cooling

If air is used for cooling purpose in large size

turbo alternators, a large quantity of air is
required . For this , a large size fan is required to
circulate the required air .

To reduce the size of the fan and also to improve

the efficiency of the cooling system , hydrogen is
used as cooling medium .
 Per f or mance of an
Al t er nat or
Voltage drop in the winding is due to the following
reasons.
Ra
Xl

Xa
Resistance and reactance present in the alternator
armature
The effective resistance is increased greater than
the direct current Resistance . This is due to skin
effect . R effective = 1.6 Rdc
 Ar mat ur e
r eact ance
Xa drop due to armature reaction is
The voltage
assumed to have fictitious reactance . This
fictititous reactance is called armature reactance
(Xa)
Synchronous reactance Xs -is the combined
reactance of leakage reactance Xl and the
fictitious reactance Xa due to armature reaction .

Synchronous impedance
Armature
Reaction
Effect of the armature flux on the main field flux.

Armature Reaction effect depends upon the PF of the

Load UPF - cross magnetizing.

Lag PF -
demagnetizing. Lead
PF - magnetizing
UPF (Pure Resistive
Load) cross magnetizing
Main Armature Flux
Flux Φa
Φ

N S

Main Flux
Φ

Iaph
Φ

Eph
Induced EMF due to Main Flux
Φ
Lagging PF (Purely Inductive
Load) Demagnetizing
Main Flux Armature Flux
Φ Φa

N S

Armature
Main Flux
Flux Φ
I Φ
a
a

Load current
Lag the Voltage
by 90

Eph
Induced EMF due to Main Flux
Φ
Lead PF (Purely Capacitive
Magnetizing
Load) Main Flux
Φ

N S
Armature Flux
Φa

Armature Flux
Main Flux
Φa
Φ
Load current I
Lead the Voltage a
by 90

Eph
Induced EMF due to Main Flux
Φ
VOLTAGE REGULATOR
Voltage Regulator of an alternator is defined as the change in
terminal voltage from NO load to full load divided by full-load
voltage.

% Voltage Regulator x = E0 – V
V 100

There are different methods available to determine

the voltage regulation of an alternator,
1. Direct loading method
2. Synchronous impedance method or E.M.F.
method
[Link]-turns method or M.M.F. method
4. Zero power factor method or Potier
triangle method
[Link] Method( modified from of M.M.F.
method)
 Vol t age r egul at i on
of an
alternator
Generally the alternator working at upf has 10%
regulation and at lagging powerfactor has
30% regulation .
Voltage difference (E-V) depends an effective armature
resistance ( Reff) and synchronous reactance (Xs)
Less amount of % regulation indicates the good
performance of the alternator
% Regulation is +ve value for unity and lagging power
factor load
% Regulation may be +ve or zero or –ve value
for leading power factor load.
 Det er mi nat i on of
Regul at i
By Direct method :
on
In this method no load voltage of an alternator is
taken as induced emf ‘ E’ .
Then alternator is loaded step by step directly
Each load condition terminal voltage (V) is noted
down
% Regulation = (E- V / V ) * 100
In this method power is wasted hence it is
used for small ratings .
Pr edet er mi nat i on of
Regul at i on
EMF Method ( Synchronous –impedance method)
MMF Method ( Ampere turn method)
ZPF Method ( Zero power factor method ) or potier
method
ASA Method
Synchronous
Impedance

Zs = √(Ra)2 +
(Xs)2

Xs = √(Zs)2 - (Ra)2

Eph = √ (Vph Cos Φ + Ia Ra)2 + (Vph Sin Φ ± Ia

Xs)2
Limitations of Synchronous Impedance
Method
The main limitation of this method is that this method gives large values of
synchronous reactance.

This leads to high values of percentage regulation than the actual

results. Hence this method is called pessimistic method.

TWO REACTION
THEORY Non Salient pole alternator Air gap is uniform
Uniform air gap Field flux and Armature flux vary
sinusoidally
Air gap length is constant and reactance is also constant
Field MMF and Armature MMF act upon the
same magnetic circuit can be added vectorially

Salient pole alternator Air gap is NOT uniform

Air gap length is NOT constant and
Reactance is also NOT constant
Field flux and Armature flux cannot vary
sinusoidally

MMF act are different

Advantages of Parallel operation

Continuity of supply is possible when Breakdown or Shut

down for maintenance of alternator in generating station

Repair and Maintenance of individual machine can be carried

out one after the other without effecting the normal routine
work
Depending upon the load requirement any number of
alternator can be operated and the remaining can be put off
It is economical and improves the efficiency of the
generating station
New alternator can be connected in parallel, when the
demand increases. This reduces the capital cost of the
system.
Synchronizing and Parallel operation
Necessary Condition for
Synchronization
The process of switching of an alternator to another
alternator or with a common Bus bar without any
interruption is called Synchronization
CONDITIONS FOR PARALLEL OPERATION

[Link] terminal voltage of the incoming machine must be

same
as that of bus bar Voltage.
[Link] frequency of the generated voltage of the
incoming machine must be same as that of bus bar
frequency.

[Link] phase Sequence voltage of the incoming machine must

be same as that of bus bar.(R Y B).
[Link] of incoming alternator and bus bar voltages
Methods for synchronising:
a. 3- Lamp Dark method
b. 3- Lamp Bright method
c. 2-lamp bright and one lamp dark method
d. Synchroscope Method
 Synchr onous Motor

• The synchronous motor rotates at the

synchronous speed i.e. the speed of the
RMF.
• Stator is similar in construction to that of
an induction motor
• Field excitation is provided on the rotor
by either permanent or
electromagnets with number of poles
equal to the poles of the RMF caused by
stator.