Voltage Regulation of Alternator by Zero power factor method

This is also called the general method, Potier reactance (or triangle)
method of obtaining the voltage regulation.
In the e.m.f. method. the phasor diagram involving voltages is used, For the
z.p.f method, the e.m.fs. are handled as voltages and the m.m.fs. as field
ampere-turns or field amperes.
Zero-power-factor characteristic (z.p.f c.), in conjunction with O.C.C., is
useful in obtaining the armature leakage reactance X l and armature reaction
m.m.f. F a For an alternator, z.p.f c. is obtained as follows
 The synchronous machine is run at rated synchronous speed by the
prime-mover.
 A purer inductive load is connected across the armature terminals and
field current is increased till full load armature current is flowing.
 The load is varied in steps and the field current at each step is adjusted
to maintain full-load armature current. The plot of armature terminal
voltage and field current recorded at each step, gives the zero -power-
factor characteristic at full-load armature current.
The O.C.C. and z.p.f c. are shown in Fig.3(b). For field excitation F f or field
current I f , equal to OP the open-circuit voltage is PK. With the field
excitation and speed remaining unchanged, the armature terminals are
connected to a purely inductive load such that full load armature current
flows. An examination of Fig. 3(a) and (b) reveals that under zero power.
factor load, the net excitation F r is OF which is less than OP (=F f )by F a
According to the resultant m.m.f. OF the air-gap voltage E r is FC and if
CB=IX l is subtracted from E r = FC, the terminal voltage FB = PA = V t is
obtained. Since z.p.f c. is a plot between the terminal voltage and field current
I f or Ff , which has not changed from its no-load value of OP, the point A lies
on the z.p.f.c. The triangle ABC so obtained is called the Potier triangle,
where CB=IX l and BA = F a. Thus, from the Potier triangle, the armature
leakage reactance X l and armature reaction m.m.f. F a can be determined.

Fig 3 (a) General phasor diagram of Round-Rotor Alternator at zero power factor
(b) O.C.C., z.p.f c. And potier triangle

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If the armature resistance is assumed zero and the armature current is kept
constant, then the size of Potier triangle ABC remains constant and can be
shifted parallel to itself with its corner C, remaining on the O.C.C. and its
corner A, tracing the z.p.f.c. Thus the z.p.f.c. has the same shape as the
O.C.C. and is shifted vertically downward by an amount equal to IX l (i.e.,
ieakage reactance voltage drop) and horizontally to the right by an amount
equal to the armature reaction m.m.f. F a.or the field current equivalent to
armature reaction m.m.f.
For determining IX l and F a experimentally, it is not necessary to plot the
entire z.p.f.c. Only two points A and F' shown in Fig 3(b) are sufficimt. The
point A(PA=rated voltage) is obtained by actually loading the alternator so
that the rated armature current flows in the alternator. The other point F' on
the z.p.f.c. corresponds to the zero terminal voltage and can, therefore, be
obtained by performing short-circuit test. So here OF' is the field current
required to circulate short-circuit current equal to the armature current
(generally rated current) at which the point A is determined in the zero(near
zero) power-factor test.
Now draw a horizontal line AD, parallel and equal to F'O. Through point D,
draw a straight line parallel to the air-gap line, intersecting the O.C.C. at C.
Draw CB perpendicular to AD. Then ABC is the Potier triangle from which
BC = IX l
AB = F a
Since the armature current I at which the point A is obtained, is Known, X l
can be calculated.
Then determine the air-gap voltage E r by the relation,
Er = Vt + I ( Ra + j Xl )
According to the magnitude of E r obtain F r from O.C.C. and draw it leading
E r by 90º, The armature reaction m.m.f. F a and armature leakage reactance X l ,
can be determined from the Potier triangle, as explained before. Now F a is
drawn in phase with I as shown in Fig. 3(a) Then
Ff = Fr – Fa
is obtained and corresponding to F f , excitation voltage E f (or E o) is recorded
from O.C.C. and the voltage regulation obtained.
Z.p.f. method requires O.C.C. and z.p.f.c., and gives quite accurate results.

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 Example :
A 220 V, 50 Hz, 6-pole star-connected alternator with, ohmic resistance of
0.06 Ω/ph, gave the following data for open-circuit, short-circuit and full-
load zero-power-factor characteristics :
Find the percentage voltage regulation at full-load current of 40 amps at power-
factor of 0.8 lag by (a) e.m f. method (b) z. p. f .

Field current, A 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.8 2.2 2.6 3.0
O.C. voltage, V 29 58.0 87.0 116 146 172 194 232 261.5 284 300
S.C. current, A 6.6 13.2 20.0 26.5 32.4 40.0 46.3 59 - - -
z.p.f. terminl voltage, v - - - - - 0.0 29 88 140 177 208

Solution :

Rated per phase voltage = 220 / √3 = 127 V

Per phase values for O.C.C. and z.p.f.c. are tabulated below and O.C.C., S.C.C. and
z.p.f.c. are plotted in fig 5.

Field current, A 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.8 2.2 2.6 3.0
O.C. voltage, V 16.7 33.5 50.2 67 84.3 99.3 112 134 151 164 173
z.p.f. terminl voltage,v - - - - - 0.0 16.73 50.8 80.8 102 120

A- E.M.F. Method:
Zs = O.C. voltage / S.C. current
From above tables, Zs ≈ 134 / 59 = 2.27 Ω
Here Xs ≈ Zs = 2.27 Ω, since Ra is quite small.

Eo = √ [( Vt cos φ + I R a)2 + ( Vt sin φ + I XS)2]

= √ [(127 * 0.8 + 40 * 0.06) 2 + (127 * 0.6 + 40 * 2.27)2]
= 196 volts

Percentage regulation = (Eo – Vt) / Vt *100%

= (196 – 127) / 127 *100 = 54%

B- Zero power factor Method:

First of all, the Potier triangle ABC is drawn as described before, Point A
corresponds to the rated voltage of 127 V on the Z. p.f.c. The line AD is drawn

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parallel and equal to F'O = 1.2 A.Then DC is drawn parallel to the air-gap line,
meeting the O.C.C. at point C. Perpendicular CB on AD, lives IXl drop equal to
30 volts.

Armature leakage reactance Xl = 30 / 40 = 0.75 Ω

The air-gap voltage Er,
Er = Vt + I ( R a + j X l ) = 127(0.8+j0.6) + 40*(0.06+j0.75)= 148.6∟45.6º
Or = √ [( Vt cos φ + I R a)2 + ( Vt sin φ + I X l )2]
=√ [(127 * 0.8 + 40 * 0.06) 2 + (127 * 0.6 + 40 * 0.75)2]
= 148.6 volts

Fig 5

Corresponding to Er = 148.6 V, the field current Fr from O.C.C. is 2.134 A, the

armature m.m.f. Fa, from Potier triangle is AB = 0.84 A.

Fr = 2.134 ∟(45.6º+ 90º) = 2.134 ∟135.6º

Fa = 0.84 A
Ff = Fr – Fa = 2.134 ∟135.6º – 0.84
= 2.797 ∟147.7º A
For Ff = 2.797 A, the excitation voltage from O.C.C. is Eo=169.0 volts
Percentage regulation = (Eo – Vt) / Vt *100%
= (169 – 127) / 127 *100 = 33.1%

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As already stated, z.p.f. method gives quite accurate results and here the
voltage regulation with this method is 33.1%.
The voltage regulation by e.m.f. method is 54% , This value is much higher
than the accurate value of 33 .1 % and in view of this, this method may be
called pessimistic method.

The Automatic Voltage Regulator

The method of operation in the power station is to maintain the terminal
voltage of the alternator at the rated value and to adjust the excitation
with change in load current accordingly. As the variations in load may be
very violent both as regards magnitude and rapidity, it is clear that hand
regulation of the excitation is impossible and that automatic means must
be adopted. Now the flux per pole of a large turbo-alternator may amount
to several webers, and therefore the self-induction of the field winding will be
very high.
Consider, for example, a 15,000 kVA, 4 pole turbo-alternator having a flux
per pole of 1.15 webers, a rotor current of 600 amperes, and a rotor
winding of 66 turns per pole.
L(per pole)=(Flux per ampere) * (No. of turns)

= (1.15 / 600 )* 66 = 0.127 henry

And Inductance, L = 4 * 0.127 = 0.508 henry for the whole winding

Winding resistance, R=0.2 Ω

The time constant = L / R = 0.508 / 0.2 = 2.54
The time constant L / R of the field circuit gives the value in seconds, and is
the time taken for the flux to reach 0.6321 of its final value. With modern
large two-pole, turbo-alternators the time constant is considerably
greater. What is required in the power station that there shall be an almost
instantaneous increase in excitation to the desired value. An increase in load
calls for an increase in excitation. This increase is made much greater than
is ultimately required, and as a result the flux builds up very rapidly. Before
the flux can build up too far, the excitation is reduced again. This is
known as the "overshooting-the-mark" principle. There are two types of
quick acting regulator which work on this principle :
(a) the vibrator type, in which a fixed resistance is rapidly cut in and
out.
(b) the rheostat type in which the resistance is variable.

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Transistor-Cruntrolled or Transistor Type-Automatic Voltage Regulators

The automatic voltage regulation is affected by matching a quantity proportional to

the alternator voltage against a 'reference'. The difference between these two, called
'error' has to be rectified before it can be fed to the excitor, and this is affected by
means of transistor amplifiers. This is a 'brushless' method of voltage control
for an alternator. Here no slip rings, commutators and brush gear is required.
These types of regulators are also called electronic voltage regulators
The reference circuit is supplied by voltage feed back from the alternator, the
general scheme of control has been illustrated in block diagram of fig 6.

Fig 6 Block diagram of the control system of a transistor-controlled alternator

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