Synchronous Generator

Outline
• Construction
• Speed of rotation
• Internal generated voltage
• The equivalent circuit
• The phasor diagram
• Power and torque
• Measuring synchronous generator model parameters
• Synchronous generator operating alone
• Parallel operation of synchronous generators
Synchronous Generator
• Rotor field produced by
– Permanent magnet
– DC current in rotor winding

• Rotor turned by a prime mover

– Produces a rotating field

• Rotating field induces three-phase voltages in stator

Synchronous Generator
• Terms for windings
– Field winding
– Armature winding

• Field windings
– Produce main magnetic field
– On rotor

• Armature windings
– Windings where main voltage is induced
– On stator
Synchronous Generator
• Rotor construction
– Salient pole sticks out radially from shaft
• Used for high pole count

– Non-salient pole with windings embedded flush with

surface
• Used for low pole count
Salient-pole rotor
Salient-pole rotor
Salient-pole rotor
Salient-pole rotor
Salient-pole rotor
Cylindrical rotor
Stator construction
Stator laminations
two-pole, single-phase four-pole, single-phase two-pole
synchronous generator. synchronous generator cylindrical-rotor field
winding.
 Synchronous Generator-Excitation
• DC current must be supplied to field circuit on rotor
if it is not a permanent magnet
• A special arrangement required to get dc power to
its field windings

• Two common approaches

– From an external dc source by means of slip rings and
brushes
– From a special dc power source mounted directly on
shaft of generator
 Synchronous Generator-Excitation
• Slip rings: metal rings
encircling shaft but
insulated from it

• Brush: block of graphite like

carbon compound
– conducts electricity
– low friction not to wear
down the slip ring
Synchronous Generator-Excitation
Synchronous Generator-Excitation
Synchronous Generator - Excitation
Synchronous Generator-Excitation
Brushless Exciter Circuits
• Problems with slip
rings and brushes
– More maintenance
– Voltage drops cause
significant power losses
– Used on smaller
synchronous machines
• Solution: brushless
exciters
– 3-phase current
rectified to supply
“exciter” field
– Output of armature
circuit of exciter (on the
rotor) rectified and
supplied to field main
machine
 Brushless Exciter Circuits
• Brushless excitation with pilot exciter
– Permanent magnets of pilot exciter produce field current of exciter
– Exciter produces field current of main machine
Synchronous Generator-Excitation
Brushless Exciter Circuits
The speed of rotation of a Synchronous Generator
• What does synchronous mean
– Electrical frequency locked-in/ synchronized with rotor speed

• Rate of rotation of field related to electrical frequency

• Electric power generated at fixed frequency

– Generator must turn at a fixed speed
– To generate 60-Hz power in a two-pole machine, rotor must turn
at 3600 rpm
– To generate 50-Hz power in a four-pole machine, rotor must turn
at 1500 rpm
The Internal Generated Voltage Of a Synchronous Generator
• Magnitude of voltage induced in a stator phase
–
– (As and and (2P m/c))
– (peak voltage)
– (as )
– (RMS voltage in a phase)

• Terminal line voltage depends on winding connection:

• Simpler form: showing variable quantities during machine
operation

– if is in electrical radians per second

– if is in mechanical radians per second
 The Internal Generated Voltage of a Synchronous Generator

• proportional to
– The flux
• Depends on current
– The speed
The Equivalent Circuit Of A Synchronous Generator
• is “internal generated voltage”
– Does not appear at terminals of generator
• Internal voltage = output voltage
– When there is no armature current flowing

• Why? And how?

– Answer to these questions: equivalent circuit model

• Factors that cause difference between and :

1. Distortion of air-gap magnetic field by current flowing in stator
• Called armature reaction
2. Self-inductance of armature coils
3. Resistance of armature coils
4. Effect of salient-pole rotor shapes (ignored for the time being)
The equivalent Circuit of the Synchronous Generator
• Armature reaction
– Generator spun: voltage induced
– Load attached to terminals: current flows
– Stator current produces magnetic field of its own
– Stator magnetic field distorts original rotor magnetic
field
• Changes induced voltage
• Changes terminal voltage

• Effect called armature reaction

– Because armature (stator) is responsible
The equivalent Circuit of the Synchronous Generator
• At no load, rotor magnetic
field produces
– Voltage peak coincides with
direction of BR
– Voltage positive: out of
conductors at top
– Negative: into conductors at
bottom

• No armature current flow

The equivalent Circuit of the Synchronous Generator
• Generator connected to lagging load
– Peak current behind peak voltage
– Current produces magnetic field of its own
– Stator magnetic field called
• Direction given by right-hand rule
– produces a voltage of its own
• Called (armature reaction voltage)
– Two voltages in stator phase

– Consequence of interaction of two fields

– will coincide with

– Angle between and known as
• Internal angle
• Torque angle
• Proportional to power being supplied by generator
The equivalent Circuit of the Synchronous Generator
• Lags current by 90
• Assume as a constant of proportionality

• Phase voltage is thus

• Same equation holds true for circuit

shown
The equivalent Circuit of the Synchronous Generator
• Other voltage drops
– Voltage induced also due to self inductance
– Voltage drop caused by coil resistance

• Sum of self inductance and armature

reaction inductance: synchronous
reactance
The equivalent Circuit of the Synchronous Generator
• Final form

• Terminal voltages
– Wye connection

– Delta connection
The equivalent Circuit of the Synchronous Generator
• Terminal voltages
– Wye connection

– Delta connection
The Phasor Diagram Of A Synchronous Generator

• Phasor diagram at unity

power factor
– Large required for constant

• Phasor diagram with lagging

power factor
– Larger required for constant

• Phasor diagram with leading

power factor
– Smaller required for constant
Power and torque in synchronous generators
• Input power - output power = losses

• Power output
Power and torque in synchronous generators
• Ignoring (<< )
X S I A cos  E A sin 
E A sin 
I A cos  
XS

• Put in

• Power output
3V E A sin 
Pconv 
XS

• Torque induced
3V E A sin 
 ind 
m X S
Measuring synchronous generator model parameters
• Three quantities
– Relationship between field current
and
– Synchronous reactance
– Armature resistance

• Open-circuit test
– Gen. turned at rated speed
– No load connected
– increased gradually starting at 0
– Terminal voltage measured for
each value of
– Plot of against
• Open-circuit characteristics (OCC)
Measuring synchronous generator model parameters
• Short-circuit test
– Gen. turned at rated speed
– Terminals short-circuited
– increased gradually starting at 0
– measured for each value of
– Plot of against
• Short-circuit characteristics (SCC)
• Linear because magnetic fields cancel

– Know for every from OCC

Measuring synchronous generator model parameters
• Issue
– taken from OCC (partial saturation
for high )
– taken from SCC (unsaturated
machine)
– not the same for both cases
– is approximate
– Issue Often ignored
Short-circuit ratio of a synchronous generator
• Ratio of field current required to generate rated voltage at no load to
field current required for rated armature current at short-circuit

• Industry jargon

• SCR = reciprocal of per-unit synchronous reactance

The Synchronous Generator Operating Alone
• Behavior dictated by
– Load power factor
– Mode of operation (Standalone or parallel operation)

• Operating alone
– Assumptions
• Field current does not change ( is constant)
• Speed of rotation does not change
The effect of load changes on SG Operating Alone
• Lagging load

is constant
– As
–
– must stretch between and
– only change to compensate
would be and

• Not in the diagram

– Changing not ideal
– increased by increasing to keep
constant
• Result in increased as well
The effect of load changes on SG Operating Alone

• Unit pf load

• Leading pf load
Voltage Regulation
• Measure of ability to keep terminal voltage constant under varying
load
VNL  VFL
VR  100 %
VFL
– Positive for lagging and unity PF load
– Negative for leading load

• Desirable to keep terminal voltage constant

– Keep changing the field current
– Keep sensing the terminal voltage
– Control called automatic voltage regulation (AVR)
Parallel Operation of Synch. Generators
• Why
– Several generators can supply a bigger load than one machine by itself
– Increased reliability against failure of a single generator
– Preventive maintenance of any generator possible
– Generator not operating near full load
• Inefficient
– Have reduced lifetime
• Solution: Several small machines
– Allow full loading of some while turning off others
Conditions for Paralleling Sync. Generators
• rms line voltages of the two generators must be equal
• Generators must have same phase sequence
• Phase angles must be equal
• Frequency of oncoming generator must be slightly
higher than frequency of running system
The procedure for paralleling Sync. Generators
• Bring gen. 2 terminal
voltage equal to that of
gen. 1
• Compare phase
sequence
– Three-light bulb
method
• Adjust frequency of
gen. 2 at slightly higher
than gen. 1
• Switch on: when all
three light bulbs turn
off
The procedure for paralleling Sync. Generators
• Synchroscope: replacement of
three light-bulb method

• Generator paralleling done

automatically nowadays using
synchrocheck relays
Frequency-Power and Voltage-Reactive Power
Characteristics of a Synchronous Generator
• Generators driven by prime movers
• Prime movers tend to slow down as power drawn increases
• Governor mechanism included to make decrease in speed linear with
an increase in power demand (2-4%)

• Electrical frequency
Frequency-Power Characteristics of a Synchronous
Generator
• Relationship between frequency and power

• power output
• no-load frequency of generator
• operating frequency of system
• slope of curve, in kW/Hz or MW/Hz
Voltage-Reactive Power Characteristics of a
Synchronous Generator
• Lagging load reduces terminal voltages of synchronous generator
• Leading load increases terminal voltage of synchronous generator

– output reactive power

– slope of curve in kvar/V or Mvar/V
– no-load voltage
– terminal voltage
Frequency-Power and Voltage-Reactive Power
Characteristics of a Synchronous Generator
• Generator operating alone
– and supplied = amount demanded by load
– Governor set points control frequency
– Field current controls terminal voltage
Operation of Generators in Parallel with Large
Power Systems
• Synchronous
generator
connected to a
large power system
– Generator does not
affect power system
– Concept of an
infinite bus
• An infinite bus is a
power system so large
that its voltage and
frequency do not vary
regardless of how
much real and reactive
power is drawn from or
supplied to it
Generator and an infinite bus in parallel supplying a
load
• Generator paralleled to
line at slightly lower
frequency
– No-load frequency of
generator < system
operating frequency
– Generator consumes
electric power and runs
as a motor
• Reverse-power trip

– Oncoming machine's
frequency should be
adjusted > system
frequency
 Gen. and an infinite bus in parallel supplying a load
• After paralleling
– Frequency and terminal
voltage of generator =
those of infinite bus

• Immediately after
paralleling
– Generator floating on line,
supplying small amount of
real power

• How to increase power

output
– Increase no-load
Active Power change
• Governor set points
– constant
– constant

• constant
– constant

• If generator output
increased until > load power
– Power flows into infinite bus

• Infinite bus can supply or

consume power without
change in frequency
Reactive power

• Governor set points unchanged

– cannot change
• remains constant

• Increasing field current increases reactive power output

Summary
• Generator operating in parallel with infinite bus
– Frequency and terminal voltage controlled by infinite bus
– Governor set points control real power output
– Field current controls reactive power output
Operation of Generators in Parallel with Generators of
Similar Size
• Generator operating alone
– and supplied by generator fixed
• Constrained by load demand
– Frequency and terminal voltage varied by governor set points and field
current

• Generator operated in parallel with an infinite bus

– Frequency and terminal voltage constrained to be constant by infinite bus
– and varied by governor set points and field current

• Question
– What happens when a generator is connected in parallel with another
generator of same size?
– What will be the effect of changing governor set points and field currents?
Operation of Generators in Parallel with Other
Generators of the Same Size
• Basic constraint
– Sum of and of two
generators = and demanded
by load

• System frequency not

constrained
• Power of a given generator
not constrained as well
• Refer to diagram
Operation of Generators in Parallel with Other
Generators of the Same Size
• Before paralleling
– G1 operating alone and supplying
load P
– Frequency
– G2 brought online
• Governor set points of G2
increased
– At
• Power G1 + G2 > load demand
• Total power to load must not change
• System cannot continue at
– curve of G2 shifts upward
– System stabilizes at
– Sum of gen. powers = load power
– G1 supplies more, G2 supplies less
Operation of Generators in Parallel with Other
Generators of the Same Size
• Field current of G2
increased
– System terminal voltage
increased
– by G2 increased
– by G1 decreased
Operation of Generators in Parallel with Other
Generators of the Same Size

• (a) Shifting power

sharing without
affecting system
frequency

• (b) Shifting system

frequency without
affecting power sharing
Operation of Generators in Parallel with Other
Generators of the Same Size
• (c) Shifting reactive power
sharing without affecting
terminal voltage

• (d) Shifting terminal voltage

without affecting reactive
power sharing