MAPUA INSTITUTE OF

TECHNOLOGY
School of Electrical, Electronics and
Computer Engineering
EE106L – A6

Experiment No. 1
THE DC SERIES GENERATOR

Group No. 5
Leader: Maigue, Carvey Ehren R.

Member: 90
Maigue, Carvey Ehren R.

Date Performed: October 14, 2014

Date Submitted: October 14, 2014
 The DC Series Generator
Carvey Ehren R.Maigue
Department of Electrical Electronics and Computer Engineering,
Mapua Institute of Technology
Muralla St., Manila, Philippines
cemaigue@mymail.mapua.edu.ph

Abstract— This paper aims to determine the relationship between

the output current and output voltage of a dc generator with its
field connected in series to the armature, thus the term DC series
generator. A test has been done using a DC machine test bed.
The variable resistor in the circuit is used to adjust the field
current incrementally, for every increment the corresponding
voltage is then taken which is used to plot the data. Speed is
maintained constant throughout the acquisition of data.
II. METHODOLOGY
For this experiment which the equipment used are the
following: FH2 Mk IV Test Bed, FH50 DC Compound
Machine – Test Machine, FH50 DC Compound Machine –
Prime Mover, FH3 Mk IV Instrumentation Frame, V2 DC
Voltmeter, A2 DC Ammeter, R1 Resistive Load Commented [C1]: Ok.

To start the experiment, position the FH50 Mimic Diagram

Keywords— DC series generator, series field, output current,
over the Machine Access Sockets of the Test Bed. Mount the
output voltage, constant speed
Test Generator FH50 into the right-hand machine position and
I. INTRODUCTION the Prime Mover FH50 into the left-hand position and insert Commented [C2]: Not necessary.
the 16-way plugs of the two machines in their respective
Series DC generator is a generator configuration where the
sockets on the Test Bed.
field is connected in series to the armature. In such case the
current across the field is the same as the current across the
The ammeter, the resistor and the voltmeter are then
armature and the load as well. Such type of generator varies
connected. The current is increased by varying the resistance
accordingly to the type and magnitude of the load connected
of the resistor. The machine is subjected to incrementing
to it.
values of current, for each increment, the corresponding
voltage is taken and is then used to plot the voltage current
The output voltage greatly varies as the output current
curve of the generator.
changes; since the same current passes throughout the circuit
(load, armature and field), any change in the load resistance III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
will cause the field to change thus changing the voltage across
This experiment aimed to determine the relationship
the terminals drastically relative to a shunt generator.
between the output current and output voltage of a DC series
generator.
The output current and output voltage when plotted
behaves in a bell shaped curve. As the current slowly
Table 3.0 shows the data gathered from the experiment.
increases the voltage increases as well, but at a certain point, it
The dependency of output voltage to output current is
will become constant, further, it will begin to decrease. The
presented.
reason for such behaviour is the resistance across the armature
and the field. These cause a voltage drop. And since the
components are in series, increasing the output current will Output Output Output Output
also increase the voltage drop across the field coils and the Current in Voltage in V Current in Voltage in V
armature as dictated by Ohm’s Law. When the current is at mA mA
minimal value, the generated voltage tends to be more (0 – 450) (500 – 900)
dominant than the voltage drop. This causes the increasing
trend. A certain current will cause the machine to reach 0 3.3 500 6.0
saturation, the effect of the generated voltage and the voltage 50 3.3 550 6.2
drop are now both equally pronounced thus causing the 100 3.4 600 6.6
relatively constant part of the curve. At sufficiently high 150 3.7 650 6.2
current values, the curve will begin to decrease as the voltage 200 4.1 700 5.4
drop becomes more dominant than the generated voltage. 250 4.6 750 5.1
300 4.6 800 4.5
350 5.8 850 3.9
 400 5.9 900 2.8 primarily caused by the generated voltage dominating the
450 6.0 950 2.1 voltage drop across the field and the armature elements. At a
1000 0.6 certain level the curve reaches a plateau. This is the point
where the machine starts to saturate. At this point, the voltage
Table 3.0 Dependency of output voltage to output current drop is now more pronounced since the current is larger thus
causing the field and armature elements to exhibit a larger
Graphing the table will yield Fig 3.0; voltage drop.

IV. CONCLUSIONS
7
The output current and output voltage of a DC Series
6 generator exhibits a parabolic relationship and assumes a bell
5 shaped curve when graphed. Such behavior is primarily
4 caused by the opposing voltages namely, the generated
voltage and the voltage drop across the field and armature
3 elements. The voltage is increasing when the generated
2 voltage is higher than the voltage drop caused by a low
current across the circuit. When the current across the circuit
1
is high, the voltage drop becomes more dominant as a
0 consequence to Ohm’s Law. This causes the voltage to
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 decrease when the current is further increased. Commented [C3]: Good.

Fig 3.0 Dependency of output voltage to output current

As observed from the graph, we can assert that at lower

current levels the voltage exhibits as increasing trend. This is