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Understanding Alternating Current Generators

By George Stratton AC power! By wiggling
G.E. Jones Electric Co., Inc. the magnet up and
Amarillo, Texas down the coil the cur-
Technical Education Committee Member rent changes direction
in the coil and you can
see the voltage go plus
Editor’s Note: George Stratton is a dedicated vol-
and minus. Primitive as
unteer with a unique writing style. He incorpo-
it may be, it is a genera-
rates this style in the following article to make the
tor. So what do we need
subject more understandable, especially for those
to do to create an AC
with a limited background in this area. While
generator? All you need
some of the information is very basic, it is part of
is a coil of wire and a moving magnetic field.
his “big picture” approach to this subject. This is
Well, it’s a little more complicated than this,
the first in a three-part series about alternating
but basically that’s it. The only problem is we re-
current generators.
ally can’t do anything with this except to move a
*** meter needle. Just remember that this step is to
We take so much for granted. The alarm clock
demonstrate how it works. Now for the real thing.
buzzes and we make our way to the bathroom and
Our example in Figure 1 can be dubbed a two-
turn on the light. We reach over and turn the water
pole AC generator. The two poles are moving the
on and it’s there. We flip the switch on the electric
magnet one direction, then the other. If you were to
razor. We really do take it all for granted. The en-
insert a shaft through the center of the magnet and
ergy that flows through the wires to the switch
turn it instead of wiggle it you would have created
that you flip comes from a device called an alter-
a two-pole rotor.
nator. Yes, somewhere close to where you live is a
power plant where that energy that makes the
world go around is created.
Alternators come in all kinds of configura- S
(South Pole)
tions. Your car or truck even has one. That’s right.
An alternator is needed to charge the battery and
provide electric power for your vehicle. If you
have a recreational vehicle (my wife’s idea of
really roughing it) you probably use a generator
to power that air conditioner that would be tough N
(North Pole)
to live without these days. This device is handy
for watching TV, too. Wiggle Here
Simply stated, an alternator is a converter: It
converts mechanical energy into alternating elec-
trical current. It’s a generator: It generates
(creates) alternating electrical current out of me-
chanical energy. How’s it doing that? It’s magic!
Nah, not at all. I’ll show you.
By the way, starting here, I’m going to refer to
the alternator as a generator. It has one less letter in it + -
and, besides, that’s what most folks call it anyway.
Back To Basics
First, we need to know how a generator works. DC Voltmeter
For demonstration purposes you can create an al-
ternating current (AC) generator very simply. All Figure 1
you need is a simple coil of wire, a voltmeter, and By turning the rotor close to the coil of wire the
a permanent magnet. Look at Figure 1. (Please result is the same. We have created AC current. It’s
forgive my elementary art attempts.) If you build
a set-up something like this you can actually create
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Understanding AC Generators . . . Continued From Page 1

just a whole lot more practical to rotate the poles of things where “cycles” can pertain to lots of other
than it is to wiggle them. stuff including electrical. We won’t get into the other
Okay, so we have figured out that we need stuff. Where do hertz come from? Here go the fig-
three things to generate AC current: ures again.
1. A coil of wire. Let’s get a little more specific
here. But let’s not get into a whole multi-
chapter thesis on theory, metallurgy, and
electrical engineering. The coils of wire that we Pole Piece
N S
need to generate AC are wound into an assem-
bly somewhat like the electric motor stator. Magnetic Field
Armature
2. A rotating field. Let’s just call this the rotor.
As noted before, the rotor holds the poles that
turn inside the stator. Oscilloscope
Brush
3. A prime mover. It’s what turns the rotor. Lots Slip Ring
of things do this. Here in West Texas the
power plants use huge coal burning or gas Figure 2
fired boiler-powered steam turbines to turn the
shaft of huge two pole AC generators. Maybe Look at Figure 2. Here is another, more practi-
where you’re from they use massive slow cal, drawing of an AC generator. Please note that
turning turbines powered by nothing more we are rotating the AC windings and the field is
than falling water to turn a rotor with many stationary. This is not usually the case. However,
poles…like at the Hoover Dam. Or you may there are generators out there that are set up like
live in a smaller community that generates this. For demonstration purposes, this works better.
power with a few big gas or oil burning
engines at the municipal power plant. What
I’m getting at here is that the prime mover can
be anything that can turn the rotor shaft.
Generating AC Power N S
Now that we know the fundamental parts of the
AC generator, let’s see if I can stretch your mind.
To generate useable AC power, we require even
more stuff! Previously I was using a permanent
magnet as the poles for our rotor. There are practi-
Oscilloscope
cal uses out there for permanent magnet rotors. The
railroad uses generators set up this way to power Figure 3
vibrators because they can speed up and slow down
the engines to speed up and slow down the motor Figures 3 though 7 represent the different
of the vibrator. I haven’t covered this phenomenon stages that the AC generator goes through in order
yet. Let’s cover it now. to complete one full cycle of AC power.
Frequency
Why does an AC induction motor run the speed
that it runs? (Tick…tick…) I’m waiting for the an- 90
swer (tick…tick) Come on! (Tick…tick…DING!). N S Degrees
Okay…the answer is frequency. The motor follows
the AC generator’s frequency. In the U.S., we oper-
ate everything at 60 Hz (hertz), while our friends
“down under” and in many other parts of the world
operate at 50 Hz. Another term that you will run
Oscilloscope
into is “cycles.” “Hertz” and “cycles per second”
are exactly the same thing. Well, that is, sort of. Figure 4
Actually “hertz” pertains to the electrical aspect
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Understanding AC Generators . . . Continued From Page 2

Now look at Figure 8. Here we have a four-pole

version of our simple little AC generator. Please note
that one full revolution results in two full cycles.
180 Is this revolutionary? Not really, but it sounds
Degrees good. The advantages? There is only really one ad-
N S
vantage of a four-pole unit over a two-pole one. The
slower that something runs, the longer the life of the
parts tends to be. It just makes sense.
You can use this reasoning as the poles increase.
Oscilloscope
Also there is a disadvantage. To generate the same
Figure 5 power, the four-pole unit must be physically larger.
The same physics apply to the prime mover. Smaller
must be faster and slower must be larger to achieve
the same results. It’s just physics!
Frequency is a very important component of
270
the AC generator. Frequency is determined by the
Degrees prime mover. Here in America the generator must
N S
provide 60 Hz AC current and 50 Hz in many
other parts of the world. So much for hertz, at
least for a little while.
Voltage
Oscilloscope
The next component that the AC generator must
Figure 6 provide is voltage. What is voltage and where does it
come from? The dictionary says it is electromotive
force or potential difference that is usually expressed
in volts. Not much help here for us dummies. What’s
electromotive force…of, relating to, or producing
360
electric current? Hmm. Okay, it’s electric current or
N S
Degrees a flow of electric charge. Now we’re getting some-
where. Our little generator here generates a flow of
electric charge.
Looking at Figure 1 again we see that by wig-
One Revolution gling our magnet across the little coil of wire we
create that flow of electric charge or voltage. This
Oscilloscope
voltage can be increased or decreased by three
Figure 7 things. These things will become important later.
1. Increasing or decreasing the number of turns
of our AC coil.
S 2. Increasing or decreasing the speed of the field
(or, wiggling the magnet faster or slower).
N N 3. Increasing or decreasing the magnetic force of
the field.
S We now need to define some things. What is
One Revolution our desired product? It’s what we use every day: a
standard product that will suit our application. We
Oscilloscope need a constant voltage at a constant frequency
Figure 8 whether it’s here in the U.S. or anywhere.
Please note in Figure 7 that the two-pole nature In Part II next month, we will learn about
of our beast must turn one complete revolution in other components of an AC generator.
order to accomplish this amazing feat.