Unit V

Construction of Alternator
● The AC generator (alternator) or synchronous generator is a machine which converts the mechanical power or
energy into electrical power.
● All modern electrical power generating stations use this technology for generation of three-phase power.
● The construction of an alternator is very similar to the DC generator but the main difference between them in DC
generator the armature winding is the rotating part and field winding is the stationary part whereas in an alternator
the armature winding is stationary and field winding is the rotary part.
● Main parts of the alternator, obviously, consists of stator and rotor.
Stator:
● As the name suggests it is the stationary part of the machine and it is made up of special magnetic material which
can allow high magnetic permeability and low magnetic hysteresis such as fabricated steel.
● The stator core is laminated to minimize the effect of eddy current losses. The lamination is insulated from each
other by a thin coating of an oxide and has space between them to allow passage of cool air flow.
● The slots are provided in the inner periphery of the core and the armature conductors or coils are assembled in it.
● Generally, open slots are used permitting easy installation or removal of the stator coil.
The armature winding of an alternator is usually connected in star and its neutral is connected to the ground.

Rotor
● The rotating structure of the electrical machine is called as the rotor. In a synchronous generator, the rotor carries
a field winding which is supplied by the DC source.
● The DC source is also called an exciter which is generally a small d.c shunt or compounded generator mounted on
the shaft of the alternator.
There are two types of rotor construction used in Alternators

1. Salient Pole Type

2. Cylindrical Type (non-salient pole)
1. Salient (or projecting Pole) Type
● The salient pole type rotor is used for low and medium speed machines (less than 1200 rpm) and has the large
diameter and small axial length.
 Salient pole rotor

● The poles are made up of thick steel lamination to reduce eddy current loss.
● In salient pole rotor, the poles are always projected in the outward direction as shown in the figure.
● To reduce the effect of haunting damper winding is provided in the pole faces. They don’t let the motor to
oscillate abruptly; they damp the oscillations thus increasing the stability of the machine.
● Salient pole rotor found application for diesel engine and water turbine because they both required medium speed
(120-1000 rpm).
● The rating of salient pole rotor is less than 500 kW.

Disadvantage of Salient Pole Rotor

The salient pole rotor has following disadvantages

1. The construction of salient pole rotor cannot withstand high mechanical stress.
2. The speed of an alternator is inversely proportional to the numbers of pole required (Ns = 120f/p) so to operate a
salient pole type alternator, a large number of poles are required which increases the diameter of the generator
thus increasing space requirement for installation and initial cost due to extra material used.

Cylindrical Type | Non-Salient Pole Alternator

● This type of Rotor is used for steam driven alternator i.e turbo alternator which runs at very high speed.

Cylindrical type rotor

● The Rotor is made up of smooth solid forgings of alloy steel cylinder having the number of slots along the
outer periphery.
● In cylindrical rotor, the pole doesn’t project out from the smooth surface of the rotor hence they maintain
the uniform air gap between stator and rotor.
 ● Since steam turbine runs at very high speed, therefore, they required less number of poles hence the
diameter of the rotor is small and axial or rotor length is large.

● The field windings of cylindrical type rotor are connected in series to the slip rings through which they are
excited by the DC exciter.
● The unslotted portion of the cylinder acts as the poles of an alternator.

Advantages of Cylindrical Rotor type Alternator

● The main advantages of the cylindrical rotor are that their construction has mechanical robustness and gives
noiseless operation at very high speed (1500-3000 rpm).
● The flux distribution is nearly uniform sine wave hence better waveform is obtained.
● The hunting effect is very rare in the cylindrical rotor, therefore, there is no need to provide damper winding.

Batteries and Its Types:

➢ Battery is a device which converts chemical energy into electrical energy and is made up
of number of cells.
➢ A battery consists of two or more voltaic cells that are connected in series to provide a
steady DC voltage at the battery output terminals. The voltage is produced by a chemical
reaction inside the cell.
➢ Batteries are classified into two types:
1. Primary Batteries: As the name indicates, these batteries are meant for single usage.
Once these batteries are used they cannot be recharged as the devices are not easily
reversible and active materials may not return to their original forms. Other name for
these batteries is disposable batteries.
Examples: Normal AA, AAA batteries which are used in wall clocks, television remote etc.,
2. Secondary batteries: These are also known as rechargeable batteries. These batteries
can be used and charged simultaneously. A secondary battery or storage battery can
be recharged because its chemical reaction is reversible.
Rechargeable batteries are recharged by applying electric current, which reverses the chemical
reaction that occur during discharge or use.
Types of Primary Batteries:
1. Carbon –Zinc dry cell
2. Alkaline cell
3. Zinc chloride cell
4. Mercury cell
5. Lithium cell.
Types of secondary cells/Batteries:
1. Lead- acid cell (widely used in automobiles, inverters..,)
2. Ni- Cadmium cell
3. Lithium-ion cell
 4. Nickel-iron cell
5. Solar cell
Comparison between Primary and Secondary Cells:
Primary Cell Secondary cell
If discharged once cannot be charged again If discharged once can be charged again
Light in weight Heavy in weight
Short life Long life
Low cost High cost
Low efficiency High efficiency
Low power output High power output
Less maintenance More maintenance
Use with intermittent and low load current Used for continous rating with high load
rating current

Battery Capacity:
Battery capacity is a measure of the charge stored by it and is determined by the mass of
material contained in the battery.
The energy stored in a battery, called the battery capacity, is measured in ampere hour (Ahr)
and an ampere hour (abbreviated Ah, or sometimes amp hour) is the amount of energy charge
in a battery that will allow one ampere of current to flow for one hour.
A backup battery provides power to a system when the primary source of power is
unavailable

Fuse, Circuit breaker and Relay:

A fuse is a short piece of metal,inserted in the circuit,which melts when excessive current flows through it and thus
breaks the circuit .

(or)

A Fuse is an electrical device made up of glass, porcelain or plastic material containing a thin piece of wire. If any
faults occur in the system and an over current flow through the circuit, the fuse automatically melts and breaks the
contact of the circuit. Thus, protecting the appliances from any damage.

The fuse element is generally made of materials having low melting point, high conductivity and least deterioration
due to oxidation. It is inserted in series with the circuit to be protected. Under normal operating conditions the fuse
element ia at a temperature below its melting point. Therefore it carries the normal current without overheating.
However when a short circuit or overload occurs, the current through the fuse increases beyond its rated value.
This raises the temperature and fuse element melts (or blows out), disconnecting the circuit protected by it. In this
way,a fuse protects the machines and equipment from damage due to excessive currents.

The time required to blow out the fuse depends upon the magnitude of excessive current. The greater the current,
the smaller is the time taken by the fuse to blow out. In other words, a fuse has inverse time-current
characteristics as shown in figure.

Advantage of the fuse:

➢ It is the cheapest form of protection available

➢ It requires no maintenance
➢ Its operation is inherently completely automatic.
➢ It can break heavy short circuit currents without noise or smoke.
Desirable characteristics of Fuse:

● Low melting point

● High conductivity
● Free from deterioration due to oxidation
● Low cost

CIRCUIT BREAKER:

A Circuit breaker is a piece of equipment which can

➢ Make or break a circuit either manually or remote control under normal conditions
➢ Break a circuit automatically under fault conditions
➢ Make a circuit either manually or by remote control under fault conditions.

Hence a Circuit Breaker is an Automatic or manually operated protecting device which comes into
operation as soon as it receives a signal of any error in the circuit. It protects the circuit from any
damage by disconnecting or breaking the contact of the circuit. It restricts the flow of over current
or any short circuit in the circuit.

Relay:

A protective relay is a device that detects the fault and initiate the operation of the circuit breaker to
isolate the defective element from the rest of the system.

The relays detect the abnormal conditions in the electrical circuits by constantly measuring the electrical
quantities which are different under normal and fault conditions. The electrical quantitieswhich may
change under fault conditions are voltage, current etc., The changes in these quantities is sensed by the
relay and gives a signal to the circuit breaker to operate.

The Difference Between Fuse and Circuit Breaker is given below in the tabulated form

BASIS FUSE CIRCUIT BREAKER

Working Fuse works on the electrical and thermal Circuit breaker works on the Electromagnetism
 Principle properties of the conducting materials. and switching principle.

Reusability Fuses can be used only once. Circuit breakers can be used a number of
times.

Status indication It does not give any indication. It gives an indication of the status

Switching Action Fuse cannot be used as as an ON/OFF The Circuit breaker is used as an ON/OFF
switch. switches.

Temperature They are independent of ambient Circuit breaker Depends on ambient

temperature temperature

Characteristic The Characteristic curve shifts because of The characteristic curve does not shift.
Curve the ageing effect.

Protection The Fuse provides protection against only Circuit breaker provides protection against
power overloads power overloads and short circuits.

Function It provides both detection and interruption Circuit breaker performs only interruption.
process. Faults are detected by relay system.

Operating time Operating time of fuse is very less (0.002 Operating time is comparatively more than that
seconds) of the fuse. (0.02 – 0.05 seconds)

Mode of Completely automatically. Manually as well as automatically operated.

operation

The Difference Between Fuse and Circuit Breaker are as follows:-

● Fuse works on the principle of electrical and thermal properties of the conducting materials whereas the Circuit
breaker works on the Electromagnetism and switching principle.
● Fuses once used cannot be reused again, but the Circuit breaker can be reused. Hence, there is no need to change
the circuit breaker after any fault takes place and the coil is tripped.
● No auxiliary contact is required in case of fuse but in circuit breaker, auxiliary contact is required.
● Fuse cannot be used as an ON/OFF switch whereas Circuit Breaker can be used as an ON/OFF switch.
● Fuses are independent of ambient temperature, but Circuit Breaker depends on ambient temperature.
● The Characteristic curve of the Fuse shifts because of the ageing effect and, as a result, it causes nuisance and
tripping. The curve of the Circuit Breaker does not shift.
● The Fuse provides protection against only power overloads whereas Circuit Breaker provides protection for both
power overloads and short circuits.
● The Fuse provides both detection and interruption process. Circuit breaker performs only interruption; a relay
system is attached for detection of any fault in the circuit.
● Breaking capacity of the fuse is low as compared to that of a Circuit Breaker.
● Operating time of fuse is very less about 0.002 second, whereas Operating time of a Circuit Breaker is
comparatively more than that of the fuse. It is about 0.02 – 0.05 second.
● Mode of operation of Fuse is completely automatic, but Circuit Breakers can be operated manually as well as
automatically with the help of a relay system.
● The cost of the fuse is low, whereas Circuit Breakers are more costly.

● The Difference Between Relay and Circuit Breaker are given below in the tabulated form.

BASIS RELAY CIRCUIT BREAKER

Principle The Relay is a switching device Circuit breaker breaks the

which gives a signal to the circuit circuit automatically when
breaker as soon as the fault receives the signal from the
occurs in the power system. relay.

Working The Relay does not break the It breaks the circuit contacts.
contact. It only senses the error
and send the signal to the circuit
breaker.

Type of The Relay is a switching and The Circuit breaker is an

device sensing device. isolating or disconnecting
device.

Voltage Relays operate on low power The Circuit breaker is an

input voltage. automatic on load device.

Usability It is used to control or select one It uses one per circuit.

among many circuits.

As an Relay acts an electrical amplifier Circuit breaker does not act

amplifier for discrete signal. as an amplifier.