TECHNOLOGICAL INSTITUTE OF THE PHILIPPINES

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND ARCHITECTURE

EXPERIMENT NO. 3
Open Circuit Characteristics of an Alternator at Rated Speed

EE 004 – ME42S1

SUBMITTED BY:
REINIER M. FRANCO
1710192

SUBMITTED TO:
ENGR. JUN A. TERESA

MARCH 14, 2021

 EXPERIMENT NO. 3
Open Circuit Characteristics of an Alternator at Rated Speed

OBJECTIVES:
The objectives of this activity are to:
a. run the given alternator at rated speed and plot the open circuit characteristics

SET-UP:

OCC and Load Characteristics

Data Observed (OCC)

Sr. No. Field current IF (amps) Generated voltage EØ (volts)
1. 0 20.4
2. 0.05 63.5
3. 0.1 109.1
4. 0.15 155.2
5. 0.2 188.3
6. 0.25 227
7. 0.3 262.6
8. 0.35 286
9. 0.4 315
 10. 0.45 338
11. 0.5 360
12. 0.55 373
13. 0.6 390
14. 0.65 406
15. 0.7 410
16. 0.72 416

EØ (volts)
450

400

350

300

250

200

150

100

50

0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8

IF (amps)

DISCUSSION:

An alternator is an electrical generator that converts energy to power within the sort of electrical
energy. It generates an AC voltage whose frequency depends entirely upon the speed of rotation. The
generated voltage value depends upon the speed, the DC field excitation, and the power factor of the load.
Most alternators are of the revolving field type in which the revolving field structure or rotor has slip rings and
brushes to supply the excitation current from an outside Dc source. The armature coils are placed in slots in
a laminated core called stator.
When the rotor rotates, the stator conductors are cut by the magnetic flux, hence they induce emf in
them. The output voltage of an alternator builds basically upon the total flux in the air gap. At no load, this
flux is established and determined only by the DC field excitation. Under load, but the air gap is determined
by the ampere-turns of the rotor and the ampere-turns of the stator. The sequence may aid or oppose the
magnetomotive force of the rotor depending upon the power factor of the load. Leading power factors air the
rotor, lagging power factors oppose it. Because the stator magnetomotive force has such a main effect o the
magnetic flux, the voltage regulation of the alternators is fully poor, and the DC field current must be
continuously adjusted to keep the voltage constant under changeable load conditions.

CONCLUSION:

The open circuit characteristic of an alternator is demonstrated through the behavior of the graph.
Like in a DC generator, initially, at 0 current there is also a small amount voltage. As the field current of the
alternator is increased, its terminal voltage increases as in DC generators. As the load on the alternator is
varied, its terminal voltage is found to vary with load current and this variation is due to voltage drop to the
armature resistance, leakage resistance and a voltage drop and rise to armature reaction. Also, when the
speed of the alternator is decreased, the output current of the alternator is decreased, therefore speed and
output current of alternators both are directly proportional.