Construction of a Synchronous Machine

The basic components of a synchronous machine

are the stator, which houses the armature conductors, and
a rotor, which provides the necessary field as outlined
below.

1- Stator

The stator, also known as the armature, of a

synchronous machine is made of thinlaminations of highly
permeable steel in order to reduce the core losses. The
stator laminations are held together by a stator frame. The
frame may be of cast iron or fabricated from mild steel
plates. The frame is designed not to carry the flux but to
provide mechanical support to the synchronous generator.
The inside of the stator has a plurality of slots that are
intended to accommodate thick armature conductors
(coils or windings). The armature conductors are
symmetrically arranged to form a balanced
polyphasewinding. To this end, the number of slots per
pole per phase must be an integer. The induced emf per
phase in large synchronous generators is in kilovolts (kV)
with a power handling capacity in mega-volt-amperes
(MVA).

The axial length of the stator core is comparatively

short for slow-speed, large-diameter generators. These
generators have many poles and are left open on both ends
for self-cooling. They are installed at locations where
hydroelectric power generation is possible.

The axial length of high-speed generators having 2 or

4 poles can be many times its diameter. These generators
require forced air circulation for cooling and are totally
enclosed. They are used when the rotors are driven by gas
or steam turbines.

2- Rotor

Two types of rotors are used in the design of

synchronous generators, the cylindrical rotor anda salient-
pole rotor. The rotor is rotated at the synchronous speed by a
prime mover such as a steam turbine. The rotor has as many
poles as the stator, and the rotor winding carries dc current
so as to produce constant flux per pole. The field winding
usually receives its power from a 115- or 230-V dc gen-
erator. The dc generator may be driven either by the same
prime mover driving the synchronous generator or by a
separate electric motor.

The salient-pole rotor is used in low- and medium-speed

generators because the windage loss is small at these speeds.
It consists of an even set of outward projecting laminated
poles. Each pole is dovetailed so that it fits into a wedge-
shaped recess or is bolted onto a magnetic wheel called the
spider. The field winding is placed around each pole, as
indicated in Figure.1. The poles must alternate in polarity.

Figure.1.A salient pole rotor.

 The cylindrical rotor is employed in a 2- or 4-pole, high-
speed turbo-generator. It is made of a smooth solid forged
steel cylinder with a number of slots on its outer periphery.
These slots are designed to accommodate the field coils, as
shown in Figure.2. The cylindrical construction offers the
following benefits:

1-It results in a quiet operation at high speed.

2-It provides better balance than the salient-pole rotor.
3-It reduces the windage loss.

3- Armature Windings

The stators (armatures) of most synchronous generators

are wound with three distinct and independent windings to
generate three-phase power. Each windingis said to represent
one phase of a three-phase generator.
 Figure.2.A 4-pole cylindrical rotor.

The exactly alike in shape and form but are displaced

from each other by exactly 120° electrical in order to
ensure that the induced emfs in these windings are
exactly 120° in time phase. The three-phase windings
may be connected to form either a star (Y) or adelta (0)
connection. If the windings are internally connected to
form a Y connection, the neutral point is also brought out
so that it can be properly grounded for safe operation.

The double-layer winding is often used to wind the

armature of a synchronous generator. As you may recall,
a double-layer winding requires as many identical coils as
there are slots in the stator. One side of each coil is placed
at the bottom half of a slot, and the other side of the same
coil fills the top half of another slot. In order to place the
coils in this fashion, the coils must be prewound on the
winding forms and then inserted into the slots.

The number of coils per phase (or the number of slots

per phase for a double-layer winding) must be an integer.
Since the coils must be distributed equally among the
poles, the number of coils (slots) per pole per phase must
also be an integer. In other words, if S is the number of
slots in the armature, P is the number of poles, and q is
the number of phases, then the number of coils per pole
per phase is

S
n=
Pq

where n must be an integer. The number of coils per

pole per phase, n, is usually referred to as a phase group
or phase belt. When the stator of a three-phase, 4-pole
synchronous generator has 24 slots, the number of coils in
each phase group is 2. There are 12 phase groups (poles x
 phases). All coils in a phase group (2 in this case) are
connected in series.

Each coil in a phase group can be wound as a full-

pitch coil. In other words, each coil in the armature can be
made to span 180° electrical. Since the induced emfs in
both sides of a full-pitch coil at any time are exactly in
phase, theoretical yearning mandates the placement of
full-pitch coils from the induced emf point of view.
However, a full-pitch coil is rarely used. Instead, the
generators are wound with fractional-pitch coils for the
following reasons:

1. A properly designed fractional-pitch coil reduces the

distorting harmonics and produces a truer sinusoidal
waveform.
2. A fractional-pitch coil shortens the end connections of the
windings and thereby not only saves copper but also
reduces the copper loss in the coil.
3. A shorter coil is easier to manage and reduces the end-
turn build-up on both sides of the stator's stack. This slims
 down the overall length of the generator and minimizes
the flux leakages.

4. The elimination of high-frequency harmonics also cuts

down the magnetic losses in the generator.

The drawback of a fractional-pitch coil is that the

induced emf in it is smaller than in a full-pitch coil. The
reason is that the total flux linking the fractional-pitch coil
is smaller than that of the full-pitch coil. The ratio of the
flux linking the fractional pitch coil to the flux that would
link a full-pitch coil is called the pitch factor. Later, we
will develop an equation to determine the pitch factor.

To illustrate the placement of the phase windings in the

slots of a synchronous generator,

we make the following assumptions:

(a) All coils are identical.

(b) Each coil is a fractional-pitch coil as long as a phase
group contains more than one coil. All the coils in a phase
group are connected in series.
(c) Each phase group spans 180° electrical (one full pitch).
Thus, the n coils in a phase group must be placed in such
a way that the beginning end of the first coil is under the
beginning of a pole and the finishing end of the nth coil is
under the trailing end of the pole.

The electrical angle from the center of one slot to the

center of an adjacent slot is known as the slot span or slot
pitch. The coil span or coil pitch, the number of slots
spanned by each coil, can be expressed in terms of either
electrical degrees or the number of slots,
Synchronous Generators

1- Exciter Systems for Large Generators

1.1 -Two Approaches

1.Slip ring and brushes Similar to those discussed for DC machines they produce
addition maintenance.

2. Brushless Exciter Special DC power source mounted on rotor shaft that does not
require and electrical connection. (Large machines only)

Exciter Systems for Large Generators

Figure. 3
1.2- Brushless exciter circuit: Is a small AC generator used to create the
field current. Small separate winding on stator is energized by separate
source, the exciter field is produced and induces current flow in the
exciter armature mounted on the rotor.

2- Parallel Operation of Synchronous Generators Requirements:

1. Must have the same voltage magnitude.

2. The phase angles of the two a phases must be the same.

3. The generators must have the same phase sequences.

4. The frequency of the oncoming generator must be slightly higher than

the frequency of the running generator.

Figure. 4
(a)The two possible phase sequences of a three phase system

(b)The three-light-bulb method for checking phase sequence.

Frequency-Power Characteristics of a Synchronous Generator

(a) The speed-power curve for a typical prime mover.

(b) The resulting frequency-power curve for the generator.

Parallel Operation of Synchronous Generators

1- Generators being paralleled with a running power

system:

2- Why are synchronous generators operated in parallel?

1.Many generators can supply a bigger load than one machine by

itself.1.

2.Having many generators increases the reliability of the power

system, since failure of any one of them does not cause a total power
loss to the load.

3.Having many generators operating in parallel allows one or more of

them to be removed for shutdown and preventive maintenance.

4.If only one generator is used and it is not operating at near full load,
then it will be relatively inefficient. But with many machines it is
possible to operate only a fraction of them. The ones that do operate
near full load and therefore more efficiently.
3- What are the conditions for paralleling?

1.The RMS line voltages of the two generators must be equal.

2.The two generators must have the same phase sequence.

3.The phase angles of the two a phases must be equal.

4.The frequency of the new generators, called the oncoming generator,

must be slightly higher than the frequency of the running system.

The three-light-bulb method for checking phase sequence.

Frequency-Power and Voltage-Reactive Power Characteristics

1.Prime movers: Steam turbine, diesel turbine, wind turbine, water

turbine, and gas turbine.

2.As increases, the speed at which the power drawn from prime
movers they turn decreases. The decrease is usually nonlinear. Some
form of governor mechanism is usually included to make the decrease
in speed linear with an increase in power demand.
3.Whatever governor mechanism is present on a prime mover, it will
always be adjusted to provide a slight drooping characteristics with
increasing load.

The speed droop (SD) of a prime mover is defined by the equation:

nnl - nf
l
SD = ×100 %
nf
l
nnl is the no−load prime mover speed
nfl is the full load prime mover speed .

The relation between frequency and power

P=S P ( f nl - f sys )
P= power output of the generator
f nl = no-load frequency of the generator
f sys= operating frequency of system
S P = slope of curve, in kW/Hz or MW/Hz .

4- The concept if 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 is
drawn from or supplied to it. The power frequency characteristic of
such a system is shown in the previous figures.

Benefits of automatically-synchronized (paralleled) systems:

5- Economy:

An existing distribution system may not lend itself to being split

into several sections and handled by separate non-paralleled units.
When the loads are expected to expand substantially, the initial
investment is minimized by installing one smaller generator set, and
then adding more sets in parallel as the loads increase.

6- Reliability:

When a part of the emergency load is deemed very critical, it may

be desirable to have more than one generator capable of being connected
to that load. When there is a normal source outage, all generators in the
system are started.
 The probability of having a generator start and achieve nominal
voltage and frequency is increased according to the number of sets
available. The first set ready to handle the essential load does so. As the
other generators are running and connected to the bus, the remaining loads
are connected in declining order of priority.

7- In the case of two generators are operating together

1.The system is constrained in that the total power supplied by the two
generators together must equal the amount consumed by the load.

2.To adjust the real power sharing between generators without

changing fsys, simultaneously increase the governor set points on one
generator while decreasing the governor set points on the other. The
machine whose governor set point was increased will assume more of
the load.

3.To adjust fsyswithout changing the real power sharing, simultaneously

increase or decrease both generator’s governor set points.

4.To adjust the reactive power sharing between generators without

changing VT, simultaneously increase the field current on one
generator while decreasing the field current on the other. The machine
whose field current was increased will assume more of the load.

5.To adjust VT without changing the reactive power sharing,

simultaneously increase or decrease both generator’s field currents.