Synchronous Machines

 Synchronous generators or alternators are used to convert

mechanical power derived from steam, gas, or hydraulic-turbine to
ac electric power
 Synchronous generators are the primary source of electrical energy
we consume today
 Large ac power networks rely almost exclusively on synchronous
generators
 Synchronous Machines

•In a synchronous generator, a DC current is applied to the rotor

winding producing a rotor magnetic field.

•The rotor is then turned by external means producing a rotating

magnetic field, which induces a 3-phase voltage within the stator
winding.

•Field windings are the windings producing the main magnetic

field (rotor windings for synchronous machines); armature
windings are the windings where the main voltage is induced
(stator windings for synchronous machines
 Basic parts of a synchronous generator: 

Rotor - dc excited winding 

Stator - 3-phase winding in which the ac emf is generated 

The manner in which the active parts of a synchronous 

machine are cooled determines its overall physical size and
structure
 Salient-pole synchronous machine

 Cylindrical or round-rotor synchronous machine

 5.1 INTRODUCTION TO POLYPHASE SYNCHRONOUS MACHINES
Two types:
1-Cylindirical rotor: High speed, fuel or gas fired power plants

p n p
fe   n
2 60 120
To produce 50 Hz electricity
p=2, n=3000 rpm
p=4, n=1500 rpm

2-Salient-pole rotor: Low speed, hydroelectric power plants

To produce 50 Hz electricity
p=12, n=500 rpm
p=24, n=250 rpm
 Salient-Pole Synchronous Generator
1. Most hydraulic turbines have to turn at low speeds
(between 50 and 300 r/min)
2. A large number of poles are required on the rotor
d-axis

N Non-uniform
air-gap
D  10 m

q-axis S S

Turbine
N
Hydro (water)

Hydrogenerator
Stator
 Cylindrical-Rotor Synchronous Generator

Turbine D1m

L  10 m
Steam d-axis
Stator winding

 High speed N
Uniform air-gap
 3600 r/min  2-pole
Stator
 1800 r/min  4-pole
q-axis Rotor winding
 Direct-conductor cooling (using
hydrogen or water as coolant) Rotor

 Rating up to 2000 MVA

S

Turbogenerator
 Stator

Cylindrical rotor
Slip rings

Brush
 The rotor of the generator is driven by a prime-mover

A dc current is flowing in the rotor winding which

produces a rotating magnetic field within the machine

The rotating magnetic field induces a three-phase

voltage in the stator winding of the generator
Electrical frequency produced is locked or synchronized to
the mechanical speed of rotation of a synchronous
generator:

P nm
fe 
120

where fe = electrical frequency in Hz

P = number of poles
nm= mechanical speed of the rotor, in r/min
By the definition, synchronous generators produce electricity whose frequency is
synchronized with the mechanical rotational speed.

(7.11.1)
•Steam turbines are most efficient when rotating at high speed; therefore, to
generate 60 Hz, they are usually rotating at 3600 rpm and turn 2-pole generators.

•Water turbines are most efficient when rotating at low speeds (200-300 rpm);
therefore, they usually turn generators with many poles.
The magnitude of internal generated voltage induced in a given stator is

EA  2 NC f  K
where K is a constant representing the construction of the machine,  is flux in it and 
is its rotation speed.

Since flux in the

machine depends on
the field current
through it, the
internal generated
voltage is a function
of the rotor field
current.
Magnetization curve (open-circuit characteristic) of a
synchronous machine
The internal voltage Ef produced in a machine is not usually the o
voltage that appears at the terminals of the generator.
The only time Ef is same as the output voltage of a phase is o
when there is no armature current flowing in the machine.
There are a number of factors that cause the difference between o
Ef and Vt:
The distortion of the air-gap magnetic field by the current flowing •
in the stator, called the armature reaction

The self-inductance of the armature coils. •

The resistance of the armature coils. •

The effect of salient-pole rotor shapes. •

 motor
Ia
jX jXl Ra
+
+
Ia
+ generator

Ef Eres Vt

Equivalent circuit of a cylindrical-rotor synchronous machine

 5.2.4 EQUIVALENT CIRCUTS

Motor: Generator:

Vˆa  Ra Iˆa  j X s Iˆa  Eˆ af Vˆa  Eˆ af  Ra Iˆa  j X s Iˆa

Synchronous Reactance
Often, armature reactance and self-inductance are combined into the synchronous
reactance of the machine:

XS  X  X A (7.18.1)

Therefore, the phase voltage is

V  EA  jX S I A  RI A (7.18.2)

The equivalent circuit of a 3-phase

synchronous generator is shown.

The adjustable resistor Radj controls the field

current and, therefore, the rotor magnetic field.
The voltages and currents of the three phases are 120o apart in angle,
but otherwise the three phases are identical.
+

VL-L
Vt
Ef1
+ jXs Ra
Ia1

VL-L =3Vt
Since the voltages in a synchronous generator are AC voltages, they are usually expressed
as phasors. A vector plot of voltages and currents within one phase is called a phasor
diagram.
A phasor diagram of a synchronous generator with
a unity power factor (resistive load)

Lagging power factor (inductive load): a larger than

for leading PF internal generated voltage EA is
needed to form the same phase voltage.

Leading power factor (capacitive load).

For a given field current and magnitude of load

current, the terminal voltage is lower for lagging
loads and higher for leading loads.
A synchronous generator needs to be connected to a prime mover whose speed is
reasonably constant (to ensure constant frequency of the generated voltage) for various
loads.
The applied mechanical power
Pin   appm (7.22.1)

is partially converted to electricity

Pconv   ind m  3EA I A cos  (7.22.2)

Where  is the angle between EA

and IA.

The power-flow diagram of a

synchronous generator.
The real output power of the synchronous generator is

Pout  3VT I L cos   3V I A cos  (7.23.1)

The reactive output power of the synchronous generator is

Qout  3VT I L sin   3V I A sin  (7.23.2)

Recall that the power factor angle  is the angle between V and IA and not the angle
between VT and IL.
In real synchronous machines of any size, the
armature resistance RA << XS and, therefore, the
armature resistance can be ignored. Thus, a
simplified phasor diagram indicates that
EA sin 
I A cos   (7.23.3)
XS
Then the real output power of the synchronous generator can be approximated as

3V EA sin 
Pout  (7.24.1)
XS
We observe that electrical losses are assumed to be zero since the resistance is neglected.
Therefore:
Pconv  Pout (7.24.2)

Here  is the torque angle of the machine – the angle between V and EA.

The maximum power can be supplied by the generator when  = 900:

3V E A
Pmax  (7.24.3)
XS
The maximum power specified by (7.24.3) is called the static stability limit of the
generator. Normally, real generators do not approach this limit: full-load torque
angles are usually between 150 and 200.
The induced torque is

 ind  kBR  BS  kBR  Bnet  kBR Bnet sin  (7.25.1)

Notice that the torque angle  is also the angle between the rotor magnetic field BR and
the net magnetic field Bnet.

Alternatively, the induced torque is

3V E A sin 
 ind  (7.25.2)
m X S
The three quantities must be determined in order to describe the generator model:
1. The relationship between field current and flux (and therefore between the field
current IF and the internal generated voltage EA);
2. The synchronous reactance;
3. The armature resistance.

We conduct first the open-circuit test on the synchronous generator: the generator is
rotated at the rated speed, all the terminals are disconnected from loads, the field current is
set to zero first. Next, the field current is increased in steps and the phase voltage (whish is
equal to the internal generated voltage EA since the armature current is zero) is measured.

Therefore, it is possible to plot the dependence of the internal generated voltage on the
field current – the open-circuit characteristic (OCC) of the generator.
Since the unsaturated core of the machine has a
reluctance thousands times lower than the reluctance
of the air-gap, the resulting flux increases linearly
first. When the saturation is reached, the core
reluctance greatly increases causing the flux to
increase much slower with the increase of the mmf.

We conduct next the short-circuit test on the synchronous generator: the generator is
rotated at the rated speed, all the terminals are short-circuited through ammeters, the field
current is set to zero first. Next, the field current is increased in steps and the armature
current IA is measured as the field current is increased.

The plot of armature current (or line current) vs. the field current is the short-circuit
characteristic (SCC) of the generator.
The SCC is a straight line since, for the short-
circuited terminals, the magnitude of the
armature current is
EA
IA  (7.28.1)
RA2  X S2
The equivalent generator’s circuit during SC

The resulting
phasor diagram

The magnetic fields

during short-circuit
Since BS almost cancels BR, the net test
field Bnet is very small.
An approximate method to determine the synchronous reactance XS at a given
field current:
1. Get the internal generated voltage EA from the OCC at that field current.
2. Get the short-circuit current IA,SC at that field current from the SCC.
3. Find XS from
EA
XS  (7.29.1)
I A, SC

Since the internal machine impedance is

EA
ZS  R  X 2
A
2
S  XS since X S RA  (7.29.2)
I A,SC
 A 200 kVA, 480-V, 60-Hz, 4-pole, Y-Connected synchronous
generator with a rated field current of 5 A was tested and the
following data was taken.
a) from OC test – terminal voltage = 540 V at rated field
current
b) from SC test – line current = 300A at rated field current
c) from Dc test – DC voltage of 10 V applied to two terminals,
a current of 25 A was measured.
1. Calculate the speed of rotation in r/min
2. Calculate the generated emf and saturated equivalent circuit
parameters (armature resistance and synchronous reactance)
1.
j1.02 0.2
fe = electrical frequency = Pnm/120
+
fe = 60Hz Ia
+
P = number of poles = 4 Ef Vt
nm = mechanical speed of rotation in r/min.
So, speed of rotation nm = 120 fe / P
= (120 x 60)/4 = 1800 r/min

2. In open-circuit test, Ia = 0 and Ef =Vt

Ef = 540/1.732
= 311.8 V (as the machine is Y-connected)
In short-circuit test, terminals are shorted, Vt = 0
Ef = IaZs or Zs = Ef /Ia =311.8/300=1.04 ohm
From the DC test, Ra=VDC/(2IDC)
= 10/(2X25) = 0.2 ohm

Synchronous reactance Z s, sat  Ra2  X s2,sat

X s, sat  Z s2, sat  Ra2  1.04 2  0.2 2  1.02
Example 7.2: A 480 V, 60 Hz, Y-connected six-pole synchronous generator has a per-phase
synchronous reactance of 1.0 . Its full-load armature current is 60 A at 0.8 PF lagging. Its
friction and windage losses are 1.5 kW and core losses are 1.0 kW at 60 Hz at full load.
Assume that the armature resistance (and, therefore, the I2R losses) can be ignored. The field
current has been adjusted such that the no-load terminal voltage is 480 V.

a. What is the speed of rotation of this generator?

b. What is the terminal voltage of the generator if
1. It is loaded with the rated current at 0.8 PF lagging;
2. It is loaded with the rated current at 1.0 PF;
3. It is loaded with the rated current at 0.8 PF leading.
c. What is the efficiency of this generator (ignoring the unknown electrical losses)
when it is operating at the rated current and 0.8 PF lagging?
d. How much shaft torque must be applied by the prime mover at the full load?
how large is the induced countertorque?
e. What is the voltage regulation of this generator at 0.8 PF lagging? at 1.0 PF? at
0.8 PF leading?
Since the generator is Y-connected, its phase voltage is

V  VT 3  277 V
At no load, the armature current IA = 0 and the internal generated voltage is EA = 277 V and
it is constant since the field current was initially adjusted that way.
a. The speed of rotation of a synchronous generator is
120 120
nm  fe  60  1200 rpm
P 6
1200
which is m  2  125.7 rad s
60
b.1. For the generator at the rated current and the 0.8 PF
lagging, the phasor diagram is shown. The phase voltage is
at 00, the magnitude of EA is 277 V,
and that jX S I A  j 1 60  36.87  6053.13

Two unknown quantities are the magnitude of V and the angle  of EA. From the phasor
diagram:

E  V  X S I A sin     X S I A cos  

2 2 2
A

Then:
V  E   X S I A cos    X S I A sin   236.8 V
2 2
A

Since the generator is Y-connected,

VT  3V  410 V
b.2. For the generator at the rated current and the 1.0
PF, the phasor diagram is shown.
Then:

V  EA2   X S I A cos    X S I A sin   270.4 V

2

and VT  3V  468.4 V

b.3. For the generator at the rated current and the 0.8 PF
leading, the phasor diagram is shown.
Then:

V  EA2   X S I A cos    X S I A sin   308.8 V

2

and VT  3V  535 V

c. The output power of the generator at 60 A and 0.8 PF lagging is

Pout  3V I A cos   3  236.8  60  0.8  34.1 kW

The mechanical input power is given by

Pin  Pout  Pelec loss  Pcore loss  Pmech loss  34.1  0  1.0  1.5  36.6 kW
The efficiency is
Pout 34.1
 100 %  100%  93.2%
Pin 36.6
d. The input torque of the generator is

Pin 36.6
 app    291.2 N - m
m 125.7
The induced countertorque of the generator is

Pconv 34.1
 app    271.3 N - m
m 125.7
e. The voltage regulation of the generator is

480  410
Lagging PF: VR  100%  17.1%
410
480  468
Unity PF: VR  100%  2.6%
468
480  535
Lagging PF: VR  100%  10.3%
535