TECHNICAL

ARTICLE

Influence of the Winding Pitch on the

Alternator
Claudia Cristina Jansen
WEG Energia
Brazil
[email protected]

1. INTRODUCTION

This article aims to address the pitch effect on the

generator parallelism and present the advantages
and disadvantages of the stator winding pitch, as 2.1. Harmonics Effects
well as how it affects the performance and harmonic
content of the alternator. Harmonics generate undesirable effects on the
alternator that may lead to failures in the machine
2. VOLTAGE HARMONICS and in the loads that are being powered.
The most critical problem is the heating of the
The alternator generates a waveform voltage that is winding, the core, and the rotor that the harmonics
described in terms of the magnitude of the voltage, generate, because it may cause the machine to
its fundamental frequency, and the magnitude of the overheat.
voltage harmonics in its frequencies. Third order harmonics result in neutral current,
The harmonics are multiple of the fundamental which can flow between parallel machines or if the
frequency of the waveform generated by the neutral of a star connection is grounded, this current
alternator. As the alternators are magnetically may create permanent voltages on the ground and
symmetrical, only odd harmonics and the lower- cause problems in the telecommunications system.
order harmonics are harmful, because the higher In addition, it also hinders the design of electrical
the order, the lower the magnitude of the harmonic. panels, because instruments that are not True RMS
cannot perform the reading and the protection
Resulting
relays may not work correctly.
Fundamental
3rd Harmonics
However, the 5th and 7th order harmonics result in
5th Harmonics increased iron and copper losses due to the skin
7th Harmonics
effect, as they are at a higher frequency. If the load
is from a motor, high-frequency harmonics will
induce twice their own frequencies into the motor
rotor, thus generating overheating that will reduce
the life of the motor insulation.
When the load is capacitive the 5th and 7th order
harmonics reduce the capacitive reactance, which
allows an increase in the harmonic current flow,
resulting in distortion of the waveform.
Figure 1: Relation between waveform and harmonics
Non-linear loads generate high harmonic currents
that cause distortion in the alternator's waveform, if
Figure 1 shows the resulting waveform along with the
they are single-phase and connected in a balanced
3rd, 5th and 7th order harmonics and the fundamental
way in the three-phase alternator, the currents of the
one. It is noticed that there are falls in the resulting
3rd harmonic add up in the neutral resulting in a high
waveform when the 3rd order harmonic is negative,
neutral current.
and a peak when the 3rd order harmonic is positive,
Another factor is the voltage waveform, because the
this happens with other harmonics as well, but in
more harmonics there are in a generated wave, the
this example, the 3rd order harmonic has a higher
greater the distortion of the voltage wave. When the
magnitude.
distortion is too high, the voltage regulator will have
trouble detecting, making the readings inaccurate
and making it difficult to adjust the voltage.

Influence of the Winding Pitch on the Alternator – May/2020

 TECHNICAL
ARTICLE

3. WINDING PITCH 4. PITCH x HARMONICS

The winding pitch is the geometrical arrangement of The winding pitch is one of the design parameters
the coils in the stator grooves. There are full pitch that determines the harmonic content in the voltage
and fractional pitch machines. wave. Depending on the pitch used in the machine,
The full pitch is when the coil arrangement is exactly it may eliminate some harmonics, but unfortunately
at one pole pitch of the rotor (Figure 2), whereas the it does not eliminate all of them and, consequently,
fractional pitch is when the coil arrangement is it can still increase other harmonics.
smaller than one pole pitch of the rotor (Figure 3 and 2/3 pitch windings eliminate 3rd order harmonics,
Figure 4). however, they can increase 5th and 7th order
harmonics, according to Figure 5.

Resulting
Fundamental
3rd Harmonics
5th Harmonics
7th Harmonics

Figure 2: Full pitch winding

Figure 5: Harmonics with 2/3 pitch winding

5/6 pitch windings eliminate 5th and 7th order

harmonics, however, they can increase 3rd order
harmonics, according to Figure 6.

Resulting
Fundamental
3rd Harmonics
5th Harmonics
7th Harmonics

Figure 3: Fractional pitch winding (5/6)

Figure 6: Harmonics with 5/6 pitch winding

5. GENERATOR PARALLELISM

There are some precautions that must be taken

when connecting generators in parallel, such as an
excitation system capable of ensuring the sharing of
kVAr, motor capable of sharing kW, both generators
with the same percentage of voltage drop at load
start, harmonic content of the waveform, etc.
The most critical problem is the circulation current
Figure 4: Fractional pitch winding (2/3)
between the generators. This current is generated
when there is a difference in the voltage waveform

Influence of the Winding Pitch on the Alternator – May/2020

 TECHNICAL
ARTICLE

between the two machines, making the 3rd two generators when they have a difference in the
harmonics circular current between the machines amplitude of the 3rd harmonics.
that have a Y connection with the grounded neutral,
Voltage of two machines with different
as shown in Figure 7. projects

Resulting current circulating between the

generators

Figure 8: Circulating neutral current and voltages

resulting from the two machines

To avoid circulating neutral current, it is

recommended that both machines have the same
design using 2/3 pitch, so that the voltage
waveforms are equal, resulting in a zero current. If
Figure 7: Circulating neutral current it is not possible to have the same designs, we
advise to always predict the smallest difference
This difference between the waveforms of the between the 3rd harmonics voltages where the zero
voltages happens due to the harmonics generated. sequence reactances are not so low. Another
When two alternators connected in parallel have the solution is to use reactors or resistors to limit this
same harmonic content, there is no circulating current.
neutral current.
6. CONCLUSION
Since the current circulating through the neutral,
between one machine and the other is the current
Both winding pitches have benefits. The correct
of the 3rd harmonic, its amplitude will have the
selection for the application is the one that will bring
greatest influence.
more benefits to the customer.
Thus, we can write that the amount of neutral The designer will always try to optimize the
current circulating between the generators in generator waveform to have low THD and minimize
parallel depends on the difference between the the cost, regardless of the pitch used. A well-
amplitudes of the generated 3rd harmonics voltage designed generator may have a low THD with any
and the reactance of the generators, according to pitch.
the equation below:
Table 1 shows the applications where it is
𝑉′3 − 𝑉′′3 recommended to use 2/3 and 5/6 pitches.
𝐼𝑇3 =
(𝑋01 + 𝑋02 + 𝑋𝐿) Table 1
Pitch 2/3 Pitch 5/6
𝐼𝑇3 = 𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑟𝑑 ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑖𝑐𝑠;
Single-phase non-linear loads X
𝑉′3 = 𝐴𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑢𝑑𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑟𝑑 ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑖𝑐𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑠𝑡 𝑔𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑜𝑟;
𝑉′′3 = 𝐴𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑢𝑑𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑟𝑑 ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑖𝑐𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑑 𝑔𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑜𝑟; Less active material quantity
X
𝑋01 = 𝑆𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 – 𝑧𝑒𝑟𝑜 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑠𝑡 𝑔𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑜𝑟; on the machine
𝑋02 = 𝑆𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 – 𝑧𝑒𝑟𝑜 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑑 𝑔𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑜𝑟; ; Fault current, minor neutral
X
𝑋𝐿 = 𝐼𝑛𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑛𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑒. phase
Parallel generator operation X
It can be observed through the equation that the Three-phase low-voltage four-
X
greater the difference between the 3rd harmonics wire systems
Medium and high-voltage
voltages, and the smaller the zero sequence three-phase systems
X
reactance, the greater the circulating current Easy design of electrical
X
between the neutral of the generators. Figure 8 panels
shows the resulting current that circulates between

Influence of the Winding Pitch on the Alternator – May/2020