JOMO KENYATTA UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE AND

TECHNOLOGY
SCHOOL OF ELECTRICAL, ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION
ENGINEERING
DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONICS ENGINEERING

BSc ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONICS ENGINEERING

ELECTRICAL MACHINES I
EEE 2214
TITLE: A REPORT ON DC GENERATOR

NAME REGISTRATION NO. SIGNATURE

Dennis Rubui M ENE211-0208/2020
Malcom Mwarey ENE211-0145/2019
Daniel Murerwa ENE211-0022/2019
Steve Onyango ENE211-0272/2019
John Kamanda ENE211-0134/2017

Table of Contents
1. AIM & OBJECTIVES...................................................................................................................................................3
2. INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................................................................................3
3. THEORY.................................................................................................................................................................... 3
1. No-Load Characteristics of DC Machines.........................................................................................................4
2. Load characteristics of DC Machines...............................................................................................................5
a) Separately Excited Generator..............................................................................................................................7
1. Load characteristics.........................................................................................................................................7
b) Shunt Generator..................................................................................................................................................8
1. No-Load Characteristics...................................................................................................................................8
2. Load Characteristics.........................................................................................................................................9
4. EXPERIMENT..........................................................................................................................................................10
a) ACTUAL SET-UP..................................................................................................................................................10
b) PRACTICAL SET-UP.............................................................................................................................................10
5. APPARATUS USED..................................................................................................................................................11
6. PROCEDURE...........................................................................................................................................................11
a) SEPARATELY EXCITED GENERATOR....................................................................................................................11
b) SHUNT GENERATOR...........................................................................................................................................12
7. RESULTS.................................................................................................................................................................12
a) Separately excited DC generator.......................................................................................................................12
b) Shunt DC generator at no load..........................................................................................................................13
c) Shunt DC generator on load..............................................................................................................................13
8. GRAPHS................................................................................................................................................................. 14
a) Load graph A......................................................................................................................................................14
b) No load graph B.................................................................................................................................................15
c) Separately excited DC Generator Graph C.........................................................................................................15
9. DISCUSSION...........................................................................................................................................................16
10. CONCLUSION.....................................................................................................................................................17
11. REFERENCES.......................................................................................................................................................17

1. AIM & OBJECTIVES

1. To study the no load saturation characteristics of a separately excited generator.
2. To study the full load saturation characteristics of a separately excited generator.
3. To investigate the no load characteristics of a shunt generator.
4. To carry out load test on a shunt generator.

2. INTRODUCTION
A DC generator is an electrical machine which convert mechanical energy into electricity by
the principle of electromagnetic induction. The principle is clearly stated in Faraday’s Laws
which says that when conductor slashes magnetic flux, an E.M.F will be generated. This
electromotive force can cause a flow of current when the conductor circuit is closed. The
cutting of the magnetic field is brought about by the motion of conductor in the magnetic
field, the prime mover can be wind, water, and energy producing motion body example
motor.
Whenever there’s motion and magnetic field the E.M.F will be induced as stated above. The
direction of the induced current can be predicted by uses of Fleming’s Right Hand Rule
which states that, if the thumb first finger and second fingers of right hand are held
mutually perpendicular to each other with thumb pointing direction of motion and second
finger pointing the direction of magnetic field; the first finger point to the direction of
induced E.M.F. The current produced during the induction has both negative and positive
direction (alternating current), thus something has to be done to make it a direct Current.
To understand how the alternating current is changed to DC in generator, consider an
armature rotating clockwise and a conductor at the left moving upwards. When the
armature completes a half rotation, the direction of the motion of the conductor will be
reversed downward. Hence, the direction of the current in every armature will be
alternating. The split ring commutator when added, the connections of the armature
conductors get reversed when a current reversal occurs. Therefore, we get unidirectional
current at the terminals.

3. THEORY
DC generator have two main parts that’s a stator, rotor and airgap. The stator is the fixed
part of the generator which consists of yoke, pole and pole windings and sometimes it
might have inter-poles. The yoke protect inner parts of the machine as it’s made of cast
steel, the poles are made of magnetic steel which is easy to magnetize and demagnetize
and finally pole windings are made on poles to produce alternating North Pole and South
Pole of magnet.
The rotor is made up shaft, slots and armature. The shaft which rotates within the magnetic
so to cut the magnetic field, slots are made for accommodating the armature shaft and
conductors. The armature is the winding of an electric machine which carries the
alternating field (induced current). The generator armature windings can be made wave or
lap. For lap, adjacent coils are connected in series while in wave winding conductors that
are two poles pitch apart are connected in series.
The performance characteristics of a dc generator are greatly influenced by the way in
which the field winding is excited with direct current. There are two basic ways of exciting
a dc machine.
Generators are first classified on the basis of how the fields are being excited into:
 Self-excited generator
 Separately generator
The self-excited generators are classified into:
 Shunt generators
 Series generators
 Compound generators

1. No-Load Characteristics of DC Machines

It gives the variation of armature generated E.M.F, Eb , field current I f ,constant speed N,
known as open-circuit characteristics (O.C.C.)
In the given equation;
∅ ZN P
Eb = × Equation 1
60 A
ZNP
K= Equation 2
60 A
Eb =K ∅ Equation 3
Where:
 K = Constant of Proportionality
 ∅ = Magnetic Flux
 Z=¿ Number of Conductors
 N=¿ Speed of Machine
 P=¿ Number of Poles
The generated E.M.F should be directly proportional to the field flux (and hence, also
directly proportional to the field current). However, even when the field current is zero,
some amount of E.M.F is generated (This is shown between point OA in the figure 2).
This initially induced E.M.F is due to the fact that there exists some residual magnetism in
the field poles.
Due to the residual magnetism, a small initial E.M.F is induced in the armature. This initially
induced E.M.F aids the existing residual flux and hence, increasing the overall field flux. This
consequently increases induced E.M.F. Thus, O.C.C follows a straight line.
However, as the flux density increases, the poles get saturated and the Φ becomes
practically constant. Thus, even we increase the If further, Φ remains constant and hence, Eb
also remains constant. Hence, the O.C.C curve looks like B-H characteristic.
In the figure below we can see the variation of generated E.M.F on no load with field
current for different fixed speeds of the armature. For higher value of constant speed, the
steepness of the curve is more. When the field current is zero, for the effect residual
magnetism in the poles, there will be a small initial E.M.F (point OA) as shown below.

Figure 3- 1 General DC Generator on No-Load Characteristics

When field current is increased from its initial small value, the flux and hence the generated
E.M.F increases directly as current so long as the poles are unsaturated. As the flux density
increases, the poles become saturated, so a greater increase in field current, I f , is required
to produce a given increase in voltage than on the lower part of the curve. That is why the
upper portion of the curve bends over as shown.
On calculation,
Eb =f ( I f ) Equation 4
Eb =K ∅ N Equation 5
V T =Eb −I a Ra Equation 6
However, I a R a=0
Thus, V T =Eb Equation 7

2. Load characteristics of DC Machines

The relation between the E.M.F actually induced, E and the armature current Ia gives the
Internal characteristics.
The generator should be brought up to its rated speed and then the field should be
increased until the voltmeter reads rated voltage.
Now the graph between V and load current should be plotted as shown below.
This is known as load or external characteristic curve.
Whereby:
  Point AB represents the DC Generator under No-Load conditions.
 Point AC represents the internal characteristics of the DC Generator.
 Point AD represents the external characteristics of DC Generator.
 Point OA represents the initial E.M.F.

Figure 3- 2 General DC Generator on Load Characteristics

The external Characteristics of separately excited DC generators is obtained by subtracting

the drops due to Ohmic loss ( I a R a) in the Armature from generated Voltage ( Eb ).
Terminal Voltage,V T =Eb −I a Ra .
This curve gives the relation between terminal Voltage and Load Current.
V T =K ∅ N −I a Ra Equation 8
Where I a R a is the voltage drop due to armature reaction.
When field current is increased from its initial small value, the flux and hence the generated
E.M.F increases directly as current so long as the poles are unsaturated. As the flux density
increases, the poles become saturated, so a greater increase in field current, I f , is required
to produce a given increase in voltage than on the lower part of the curve. That is why the
upper portion of the curve bends over as shown in figure 3.
On calculation,
Eb =f ( I f ) Equation 9
Eb =K ∅ N Equation 10
V T =Eb −I a Ra Equation 11
However, IaRa = 0
Therefore, V T =Eb Equation 12
 a) Separately Excited Generator
Here the field winding is supplied by an independent external DC source (an example of a
battery). The magnitude of generated voltage depends upon the speed of rotation of
armature and the field current, that is, greater the speed and the field current, higher is the
generated voltage.

Figure 3- 3 Separately Excited DC Generator Circuit Diagram

1. Load characteristics
The relation between the E.M.F induced, Eb and the armature current Ia gives the Internal
characteristics.
The generator should be brought up to its rated speed and then the field should be
increased until the voltmeter reads rated voltage.
Now the graph between V and load current should be plotted as shown below.
This is known as load or external characteristic curve.
Whereby:
 Point AB represents the DC Generator under No-Load conditions.
 Point AC represents the internal characteristics of the DC Generator.
 Point AD represents the external characteristics of DC Generator.

Figure 3- 4 Separately Excited DC Generator on Load Characteristics

 b) Shunt Generator
Here the field winding is provided with a large number (hundreds or even thousands) of
turns of thin wire and is excited from a voltage source. The field winding, therefore, has a
high resistance and carries a small current. It is usually excited in parallel with armature
circuit and hence the name shunt field winding. Since the armature voltage of a dc machine
remains substantially constant, the shunt field could be regulated by placing an external
series resistance in its circuit.

Figure 3-5 DC Shunt Generator Circuit Diagram

1. No-Load Characteristics
No-load or open circuit characteristics of a shunt generator are obtained by plotting
ammeter reading field current,Ish, against the generated voltage voltmeter reading Eb .
Field Current, If = Ish Equation 13
Under the no-load condition, the generator is said to be open-circuited and rotating at a
constant speed.
From the E.M.F equation of DC generator, generated voltage Eb is directly proportional to
flux, Φ. As Φ is directly proportional to field current,If, an increase in Ish also increases Eb.
Also if there is no field current Ish at starting, we can notice some voltage Eb in the armature.
This is mainly due to magnetism present in the field poles, known as residual magnetism.
That is why the graph starts from point,A but not from original point,0.
Now as the field current Ish, flux Φ, increases with an increase in voltage Eb. However, after
reaching certain current Ish the field gets saturated and therefore Φ and Eb remain constant
as shown in the above figure.
 Figure 3- 6 No-Load Shunt Generator Open Circuit Characteristics

2. Load Characteristics
When a shunt generator is loaded, voltage builds up, then its terminal voltage drops due to
armature resistance and armature reaction.
The terminal voltage V and load current IL can be measured, the relation between these V
and IL can be drawn like (a-b), known as the external characteristic curve.
Ohmic drop due to armature resistance gives lesser terminal voltage the generated voltage.
That is why the curve lies below the internal characteristic curve.
The terminal voltage can always be maintained constant by adjusting the of the load
terminal.
Whereby:
 Point AB represents the DC Generator under No-Load conditions.
 Point AC represents the internal characteristics of the DC Generator.
 Point AD represents the external characteristics of DC Generator.
 Point OA represents the initial E.M.F.

Figure 3-7 DC Generator on Load Characteristics

4. EXPERIMENT
a) ACTUAL SET-UP

Figure 4- 8 Actual Lab Set-Up

b) PRACTICAL SET-UP

Figure 4-9 Practical Lab Set-Up

5. APPARATUS USED
S/N QUANTITY NAME RATING
33564 - MG-200Ω 2KW
(MOTOR) 1500rpm
200V
32334 - MG-300Ω 2KW
(GENERATOR) 1500rpm
20A
103B - RHEOSTAT 2KW
33564 5.7Kg STARTER 2.2KW
100KW
2.6Ω
Y-125 - SLIDE RHEOSTATS 2A
120Ω
Table 1 Apparatus Used

6. PROCEDURE
a) SEPARATELY EXCITED GENERATOR
1. Connect the circuit as shown in the figure above.
2. Start the motor and drive the generator at the rated speed of 1500 rpm.
3. Close switch S3 to position 1 so that the generator is separately excited.
4. Keeping the speed constant at 1500 rpm, vary the field current in steps of 0.2A from
minimum to maximum and then reduce it in the same steps to minimum .Record all
the instrument readings in each step.
5. Switch off the motor and insert a 5 ohm rheostat between starter terminals A and
the ammeter. With the rheostat set to minimum resistance start the motor and set
the speed to 1300 rpm. Using the rheostat and field regulator repeat step 4.
6. Close switch S4 to connect the generator to the load. Adjust the load to full load at
the rated speed of 1500 rpm.
7. Record all the instruments readings.
8. Vary the field current at suitable intervals and at each interval record all the
instrument readings.
 b) SHUNT GENERATOR
1. Close switch S3 to position 2 so that the generator is shunt connected.
2. Keeping the speed constant at 1500 rpm. Vary the field current in steps of 0.2A from
minimum to maximum, in each step record the generator terminal voltage.
3. Measure the resistance of the field regulator.
4. Run the generator to the rated speed and excite it to generate 100V. Close S4 to
connect the generator to the load. Vary the current in steps of 2 on the dial from 0 to
125% of the rated value while maintaining the speed constant at 1500 rpm. In each
step record all the instruments readings.

7. RESULTS
a) Separately excited DC generator
Field current(A) Armature Speed(Rpm) Generated
current(A) voltage, E g (V)

0.3 N/A 1300 60

0.5 N/A 1300 70

0.7 N/A 1300 90

0.9 N/A 1300 100

1.1 N/A 1300 110

1.2 N/A 1300 110

1.2 N/A 1300 110

1.0 N/A 1300 105

0.8 N/A 1300 100

0.6 N/A 1300 90

0.4 N/A 1300 70

Table 2 Separately Excited Generator
 b) Shunt DC generator at no load.
Field current(A) Armature current(A) Generated voltage, E g
(V)

0.1 N/A 25

0.3 N/A 65

0.5 N/A 75

0.7 N/A 95

0.9 N/A 110

1.1 N/A 115

1.3 N/A 120

Table 3 No-Load Shunt Generator

c) Shunt DC generator on load

Dial Load Field Generated
current(A) current(A) Voltage, E g (V)

0 0 0.7 100

3 3 0.7 100

6 7 0.7 90

9 9.5 0.7 90

12 11 0.7 90

15 14 0.7 85

18 16.5 0.7 80

20 18 0.7 75
Table 4 Shunt Generator on Load
8. GRAPHS
a) Load graph A

Figure 8- 10 DC Shunt Generator on Load

 b) No load graph B

Figure 8- 11 No-Load DC Shunt Generator

c) Separately excited DC Generator Graph C

Figure 8- 12 Separately Excited DC Generator

9. DISCUSSION
a) Plotting the no load and load characteristics for separately excited generator .
In the load graph A, the load terminal is affected due to the increase of load current. The
back E.M.F also increases due to the increase in speed. Using the equation below;
V T =Eb −I a Ra Equation 14
V T =K cn −I a ( R a+ R L ) Equation 15
( Eb −V T )
I a= Equation 16
( Ra + R L )
Terminal voltage increases with increase in field current.
The terminal voltage decreases with increase in load current.
For the no load graph B, increase in terminal voltage causes an increase in field current at
constant speed.
In the no load separately excited there is armature current thus terminal voltage is equal to
the induced E.M.F,
Eb =I a Ra −V T =0 Equation 17
Since I a=0 ,
Therefore V T =Eb Equation 18
Eb is a function of flux linkage.

Therefore, when the poles get saturated, the increase in field current does not increase the
flux, thus the E.M.F induced will start to remain constant. At maximum current the terminal
voltage is maximum.
b) Significance of remnant flux from no-load characteristics.
The remnant flux is for the initial back E.M.F when the current field is zero due to Lenz’s law
where Eb =E0 since ideally the Eb is considered to be zero.
c) Plotting the no-load and load curves for shunt generator.
For the load graph A, terminal voltage decreases with increase in load current due to
voltage drop caused by the armature resistance and reaction. If the load current increases
rapidly, the terminal voltage decreases due to increased armature reaction.
For the no load graph B, armature current is equal to field current. The generator is said to
be open circuited and rotating at a constant speed.
From the equation below,
V T =Eb −I a Ra =K cn−I a Ra Equation 19
Terminal voltage increases with increase in field current which also affects the flux thus
causing an increase in field current.
d) Decrease in terminal voltage
Terminal voltage decreases as observed in load characteristics for a shunt generator graph
A due to the armature reaction and resistance which causes a voltage drop, that is;
V T =Eb −I a Ra Equation 20
e) Comparing the load characteristics of separately excited and shunt
generators.
The curves are the same in separately excited graph C and shunt generator graph B since
both terminal voltages are affected by load current which is external characteristics. The
terminal voltages decrease is caused by the voltage drop across the armature due to
armature reaction and resistance.

10. CONCLUSION
In conclusion, considering were able to collect data from the experiment and at which the
data gathered, was very agreeable with the expected values,
And to which all the objectives were fulfilled, it would be valid to say that the experiment
was worth it, in both gathering of data and having us learn practically more of DC
generators.

11. REFERENCES
1. D P Kothari, I J Nagrath - Electric Machines-Tata McGraw-Hill (2010)
2. https://byjus.com/physics/dc-generator/
3. https://www.electricaleasy.com/2012/12/basic-construction-and-working-of-dc.html
4. https://polarpower.com/products/dc-generators/
5. https://byjus.com/physics/dc-generator/
6. https://www.elprocus.com/dc-shunt-generator/
https://www.electrical4u.com/author/electrial4u/
7. https://ems-iitr.vlabs.ac.in/exp/load-characteristics-dc-shunt/theory.htm
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