MODULE II

➢ Voltage regulation
✓ EMF
✓ MMF
✓ ASA
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✓ POTIER
➢ Blondel’s two reaction theory
➢ Parallel operation of alternators
 Voltage regulation
➢ Voltage regulation of an alternator is defined as the increase in terminal voltage
expressed as the percentage of rated terminal voltage, when load at a given power factor
is thrown off with speed & field excitation remains constant
E0 − V
i.e, % Voltage regulation = *100%
V
➢ Where, E0 = No load terminal voltage, V = Full load terminal voltage
➢ When load on Alternator changes, its terminal voltage also changes
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➢The magnitude of this change depends on load and load power factor
➢ The effect of change in load power
factor on terminal voltage is shown
in figure
➢ In the case of lagging pf, terminal
voltage will rise & in the case of leading pf,
terminal voltage will fall with removal of load
 Determination of Voltage regulation
1. Direct method
➢This method is used to find the regulation of small machines
➢Here the Alternator is driven at synchronous speed & field excitation is adjusted to get
rated terminal voltage (V)
➢Now load is varied to get desired load at desired pf by keeping speed & terminal voltage
(V) constant
➢Then the entire load is thrown off by keeping the speed & field excitation constant to get

Now,
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no load terminal voltage (E0)

% Voltage Re gulation =
E0 − V
*100%
V

➢The kVA rating of commercial Alternators are very high & the cost of finding the
regulation by direct loading is high
➢So voltage regulation of large Alternators are determined by Indirect method
2. Indirect method
The indirect methods commonly used to find the regulation of an Alternator are

1. EMF method 2. MMF method

3. ZPF method 4. ASA method

All these methods require the following data

i) Armature (stator) resistance

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ii) Open Circuit Characteristics (OCC)
iii) Short Circuit Characteristics (SCC)

1. EMF method or Synchronous impedance method

• In this method of finding the voltage regulation of an alternator, we find the
synchronous impedance ZS (and hence synchronous reactance XS) of the
alternator from the OCC and SCC
• For this reason, it is called synchronous impedance method
➢ When load on the alternator is varied (i.e, armature current is varied),
the terminal voltage (V) of the alternator also varies, even if the speed
& field excitation kept constant

➢ The variation in terminal voltage is due to the following reasons

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1. Voltage drop due to armature resistance (IRa drop)

2. Voltage drop due to armature leakage reactance (IXL drop)

3. Voltage drop due to armature reaction (IXa)

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Here, E0 = No load EMF
E = Induced EMF after allowing armature reaction
V = Terminal voltage

➢ E = V + I(Ra + jXL)

➢ E0 = E + I(jXa)
 Synchronous Impedance (ZS)
• Synchronous impedance, ZS = Ra + j X S
• The synchronous impedance is the fictitious impedance employed to account for the
voltage effects in the armature circuit produced by the actual armature resistance, the
actual armature leakage reactance and the change in the air gap flux produced by armature
reaction.
• E0 = V + IZS
= V + I(Ra+jXS)
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 Determination of Synchronous Impedance, ZS
Synchronous impedance is determined from open circuit & short circuit tests
a) Open circuit test
The connection diagram
for open circuit test is
shown in figure.

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➢ The alternator is run on no load at the
rated speed. The field current If is
gradually increased from zero (by
adjusting field rheostat) until open
circuit voltage E0 (phase value) is
about 50% greater than the rated
phase voltage.
➢The graph is drawn between open circuit
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voltage values and the corresponding
values of If as shown
➢The curve drawn between open circuit voltage and corresponding field current is
called Open Circuit Characteristics (OCC)
b) Short circuit test
➢In a short circuit test, the alternator is run at rated speed and the armature terminals are
short circuited
➢The field current If is gradually increased from zero until the short circuit armature
current I is about the rated current.
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➢The graph between short circuit armature current & corresponding field current is called
Short Circuit Characteristics (SCC)
➢SCC is normally a straight line through origin because the net excitation required is so
small as there is no saturation in magnetic circuit
Determination of synchronous impedance from OCC & SCC
➢Synchronous impedance can be determined by knowing the value of short circuit current
ISC corresponding to a field current that gives rated terminal voltage/phase on open circuit
➢Synchronous Impedance =
Open circuit voltage
Short circuit current corresponding to field current which gives rated voltage/phase
➢If OA is the field current that gives the
rated EMF/phase represented by AC &
AB gives the short circuit current ISC
corresponding to field current OA
➢On short circuit, the terminal voltage is

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zero & the whole of induced EMF is
utilized to create a short circuit current
(ISC) through synchronous impedance (ZS)
i.e, E0 = ISC ZS
Synchronous impedance, ZS = E0/ISC
= AC/AB
The armature resistance can be found by ammeter-voltmeter method.
 X S = Z S − Ra
2 2

Once we know Ra and XS, the phasor diagram can be drawn for any load and any pf.
• The phasor diagram for the inductive load is shown in figure; the load pf being cos
lagging. Note that in drawing the phasor diagram, current ‘I’ has been taken as the
reference phasor. The IRa drop is in phase with ‘I’ while IXS drop leads ‘I’ by 90°. The
phasor sum of V, IRa and IXS gives the no load EMF E0
• Consider the triangle OBD.
OB = VCos + IRa
BD = VSin + IXS
OD = E0,
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 E0 = OB 2 + BD 2

i.e, E0 = (VCos + IRa )2 + (VSin + IX s )2

E0 − V
% Voltage regulation = *100%
V
➢For leading pf, take  as negative & for unity pf, take  as zero
➢This method is called pessimistic method because the regulation
obtained by this method is always higher than actual value.
➢The reason for error is that here synchronous impedance is assumed to
be constant while actually it is not.
➢Synchronous impedance varies with saturation.
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 Short circuit ratio (SCR)
➢The SCR of a synchronous machine is defined as the ratio of field current to produce rated
voltage on open circuit to field current required to circulate rated current on short circuit
while the machine is driven at synchronous speed

Field Current required to produce rated Voltage on open circuit

SCR =
Field current required to produce rated Current on short circuit
From graph,
I f1 OA AB AB 1
SCR = = = = =

➢AC/AB = XS
So SCR = 1/Xs
If2
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OD DE AC AC
AB

➢A small value of SCR indicates small

value of short circuit current owing
to large value of synchronous reactance.
➢As SCR increases, stability limit
increases & voltage regulation improves.
2. MMF or Ampere Turn method
➢ In this method, the armature leakage reactance is considered as an
additional armature reaction
➢ Here it is assumed that the change in terminal voltage on load is
entirely due to armature reaction (voltage drop due to armature
resistance is neglected)

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➢ The field AT required to produce a voltage at full load is equal to the
vector sum of field AT required to produce voltage ‘V’ at no load &
field AT required to overcome the effect of armature reaction
➢ Here EMFs are replaced by MMFs (field MMF = NIf , N = number
of turns in field coil & If = field current. Number of turns is a
constant & we can consider MMF α If )
MMF method

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Phasor diagram of MMF method

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Note : MMF methods gives low value of voltage regulation
compared to actual value. Hence mmf method is also called
optimistic method.
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3. Zero Power Factor (ZPF) or Potier Method
➢The voltage regulation obtained by EMF & MMF methods is based on the total
synchronous reactance
➢This method is based on the separation of reactance into leakage reactance & reactance
due to armature reaction. Therefore this method is more accurate
➢The data required for this method are
i) OCC ii) effective armature resistance iii) magnitude of field current required to
circulate full load current in stator iv) Zero Power Factor (ZPF) full load voltage
characteristics
➢Plotting ZPF curve
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➢This is the curve between terminal voltage & field current, when the alternator is
delivering full load current to a zero pf (lagging) load
➢The test is carried out by running the alternator at synchronous speed & connecting a
purely inductive 3 load to its terminals
➢There is no need of plotting the full curve, only points A & B are sufficient.
➢Point ‘B’ corresponds to the field current which gives rated terminal voltage, when the
machine is delivering full load current at zero pf
- Point ‘A’ corresponds to the field current required to circulate rated current on short circuit
(from short circuit test. Since armature resistance is very small, during short circuit, the
circuit can be considered as purely inductive)
Procedure for Potier method
Step 1 - Plot OCC
Step 2 – Find armature resistance (Ra)
Step 3 – Plot ZPF curve
Step 4 – Draw a line tangent to OCC,

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which is known as air gap line
Step 5 – Find the point corresponding
to V (rated terminal voltage) on ZPF
curve (i.e, point B)
Step 6 – Draw the triangle BHD such
that BH = OA & HD parallel to air gap
line, D is the point on OCC
- Complete the triangle BHD. From ‘D’ draw the line DE perpendicular to BH. The
triangle BED is known as Potier triangle.
- The length DE represents IXL drop & HE represents field current corresponding
to leakage reactance drop.
- EB represents field current corresponding to armature reaction drop

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Phasor diagram of ZPF method

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The results obtained by ASA method are reliable for both salient as well as non salient pole machines.
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 BLONDEL’S TWO REACTION THEORY
➢ In a cylindrical rotor type machine, air gap is uniform so that the reluctance of
the magnetic path is the same in all directions.
➢ Hence, effect of armature reaction can be accounted by one reactance Xs. Xs is
constant for all directions of armature flux relative to rotor.

➢ However, in a salient pole type machine, the radial length of the air gap varies
so that the reluctance of the magnetic circuit along polar axis (direct axis) is

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much less than the reluctance along the interpolar axis (quadrature axis).
➢ Because of the lower reluctance along the polar axis, more flux is produced
along d-axis than along q-axis. Hence, reactance due to armature reaction will
be different along d-axis and q-axis.
➢ According to two reaction theory, the armature mmf Fa can be divided into two
components as
➢ component acting along direct axis Fad and
➢ component acting along quadrature axis Faq.
Φf is the main flux and is along d-axis. Φf produces excitation emf Ef lagging by 90°.
When generator is loaded, Ia flows. Assume that the power factor is lagging. Hence, Ia lags
behind Ef. Ia creates armature mmf Fa. Fa can be decomposed into 2 components Fad and
Faq. Fad produces flux Φad and Faq produces flux Φaq.

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If Sd and Sq are the reluctances along direct and quadrature axes,

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