In the name of ALLAH, the most Beneficent, the most Merciful

MUHAMMAD SHAHID SHAUAKAT

Project Engineer ORIENT ENERGY SYSTEMS PVT LTD LAHORE

Introduction Alternator Construction Excitation Speed of rotation of a synchronous generator Internal Generated Voltages Equivalent Circuit of Synchronous Generator Phasor Diagrams of Synchronous Generator in case of load Power in Synchronous Generator

Synchronous Generator operating alone: Effect of load change on a synchronous generator: With unity power factor With lagging power factor With leading power factor Voltage Regulation Parallel Operation of Alternator with Large Power System Parallel Operation of Alternator with another Generator

Alternators are synchronous machines used to convert mechanical energy to ac electric power. Alternators generate electricity using the principle, when the magnetic field around a conductor changes, a current is induced in the conductor. Typically, a rotating magnet, called the rotor turns within a stationary set of conductors wound in coils on an iron core, called the stator. The field cuts across the conductors, generating an induced EMF (electromotive force) The rotor's magnetic field may be produced by induction (as in a "brushless" alternator), by permanent magnets (as in very small machines), or by a rotor winding energized with direct current through slip rings and brushes.

In a synchronous generator, a dc current is applied to the rotor winding, which produces a rotor magnetic field. The rotor of the alternator is then turned by a prime mover, producing a rotating magnetic field within the machine. This rotating magnetic field then induces a three phase set of voltages within the stator windings of the generator.

An electric generator or electric motor that uses field coils rather than permanent magnets requires a current to be present in the field coils for the device to be able to work. If the field coils are not powered, the rotor in a generator can spin without producing any usable electrical energy, while the rotor of a motor may not spin at all. The process of generating a magnetic field by means of an electric current is called excitation.

Since the rotor is rotating, there are common two approaches to supply dc current to rotor winding.
1. 2.

Supply dc power from an external source to the rotor by means of slip rings and brushes. Supply dc power from a special dc power source mounted directly on the shaft of alternator (brushless supply). A brushless exciter is a small ac generator with its field circuit mounted on the stator and its armature circuit mounted on the rotor shaft. Then the three phase output of this generator is rectified to supply the dc power to rotor field.

A brushless exciter circuit

Brushless exciter including a pilot exciter

In synchronous generators the electrical frequency is locked in or synchronizes with the mechanical rate of rotation of the generator. The rate of rotation of the magnetic field in the machine is related to the stator electrical frequency as,

Where
= electrical frequency, in Hz = mechanical speed of magnetic field in r/min = number of poles

The magnitude of the internally generated stator voltage is as follows. = ,

NC= number of stator coils

This voltage depends on the flux in the machine, the frequency or speed of rotor, and the machines construction.

EA is the internally generated voltage in on phase of the synchronous generated. However this voltage is not usually the voltage that appears at the terminals V of the generator. There are number of factors that cause the difference between EA and V. 1. The distortion of the air-gap magnetic field by the current flowing in the stator, called armature reaction. 2. The self-inductance of the armature coils. 3. The resistance of the armature coils.

So, the phase voltage will be expressed as, = + Here is the voltage induced due to the armature reaction, which is, = So, = In addition to the armature reaction, the stator coils have a self-inductance LA (and reactance XA) and the resistance RA, then the terminal voltages are, = If XS= XA+ X= synchronous reactance Then, =

Phasor Diagram of alternator is the graphical representation of the voltage drops occur in the generator. It shows the relation of Internally generated voltage EA, terminal voltage V and the voltage drops.

EA

jXSIA

IA

IARA

Phasor diagram of an alternator at unity power factor

EA jXSIA IA V

IARA

Phasor diagram of alternator at lagging power factor

EA IA

jXSIA

IARA

Phasor diagram of alternator at leading power factor

For a given phase voltage and armature current, a larger internally generated voltage EA is needed for lagging loads than for leading loads. Therefore a larger field current is needed with lagging loads to get same terminal voltages, as EA=K And must be constant to keep a constant frequency. In other words, for a given field current and magnitude of load current, the terminal voltage is lower for lagging loads and higher for leading loads. In real synchronous machines, the synchronous reactance is much larger than the winding resistance RA, so RA is often neglected in the qualitative study of voltage variations.

Pconverted
Pin=appm

indm

Pout =

Core losses
Stray losse s Frictional & windage losses

I2R losses Copper losses

EAsin =XSIAcos

The input mechanical power is the shaft power in the generator Pin=appm. The power converted from mechanical power to electrical power is given by, Pconverted=indm =3EAIAcos Where is the angle between EA and IA. The real electrical power of the synchronous generator is

Pout = =3VIAcos and the reactive power is

Qout = . In the figure shown above the vertical segment bc can be expressed as EAsin or XSIAcos. So, = So, the output power will be =

The behavior of synchronous generator under load varies greatly depending on the power factor of the load and on whether the generator is operating alone or in parallel with other synchronous generators.

Generator

Load

An increase in the load is an increase in the real and/or reactive power drawn from the generator. Such a load increase increases the load current drawn from the generator. Because the field resistor has not been changed, the field current is same as earlier, and therefore the flux is constant. Since the prime mover also keeps a constant speed , the magnitude of the internal generated voltage EA=K is constant. The effect of changing the load of generator in this case the behavior of generator will be changed for different power factors.

In the case of lagging power factor when more load is added at the same power factor, then |IA| increases but remaining at the same angle as earlier. Therefore, the armature reaction voltage jXSIA is larger than before but at the same angle. As, = +

or

= So, V will decrease in the case of load adding with lagging power factor.

EA

EA
jXSIA jXSIA

IA

IA

EA
IA

EA

IA V
V

A conventional way to compare the voltage behavior of two generators is by their voltage regulation. The voltage regulation of a generator is defined by the equation, = %

Where Vnl is the no load voltage and Vfl is the full load voltage of the generator.

A generator operating at a lagging power factor has a large positive voltage regulation.

A generator operating at a unity power factor has a

small positive voltage regulation.

A generator operating at leading power factor often

has a negative voltage regulation.

It is desired to keep the voltage supplied to a load constant, even though the load varies. The obvious approach is to vary the magnitude of EA to compromise for the change in load.

As EA=K, since the frequency should not be changed in a normal system; EA must be controlled by varying the flux in the machine.

The idea to regulate the terminal voltages can be summarized as follows: By changing the field resistance RF, field current can be changed IF. Change in field current IF will change the flux in the machine. Change in flux will change the internal generated voltages EA. This process will change the output voltage V as, =

More than one generator operating in parallel to supply the power demand to the load is called parallel operation of alternators.

 Several

generators can supply a bigger load than single generator. Having many generators increases the reliability of the power system. Having many generators operating in parallel allows one or more generators to be removed in case of failure of preventive maintenance.

RMS line voltages of the generators must be equal.

Generators must have the same phase sequence.

Phase angles of the two a phases must be equal.

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

As the power drawn from prime movers increases, the speed at which they turn decreases. Whatever the governor mechanism is present, it will always be adjusted to provide a slight drooping characteristics with increasing load, = = %
nnl= no-load prime mover speed nfl= full-load prime mover speed

Most generators prime movers have a speed drop of 2 to 4 percent.

P = sp(fnl - fsys)
sp = slop of curve in kW/Hz
fsys=operating frequency of system

fe= nmP/120

fe=electrical frequency nm=mechanical speed

fnl
Electrical Frequency Hz
Mechanical Speed r/min

ffl

nnl nfl

Power KW

Pfl

Power KW

Pfl

Q = sp(VTnl - VTsys)
sp = slop of curve in kVAR/V
VTsys=operating voltage of system

Terminal Voltages VT

VTnl
VTfl

Reactive Power kVAR

Qfl

For any given real power, the governor set points control the generators operating frequency fc.

For any given reactive power, the field current controls the generators terminal voltages VT

When an alternator is connected to a power system, the power system is often so large that nothing the operator of the generator does will have much of an effect on the power system.

A large power system is the system

Terminal voltages are constant Electrical frequency is constant
VT
Terminal Voltages VT

fe
Electrical frequency

Active Power kW P

Reactive Power kVAR Q

fe fnl

If Oncoming generators frequency is greater than the frequency of running system

PInfinite bus Pload

PG

P kW

fe

If Oncoming generators frequency is less than the frequency of running system

-P kW

PG < 0

+P kW

For the increase in the real power sharing the

governors set point of the generator is increased.

For the increase in the reactive power sharing the

field current of the generator is increased.

fe fnl

PB kW

PB1 PB2 PB3

Pload= PG+PB

PG1 PG2

PG3

PG kW

When a generator is operating in parallel with a larger system (infinite bus): The frequency and terminal voltages of generator are controlled by the system to which it is connected. The governor set point of the generator control the real power supplied by the generator. The field current in the generator controls the reactive power supplied by the generator

If a generator is connected in parallel with another generator then the basic constraint is that the sum of real and reactive power supplied by the generators must be equal the demand by load. Pload= PG1+PG2+PG3 Qload= QG1+QG2+QG3 System frequency and power supplied by a single generator is not constant.

When two generators are operating in parallel, an increase in governor set points on anyone of them, Increases the system frequency. Increases the power supplied by that generator , while reducing the power supplied by the other generator.

Effect of change of Governors set point

fe

f2
f1

kW

PG1

PG2

kW

Pload= PG1+PG2

When two generators are operating in parallel, an increase in field current of anyone of them, Increases the system terminal voltages. Increases the reactive power supplied by that generator , while reducing the reactive power supplied by the other generator.

Effect of change of Field Current

VT
V1
V2

kVAR1

QG1

QG2

kVAR2

Qload= QG1+QG2

An increase in governors set point increases the system frequency and the power supplied of that machine.

To adjust the power sharing without changing the system frequency, increase the governor set points of one generator and simultaneously decrease the governor set points of other generator.

fe

fsys

kW

PG1

PG2

kW

Pload= PG1+PG2

An increase in field current increases the system voltage and the reactive power supplied of that machine.

To adjust the power sharing without changing the system

voltages, increase the field current of one generator and

simultaneously decrease the field current of other generator.

VT

Vsys

kVAR 1

QG1

QG2

kVAR 2

Qload= QG1+QG2

In the case of two generators operating in parallel, The system is constrained in that the total power supplied by the two generators must be equal to the load demand. System frequency fsys and terminal voltages VT are not constant in this system. To adjust the real power sharing between generators without changing system frequency, simultaneously increase the governor set point of one generator and decrease governor set points of other generator.

To adjust the system frequency without changing the power sharing simultaneously increase or decrease the governor set points of both generators. To adjust the reactive power sharing without changing the system voltage simultaneously increase the field current of one generator and decrease the field current of other generator. To adjust the system voltage without changing the reactive power sharing simultaneously increase or decrease the field current of both generators.