Sanskrithi School of Engineering

(Affiliated to JNTUA, Ananthapur & Approved by AICTE, New Delhi)

Puttaparthi-515 134.

3.7 Characteristic of DC Generators

Separately Excited Self Excited And Compound Generator Characteristic is the graph between the
two dependent quantities. Following are the three important characteristics of a DC Generator.
Characteristic of Separately Excited DC Generator
Voltage Buildup in Self Excited Generator or Shunt DC Generator
Voltage- Current Characteristic of Compound DC Generator

3.7.1 Characteristic of Separately Excited DC Generator

In a separately excited DC Generator, a separate source of DC power is connected to the field
winding. This source can be a battery, a diode rectifier, another DC Generator or a controlled rectifier.
The circuit diagram of a separately excited DC Generator on loaded condition is shown below.

3.7.2 Circuit Model of a Separately Excited DC Generator

Let a generator be driven at a constant speed by a prime mover. The field excitation (If) is adjusted to
give rated voltage at no load. Throughout the operation, this value of voltage is kept constant.
Let,

Rfw is the resistance of the field winding

Rfc is the resistance of the field rheostat to control the field current.
Ra is the total resistance of the armature circuit, including the brush contact resistance.
RL is the load resistance.

Sanskrithi School of Engineering

(Affiliated to JNTUA, Ananthapur & Approved by AICTE, New Delhi)

Puttaparthi-515 134.

IL is the load current

Ea is the internal generated voltage
V is the terminal voltage
Ia is the armature current
The various equations for a separately excited DC generator are as follows

If there were no armature reaction, the generated voltage V0 would be constant as shown by a
straight line (red color) in the figure below.
There is a voltage drop of VAR because of the armature reaction. The internal characteristic
(Ea ~ IL) is also shown in the above figure represented by a blue color line. There is a voltage drop IaRa
across the armature resistance Ra. The generator, external characteristic (V ~ IL) is also shown by the
pink color line.
Terminal Characteristics of a Separately Excited DC Generator and Equivalent Circuit of a Shunt DC
Generator

The point P is called as Operating Point, which is the intersection between the generator,
external characteristic and the load characteristic given by the relation V= ILRL. This point P gives the
operating values of terminal voltage and load current.