Self-Excited DC Generator

Self-excited DC Generator is a device, in which the current to the field winding is supplied by the
generator itself. In self-excited DC generator, the field coils mat be connected in parallel with the
armature in the series, or it may be connected partly in series and partly in parallel with the armature
windings. The self-excited DC Generator is further classified as
Shunt Wound Generator
In a shunt wound generator, the field winding is connected across the armature winding forming a
parallel or shunt circuit. Therefore, full terminal voltage is applied across it. A very small field
current Ish, flows through it because this winding has many turns of fine wire having very high
resistance Rsh of the order of 100 ohms.
The connection diagram of shunt wound generator is shown below.

Shunt Wound DC Generator

Shunt field current is given as

Where Rsh is the shunt field winding resistance.

The current field Ish is practically constant at all loads. Therefore, the DC shunt machine is
considered to be a constant flux machine.
Armature current is given as

Terminal voltage is given by the equation shown below.

If the brush contact drop is included, the equation of the terminal voltage becomes

Series Wound Generator

A series-wound generator the field coils are connected in series with the armature winding. The
series field winding carries the armature current. The series field winding consists of a few turns of
wire of thick wire of larger cross-sectional area and having low resistance usually of the order of less
than 1 ohm because the armature current has a very large value.
Its convectional diagram is shown below.

Series Wound DC Generator

Series field current is given as

Rse is known as the series field winding resistance.

Terminal voltage is given as
If the brush contact drop is included, the terminal voltage equation is written as

The flux developed by the series field winding is directly proportional to the current flowing through
it. But it is only true before magnetic saturation after the saturation flux becomes constant even if the
current flowing through it is increased.
Compound Wound Generator
In a compound-wound generator, there are two field windings. One is connected in series, and
another is connected in parallel with the armature windings. There are two types of compound-wound
generator.
 Long shunt compound-wound generator
 Short shunt compound-wound generator

Self-Excited DC Generator Working

The magnetization curve produced when the machine is separately excited still applies in the case of
self-excited DC generator. That is, a given value of field current will produce a specific value of the
generated voltage at a given speed, regardless of how the field winding is connected. However, there
are other constraints that must be satisfied. Figure 1 shows a self-excited, shunt DC generator, operating
at no load.

FIGURE 1: Self-excited, DC generator circuit.

Because the load current is zero, the only current in the armature winding is the field current. Writing
a voltage loop through the armature and field circuits as shown results in the following relationship:
Ea = If(Ra + Rrh + Rf) (1)
Equation 1 is called the field circuit equation. It represents a linear volt-amp characteristic, which has
a slope equal to the sum of the three resistances on the right-hand side of the equation. The constraints
imposed by the magnetization curve and by equation 1 must be satisfied simultaneously. For both
constraints to be satisfied:
The operating point of the generator must be at the intersection of the magnetization curve, with a
straight line representing the field circuit equation, as shown in Figure 2.

FIGURE 2: Determination of
operating point of a self-excited DC
generator.
The self-excited generator requires
some residual magnetism in the field
poles in order to generate the voltage.
Looking at Figure 2, when the
generator is turned, the residual flux
induces a small armature voltage (point
1). That voltage causes a field current
(point 2) that, assuming the polarity is
correct, increases the voltage more
(point 3), which causes more field current and so forth. The dotted line in Figure 2 shows the process,
which is called building up.
Significance of Saturation in Self-Excited DC Generator
Saturation makes the voltage buildup in the self-excited shunt DC generator feasible. Suppose the
armature voltage was linear with the field current, as shown by the heavy solid line in Figure 3. The
field circuit equation also is a straight line.
If the resistance of the field circuit is too low (as shown by the dotted line), then the two lines won’t
intersect and there would be no steady-state operating point. The voltage would build up forever (or at
least until the insulation broke down).
If the field circuit resistance is higher (as shown by the dot-dash line), then an operating point may
occur, but it will change wildly with small changes in the field resistance because the slopes of the two
intersecting lines are similar.

FIGURE 3: Illustration of the importance of

saturation for voltage build-up in the self-
excited DC generator.
Saturation also provides an upper limit to the
amount of resistance in the field circuit.
Figure 4 shows what happens with different
values of resistance in the field circuit. If the field
resistance is too high, the voltage only builds up
to a small value, as shown by the dot-dash line.
If the field resistance is such that the field circuit
voltage requirement line runs close to the linear
part of the magnetization curve, then the machine will not provide stable voltage, as shown by the
dotted line in Figure 4.
Finally, if the resistance is of a suitable value, then the generator provides voltage, as shown by the
dashed line.

FIGURE 4: Effect of field circuit

resistance on the generated voltage of a self-
excited DC generator.
Variation of the Generated Voltage with Speed
Figure 5 shows the effect of varying the
generator speed, n. Figure 5 (a) shows five
magnetization curves, corresponding to five
evenly spaced operating speeds. Also shown is
the field circuit equation line, which intersects
each of the magnetization curves.
When the speed changes, we move to a new
magnetization curve while moving down the
field circuit equation line. As a result, the
voltage drops very quickly when the speed is reduced for a self-excited, shunt DC generator.

Recalling the voltage equation, decreasing the speed decreases the generated voltage, which in turn
reduces the field current and flux, thus further reducing the generated voltage. Therefore, the voltage
versus speed plot is nonlinear for the self-excited DC generator, as shown in Figure 5 (b).

FIGURE 5: Performance of self-excited generator as the speed varies.

a. An intersection of field circuit line with generated-voltage curves at several speeds.
b. Resulting generated voltage as a function of speed.
Conditions for Voltage Buildup in Self-Excited DC Generator
Based on the discussion thus far, we can conclude there are several requirements for the voltage to
build up in a separately excited DC generator. These requirements are:
 There must be residual magnetism in the machine pole pieces.
 The field coil must provide flux in the same direction as the residual flux. Otherwise, the machine will
build down to zero volts.
 The field circuit resistance must not be excessive.
 The machine must have sufficient speed because the voltage is a function of speed.
Voltage under Load in Self-Excited DC Generator
By putting a variable load on the self-excited DC generator, we could observe the effect on the terminal
voltage of varying the load current. Three effects would be observed, as shown in Figure 6:
 As the load increases, the load voltage declines due to the resistance of the armature. This is a linear
effect, as shown by the dot-dash line in Figure 6.
 As the armature current increases, armature reaction reduces the flux per pole, further reducing the
voltage, as shown by the dotted line in Figure 6.
 Reduction of the field voltage by these two factors causes the field current to decrease, lowering the
voltage some more, as shown by the solid line in Figure 6.

FIGURE 6: Volt-amp
characteristic of a self-
excited DC generator.
As the load increases
(meaning the load resistance
decreases) the armature
current increases. Based on
the factors listed, the
generated voltage would
decline as the load increased.
Eventually, however, the
generated voltage decreases
so much that the load current
starts decreasing. The
decrease in load current
causes the volt-amp characteristic curve to turn around, as shown.
As the load resistance is decreased, the current and terminal voltage continues to decrease, until the
short-circuit current is reached at zero-load voltage. This is an advantage for the separately excited
generator because the short-circuit current can be less than the rated current of the machine. The point
where the curve turns around is called the breakdown point, which usually occurs at about 150% of
rated current.