GENERATOR SET

CAPABILITY CURVE

UNITY
POWER
FACTOR

Leading p.f. Lagging p.f.

VAR IMPORT VAR EXPORT

ALTERNATOR OUTPUT (STATOR CURRENT)

LIMITED BY ENGINE POWER
AT POWER FACTORS ABOVE 0.8
REAL POWER
p.u. KW

ALTERNATOR OUTPUT (STATOR CURRENT)

LIMITED BY STATOR END IRON HEATING 0.8 pf LAGGING
AND VOLTAGE INSTABILITY AT LEADING POWER FACTORS 1.0

0.9
ENGINE KW
LIMIT LINE ALTERNATOR OUTPUT (STATOR CURRENT)
0.8 LIMITED BY STATOR HEATING
(ALTERNATOR RATED OUTPUT)
0.7

0.6 KW
ALTERNATOR OUTPUT (STATOR SURRENT)
0.5 LIMITED BY ROTOR HEATING
VOLTAGE INSTABILITY AT POWER FACTORS BELOW 0.8

A
KV
REGION
0.4

0.3

ALTERNATOR THEORETICAL 0.2

ALTERNATOR THEORETICAL
CAPABILITY CURVE CAPABILITY CURVE
0.1

KVAR (leading) KVAR (lagging)

1.0 0.9 0.8 0.7 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 O 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0
REACTIVE POWER REACTIVE POWER
p.u. KVAR (leading) p.u. KVAR (lagging)

LEADING POWER FACTOR RESULTS GENERATOR SET LOW POWER FACTOR RESU LTS
IN THE ALTERNATOR BEI NG OPERATING RANGE SHOWN IN THE ALTERNATOR BEI NG
UNDER-EXCITED - LOW ROTOR (FIELD) BOUNDED BY THE BLUE LINE OVER-EXCITED - HIGH ROTOR (FIELD)
CURRENT CURRENT

LOW ROTOR (FIELD) CURRENT HIGH ROTOR (FIELD) CURRENT

LEADS TO STATOR END IRON LEADS TO HEATING IN THE ROTOR
HEATING WINDINGS