Synchronous Machines

H.O. Bansal
BITS Pilani Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering
Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani
Pilani Campus
Introduction

 A Synchronous machine is one of the important types of

electric machines.
 All generating machines at power stations are of
synchronous kind and are known as alternators.
 The frequency of emfs and currents on the stator is
given by

P = number of poles
Ns = speed of rotor in rpm

BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus

•The rotor gets locked to the RMF and rotates unlike induction
motor at synchronous speed under all load condition

•All conventional power plants use synchronous generators for

converting power to electrical form

•They operate at a better power factor and higher efficiency than

equivalent induction machines

BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus

Physical Description

 Consists of two sets of windings:

 3 phase armature winding on the stator distributed with
centers 120° apart in space
 field winding on the rotor supplied by DC
 Two basic rotor structures used:
 salient or projecting pole structure for hydraulic units (low
speed)
 Cylindrical rotor structure for thermal units (high speed)
 Salient poles have concentrated field windings
 Cylindrical rotors have steel rotors with distributed windings

BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus

Construction and Operation of a Synchronous Generator
Stator : (Similar as in Induction Motor).
•The stator, also known as the armature, of a synchronous machine is made of thin
laminations of highly permeable steel in order to reduce the core losses.

•The stator laminations are held together by a stator frame.

•The frame may be of cast iron or fabricated from mild steel plates.

•The frame is designed not to carry the flux but to provide mechanical support to
the synchronous generator. The inside of the stator has a plurality of slots that are
intended to accommodate thick armature conductors (coils or windings).

•The armature conductors are symmetrically arranged to form a balanced poly-

phase winding

•The induced emf per phase in large synchronous generators is in kilovolts (kV)
with a power handling capacity in megavolt- amperes (MVA).
Rotor
Two types of rotors are used in the design of synchronous generators, the cylindrical rotor
and salient-pole rotor.

•The rotor is rotated at the synchronous speed by a prime mover such as a steam turbine.

•The rotor has as many poles as the stator, and the rotor winding carries dc current so as to
produce constant flux per pole.

•The field winding usually receives its power from a 115- or 230-V dc generator.

•The dc generator may be driven either by the same prime mover driving the synchronous
generator or by a separate electric motor.

•The salient-pole rotor is used in low- and medium-speed generators because the windage
loss is small at these speeds.

• It consists of an even set of outward projecting laminated poles.

Synchronous Machine Construction

•The salient-pole rotor is used in low- and medium-speed generators because the windage
loss is small at these speeds

•The cylindrical rotor is employed in a 2- or 4-pole, high-speed turbo generator.

•It is made of a smooth solid forged steel cylinder with a number of slots on its outer
periphery.
Stators

8
Principle of Operation

The current flowing through the field coils will set up

stationary magnetic poles of alternate North and South

3-phase currents flowing in the armature winding produce a

rotating magnetic field rotating at synchronous speed. i.e. there
will be moving North and South poles established in the stator
due to the 3-phase currents i.e at any location in the stator
there will be a North pole at some instant of time and it will
become a South pole after a time period corresponding to half a
cycle

9
Generation of emf

BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus

Generation of emf

Instantaneous Voltage, e = Blv Volts

where
B= flux density in Tesla (Wb/m2)
l = active conductor length (m)
v = relative linear velocity between the conductor and the field (m/s)
e = Emsinwt = Emsin θ

BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus

Emf Equation

The emf induced per coil is given by:

The rms value of this emf:

For a distributed winding:

BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus

Fractionally Pitched Coils

BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus

Pitch Factor

BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus

 Distribution Factor
Here m=3 , if the
AB = Es = 2.r.sin γ /2
m value is more
then A,B,C,D,E
Vector sum = AD = Er = 2 r sin ( m γ /2) curve forms a
portion of circle
with radius ‘ r ‘
 Vector sum of coil emf s
Kd =
Arithmetic sum of emfs

= 2 r sin ( m γ/2) /(m * 2 sin γ/2)

Kd = Sin (m γ /2)/ m sin γ /2

Basic Synchronous Machine Model

The rotor has distributed windings which produce an

approximately sinusoidally distributed mmf wave in
space rotating at synchronous speed along with the
rotor.

BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus

Operating Modes

Va = Ea – Ia(Ra + jXs) [Generating Mode]

Va = Ea + Ia(Ra + jXl) [Motoring Mode]

BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus

Three Phase Circuit Equivalent

VL-L
Vt
Ef1
+ jXs Ra

Ia1

VL-L =3Vt

BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus

Voltage Regulation

As the load is thrown off keeping the field current constant,

the terminal voltage rises to:

The percentage voltage regulation at specified power factor

is given by:
Ef – Vt (rated) X 100%
Vt (rated)

BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus

BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
Determination of
Synchronous Reactance
If Ra is neglected, Ef = Vt + jIaXs

Under short-circuit condition (Ia = ISC, Vt = 0)

But Ef = VOC (open-circuit voltage with armature

current zero with same field current), with
linearity assumption:

BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus

OCC/SCC Ckt diagram

BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus

Open Circuit Characteristics

 The synchronous machine is driven at the synchronous

speed using a prime mover when the stator windings are
open circuited.
 The rotor winding current is varied, and stator winding
terminal voltage is measured.
 The relationship between the stator winding terminal
voltage and the rotor field current obtained by the open
circuit test is known as the open circuit characteristic
of the synchronous machine.

BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus

Open-Circuit and Short-Circuit
Characteristics

BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus

BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
Short Circuit Characteristics

BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus

SCC Circuit

BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus

Short Circuit Characteristics

(If corresponding to Vt rated

on OCC)

BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus

Short Circuit Losses

The losses comprise of:

 I2R loss in armature winding due to flow of short circuit
current
 Local core loss caused by armature leakage flux
 Core loss due to resultant air-gap flux. (Small)
 Windage and friction loss

BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus

Short Circuit Ratio
Another parameter used to describe synchronous generators is the
short-circuit ratio (SCR). The SCR of a generator defined as the
ratio of the field current required for the rated voltage at open
circuit to the field current required for the rated armature current
at short circuit. SCR is just the reciprocal of the per unit value of
the saturated synchronous reactance calculated by

Ef or Vt (V) Air-gap line

Isc (A)
OCC I f _ Vrated
Vrated
SCC SCR 
I f _ Iscrated
Isc,rated
1

X s _ sat in p.u .
If (A)
If_V rated If_Isc rated
BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
Short Circuit Ratio

BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus

Operating Characteristics

BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus

Operating Characteristics
T-δ Characteristics (Power Angle)

BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus

Operation at Constant Load and variable excitation

BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus

Operation at Constant Load
Generating Machine

BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus

BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
V - Curves

BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus

Inverted V Curves

BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus

Synchronous Condensers

 A synchronous condenser is a synchronous motor,

whose shaft is not connected to anything and spins
freely. Its purpose is not to convert electric power to
mechanical power, but to adjust conditions on the
electric power transmission grid.
 An over-excited synchronous motor has a leading power
factor.
 This makes it useful for power factor correction of
industrial loads as both transformers and induction
motors draw lagging currents from the line.

BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus

At no-load with losses assumed negligible, a synchronous
motor operates at
 =0

Behaves like variable inductor/capacitor : improves PF

BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus

BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
Consideration of Ra?

BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus

Synchronizing to Infinite Bus

Necessary conditions for synchronisation:

 The rms line voltages of the machine and IB must be equal.
 The machine and IB must have the same phase sequence.
 The phase angles of the two similar phases must be equal.
 The machine frequency is equal to the IB frequency.

BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus

Synchronizing to Infinite Bus
 As the two frequencies are not exactly equal, the
machine phasors are rotating slowly with respect
to the bus bar phasors. The acceptable phase
difference is of the order of 5o
 The instant of switching on (synchronization) is
determined such that the two voltages are almost
co-phasal.
VaA = 0
VbC = VcB
Where ABC and abc represent the two different
phasor sets.

 The same procedure has to be followed for a

synchronous motor which must be initially run by
an auxiliary device since they are not self starting.

 A synchroscope is an instrument that can be used

for synchronization.

BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus

Lamp Bright-Dark Method

 In this method, the lamps are connected asymmetrically as shown (fig).

 Two sets of star vectors will rotate at unequal speeds if the frequencies of
the two machines are different
 If the phase sequence is correct, the lamps brighten and grow dim in
sequence.
 Synchronization is done at the moment the uncrossed lamp L1 is in the
middle of the dark period. When the uncrossed lamp L1 is dark, then other
two crossed lamps L2&L3 are dimly but equally bright.

BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus