The mechanical power for an electric generator is usually obtained from a rotating shaft and is

equal to the shaft torque multiplied by the rotational, or angular, velocity. The mechanical power
may come from a number of sources: hydraulic turbines at dams or waterfalls; wind turbines;
steam turbines using steam produced with heat from the combustion of fossil fuels or from
nuclear fission; gas turbines burning gas directly in the turbine; or gasoline and diesel engines.
The construction and the speed of the generator may vary considerably depending on the
characteristics of the mechanical prime mover.
Nearly all generators used to supply electric power networks generate alternating current, which
reverses polarity at a fixed frequency (usually 50 or 60 cycles, or double reversals, per second).
Since a number of generators are connected into a power network, they must operate at the same
frequency for simultaneous generation. They are therefore known as synchronous generators or,
in some contexts, alternators.

Synchronous generators
A major reason for selecting alternating current for power networks is that its continual variation
with time allows the use of transformers. These devices convert electrical power at whatever
voltage and current it is generated to high voltage and low current for long-distance transmission
and then transform it down to a low voltage suitable for each individual consumer (typically 120
or 240 volts for domestic service). The particular form of alternating current used is a sine wave,
which has the shape shown inFigure 1. This has been chosen because it is the only repetitive
shape for which two waves displaced from each other in time can be added or subtracted and
have the same shape occur as the result. The ideal is then to have all voltages and currents of sine
shape. The synchronous generator is designed to produce this shape as accurately as is practical.
This will become apparent as the major components and characteristics of such a generator are
described below.

Rotor
An elementary synchronous generator is shown in cross section in Figure 2. The central shaft of
the rotor is coupled to the mechanical prime mover. The magnetic field is produced
by conductors, or coils, wound into slots cut in the surface of the cylindrical iron rotor. This set
of coils, connected in series, is thus known as the field winding. The position of the field coils is
such that the outwardly directed or radial component of the magnetic field produced in the air
gap to the stator is approximately sinusoidally distributed around the periphery of the rotor.
In Figure 2, the field density in the air gap is maximum outward at the top, maximum inward at
the bottom, and zero at the two sides, approximating a sinusoidal distribution.

Stator
The stator of the elementary generator in Figure 2 consists of a cylindrical ring made of iron to
provide an easy path for the magnetic flux. In this case, the stator contains only one coil, the two
sides being accommodated in slots in the iron and the ends being connected together by curved
conductors around the stator periphery. The coil normally consists of a number of turns.
When the rotor is rotated, a voltage is induced in the stator coil. At any instant, the magnitude of
the voltage is proportional to the rate at which the magnetic field encircled by the coil is
changing with timei.e.,the rate at which the magnetic field is passing the two sides of the coil.
The voltage will therefore be maximum in one direction when the rotor has turned 90 from the
position shown in Figure 2 and will be maximum in the opposite direction 180 later. The
waveform of the voltage will be approximately of the sine form shown in Figure 1.

Frequency

The rotor structure of the generator in Figure 2 has two poles, one for magnetic flux directed
outward and a corresponding one for flux directed inward. One complete sine wave is induced in
the stator coil for each revolution of the rotor. The frequency of the electrical output, measured in
hertz (cycles per second) is therefore equal to the rotor speed in revolutions per second. To
provide a supply of electricity at 60 hertz, for example, the prime mover and rotor speed must be
60 revolutions per second, or 3,600 revolutions per minute. This is a convenient speed for many
steam and gas turbines. For very large turbines, such a speed may be excessive for reasons of
mechanical stress. In this case, the generator rotor is designed with four poles spaced at intervals
of 90. The voltage induced in a stator coil, which spans a similar angle of 90, will consist of
two complete sine waves per revolution. The required rotor speed for a frequency of 60 hertz is
then 1,800 revolutions per minute. For lower speeds, such as are employed by most water
turbines, a larger number of pole pairs can be used. The possible values of rotor speed, in
revolutions per minute, are equal to 120 f/p, where f is the frequency and p the number of poles

Stator windings
The maximum value of flux density in the air gap is limited by magnetic saturation in the stator
and rotor iron, and is typically about one tesla (weber per square metre). The effective, or rootmean-square (rms), voltage induced in one turn of a stator coil in a 2-pole, 60-hertz generator is
about 170 volts for each metre squared of area encompassed by the turn. Large synchronous
generators are usually designed for a terminal voltage of several thousand volts. Each stator coil
may therefore contain a number of insulated turns of conductor, and each stator winding usually
consists of a number of similar coils placed in sequential slots in the stator surface and connected
in series as shown for the winding a-a in Figure 3.

Phases
The voltages induced in individual coils in the distributed winding of Figure 3 are somewhat
displaced in time from each other. As a result, the maximum winding voltage is somewhat less
than the voltage per coil multiplied by the number of coils. The waveform is, however, still of
approximately sine form. In the figure the winding a-a spans two arcs, each of 60. In order to
make use of the whole periphery of the stator surface, two other similar windings are inserted.
The voltage induced in winding b-b will be equal in peak magnitude to that of a-a but will be
delayed in time by one-third of a cycle. The voltage in winding c-c will be delayed by an
additional third of a cycle. This is known as a three-phase system of windings. The waveforms
for the three windings, or phases, are shown in Figure 4.
The three-phase arrangement has a number of advantages. A single winding, or phase, requires
two conductors for transmission of its electrical power to a load. At first glance, it might appear
that six conductors would be required for the system in Figure 3. If, however, the waveforms
of Figure 4 are considered to be those of the currents flowing in the three-phase windings, it will
be seen that the sum of the three currents is zero at every instant in time. Thus, as long as the
three phases are loaded equally, the terminals a, b, and c of Figure 3 can be connected together
to form a neutral point that may either be connected to ground or in some cases left open. The
power of all three phases can be transmitted on three conductors. This connection is called a star,
or wye, connection. Alternatively, since the three winding voltages also sum to zero at every
instant, the three windings can be connected in seriesa to b, b to c, and c to ato form
a delta connection. The output can then be transmitted using only three conductors connected to

the three junction points. Other advantages of the three-phase system will become evident in the
discussion of electric motors below.

Field excitation
A source of direct current is required for the field winding, as sketched in Figure 2. In very small
synchronous generators, this current may be supplied from an external source by fitting the
generator shaft with two insulated copper (or slip) rings, connecting the field coil ends to the
rings and providing a connection to the external source through fixed carbon brushes bearing on
the rings.
The power required for the field winding is that which is dissipated as heat in the winding
resistance. In large generators, this is usually less than 1 percent of thegenerator rating, but in a
generator with a capacity of 1,000 megavolt-amperes this will still be several megawatts. For
most large synchronous generators, the field current is provided by another generator, known as
an exciter, mounted on the same shaft. This may be a direct-current generator. In most modern
installations, a synchronous generator is used as the exciter. For this purpose, the field windings
of the exciter are placed on its stator and the phase windings on its rotor. A rectifier mounted on
the rotating shaft is used to convert the alternating current to direct current. The field current of
the main generator can then be adjusted by controlling the field current of the exciter.

Generator rating
The capacity of a synchronous generator is equal to the product of the voltage per phase, the
current per phase, and the number of phases. It is normally stated in megavolt-amperes (MVA)
for large generators or kilovolt-amperes (kVA) for small generators. Both the voltage and the
current are the effective, or rms, values (equal to the peak value divided by 2).
The voltage rating of the generator is normally stated as the operating voltage between two of its
three terminalsi.e., the phase-to-phase voltage. For a winding connected in delta, this is equal
to the phase-winding voltage. For a winding connected in wye, it is equal to 3 times the phasewinding voltage.
The capacity rating of the machine differs from its shaft power because of two factorsnamely,
the power factor and the efficiency. The power factor is the ratio of the real power delivered to
the electrical load divided by the total voltagecurrent product for all phases. The efficiency is
the ratio of the electrical power output to the mechanical power input. The difference between
these two power values is the power loss consisting of losses in the magnetic iron due to the
changing flux, losses in the resistance of the stator and rotor conductors, and losses from the
windage and bearing friction. In large synchronous generators, these losses are generally less
than 5 percent of the capacity rating. These losses must be removed from the generator by
a cooling system to maintain the temperature within the limit imposed by the insulation of the
windings.

High-speed synchronous generators

Generators driven by high-speed steam turbines are almost always constructed with horizontal
shafts. The rotor diameter is usually limited to a maximum of about one metre because of the
high centrifugal forces produced. The length of the rotor may be several metres. The rotor shaft
and the field structure are made of a solid alloy steel forging in which slots are machined to

accept the field coils, as shown in Figure 2. These coils are insulated typically with mica and
glass laminate. The coils are held in place by nonmagnetic wedges in the tops of the slots.
The stator provides a path for the continuously varying magnetic flux. The stator core is
therefore constructed of thin sheets, or laminations, of magnetic steel. The steel, being an
electrical conductor, would tend to short-circuit the voltage induced in it if it were solid.
Lamination breaks up the conducting path along the stator length and keeps the power losses in
the stator steel at an acceptable value. Slots are punched around the inside periphery of the
laminations to accommodate the stator coils. In large generators, each stator coil normally
contains only one turn.
High-speed generators are enclosed within a closed cylindrical stator housing that extends
between the bearings at the two ends. They are cooled by hydrogen gas circulating within the
housing and also frequently through ducts within the stator conductors. Very large generators are
cooled by circulating water through the stator and rotor conductors.
The ratings of synchronous generators for large power systems extend up to about 2,000
megavolt-amperes. Smaller power systems use generators of lower rating (e.g., 50 megavoltamperes and up) since it is usually not desirable to have more than 10 percent of the total
required system generation in one machine.

Waterwheel generators
Hydraulic turbines are of various types, the choice depending largely on the height of water fall
and on the power rating. The range of speed for which hydraulic turbines give acceptable
efficiency is much lower than for steam turbines. The rotational speed is generally in the range of
60 to 720 revolutions per minute. The construction of low-speed synchronous generators is
substantially different from that of high-speed units. To produce power at 60 hertz, the number of
rotor poles is in the range of 10 to 120 for the above speed range. For these machines the rotor
poles are of the projecting, or salient, type. Figure 5 shows two poles of a 12-pole generator.
Each pole, made of laminated magnetic steel, is encircled by a field coil. The pole is shaped so as
to make the air-gap magnetic field distribution approximately sinusoidal.
Large hydraulic generators may have individual ratings in excess of 200 megavolt-amperes.
They are mounted with a vertical shaft directly coupled to the turbine. The combination is
usually supported on a single bearing, either above or below. The diameter is made relatively
large to obtain a high peripheral velocity at low rotational speeds. The axial length of the
generator is relatively short. The windings are frequently water-cooled. The rotor has to be
designed to withstand a considerable overspeed condition that may arise if the generator loses its
electrical load and there is a significant time delay in cutting off the water flow to the turbine.

Generators for motor vehicles

Vehicles such as automobiles, buses, and trucks require a direct-voltage supply for ignition,
lights, fans, and so forth. In modern vehicles the electric power is generated by
an alternator mechanically coupled to the engine. The alternator normally has a rotor field coil
supplied with current through slip rings. The stator is fitted with a three-phase winding.
A rectifier is used to convert the power from alternating to direct form. A regulator is used to
control the field current so that the output voltage of the alternator-rectifier is properly matched
to the battery voltage as the speed of the engine varies