THE ALTERNATOR

(ГЕНЕРАТОР ЗМІННОГО СТРУМУ)

      The alternator is an electric machine for generating an alternating current by a relative motion of conductors and a magnetic field. The machine usually has a rotating field and a stationary armature. In a synchronous alternator the magnetic field is excited with a direct current. The direction of an induced e.m.f. is reversed each time when a conductor passes from a pole of one polarity to a pole at another polarity. Most machines of this type are used for lighting and power, but there are alternators with a revoking armature and a stationary field. They are used in small sizes mostly for special purposes.

      Any electrical machine is reversible. When a machine is driven by a source of mechanical power, it works as a generator and delivers electrical power. If it is connected to a source of electrical power, it produces mechanical energy, and operates as a motor. The alternator may also be operated as a motor.

MAIN STRUCTURAL ELEMENTS OF A D. C. MACHINE
(ГЕНЕРАТОР ПОСТІЙНОГО СТРУМУ)

   

 A direct-current machine consists of two main parts, a stationary part, usually called the stator, designed mainly for producing a magnetic flux, and a rotating part, called the armature or the rotor. The stationary and rotating parts should be separated from each other by an air-gap. The stationary part of a d.c. machine consists of main poles, designed to create the main magnetic flux; commutating poles interposed between the main poles; and a frame. It should be noted here that sparkless operation of the machine would be impossible without the commutating poles. Thus, they should ensure sparkless operation of the brushes at the commutator.

      The main pole consists of a laminated core the end of which facing the armature carries a pole shoe and a field coil through which direct current passes. The armature is a cylindrical body rotating in the space between the poles and comprising a slotted armature core, a winding inserted in the armature slots, a commutator, and a brush gear.

      The frame is the stationary part of the machine to which are fixed the main and commutating poles and by means of which the machine is bolted to its bedplate. The ringshaped portion which serves as the path for the main and commutating pole fluxes is called the yoke. End-shields or frame-heads which carry the bearings are also attached to the frame.

      Of these main structural elements of the machine the yoke, the pole cores, the armature core and the air-gap between the armature core and the pole core are known to form the magnetic circuit while the pole coils, the armature windings, the commutator and brushes should form the electric circuit of the machine.

GENERATORS

       The powerful, highly efficient generators and alternators that are in use today operate on the same principle as the dynamo invented by the great English scientist Faraday in 1831.

       Dynamo-electric machines are used to supply light, heat and power on a large scale. These are the machines that produce more than 99.99 per cent of all the world's electric power.

      There are two types of dynamos – the generator and the alternator. The former supplies d. c. which is similar to the current from a battery and the latter provides a. c. To generate electricity both of them must be continuously provided with energy from some outside source of mechanical energy such as steam engines, steam turbines or water turbines.

      A generator is an electric machine, which converts mechanical energy into electric energy. There are direct-current (d. c.) generators and alternating-current (a. c.) generators. Their construction is much alike. A d. c. generator consists of stationary and rotating elements. The stationary elements are: the yoke or the frame and the field structure. The yoke forms the closed circuit for the magnetic flux. The function of the magnetic structure is to produce the magnetic field.

         What is an electricity generator? 

    An electricity generator is a device for converting mechanical energy into electrical energy. The process is based on the relationship between magnetism and electricity. When a wire or any other electrically conductive material moves across a magnetic field, an electric current occurs in the wire. The large generators used by the electric utility industry have a stationary conductor. When the magnet rotates inside the stationary conductor it induces a small electric current in each section of wire as it passes. Each section of wire constitutes a small, separate elastic conductor. All the small currents of individual sections add up to one current of considerable size. This current is what is used for electric power.

ELECTRIC CIRCUITS 

The concepts of electric charge and potential are very important in the study of electric currents. When an extended conductor has different potentials at its ends, the free electrons of the conductor itself are caused to drift from one end to the other. The potential difference must be maintained by some electric source such as electrostatic generator or a battery or a direct current generator. The wire and the electric source together form an electric circuit, the electrons are drifting around it as long as the conducting path is maintained.

ELECTRIC CURRENT

The electric current is a quantity of electrons flowing in a circuit per second of time. The unit of measure for current is ampere. If one coulomb passes a point in a circuit per second then the current strength is 1 ampere. The symbol for current is I. 

The current which flows along wires consists of moving electrons. The electrons move along the circuit because the e.m.f. (electromotive force) drives them. The current is directly proportional to the e.m.f. 

In addition to traveling through solids, however, the electric current can flow through liquids as well and even through gases. In both cases it produces some most important effects to meet industrial requirements.

WHAT IS ELECTRICITY? 

Electricity is a form of energy. Electricity is a flow of electrons. All matter is made of atoms, and an atom has a center, called a nucleus. The nucleus contains positive charges called protons and uncharged called neutrons. The nucleus of atom is surrounded by negatively charged particles called electrons. The negative charge of electron is equal to the positive charge of a proton, and the number of electrons in an atom is usually equal to the number of protons. When the balancing force between protons and electrons is upset by an outside force, an atom may gain or lose an electron. When electrons are “lost” from an atom, the free movement of these electrons constitutes an electric current. 

Electricity is a basic part of nature and it is one of our most widely used forms of energy. We get electricity, which is a secondary energy source, from the conversion of other sources of energy, like coal, natural gas, oil, nuclear power and other natural sources, which are called primary energy.