We know that the armature circuit in lap winding of a multipolar machine has as many parallel paths as the number of poles. Because of wear in the bearings, and for other reasons, the air gaps in a generator become unequal and, therefore, the flux in some poles becomes greater than in others. This causes the voltages of the different paths to be unequal. With unequal voltages in these parallel paths, circulating current will flow even if no current is supplied to an external load. If these currents are large, some of the brushes will be required to carry a greater current at full load than they were designed to carry and this will cause sparking. To relieve the brushes of these circulating currents, points on the armature that are at the same potential are connected together by means of read more

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In this method, an arrangement is made to neutralize the reactance voltage by producing a reversing voltage in the coil undergoing commutation. The reversing voltage acts in opposition to the reactance voltage and neutralizes it to some extent. If the reversing voltage is equal to the reactance voltage, the effect of the latter is completely wiped out and we get sparkless commutation. The reversing voltage may be produced in the following two ways: (i) By brush shifting (ii) By using interpoles or compoles (i) By brush shifting In this method, the brushes are given sufficient forward lead (for a generator) to bring the short-circuited coil (i.e., coil undergoing commutation) under the influence of the next pole of opposite polarity. Since the short-circuited coil is now in the reversing read more

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Improving commutation means to make current reversal in the short-circuited coil as sparkless as possible. The following are the two principal methods of improving commutation: (i) Resistance commutation (ii) E.M.F. commutation We shall discuss each method in turn. Resistance Commutation The reversal of current in a coil (i.e., commutation) takes place while the coil is short-circuited by the brush. Therefore, there are two parallel paths for the current as long as the short circuit exists. If the contact resistance between the brush and the commutator is made large, then current would divide in the inverse ratio of contact resistances (as for any two resistances in parallel). This is the key point in improving commutation. This is achieved by using carbon brushes (instead of Cu read more

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Fig. (2.6) shows the schematic diagram of 2-pole lap-wound generator. There are two parallel paths between the brushes. Therefore, each coil of the winding carries one half (Ia/2 in this case) of the total current (Ia) entering or leaving the armature. Note that the currents in the coils connected to a brush are either all towards the brush (positive brush) or all directed away from the brush (negative brush). Therefore, current in a coil will reverse as the coil passes a brush. This reversal of current as the coil passes & brush is called commutation. The reversal of current in a coil as the coil passes the brush axis is called commutation. When commutation takes place, the coil undergoing commutation is shortcircuited by the brush. The brief period during which the coil remains read more

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With the brushes in the G.N.A. position, there is only cross-magnetizing effect of armature reaction. However, when the brushes are shifted from the G.N.A. position, the armature reaction will have both demagnetizing and crossmagnetizing effects. Consider a 2-pole generator with brushes shifted (lead) θm mechanical degrees from G.N.A. We shall identify the armature conductors that produce demagnetizing effect and those that produce cross-magnetizing effect. (i) The armature conductors θ°m on either side of G.N.A. produce flux in direct opposition to main flux as shown in Fig. (2.4) (i). Thus the conductors lying within angles AOC = BOD = 2θm at the top and bottom of the armature produce demagnetizing effect. These are called demagnetizing armature conductors and constitute the read more

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With no current in armature conductors, the M.N.A. coincides with G.N.A. However, when current flows in armature conductors, the combined action of main flux and armature flux shifts the M.N.A. from G.N.A. In case of a generator, the M.N.A. is shifted in the direction of rotation of the machine. In order to achieve sparkless commutation, the brushes have to be moved along the new M.N.A. Under such a condition, the armature reaction produces the following two effects: 1. It demagnetizes or weakens the main flux. 2. It cross-magnetizes or distorts the main flux. Let us discuss these effects of armature reaction by considering a 2-pole generator (though the following remarks also hold good for a multipolar generator). (i) Fig. (2.3) (i) shows the flux due to main poles (main flux) when the read more

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In a d.c. generator, the purpose of field winding is to produce magnetic field (called main flux) whereas the purpose of armature winding is to carry armature current. Although the armature winding is not provided for the purpose of producing a magnetic field, nevertheless the current in the armature winding will also produce magnetic flux (called armature flux). The armature flux distorts and weakens the main flux posing problems for the proper operation of the d.c. generator. The action of armature flux on the main flux is called armature reaction. It was hinted that current in the coil is reversed as the coil passes a brush. This phenomenon is termed as commutation. The criterion for good commutation is that it should be sparkless. In order to have sparkless commutation, the brushes read more

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