AC Machines – induced voltage – sinusoidal if
harmonics in air-gap B are suppressed – Techniques to
minimize harmonics
Simple AC m/c – output voltages in stator coils were
sinusoidal because air-gap B distribution is sinusoidal
If air-gap B not sinusoidal – stator output voltages will
not be sinusoidal
In general air-gap B distribution in AC m/c will not be
sinusoidal – flux distribution consists of fundamental
sinusoidal component and harmonics – which generates
harmonic components in stator V & I
One important technique to suppress unwanted
harmonics in V & I – use of fractional-pitch windings
Pole pitch – angular distance between two adjacent
poles on a machine
360
Pole pitch in mechanical degrees p P =
Regardless of no. of poles on a machine, a pole pitch is
always 180 electrical degrees
Full-coil pitch – if stator coil stretches same angle as p
If stator coil stretches across an angle smaller than a
pole pitch – fractional-pitch coil
Ref: Stephen J Chapman –
Electric Machinery Fundamentals
Ref: Stephen J Chapman – Electric Machinery Fundamentals
Pitch of fractional pitch coil – expressed as a fraction
indicating the portion of pole pitch it spans
Eg: a 5/6 pitch coil spans five-sixths of the distance
between two adjacent poles
Pitch of fractional pitch coil in electrical degrees
m m P
= X 180 =
p 2
m is mechanical angle covered by coil
Practical stator coils – fractional pitch – advantages
Windings employing fractional pitch coils – chorded
windings
Simple two pole m/c with fractional pitch winding
Pole pitch is 180° and coil pitch is
Assume magnitude of B
vector in airgap varies
sinusoidally with
mechanical angle
α – angle measured from direction of peak rotor B, then
magnitude of B at a point around rotor given by
B = BM cos
Rotor rotating within stator at angular velocity ωm, the
magnitude of B at any angle α around stator given by
B = BM cos( t − )
Induced voltage in a wire eind = ( v B ).l
Segment ab – α=90°+ρ/2
eba = -vBM cos[m t - (90 + )]l = -vBM lcos(m t - 90 − )
Segment cd – α=90°-ρ/2
2 2
edc = vBM cos[m t - (90 − )]l = vBM lcos(m t - 90 + )
2 2
Segment bc and da – eind = ( v B ).l = 0
Total voltage induced
eind = eba + edc = -vBM lcos(m t - 90 − ) + vBM lcos(m t - 90 + )
2 2
After applying trig. identities cos(a-b) and cos(a+b)
Total resulting voltage
eind = −2vBM lsin sin(m t - 90) = 2vBM lsin cosm t
2 2
Since 2vBM l =
e = sin cos t
ind m
2
For full-pitch winding eind = cost
Fractional pitch coil – same as voltage in full pitch coil
except sin/2 term
Define a term called pitch factor of coil k p k p = sin
2
In terms of pitch factor, ind. voltage in single-turn coil
eind = k pcosm t
Total voltage in N-turn fractional pitch coil
eind = N C k pcosm t
Peak Voltage Emax = N C k p = 2N C k pf
2
Rms Voltage EA = N C k pf = 2N C k pf
2
If coil pitch ρ is given in mechanical degrees, then
pitch factor given by m P
k p = sin
2
Real Machines – non-sinusoidal B distribution
Salient-pole Sync m/c – rotor
sweeping across stator surface
Reluctance of magnetic field
path is much lower directly under center than sides –
flux strongly concentrated at that point and B very high
Resulting induced voltage – non-sinusoidal – contains
harmonics frequency components
Voltage waveform symmetric – no even harmonics
Odd harmonics – 3, 5, 7, 9…..-present in phase voltage
Higher the number of given harmonic frequency comp.
– lower its magnitude in voltage – above 9th harmonic
effects may be ignored
Three-phase connection – 3rd harmonic and its
multiples (9th) – triplen harmonics – suppressed
Most of actual distortion – caused by 5th and 7th
harmonic frequencies – called belt harmonics – if these
comp. reduced – o/p voltage will be nearly sinusoidal
One solution – to design the machine with fractional
pitch windings
Key effect – electrical angle of nth harmonic is n times
the electrical angle of fundamental freq. component
If a coil spans 150° electrical at its fund. freq – it will
span 450° elect. for 3rd harmonic, 750° elect. for 5th …..
If ρ is elect.angle spanned by coil at its fund.freq and v
is the harmonic no. examined, then coil will span vρ
elect. degrees at that harmonic frequency
v
Pitch factor of coil at harmonic frequency is k p = sin
2
Pitch factor of a wdg – different for each harmonic freq
By proper choice of coil pitch – possible to almost
eliminate harmonic freq. components
Three-phase, two pole stator has coils with a 5/6 pitch
360
Pole pitch in mech.degrees p = = 180
P
Mech. pitch angle m of these coils–5/6 of 180=150°
m
Resulting pitch angle in elect. degrees = X 180 = 150
p
Two pole m/c, so mech.pitch angle = elect. pitch angle
Pitch factors for fund. and higher order harmonics
▪ Fundamental v 150
k p = sin = sin = 0.966
2 2
▪ Fifth harmonic k p = sin 5( 150 ) = 0.259
2
7( 150 )
▪ Seventh harmonic k p = sin = 0.259
2
Effect of coil pitch – 5th and 7th harmonics suppressed relative to
fundamental freq.
Fractional pitch wdgs – drastically reduce harmonic
content of machine’s output voltage – while also
causing a small decrease in its fundamental voltage
Windings associated with each phase – assumed to be
concentrated in a single pair of slots on stator surface
Reality – each phase wdg always distributed among
several adjacent pair of slots – impossible to put all
conductors into a single slot
AC Machines – several coils in each phase, distributed
in slots around inner surface of stator
Voltage in any single turn – very small – so by placing
many of these turns in series–reasonable voltages made
Large no. of turns physically divided among several
coils and coils are placed in slots equally spaced along
surface of rotor
Phase A Coils – 15T/Coil - Total no. of turns – 240 T
Slot pitch γ – Spacing in degrees between adjacent slots
on a stator – expressed in mechanical or elect. degrees
Stator coils – normally double-layer windings – easier
to manufacture – fewer slots for given no. of coils –
less expensive
Two pole, double layer, distributed full-pitch winding
Four coils associated with each phase
All coil sides of a phase placed in
adjacent slots – these sides known as
belt or phase group
Six phase belts in two pole stator
General – 3P phase belts on P pole
stator, P of them in each phase
Distributed winding using fractional pitch coils
Winding phase belts – phases of coils within an
individual slot may be mixed
Pitch of the coils is 5/6 or 150° electrical
Dividing total no. of turns into separate coils permits
more efficient use of inner surface of stator – provides
structural strength – since slots carved are smaller
Turns composing a given phase lie at different angles –
their voltages will be somewhat smaller
Machine with two pole
single layer wdg, with stator
wdg of each phase distributed
among three slots spaced
20° apart
If central coil of phase a has volt
Ea 2 = E0 V
The voltages of other two coils in phase a
Ea 1 = E − 20 V Ea 3 = E 20 V
Total voltage in phase a will be
Ea = Ea 1 + Ea 2 + Ea 3 = E − 20 + E0 + E 20
= Ecos(-20) + jEsin(-20) + E + Ecos(20) + jEsin(20)
= E + 2 Ecos20 = 2.879 E
If coils in a given phase is concentrated in same slot,
Ea = 3 E
Ratio of actual V in a phase of a distributed wdg to its
expected value in a concentrated wdg with same no. of
turns called breadth factor or distribution factor of wdg
V actual
kd =
V exp ected with no distribution
Distribution factor kd = 2.879 E = 0.960
3E
Convenient way to summarize the decrease in voltage
caused by spatial distribution of coils in stator
For a winding with n slots per phase belt spaced γ deg
apart, the distribution factor is given by
sin( n / 2 )
kd =
n sin( n / 2 )
With n=3 and γ=20°, distribution factor
sin( n / 2 ) sin( 3 * 20 / 2 )
kd = = = 0.960
n sin( n / 2 ) 3 sin( 20 / 2 )
RMS voltage in a single coil NC turns and pitch factor k p
E A = 2N C k pf
Stator phase consists of i coils each containing NC turns
No. of turns per phase NP = i NC
Voltage across phase – voltage due to NP turns all in
same slot times the reduction caused by dist. factor
E A = 2N P k p k d f
Pitch factor & distribution factor of a wdg combinely
called winding factor k w E = 2N k f
A P w
