ACEEE International Journal on Electrical and Power Engineering, Vol. 1, No.

2, July 2010
A Single Phase Induction Generator As Wind
Generator A New Concept and Design
Mrs. N.R. Kulkarni,
1
Dr.(Mrs.) Y.S. Apte
2
1
Associate ProIessor in Electrical Engg.Modern College oI Engg.Pune,India
nrkmcoegmail.com
2
Retired ProIessor,IIT,Mumbai,India
yashoda.aptegmail.com
12345674- Experimentation is done on a standard
induction motor, run as a single phase induction
generator. The guidelines obtained from the performance
of this trial machine are used to design and construct a
novel prototype single phase induction generator. This
novel design combines the concepts of ac tachogenerator,
ac servomotor and dc self excited generator. It can
generate at low sub synchronous speeds corresponding
wind speeds being of the order of two to three meters/sec.
Utility of this machine for converting wind power to
electrical power for household consumption is put forth as
a novel concept in this field. Details of construction and
mathematical design of a prototype machine are given.
The performance of the prototype machine is shown to
tally well with the design.
89A B CD5E3 B Fwind generator Tachogenerator, sub
synchronous speed, push pull amplifier, prototype
machine etc
I. INTRODUCTION
Section II presents some experiments conducted on a
trial machine and design oI a prototype single phase
wind generator. In section III principle oI operation oI
single phase Induction generator based on tacho
generator principle is elaborated. In Section IV
analytical design oI 1-ph. Induction generator is
described. In Section V peripheral circuit and
experimental setup is given. Section VI gives
experimental results, Excel and Matlab simulated
results with prototype machine and waveIorms
obtained. Section VII concludes with highlighting the
contributions oI this work. Future scope is described at
the end.
II. TRIAL ON PROTOTYPE MACHINE
A typical single phase induction motor oI rating 230
V, 3 Amp and 300 watt was taken Ior converting it to a
single phase generator Ior testing the novel concept oI
generating a voltage oI constant Irequency and
magnitude proportional to all speeds including the sub
synchronous speeds. This concept is taken Irom
working principle oI tachogenerator. Two windings,
main and auxiliary oI the machine were rewound at
quadrature in space so that no magnetic coupling
between the two windings takes place. Current ratings
oI main and auxiliary windings were 2.4A and 0.68A
respectively. Tapings at 50 winding were taken out
Ior Ilexibility oI connections and provision oI Ieedback.
A good quality Ian chosen by experimentation Irom a
number oI Ians was mounted on the generator shaIt.
From the analysis oI the experiments done on this
machine, it is concluded that designing a generator
based on the above concept would be worthwhile aIter
implementing some improvements such as increase in
length and optimising parameters like number oI i/p,
o/p winding turns and swg oI conductor, rotor
resistance (i.e. material used Ior rotor bars), proper
selection oI stampings etc. The basic principle oI
working oI generator is given below.
III. BASIC PRINCIPLE OF WORKING OF SINGLE
PHASE GENERATOR
The basic principle oI working oI the proposed
machine is that the o/p voltage is generated Ior any
speed ~ 0 and it increases with increasing rotor speed
and Irequency oI output is the same as input Irequency
as in AC tachogenerator.
Two windings are mounted at right angle to each
other i.e. in space quadrature. Rotor is squirrel cage i.e.
bars with end rings creating a short-circuited secondary
winding. Resistance oI rotor winding is taken high so
that X/R is small. Due to this Zero speed onward
generating action takes place and single phase motoring
action is eliminated. Most oI the literature on induction
generators |5,6,7,8,9,10|

reports generation at high or
super synchronous speeds making it useless Ior small
scale household generation where wind speeds are low.
When i/p is given to reIerence winding the magnetic
Iield produced along its axis can be represented as
equivalent to two clockwise and anticlockwise Iields oI
same magnitude and rotating in same directions. So the
torque produced is zero at standstill condition where
the torque oI each component is equal and opposite .
For any other speed (given by driving torque) the
resultant torque due to the two components is nonzero
and is negative due to x/R ratio oI the rotor keptsmaller
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ACEEE International Journal on Electrical and Power Engineering, Vol. 1, No. 2, July 2010
than1(generating action).It is balanced against the
driving torque giving steady speed.
A simple explanation oI the operation with
approximate phasor diagram is given below Iollowed
by design oI generator. Alternating Ilux vin vm sinwt
is produced due to current carried by reIerence or input
coil which is excited with ac voltage oI Irequency w
radian/sec.When rotor is rotated with speed N rpm ,
voltage is induced in rotor bars (Vgrb) under each halI oI
the reIerence/ input winding i.e. in the single turn rotor
coil with its axis along the quadrature axis. Directions
oI current in rotor bars under the two halves are
opposite as linear speeds are in opposite directions.
They Iorm a single coil carrying the current and
creating Ilux in quadrature.
The operation oI ac tachogenerator is similar to a dc
tacho generator because the excitation Ilux and the
generated rotor Ilux are at quadrature in space in both.
The magnitudes oI the voltages generated in the rotors
oI both are proportional to speed. However the Iluxes
being ac in the ac tachogenerator no brushes are
required to obtain output but the output voltage due to
the generated quadrature Ilux can be taken Irom stator
by transIormer action.
IV.DESIGN OF GENERATOR
Choice oI prototype machine
Material Ior stampings CRGO
Maximum Ilux density Ior
CRGO
1.6 wb/m
2
Diameter (OD) oI stator
(same as trial machine)
10.5 cm
Length oI stator was chosen
as Ls (Iour times oI trial
machine)
40 cm
Length oI air gap kept Lg 0.055 cm
Diameter oI rotor Dr 6.29 cm
Number oI stator slots 24
Stator slot pitch SSP 1.15 cm
Stator slot depth SSD 1.525 cm
Thickness below the slot Thmin 1.3 cm
Number oI Rotor slots 18
Rotor tooth width RTW 0.6 cm
Crossectional area oI rotor
slot
0.12 cm
2
rotor bar material Brass
Following are the steps oI design done in Window`s
Excel sheet.
The input Ilux density B is taken as reIerence vector as
shown in fig I. with arbitrary magnitude and phase
angle zero. Then Ilux uin is oI magnitude B*area oI a
slot*4 (As 4 slots are used Ior input winding at one
side) and same phase angle zero.
Flux density in tooth and core is calculated to keep
them within allowed limit.
Flux density oI tooth Bth wb/m
2
B*Single slot
pitch/Slot tooth width
Flux density in core
Bc wb/m
2
(4/2)/((Ls/100)*(Thmin/100))
Excitation Irequency is taken as an adjustable design
parameter Ampere turns (AT) required Ior gap
AtgiB*800000*2*Lg/100 |4|
Total ampere turns ATi 1.25*Atgi taking into
account those Ior the magnetic material path.EmI
induced per turn is
EmI/turn Et 4.44*4*f volts (rms).
Total emI induced in input winding Ei Et *No oI
turns Magnetising Current (rms) required Ior the given
Ampere turns Im (ATi/Ti)/\2 Magnetising reactance
Ior the given magnetising path Xmi Induced emI in
input winding/ Im Ei / Im
Lm Xmi/ (2*a*f)
Input winding resistance and output winding resistance,
Ri and Ro respectively can be measured.Input winding
leakage reactance Xli is assumed 15 oI Xmi
Total input impedance Ri fXli
The resistances oI rotor are calculated Ior rotor winding
around direct axis as Rrd and Ior rotor winding around
quadrature axis as Rrq each oI the two windings taken
as single turn winding.So the current Ird in rotor
winding around the direct axis given by transIormer
action is
Ird Induced emI per turn/resistance Rrd
Ird Ird transIerred to stator side Ird /No oI input turns
A. Rotor Side Calculations
As per the principle tachogenerator, generated
voltage by reIerence Ilux (Primary generation) in rotor
bar is
Jgrb d 4in/dtd (B *A)/dt
Where AArea engaged by Ilux, Bcorresponding Ilux
density Bm *sinwt. So
Jgrb d (Bm *sinwt *A)/ dt d (Bm *sinwt *S*L)/dt
Where S length oI arc oI stator engaged by Ilux
So Jgrb Bm*L ( d (sinwt*S)/dt) Bm*L*J *sinwt
where J velocity oI rotor bar.
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ACEEE International Journal on Electrical and Power Engineering, Vol. 1, No. 2, July 2010
Jgrb Bm*J*L sinwt
Thus generated voltage has two components oI 90
degree phase diIIerence
Generated voltage in turn Jgrt 2Bm*J*L sinwt
B. Quadrature / Output Side Calculations
The output side capacitor is designed to maximize
the output voltage due to resonance.Xmo is magnetising
reactance reIerred to output in output circuit
Xmo Xmi*(To/Ti)
2
Magnetising reactance reIerred to rotor side is
Xmr Xmo Xmo/ (To
2
)
At resonating condition Xmo Xco
Capacitive reactance reIerred to rotor side Xco Xco/
(To
2
)
Output resistance reIerred to rotor side Ro Ro/ (To
2
)
For no load condition and with the resonating capacitor
across the output Emq Jgrt (Neglecting the
approximation because oI the output winding resistance
Ro)Then the output current reIerred to rotor side Ior
Emq/ (RofXco)
Output voltage reIerred to rotor side Jor Ior *Xco
Output voltage Jop Jor*To
The Ilux density in quadrature axis Bmq is
BmqB*Emq /Ei
Vgrd i.e. Voltage generated in rotor bar (secondary
generated voltage) around direct axis has two
components similar to the primary generation
Jgrd1 Bmq*v*L*sinwt Total Jgrd 2Jgrd1
Total impedance oI rotor circuit ZrdRrdXmr
Current due to Vgrd generated in rotor circuit is Igrd
IgrdJgrd/Zrd, Ird Ei /Rrd


Erd
Ird

Bmq Im Bin Vgrt
Igrd Vgrd
Fig I. Phasor diagram
Input current IiIrd IgrdIm
At input side there are 138 turns centre tapped. So input
voltage Jin 2EiZi*Ii
Xci is input capacitor connected across input winding.
It is chosen practically in such a way that input
waveIorms have good sinusoidal shape though the
ampliIier input is a square wave.
Current in input capacitor Jin /Xci
Total current in the input circuit IinIiIc
IdcIin/1.11 Average output voltage is Voavg Total
resistance at output side Ro Rrd
Approximate Output power ((Joavg-Jb)*Jb)/(RoRrd)
Vb is the loading battery voltage.
Input powerIdc*Jinp/2
Parameters considered Ior optimising the output in the
excel design sheet are
i) The Input winding & Output winding turns
ii) Rotor winding resistance iii) Frequency oI reIerence
input iv) Capacitance across the output winding.
The density oI the excitation Ilux is adjusted so as to
obtain output voltage oI the speciIied value required Ior
charging a 12 volts battery. Out oI the 24 slots in the
stampings 8 and 16 slots are used Ior input winding and
output winding respectively. Those are at quadrature in
space. Total turns accommodated in these slots are
136(6868) with 34 conductors in a slot Ior input
winding and 400(200200) with 50 conductors in a slot
Ior output winding. Resistances oI these windings are
6.0 ohm and 12 ohm respectively. Rotor is squirrel
cage. Rotor bar resistance is 0.0064ohm. The resistance
oI the single turn rotor winding oI the cage rotor around
direct axis and quadrature axis winding are 0.0016
&0.0032 respectively. The chosen material Ior rotor
bars is brass
V. PERIPHERAL CIRCUITS AND LABORATORY
SETUP
As the optimizing Irequency happens to be not
equal to 50 Hz, the excitation voltage needs to be
generated. A low Irequency generator Irom laboratory
is used Ior this purpose. As its output current is very
low (about 100 mA) a three stage ampliIier was
designed. Switching mode, square wave input and
push-pull type stages are chosen Ior the design in order
to keep loss in transistors low to avoid their heating.
Electrical motor is used to drive the generator Ior
laboratory experiments. The linear wind speeds
required to create rotational speeds oI the Iollowing
table are in the range oI 2.5m/s to 5m/s Ior the chosen
Ian oI diameter 1m and this small generator oI dia.
6.29cm and length 40cm
VI. EXPERIMENTAL OBSERVATIONS
The capacitor Ci across the input winding is chosen
practically Ior good sinusoidal Iorm oI Vin across the
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input winding. Capacitor connected across i/p winding
Ci1100 microF, Capacitor connected across o/p
winding Co 122 microF Observations taken on this
system with no load on output are given in Table No
I(i). WaveIorms are observed and they are good. The
observations tallied well with the corresponding
variables oI design sheet. The system perIormance was
enhanced Iurther by giving Ieedback The Ieedback
design could not be done in excel sheet as the soItware
cannot do circular computation. So Ieedback design
was done by practical trials. It was then veriIied by
MATLAB simulation.Again Ieedback capacitor CI was
chosen practically to maximize output voltage. This CI
is 50 microF (100100 microF in series)The results oI
experimentation Ior Ieedback and loading (12V
battery) and the waveIorms are given below in FigII.
It is observed Irom above mentioned readings and
waveIorms that output increases with speed more than
proportionately and results are matching with excel
sheet design results. In closed loop circuit the Ieedback
capacitor was chosen to give maximum output voltage.
As it was expected the output voltage is larger in this
case. WaveIorm across (VcI and Vo) and (VcI and Vin )
were observed in order to measure relative phase
angles. Both the pair have common point as earthing
point oI DSO. So one Irom each pair is taken as
negative while calculating phase diIIerence between Vo
and Vin as shown in Table No I.(ii)
TABLE NO I(I)
OBSERVATIONS FOR OPEN LOOP SYSTEM
Sr.No Speed Vip Vcc Freq Idc Vop
1 800 7 3.92 18.5 0.75 4
2 1200 7 3.92 19.4 0.75 8
3 1500 7 3.92 22.9 0.75 14
4 1550 8 3.95 23.4 0.75 16
5 1690 8 3.95 23.9 0.75 25
6 1750 8 3.95 24 0.65 26
7 1925 8 3.95 26.2 0.65 28
where Vip Peak input voltage Vcc Battery voltage required Ior ampliIier Freq Input Irequency Idc AmpliIier output current/current in the halI input winding ,Vop Peak output voltage
TABLE NO I.(II)
OBSERVATIONS FOR FEEDBACK AND LOADING 12 V BATTERY
Matlab Simulation
The Excel model is Iitted to the practical observations
by minor adjustment oI the parameters like ampere
turns required Ior magnetic path, leakage Ilux density,
air gap length, Rrd etc which cannot be measured
accurately.
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Sr
No
Speed
rpm
freq
Hz
Idc
Amp
Vop
Volts
Vip
Volts
Ifb
A
IL
mA
Vcc
Volts
Angle
bet Vin
and Vcf
Angle
bet
Vout
and Vcf
Angle
betVi&V
o
1 1350 19.3 0.7 15 7 0.085 0 3.9 54 21 33
2 1350 19.3 0.725 12 7 0.05 5 3.9 54 21 33
3 1500 20.8 0.7 20 7 0.1 0 3.9 72 15 63
4 1500 20.8 0.725 12 7 0.08 15 3.9 72 15 57
5 1650 22.5 0.7 32 7 0.14 0 3.9 80 15 65
6 1650 22.5 0.75 12 7 0.08 24 0.3 80 21 59
7 1750 23.0 0.7 33 7 0.15 0 3.9 90 16 74
8 1750 23.0 0.7 12 7 0.08 25 3.9 90 24 66
ACEEE International Journal on Electrical and Power Engineering, Vol. 1, No. 2, July 2010
Then magnitude and phase angles oI all variables
matched well with Excel results. The same model is
then simulated in Matlab to observe dynamic
perIormance.
The waveIorms oI various variables matched with
those observed in practical and saved by photograph oI
the display on oscilloscope.It is easy to veriIy dynamic
perIormance oI machine by Matlab simulation. So
veriIication oI results oI experimentations Ior open
loop is done by Matlab simulation as well as by Excel.
Fig.II. Vop &Vinp Ior1500 rpm
TABLE NO II.
OPEN LOOP OUTPUT VOLTAGE FOR PRACTICAL OBSERVATION, MATLAB, EXCEL SIMULATION
r.No Speed
In rpm
Freq
In Hz
Vinp Vop Angle between Vin and Vo
Matlab
Design
Excel
Design
Observe
d values
Matlab
Design
Excel
Design
Observed
Values
Matlab
Design
Excel
Design
Observed
Values
1 1150 18.5 7.0 7.1 7.0 9.0 9.0 9.0 72 74 72
2 1350 19.2 7.0 6.9 7.0 13.0 13.06 13.5 90 81 108
3 1500 20 7.0 8.53 7.0 15.5 15.3 15 72 89 72
VII. CONCLUSION
As mentioned above the theoretical and practical
results tallied well. This developed conIidence in the
strategy oI design in which theoretical design and
practical design was alternately used as per
convenience and veriIied at every stage by the other.
The present research establishes that the innovative
concept oI using a single phase externally excited low
Irequency; induction machine working on a. c.
tachogenerator principle is useIul Ior household wind
generation as it operates at low wind speeds and over a
long enough range oI speeds giving constant Irequency
output. The machine is suitable as a household unit
because oI its low inertia and low maintenance
requirements. This is the Iirst successIul trial oI this
kind as Iound Irom recent literature survey.
REFERENCES
1)Hugh Piggott 'Wind power workshop` Centre Ior
Alternative Technology publication 1997
2)Paul Gipe 'Wind power for Home and Business` Ama:on
.com new edition2004
3)I.J.Nagrath & M. Gopal 'Control System Engineering
New age international publisher 3
rd
edition 1999
4)M.G.Sav 'PerIormance and design oI alternating current
machines CBS publisher & Distributers, New Delhi 3
rd
Edition, reprint 2002.
5)S.S. Murthy, H.C.Rai, A.K.Tandon 'A novel selI excited
selI regulated single phase Induction Generator part-I &II
IEEE transactions Energy Conversion, Vol 8, No3
September 1993 pp 377-388
6)S.P. Singh, Dr. B Singh and Dr. M.P. Jain, Optimisation
oI a SelI excited Cage Induction Generator Design IE (I)
JOURNAL: Vol 76 May 1995 pp 18-22
7)H.L. Rai, ProI. Singh, ProI S.S. Murthy 'SimpliIied
approach Ior the analysis oI single phase IE (I) JOURNAL
Vol 79 Feb 1999 pp 167-171
8)Abdin E.S., Xu. W. `Control Design and Dynamic
perIormance analysis oI wind turbine- induction generator
unit. IEEE transactions on Energy Conversion, Vo 15, No1
March 2000 pp 91-96
9)Bog Dow, S Borowy, Ziyad M Salameh 'Dynamic
response oI standalone wind energy conversion
system with battery energy storage to a wind gust IEEE
transactions on Energy Conversion, Vo 12, No1 March 1997
10)M.Godov Simoes, Sudipta Chakrabortv, Robert Wood
Induction generator Ior small wind energy system IEEE
power Electronics Societv News Letter Third edition 2006
pp 19-22
N.R. Kulkarni was born on 07 December, 1963. She received
the B.E. (Electrical) in1985 Irom WCE, Sangli, India, M.E.
(Electrical) in1998 and is pursuing Ph.D. (Electrical
Engg)degree, Currently, she is Associate proIessor in
Electrical Engineering Department, Modern college oI Engg
Pune. Her areas oI interest include electrical machines, wind
energy conversion, power quality, and control systems.
Y.S.Apte was born on 25 September 1939. She
received the B.E. (Electrical) Irom WCE, Sangli,
India in 1961, M. Tech (Electrical) in1966 and
Ph.D. degrees in1976Irom IIT, Mumbai, India
respectively. She was associated with IIIT,
Mumbai Ior 30 years and She is working as R&D
Dean in Modern College oI Engg. Pune She has
many publications in the areas oI Multivariable
control system. Her areas oI interest include
Multivariable control system & machine analysis,
system reliability and renewable energy.
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