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INDEX
INTRODUCTION............................................................ 5
MATERIALS USED IN PROJECT...................................... 6
WORKING PRINCIPLE.................................................... 7
HISTORY........................................................................ 8
IMAGE OF PROJECT...................................................... 9
PRECAUTIONS............................................................. 10
GENERAL COPONENTS.................................................11
GENERAL PARTS.......................................................... 12
TYPES OF DC GENERATOR........................................... 13
USES OF DC GENERATOR............................................ 14
APPLICATIONS............................................................. 15
REFERENCE................................................................. 16
CONCLUSION.............................................................. 17

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 INTRODUCTION

WHAT IS A GENERATOR?
Generator or Dynamo is a device for converting mechanical
energy into electrical energy. In the simplest form of
dynamo, a suitable conductor, in the form of a coil is rotated
between the poles of a field magnet. The mechanical energy
of the rotation is thus converted into electrical energy in the
form of a current in the armature.

What will we do in this project?

The project has a DC motor. We know that we can connect
DC motor to a battery and the motor rotates. We will use
the same motor to generate electricity. That means, if we
rotate the shaft of the motor by hand, the armature will spin
between magnetic poles inside the motor. This will produce
electricity and current will start flowing in the armature. As
we connect LED to the contact points of the motor, the
current flows in the circuit and LED glows. We will rotate
shaft of the motor using large pulley and a small pulley
connected to the motor.

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Materials used in project
1. Wooden board
2. Plastic pulley
3. Wooden batten
4. Bolt and nuts
5. DC motor
6. Locking stripe for fixing motor
7. Rubber band
8. Foam pieces with both sided tape
9. Screw for fitting
10. LED(to be used as bulb)
11. Folding straw
12. Wire pieces
13. washer

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 Working principle
There are two types of generator, one is ac generator and other is dc
generator. Whatever may be the types of generator, it always converts
mechanical power to electrical power. An AC generator produces
alternating current. A DC generator produces direct current. Both of
these generators produce electrical power, based on same
fundamental principle of Faraday’s law of electromagnetic induction.
According to Faraday’s laws of electromagnetic induction, whenever a
conductor is placed in a varying magnetic field ,an emf (electromotive
force) gets induced in the conductor. The magnitude of induced emf
can be calculated from the emf equation of dc generator. If the
conductor is provided with the closed path, the induced current will
circulate within the path. In a DC generator, field coils produce an
electromagnetic field and the armature conductors are rotated into the
field. Thus, an electromagnetically induced emf is generated in the
armature conductors. The direction of induced current is given by
Fleming’s right hand rule. According to Fleming’s right hand rule, the
direction of induced current changes whenever the direction of motion
of the conductor changes. Let’s consider an armature rotating
clockwise and a conductor at the left is moving upward. When the
armature completes a half rotation, the direction of motion of that
particular conductor will be reversed to downward. Hence, the
direction of current in every armature conductor will be alternating.
You will know how the direction of the induced current is alternating in
an armature conductor. But with a split ring commutator, connections
of the armature conductors also gets reversed when the current
reversal occurs. And therefore, we get unidirectional current at the
terminals.

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 HISTORY
Before the connection between magnetism and electricity
was discovered, electrostatic generators were invented. They
operated on electrostatic principles, by using moving
electrically charged belts, plates, and disks that carried
charge to a high potential electrode. The charge was
generated using either of two mechanisms: electrostatic
induction or the triboelectric effect. Such generators
generated very high voltage and low current. Because of
their inefficiency and the difficulty of insulating machines
that produced very high voltages, electrostatic generators
had low power ratings, and were never used for generation
of commercially significant quantities of electric power. Their
only practical applications were to power early X-ray tubes,
and later in some atomic particle accelerators.

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 IMAGE OF PROJECT

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 PRECAUTIONS
1. You should always keep your work area clean and well lit.
2. All motors include many small parts; keep very young children
away from your work area.
3. Motors spin very fast; always wear safety goggles.
4. Super Glue, provided with most of the kits, is “instant bonding”.
Point tube away from face and body. Do not squeeze while
opening.
5. The T-pin and pushpin are sharp, be careful not to poke
yourself.
6. Do not leave the motor unattended.
7. If you leave the battery shorted for a long period of time it may
rupture or even explode.
8. Do not exceed 12 Volts to power the motors. You may get an
electric shock. High voltages may also cause parts to overheat
and create a fire.
9. If the current flowing through the transistor is big, it may get
very hot. Do not touch it to prevent burns.
10. The soldering iron gets very hot! Be very careful with this
tool, as it is easy to burn yourself with it.
11. Health hazard warning: Solder may contain lead. It is not
suitable for small children.

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 Generator components
A DC generator consist of the following components

1. Rotor:
In its simplest form, the rotor consists of a single loop of wire made to rotate within a magnetic field.
In practice, the rotor usually consists of several coils of wire wound on an armature.

2. Armature:
The armature is a cylinder of laminated iron mounted on an axle. The axle is carried in bearings
mounted in the external structure of the generator. Torque is applied to the axle to make the rotor
spin.

3. Coil:
Each coil usually consists of many turns of copper wire wound on the armature. The two ends of
each coil are connected either to two slip rings (AC) or two opposite bars of a split-ring commutator
(DC).

4. Stator:
The stator is the fixed part of the generator that supplies the magnetic field in which the coils rotate.
It may consist of two permanent magnets with opposite poles facing and shaped to fit around the
rotor. Alternatively, the magnetic field may be provided by two electromagnets.

5. Field electromagnets:
Each electromagnet consists of a coil of many turns of copper wire wound on a soft iron core. The
electromagnets are wound, mounted and shaped in such a way that opposite poles face each other
and wrap around the rotor.

6. Brushes:
The brushes are carbon blocks that maintain contact with the ends of the coils via the slip rings (AC)
or the split-ring commutator (DC), and conduct electric current from the coils to the external circuit.

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 GENERAL PARTS

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TYPES OF DC GENERATOR
In some DC generators, the direct current needed for the
electromagnets that make up the field structure comes
from an outside source, just as it does in most AC
generators. These DC generators are called separately
excited generators. Many other DC generators use part of
the direct current they produce to operate their own
electromagnets. These generators are called self-excited
generators. A self-excited DC generator depends on
residual magnetism--that is, a small amount of magnetism
remains in the electromagnets after the generator is shut
off. Without this residual magnetism, it would be
impossible to start a self-excited generator once it had
stopped.
The direct current needed for a self-excited generator's
electromagnets can be drawn from its armature by means
of three different connections: Shunt, Series and
Compound, a combination of shunt and series
connections.
The type of generator used for a certain task depends on
the amount of voltage control required. For example, a DC
generator used to charge a battery needs only simple
voltage control. It might be a shunt generator.
A DC generator that supplies electricity for a passenger
elevator needs more complicated voltage control. It
would be a separately excited generator.
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USES OF DC GENERATOR
Many DC generators are driven by AC motors in
combinations called motor-generator sets. This is
one way of changing alternating current to direct
current. Factories that do electroplating and those
that produce aluminum, chlorine, and some other
industrial materials need large amounts of direct
current and use DC generators. So do locomotives
and ships driven by diesel-electric motors.
Because commutators are complex and costly,
many DC generators are being replaced by AC
generators combined with electronic rectifiers.
Rectifiers are devices that let current flow in one
direction only. They permit use of simpler, more
rugged AC generators, even when DC is required.

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 APPLICATIONS
The applications of the various types of DC
Generators are as follows:-

 Separately Excited DC Generators

 Separately excited DC Generators are used in
laboratories for testing as they have a wide range of
voltage output.
 Used as a supply source of DC motors.
 Shunt wound Generators
 DC shunt wound generators are used for lighting
purposes.
 Used to charge the battery.
 Providing excitation to the alternators.
 Series Wound Generators
 DC series wound generators are used in DC locomotives
for regenerative braking for providing field excitation
current.
 Used as a booster in distribution networks.
 Over compounded cumulative generators are used in
lighting and heavy power supply.
 Flat compounded generators are used in offices, hotels,
homes, schools, etc.
 Differentially compounded generators are mainly used
for arc welding purpose.

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 REFERENCES

1. GOOGLE
2. WIKIPEDIA
3. CIRCUITGLOBE
4. PREZI
5. HUNKER
6. ENIQUEST

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 CONCLUSION
The invention of the DC generator made our life easy. But the fact that the

commutators are complex and cost a lot of money, a lot of DC generators have

been replaced by a modified AC generators which is more economical. The

modification to the AC generator is done by adding Rectifiers that makes the

current flow in one direction only as I mentioned before. I hope that more

studies will be carried out in the future to reduce the cost of the commutators

therefore reduce the cost of the DC generator.

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