Amplidyne Characteristics

Introduction:

An Amplidyne is a rotating amplifier. It is a prime-mover-driven d.c. generator whose output power can
be controlled by a small field power input. An amplidyne is capable of giving a controlled power output
in the range of a few hundred to few thousand watts with a power amplification of the order of 10,000 or
more and hence finds wide application in feedback control system.

Objective:

Study of amplidyne whose output power can be can be controlled by a small field power input. For
studying the characteristics:

1) We plot a graph of Output voltage against effective field current with no load, full load(500
W), and without compensation winding effect.

2) We draw the schematic diagram of an amplidyne system.

Principle of operation:

The principle of operation of an amplidyne is simple. In the figure, a d.c. generator with a control field
current If and the resulting control field flux f is shown. If the armature is rotated as shown a voltage
will be induced in the armature and the resulting induced current through the armature and conductors
will set up an armature reaction flux q at right angles to f. The reaction flux q is called the
quadrature flux. In conventional generators, this armature reaction flux is suppressed, but in amplidyne a
magnetic path is provided to encourage it. Moreover, the brushes are short-circuited so that maximum
amount of q will induce voltage ed in the armature conductors in a direction as shown in the figure, and
is called the direct axis voltage. A second set of brushes(called the direct axis brushes) is used to connect
this to the load. Since q f(as obvious from the above discussion), ed eq.

When the output brushes are connected to the load, the resulting load current Id will again rise to an
armature reaction flux which obviously opposes the original control field flux f. The load current will
thus be limited to a value such that mmf of this armature reaction is equal to the mmf by the control field
current If. Thus the machine will act like a constant current generator - the load current depending only on
the field current and independent of the speed and direction of rotation of armature(this is known as
Rosenburg Generator, used in train lighting). In control system, such constant current feature is
undesirable and the armature reaction flux due to the load current is compensated by the use of a
compensating winding. Such a machine is called amplidyne. The compensating winding is placed in

IL
A
 I1
A F1 S5 S4 S3
R1
E F2 S1 V
S2 30 V 200W100W200W
F3 A1
C1 C2
R2 F4
A Field winding Compensating winding
I2
115V
M 50 c/s
3 phase

series with the load and is designed to produce a flux as nearly as possible equal and opposite to the flux
produced by the direct axis armature current. The machine will thus give a voltage that is only moderately
affected by the load current.

The amplidyne is essentially a two-stage generator and combines two stages of amplification. The control
field current causes a heavy current through the short circulated brushes to produce a very high
quadrature flux. This flux acts as the effective input to the second stage giving amplified output across the
direct axis brushes.

 Drawbacks of Amplidyne:

Amplidyne is sparking at the brushes due to armature reaction on which the operation of the
machine depends. Special brushes and construction of the field poles are used to alleviate this
difficulty.

It often sparks very severely at the quadrature brushes when delivering large output voltages.

Other Essential Components:

1) D.C. Generator - A d.c. generator is used here for producing a d.c. voltage. A basic d.c.
generator has four basic parts:

(i) Magnetic field

(ii) A Single Conductor, or Loop

(iii) A Commutator

(iv) Brushes
 A single conductor, shaped in the form of a loop, is placed in between the magnetic poles. As
long as the loop is stationary, the magnetic field has no effect(no relative motion). If we rotate the
loop, the loop cuts through the magnetic field, and an EMF(voltage) is induced in the loop.

EMF depends on the field strength and the rate at which the flux lines are cut. The stronger the
field or the more flux lines cut for a given period of time, the larger the induced EMF is, as given
by the equation:

Eg = K φ N

Where, Eg = generated voltage

K = fixed constant

φ = magnetic flux strength

N = speed in rpm

2) A.C. Motor - Three phase a.c. induction motors are widely used for high power amplifications,
including heavy industry.

An a.c. electrical motor consists of two main parts:

(i) Armature or Rotor: It is usually cylindrical that rotates about the axis of the motor‘s shaft.
The rotor usually completes one revolution for each cycle of the a.c. electrical supply.

Procedure:

The setup consists of an Amplidyne armature, which is driven by a 3-phase motor. Two
potentiometers R1 and R2 are for adjusting the two control-field currents. 3 lamps of 100 W, 200 W and
200 W are connected across the output as loads. The 115V, 50 Hz, 3-phase supply to the motor is
supplied from a 400V, 3-phase supply through a step-down 3-phase transformer.

(I) Run-1: No load characteristics -

(a) Switches S1, S2, S3 and S5 are kept in OFF and S4 in ON position. The battery(30 volts) is
connected. R1 and R2 are varied so that both I1 and I2 need 2mA. The voltage V0 is measured.

(b) Keeping I1 constant(i.e. at 2mA), I2 is increased in steps of 1mA by decreasing R2 and V0

is measured in each step until it reaches 150V(but not exceeding 250V in any case). Next I2 is
reduced in steps of 1mA till it comes down to 2mA. In each step, output voltage V0 is noted.

(c) Next, I2 is held constant at 2mA and I1 is varied by varying R1 in steps of 1mA just like
the previous step. In each step V0 is noted.

(II) Run-2: Full load characteristics -

 (a) Switches S1, S2, S3 and S4 are kept in OFF and S5 in ON position.

(b) Keeping I1 constant(i.e. at 2mA), I2 is increased in steps of 1mA by decreasing R2 and V0

and load current IL is measured in each step until it reaches 150V(but not exceeding 250V in
any case). Next I2 is reduced in steps of 1mA till it comes down to 2mA. In each step, output
voltage V0 and load current IL is noted.

(c) Next, I2 is held constant at 2mA and I1 is varied by varying R1 in steps of 1mA just like
the previous step. In each step V0 and load current IL is noted.

(III) Run-3: Characteristics without compounding winding -

(a) Switches S1, S2, S3, S4 and S5 are kept in ON position.

(b) Keeping I1 constant(i.e. at 2mA), I2 is increased in steps of 1mA by decreasing R2 and V0

and load current IL is measured in each step until it reaches 150V(but not exceeding 250V in
any case). Next I2 is reduced in steps of 1mA till it comes down to 2mA. In each step, output
voltage V0 and load current IL is noted.

(c) Next, I2 is held constant at 2mA and I1 is varied by varying R1 in steps of 1mA just like
the previous step. In each step V0 and load current IL is noted.

(IV) Run-4: Obtaining the power gain -

The power gain of an amplidyne is defined as the ratio of the power output to the power input
to any single control field with other field de-energised.

(a) Switch of S4 to disconnect the control field F3-F4.

(b) Switch on S1, S2 and S3 leaving S5 in OFF position. Adjust R1 so that I1 is 5mA.

(c) Connect a voltmeter across F1 and F2.

(d) Measure V0, IL and voltage V1 across F1 and F2.

Experimental Result:

RUN I

I1(amp) I2(amp) I1-I2 V0(volt)

2(fixed) 2 0 -2.0
3 -1 -5.3
 4 -2 -20.4
5 -3 -29.0
6 -4 -39.5
7 -5 -54.1
8 -6 -69.4
10 -8 -89.5
12 -10 -104.0
14 -12 -116.5
15 -13 -125.3
17 -15 -137.0
18 -16 -144.6
20 -18 -150.3
17 -15 -138.6
16 -14 -134.0
2(fixed) 15 -13 -126.4
14 -12 -124.4
13 -11 -116.5
12 -10 -111.8
11 -19 -101.4
10 -8 -91.4
9 -7 -81.5
8 -6 -72.0
7 -5 -61.6
6 -4 -50.5
5 -3 -39.9
4 -2 -29.7
4 -1 -12.7
2 0 -5.8
2 2(fixed) 0 -5.8
3 1 2.2
4 2 5
5 3 16
6 4 28.1
7 5 38.9
8 6 50
9 7 60.6
10 8 76
11 9 82.2
12 10 91.7
13 11 107.0
14 12 112.6
15 13 120.0
16 14 127.3
17 15 132.4
18 16 136.0
19 17 141.0
22 18 155.0
18 16 141.0
17 15 135.0
 16 14 126.0
15 13 118.8
14 12 112.0
13 11 107.0
12 10 103.7
11 9 93.6
10 8 85.1
9 7 69.9
8 6 60.3
7 5 52.1
6 4 31.9
5 2(fixed) 3 25.6
4 2 15.1
3 1 7.0
2 0 -3.2

RUN II

I1(amp) I2(amp) I1-I2 V0(volt) IL(amp)

2(fixed) 2 0 0 -0.145
3 -1 -7.0 -0.254
4 -2 -18.0 -0.707
5 -3 -28.5 -0.846
6 -4 -37.5 -1.010
7 -5 -45.8 -1.214
8 -6 -59.7 -1.403
9 -7 -69.2 -1.487
11 -9 -83.9 -1.746
12 -10 -88.0 -1.780
13 -11 -97.8 -1.885
12 -10 -90.0 -1.816
11 -9 -86.0 -1.729
10 -8 -78.0 -1.693
9 -7 -73.0 -1.626
8 -6 -64.3 -1.507
7 -5 -51.3 -1.340
6 -4 -43.7 -1.172
5 -3 -33.3 -1.069
4 -2 -22.6 -0.881
3 -1 -12.9 -0.679
2 0 -4.0 -0.422
2 2(fixed) 0 -4.0 -0.422
3 1 0.7 0.090
4 2 9.2 0.320
5 3 17.6 0.790
6 4 27.5 0.857
7 5 37.7 1.134
 8 6 47.3 1.239
9 7 57.0 1.419
10 8 62.6 1.529
11 9 68.9 1.600
12 10 73.6 1.654
13 11 87.8 1.781
12 10 75.4 1.672
11 9 70.3 1.575
10 2(fixed) 8 66.3 1.527
9 7 59.5 1.427
8 6 50.2 1.313
7 5 43.1 1.207
6 4 34.3 1.070
5 3 24.1 0.900
4 2 15.4 0.727
3 1 6.4 0.489
2 0 0 0.024

RUN III

I1(amp) I2(amp) I1-I2 V0(volt) IL(amp)

2(fixed) 2 0 -0.0 -0.001
3 -1 -0.1 -0.010
4 -2 -0.4 -0.049
5 -3 -0.7 -0.077
6 -4 -0.8 -0.106
7 -5 -1.3 -0.151
8 -6 -1.5 -0.195
9 -7 -1.7 -0.210
10 -8 -2.0 -0.246
11 -9 -2.4 -0.283
12 -10 -2.7 -0.330
13 -11 -3.1 -0.358
14 -12 -3.4 -0.379
15 -13 -3.8 -0.412
16 -14 -4.4 -0.446
18 -16 -6.6 -0.523
19 -17 -7.1 -0.564
20 -18 -8.2 -0.564
19 -17 -7.3 -0.540
18 -16 -6.4 -0.510
17 -15 -5.3 -0.477
16 -14 -5.1 -0.459
14 -12 -3.8 -0.394
13 -11 -3.4 -0.366
12 -10 -2.9 -0.329
11 -9 -2.5 -0.298
 10 -8 -2.1 -0.260
9 -7 -1.8 -0.235
8 -6 -1.6 -0.200
7 -5 -1.4 -0.167
6 -4 -1.2 -0.133
2(fixed) 5 -3 -1.0 -0.109
4 -2 -0.6 -0.071
3 -1 -0.3 -0.038
2 0 -0.0 -0.008
2 2(fixed) 0 -0.0 -0.008
3 1 0.0 0.004
4 2 0.3 0.042
5 3 0.6 0.072
6 4 0.9 0.112
7 5 1.2 0.138
8 6 1.4 0.161
9 7 1.6 0.196
10 8 1.8 0.242
11 9 2.1 0.266
12 10 2.3 0.300
13 11 2.6 0.333
14 12 3.1 0.360
16 14 3.8 0.405
17 15 4.3 0.432
18 16 5.2 0.481
19 17 6.0 0.503
22 20 9.1 0.610
18 16 5.7 0.479
17 15 5.1 0.461
16 14 4.5 0.432
14 12 3.3 0.360
13 11 2.9 0.338
12 10 2.6 0.311
11 9 2.0 0.274
10 8 1.7 0.236
9 7 1.5 0.219
8 6 1.2 0.183
7 5 1.0 0.153
6 4 0.7 0.114
5 3 0.6 0.080
4 2 0.4 0.062
3 1 0.0 0.016
2 0 -0.0 -0.006

RUN IV

V0(volt) IL(amp) V1(volt) I1(amp)

 61.7 1.47 0.005 7.3

 Calculation:

Power Gain(P.G.)

2485

Graphical Analysis:

No Load and Full Load Characteristics

 Characteristics without Compensation Winding

Conclusion:

From the above experiment that we could conclude that the output voltage of amplidyne is not linearly
varies with effective field current. When an amplidyne is used in a feedback control system, the dead
band tends to reduce the loop gain. The accuracy comes near to zero field.

Application:

Amplidyne is used in a field of feedback control system. It is used as a voltage regulator. Speed control of
paper mills, positioning control in machine tool control systems, power factor control of synchronous
machines etc.