Mapa Institute of Technology

School of Electrical, Electronics, and Computer

Engineering
Department of Electrical Engineering

EXPERIMENT NO. 4

Parallel Operation of DC Generators

GROUP 6
Leader: Cabral, Angelo Albert B.
Blastique, Harold A.
Sartin, Raymart P.

Engr. Paulo Tindogan

Instructor

GRADE

Parallel Operation of DC Generators

Harold A. Blastique#1, Angelo Albert B. Cabral#2, Raymart P. Sartin#3
#

School of EECE, Mapua Institue of Technology

Intramuros Manila, Philippines
1

harold_blastique@yahoo.com

angelo_albert07@yahoo.com

raymart.sartin@yahoo.com

Abstractthe core viewpoint of this experiment is to show the

relationship and characteristics of two dc generator connected in
parallel. The given dc generators are both separately excited
shunt generator. Meaning its field magnets is energised by the
current produce by the generator itself. By analysing the data
obtained in the experiment there are parameter needed to be
considered. In the first condition it has no resistance armature
and for the second it has and the load current for generator A
must be set in different constant values. Therefore the
relationship between load current and terminal voltage between
two generators are inversely proportional to each other.

II. METHODOLOGY
The materials used in the experiment were 2 FH2 MkIV
Test Bed, FH50 DC Compound Machine, FH3 MKIV
Instrumentation Frame, V2 DC Voltmeter, A2 DC Voltmeter.
The materials used in the experiment were FH2 MkIV Test
Bed, FH50 DC Compound Machine, V2 DC Voltmeter, A2
DC Ammeter,FH3 MkIV Instrumentation frame, connecting
wires and R1 Resistive load.

KeywordsLoad current, Terminal voltage, Armature rheostat,

Series field

I. INTRODUCTION
In electrical practices, power plants will generally be
found to have several small generators rather than large single
units capable of taking care of the maximum peak loads. This
is true for dc and ac, the several units can then operated singly
or in various parallel combinations, on the basis of the actual
load demand.
Such practice is considered extremely desirable from
standpoint of efficiency, continuity of service, maintenance
and repair problems, and addition to plant capacity as the
service demands change.
If two shunt generators have identical external
characteristics and are connected in parallel, that is, if the
voltage changes in both by exactly the same amount for the
same percent of change in load, then the two machines will
divide the total load in proportion to their relative capacities
and as the load current increases the common terminal voltage
between generator A and B decreases for no resistance
armature condition. And by graphical analysis we can observe
the relationship between load current and terminal voltage. We
can therefore analyze that they are inversely proportional to
each other.
For the additional 25 ohms resistance to armature, we can
also observe that the relationship between load current and
common terminal voltage are inversely proportional to each
other with less load current compared to no addition resistance
condition.

Fig.4.1 Materials used in the experiment

Before connecting the circuit diagram, we first

individually check the connectivity of the wire using the
voltmeter, This will help us to be sure that there will be no
open circuit once we connect the circuit diagram. Having no
connectivity of the wire is one of the common errors that have
been done in the past which was told by our professor. Then,
we also checked the resistivity of the R1 Resistive loads using
the voltmeter.
We now connect the circuit diagram. This experiment
involves two DC generator connected in parallel. Our
objective in this experiment is to investigate the parallel
operation and the load sharing of two separately excited DC
generator. Like also in the previous experiment, to easily and
correctly connect the circuit diagram, it is advisable to connect
first the bigger outer loop, and then connect the one in
parallel.
We first set up the two separately excited generator
individually without first connecting the link, that makes the
two generator in parallel.

adjusting the ammeter, we now record the terminal voltage,

and the load current generator.
III. RESULTS AND DATA ANALYSIS
Experiment 4 is about parallel operation of DC generators.
The values obtained from the experiment are tabulated in
Table I and Table II. The experiment is divided into two parts:
without additional armature resistance in generator (b) and
with a 25 additional armature resistance in generator (b).
TABLE I
WITHOUT ADDITIONAL ARMATURE CIRCUIT RESISTANCE IN GENERATOR B

Figure 4.2 Set up of Generator B

Figure 4.3 Set up of generator A

After setting up the experiment, we run the generator

without first connecting the link, they were connected only to
ground with each other. We now run the generator, the
voltmeter in the two generator should read 110 volts before
connecting the link. When you connect the link, the ammeter
will now read the current. Initially, it has zero reading.

Load Current
Generator Ia
(mA)

Load Current
Generator Ib
(mA)

Common
Terminal Voltage
VL

0
40
80
120
160
200
240
280
320
360
400
440
480

0
35
60
85
110
135
160
185
205
235
260
285
310

48.4
46.7
45.3
43.6
41.9
40.1
38.6
36.9
35.8
33.9
32.3
30.7
29.2

As seen on Table I, the value of the load current in

generator A (Ia) is given and it is increasing. The value of the
load current in generator B (Ib) increases when the load
current Ia is increased. We also observed that the value of the
common terminal voltage decreases when load current Ia is
increased.

Fig. 4.5 The graph of load current vs. terminal voltage

Figure 4.4 Parallel connection of the two DC generator

We now switch in load resistor Rl and vary the value in

steps to produce a range load of currents in each machine up
to 500 mA. We now set the load Rl to infinity then the
armarure rheostat will now increase, the current should adjust
in both ammeter to indicate a correct connection. After

Figure 4.5 shows the graph of common terminal voltage

vs. load current Ia and Ib under the condition of without
additional armature resistance to the generator B. Our analysis
corresponds to the graph plotted and it shows that our analysis
is correct. We can see on the graph that increasing the load
current in generator A corresponds to an increase on the load

current in generator B and it also decreased the common

terminal voltage.
TABLE II
WITH 25 ADDITIONAL ARMATURE CIRCUIT RESISTANCE IN GENERATOR B

Load Current
Generator Ia
(mA)

Load Current
Generator Ib
(mA)

Common
Terminal Voltage
VL

0
40
80
120
160
200
240
280
320
360
400
440
480

0
20
40
60
80
95
115
135
155
165
180
205
225

49.7
47.4
45.4
43.7
42.2
40.4
38.6
37.1
35.7
34.0
32.3
30.9
29.1

Table II shows the values obtained from the condition that

there is a 25 additional armature resistance to the generator
B. Again, the load current of generator A is given and by
increasing Ia, the load current of generator B is increased
while the value of common terminal voltage is decreased.

Fig. 4.6 The graph of load current vs. terminal voltage

Figure 4.6 shows the relationship of load current to

terminal voltage when there is an additional 25 armature
resistance on generator B. We obtained same analysis, that
increasing the load current Ia also increases the load current Ib
while it decreases the value of the terminal voltage.
IV. CONCLUSION
Experiment The objective of this experiment is to
investigate the parallel operation and the load sharing of the
two separately excited DC generators.
Paralleling of generators shows that two or more
generators are supplying a common load. It provides more
current.
From the result of the experiment, we were able to
investigate the characteristics of the parallel operation and
load sharing of a DC generator by knowing the relationship of
terminal voltage against load current. Increasing the load
current on generator A also increases the load current on
generator B while the terminal voltage is decreased.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The group would like to thank each and everyone for the
participation in performing the experiment and for good
cooperation. The group would also like to thank out
professor, Engr. Paulo Tindogan, for giving us knowledge on
basic troubleshooting, the use of materials and reading a
schematic diagram. Lastly, our God for giving us the strength
and knowledge to perform every experiment correctly and on
time.
REFERENCES
[1]
S. Chapman, Electric Machinery Fundamentals, 4th ed.,
United States: The McGraw Hill Book Company, Inc.,
2005.
[2]
C. Hubert, Electric Machines Theory, Operation,
Applications, Adjustment, and Control, 2nd ed., Upper
Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2002.
[3]
T. Wildi, C. Hubert, Electric Machines, Drives and
Power Systems, 5th ed., Upper Saddle River, New
Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc., 2002.
C. Siskind, Electrical Machines: Direct and Alternating
Current, 2nd ed., United States: McGraw Hill Book Company,
Inc., 1966