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2850 Level 3 in Engineering Unit 308 Worksheet 7

Unit 308: Principles of electrical and electronic engineering

Worksheet 7: Simple ac and dc generators

Outcome 4: Assessment Criteria 1

Practical worksheet no: Time allowed: 2 hours

Candidate name: ..

Group:

Week / session number: 28

Date:

During this course we have examined the principles of electromagnetism and

electromagnetic induction. These principles are applied in a practical way in electrical
generators.

The aim of this worksheet is to lead you through the principles of simple dc and ac
generators so that you will have an understanding of these machines before we move on
to look at more practical generators and motors.

You will find yourself being taken back to the basics of electromagnetic theory and you
may find yourself needing to revise these principles as you go through this worksheet.
The key Smartscreen materials relating to this topic can be found here

Your task
Complete the answers to this worksheet using any materials that are available to you,
including any handouts that have been given by your tutor. There is a lot of material on
the internet relating to this subject. The difficult part can be finding the ones that are at
the correct level. Below are a few links to get you started.

Here is a good place to start. This short video begins with a description of induction
principles, followed by a description of dc and ac generators:

http://www.ncert.nic.in/html/learning_basket/electricity/electricity/electrostatics/intro_elect
romagnetic_induction.htm

Having looked at the video above, this next one provides an animated description of a dc
generator:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYiI6i9Zq4Y

This next video is by the same training organisation as the previous link, but this one
describes the simple ac generator:

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2850 Level 3 in Engineering Unit 308 Worksheet 7

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLNugJwBRow

But dont just think in terms of the web and You Tube. There are many good textbooks
covering this subject. In fact, all of the answers to the questions in this worksheet can be
found in the textbook
Electrical Installation Work: 7th Edition by Brian Scaddan
ISBN-13: 978-0080969817.

Question 1:
Sketch a simple ac generator having just one single turn of wire in its coil.
On your sketch, indicate the
slip rings
armature
brushes
magnet polarities

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2850 Level 3 in Engineering Unit 308 Worksheet 7

Question 2
The simple dc and ac generators shown in the second two videos in the links above
both look very similar. How is it that one produces a dc output, whilst the other produces
an ac output?

Question 3
What determines the frequency of the output voltage in an ac generator?

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