Talk:Electrical generator

Hello, I am looking to make a generator as part of a school project. I want to test to find its electrical power output. I know that for a battery, its power output is greatest when the load resistance is equal to its internal resistance. Does this also apply to a generator? If so, how might I find the internal resistance of my generator?

Perhaps the answers to these questions could be put into the article, as I think they would be interesting and useful.

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The link to commutator on this page points to the wrong entry. Maybe we need to add a second meaning to this entry to describe a commutator as a system of brushes and a collector to alternate the direction of current to/from the coils in an armature of an electric motor or electrical generator.

Describe various modern types of dynamos, three phase dynamos for mains power distribution and simple AC and DC dynamos for use in vehicles.

Also mention that a dynamo is constructed very similarly to an electric motor and most types of dynamos can be used as motors and vice versa, at least in theory.

saigon_from_europe:

I would rather say: "all common types of generators could be used as motors, and vice versa."

I think it would be more accurate to say that generators and motors are theoretically interchangeable, but that practical machines are nearly always used only in one mode or the other. Many small motors such as used in household appliances are not going to generate significant electric power no matter how fast you spin them. --Wtshymanski 23:15, 26 Jan 2005 (UTC)

In direct-drive, diesel-electric submarines, the electric motors are used as generators and used to charge the batteries when driven by the diesels on the surface or when snorting. 82.111.65.142 15:21, 4 May 2005 (UTC)

This is mentioned in the submarine article and is characteristic of hybrid automobiles. I've also seen it in locomotive cranes, where the generator used to run the propulsion motor and magnet is also used to start the engine. So the roles of a rotating machine can be interchangeable, but it's not always the case. For instance, if I take the shaded-pole ac motor of a record player and spin it, I'm not going to get any meaningful amount of power out of the winding. --Wtshymanski 15:46, 4 May 2005 (UTC)

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someone wrote: "Hello all it is I Wilconsen Milconsen ( the german physicist )"

well Hello there. should i know you? Waveguy

Picture needed

This is terrible. Instead of all that equivalent circuit stuff that's only understandable by electrical engineers, how about that nice simple picture of a wire moving through a magnetic field that we've all seen in every other elementary description of a generator? My tools and skills aren't quite up for this...--Wtshymanski 16:45, 22 Apr 2005 (UTC)

For the moment, you could steal the three diagramatic pictures over at Electric motor and simply give them new captions. But I agree that the classical "single turn coil rotating in a magnetic field" picture would be more helpful.

Atlant 18:16, 22 Apr 2005 (UTC)

The pictures for "motor" are beautiful, but I don't have the software to edit them - so I can't change the polarity marks. I'll check with the creator of these images to see if he/she can do a quick revision. --Wtshymanski 01:01, 23 Apr 2005 (UTC)

What about some reorganization?

Although I am an electical engineer, I am not familiar enough with English terms to be the one who will organize a new system. Still, I think we are not systematic enough. What I want to say - during my studies, our clasification basically went this way (have in mind that terms are probably incorrect in English, this is how we call them in Serbian, which is probably based on German names): all electric machines are divided to two groups - AC and DC machines. AC machines could be synchronous and non-synchronous (i.e. induction motors). At the same time, they could be one-phase or three-phase. We should then pay attention to turbogenerators and hydrogenerators (both are 3-phase AC synchronous, but they differ drastically in construction), as most widely used systems. DC machines could be serial, parallel and independent (regarding how they produce the field). We should then explain why and where what types are used, and with what limitations. I believe that we should exactly follow the pattern in the [Electric_motor] article. Saigon from europe 21:48, 2 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Your taxonomy and your English are both fine; this matches pretty closely any textbook on the topic.

Atlant 22:25, 2 Jun 2005 (UTC)