Elizabeth A. Devore

In my advanced electric machines course we spent a semester learning, in great detail, how a synchronous machine operates and how to model it based on machine equations. In order to apply what we learned in class, our final project required us to work individually to develop a program that would verify initial steady-state operation of a synchronous generator, model the results of a disturbance, and show a return to steady-state operation after the disturbance is removed. In the lectures I learned that steady-state of a synchronous machine occurs when the rotor speed and the stator magnetic field are equivalent. When the rotor speed and stator field are not equal, the result is seen, beginning at t=1s, in the figure to the right. This project gave me the chance to directly apply what I learned in order to simulate a disturbance scenario that must be considered in power generation.

 

More details about the project set-up and calculations can be found here.