Introduction

Although a far greater percentage of the electrical machines in service are a.c. machines, the d.c. machines are of considerable industrial importance. The principal advantage of the d.c. machine, particularly the d.c. motor, is that it provides a fine control of speed. Such an advantage is not claimed by any a.c.

motor. However, d.c. generators are not as common as they used to be, because direct current, when required, is mainly obtained from an a.c. supply by the use of rectifiers. Nevertheless, an understanding of d.c. generator is important because it represents a logical introduction to the behaviour of d.c. motors.

Indeed many d.c. motors in industry actually operate as d.c. generators for a brief period. In this UNIT, we shall deal with various aspects of d.c. generators.