Alternador

ALTERNATOR
An alternator is an electromechanical device that converts mechanical energy to electrical energy in the form of alternating current. Most alternators use a rotating magnetic field but linear alternators are occasionally used. In principle, any AC electrical generator can be called an alternator, but usually the word refers to small rotating machines driven by automotive and otherinternal combustion engines. Alternators in power stations driven by steam turbines are called turbo-alternators.
Alternators generate electricity by the same principle as DC generators, namely, when the magnetic field around a conductor changes, a current is induced in the conductor. Typically, a rotating magnet called the rotor turns within a stationary set of conductors wound in coils on an ironcore, called the stator. The field cuts across the conductors, generating an induced EMF, as the mechanical input causes the rotor to turn.
The rotating magnetic field induces an AC voltage in the stator windings. Often there are three sets of stator windings, physically offset so that the rotating magnetic field produces three phase currents, displaced by one-third of a period with respect toeach other.
The rotor magnetic field may be produced by induction (in a "brushless" alternator), by permanent magnets (in very small machines), or by a rotor winding energized with direct current through slip rings and brushes. The rotor magnetic field may even be provided by stationary field winding, with moving poles in the rotor. Automotive alternators invariably use a rotor winding, whichallows control of the alternator generated voltage by varying the current in the rotor field winding. Permanent magnet machines avoid the loss due to magnetizing current in the rotor, but are restricted in size, owing to the cost of the magnet material. Since the permanent magnet field is constant, the terminal voltage varies directly with the speed of the generator. Brushless AC generators are usuallylarger machines than those used in automotive applications.

ALTERNATOR
The output frequency of an alternator depends on the number of poles and the rotational speed. The speed corresponding to a particular frequency is called the synchronous speed for that frequency. This table [6] gives some examples:
More generally, one cycle of alternating current is produced each time a pair of fieldpoles passes over a point on the stationary winding. The relation between speed and frequency is N = 120f / P , where f is the frequency in Hz (cycles per second). P is the number of poles (2,4,6...) and N is the rotational speed in revolutions per minute (RPM). Very old descriptions of alternating current systems sometimes give the frequency in terms of alternations per minute, counting eachhalf-cycle as one alternation; so 12,000 alternations per minute corresponds to 100 Hz.
Automotive alternators

Alternator mounted in lower right front of an automobile engine with a serpentine belt pulley.
Cut-away of an alternator, showing the claw-pole construction; two of the wedge-shaped field poles, alternating N and S, are visible in the center, and the stationary armature winding is visibleat the top and bottom of the opening. The belt and pulley at the right hand end drives the alternator.
Alternators are used in modern automobiles to charge the battery and to power a car's electric system when its engine is running. Alternators have the great advantage over direct-current generators of not using a commutator, which makes them simpler, lighter, less costly, more rugged than a DCgenerator, and the slip rings allow for greatly extended brush life. The stronger construction of automotive alternators allows them to use a smaller pulley so as to turn faster than the engine, improving output when the engine is idling. The availability of low-cost solid-state diodes from about 1960 onward allowed car manufacturers to substitute alternators for DC generators. Automotive...