Electronic excitation of generators

THE ROTATING COMMUTATOR and brush combination, to say nothing of the other components which go to make up an exciter system, are known to be the most vulnerable part of a generator. It could never be called upon to run long, continuous periods of time without shutdowns for servicing. Therefore, in considering the designs for any improvement it was intended that it would be possible to service vulnerable parts without shutdowns or without affecting the generator output; and at the same time it was desired to supply all spare exciter capacity necessary. It was believed that the exciter and regulator performance could be improved by the use of electronic components, which had already proved themselves over long periods of time in other industrial applications.