Hello friends, many people are confused between the motor generator and alternator. If they are asked in interview what is the difference between these three, they can not answer, and if some people tell about the motor, they cannot tell the difference between an alternator and a generator.
But if you are connected with electrical, then you should know about all the three. In today’s post, we will talk about the difference between these three, their uses, and the working principals of motor, generator, and alternator. Also We will talk about many such basic questions, so let’s start.
What is Motor?
Friends, if we talk about motor, a motor is a simple thing, which if we give electrical supply, then in the output it gives us mechanical power, that means we give electrical supply with a wire.
Then the rotor of our motor rotate. Now the rotor that is rotating is a mechanical power, and with this rotating rotor, we can do many things like we can run our mill, we can use in the car as you have seen motor attached with electric vehicles, with this motor we can drive the car.
So if we need any mechanical movement, we can do it from motor. The work of the motor can be remembered in such a simple way that we give electrical supply to the motor and we get mechanical power in the output.
What are Types of motor?
There are three types of motors:
- Ac motor: The motor which runs from the AC supply is called Ac motor.
- Dc motor: The motor which runs from Dc supply is called Dc motor.
- Universal motor: The motor which runs from both our Ac and Dc supply is called Universal motor.
What is a Generator?
Generator means generate, which means that something that generates is a generator. If we are talking about the electrical generator, then it means that this generator is generating and giving us electrical supply. And now we can do anything with electrical supply. Now let’s understand the working of the generator.
How does the generator work?
The working of the generator is just opposite to the motor. In case of generator, we give mechanical power in input and take electrical power in output. We provide mechanical power by rotating our generator. If we want, we can rotate it by hand or with any source. We are giving mechanical power and taking electrical power in output. We can use electrical power to run the fan, blub, or motor.
Now, if we understand the difference between motor and generator, then the motor takes electrical power in the input and gives mechanical power at the output, while the generator takes mechanical power at the input and gives electrical power at the output.
Friends, now it comes to how we can give mechanical power to our generator?
as you must have seen earlier hand-operated generators used, which was rotted by hand and then we used to get electrical supply at the output.
Apart from this, friends in our power plants, we cannot give mechanical power by hand. For different power plants, we provide mechanical power in different ways, like in hydro plant, we drop water at high speed, which rotates generator, due to which we get electrical supply at the output.
Similarly, in a thermal power plant, we first convert water into steam by burning coal, then the generator is rotated by dropping that steam with a lot of pressure. And in this way, we get electrical supply from the thermal power plant.
This way, the generator is rotated in different power plants, but all the power plants have the same generator. They have different names just because of the different ways of rotating the generator. In all the plants, we generate electrical supply by rotating the generator. We transfer this electrical supply according to our needs.
What is Alternator?
Now some people get confused in alternator and generator. But friends, the difference between them is very easy. Friends, we have two types of electrical supply.
- AC current
- DC current
Friends, for two supplies we have two generator. AC generator, DC generator.
AC generator means that it will generate AC supply. Inside this, we will give mechanical power and it will give us AC current in the output.
DC generator means that it will give us by generating DC supply. Inside this, we will give mechanical power and it will give us DC current in the output.
Now friends, what is the alternator? Friends, we call our AC generator as an alternator. If you call alternator somewhere, then you can also call it an AC generator because the second name of AC generator is alternator. Our generator can generate both AC and DC current.
If you see the full form of AC, it is Alternating Current. If we “alter” form alternating and use “netor” from generator, then it made alternator by combining both. So the alternator is AC generator.
Friends, you are often asked in interviews that on what principle do motor generators and alternators work. So, friends, you should not get confused in this at all. All three of them work on the same principle.
If you are asked which principle the motor works, then you can say that the motor or generator works on Faraday’s Electro Magnetic Induction. You can say in the working of all three work on Faraday’s electromagnetic induction.
We hope that you understand. If still any doubt or question remains then feel free to ask in the comment section or you can ask this question on Instagram “Electrical Dost.”
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