A Brief History Of The Development Of General-Purpose Electric Machines

As introduced in the introduction, in October 1831, Faraday created the first model of an induction generator. From then on, the research and application of electricity developed rapidly, and electricity, as a new and powerful energy source, began to play an increasingly significant role in human production and daily life.

Driven directly by production needs, practical generators and motors emerged one after another, and were continuously improved and perfected through application. The initial stage of generators was the water-magnetic generator, which used permanent magnets as field magnets. Because the magnetic field strength of permanent magnets themselves is limited, permanent magnet generators could not provide powerful electricity and lacked practicality. To increase the output power of the generator to meet practical requirements, it was necessary to modify various components of the generator.

The main components of a generator are the field magnet, armature, slip rings, and brushes. In 1845, the British physicist Wheatstone used an external power source to excite the coils, replacing the permanent magnets with electromagnets, achieving great success. He subsequently improved the armature windings, thus creating the first electromagnet generator. In 1866, German scientist Siemens built the first self-excited generator using electromagnets. The success of the Siemens generator marked a technological breakthrough in the construction of large-capacity generators, enabling the generation of powerful electrical systems. Therefore, the Siemens generator holds epoch-making significance in the history of electrical development.