Component description for the alternator

Charging system

Vehicle is provided with a battery for a power supply and a charging system to maintain the vehicle's battery charge and to provide the main source of electrical energy while the engine is running.

Y15.40-0058-06

1) Alternator
Alternator generates nearly equal amount of current to operate the electrical devices and to charge the battery when the engine starts running in the vehicle. The alternator uses the principle of electromagnetism to produce current.
The main components of the alternator are:

1 Stator

2 RotorStator is mounted to the body of the alternator and remains stationary. The stator contains 3 sets of wires that have many loops individually and are evenly distributed to form a three phase system.
Rotor is connected directly to the alternator pulley and the drive belt spins the pulley, which in turn spins the rotor. The rotor contains the powerful magnet. Magnets in the rotor are actually electromagnets and not a permanent magnets. This property of magnets allow us to control the required voltage the alternator produces by regulating the amount of current that creates the magnetic field in the rotor and protect the circuits in the automobile from excessive voltage.
When the rotor spins inside the stator, current passed to the rotor causes the rotor to become magnetized. The magnets spin past the three sets of wire loops in the stator and produce a constantly reversing voltage in the three wires. In other words are producing alternating current in the stator.
The current generated in the stator coil is alternating current and it cannot be used directly for the electric devices in the vehicle. Hence use rectifier to convert the alternating current to direct current.

Y15.40-0025-01

Y15.40-0026-01

The IC regulator is in-built into the alternator and used to regulate the voltage to maintain the constant voltage even when the changes in the alternator speed or the amount of electric current flowing into the electric devices.

The voltage regulator controls the field current applied to the spinning rotor inside the alternator. When there is no current applied to the field, there is no voltage produced from the alternator.

3) Battery
A battery is an electro-chemical device that converts chemical energy into electrical energy. Battery acts as a power source and supplies direct current to the electric devices installed in the vehicle when the engine is in off condition. However once the engine starts running electric current generated by the alternator is used to charge the battery.

Y15.40-0027-01

4) Warning lamp
Warning lamp in the instrument cluster glows if there is any malfunction in the charging system and when there is no voltage produced by the alternator.

Y15.40-0028-01

Y15.40-0056-01

The ignition switch allows you to control the power to various accessories, preventing them from running down battery when the vehicle is parked for a long time. The ignition switch also serves the greater purpose of connecting the starter to the battery, allowing the battery to send a powerful surge of electricity to the starter when the vehicle is being started.

When the ignition switch is in ON position the IC regulator draws a minimal current from the battery in pulses to electro magnetize the rotor and make the alternator ready for charging the battery once the engine is started (as shown in the Illustration).

Y15.40-0057-01

Once the engine is running the alternator starts to supply the charging voltage to recharge the battery (as shown in the Illustration)