1. Technical specifications. Characteristic curves

In the development of the various paragraphs, we give numerical examples relating to eight alternators of various types: three machines with smooth poles and five machines with salient poles, including one of the bulb type and four of the hydraulic type. The main characteristics of these machines are listed in Table 1 . The choice of these examples in the various paragraphs has been made with didactic purposes in mind, so as to cover a wide range of cases; they do not correspond to the world's largest power plants, either completed or under construction.

In this first paragraph, we'll just look at the external conditions imposed (specifications and standards) and the operating...