Phase Rotation

Let's take the three-phase alternator design laid out earlier and watch what happens as the magnet rotates.

FIGURE

The phase angle shift of 120° is a function of the actual rotational angle shift of the three pairs of windings. If the magnet is rotating clockwise, winding 3 will generate its peak instantaneous voltage exactly 120° (of alternator shaft rotation) after winding 2, which will hits its peak 120° after winding 1. The magnet passes by each pole pair at different positions in the rotational movement of the shaft. Where we decide to place the windings will dictate the amount of phase shift between the windings' AC voltage waveforms. If we make winding 1 our "reference" voltage source for phase angle (0°), then winding 2 will have a phase angle of -120° (120° lagging, or 240° leading) and winding 3 an angle of -240° (or 120° leading).

This sequence of phase shifts has a definite order. For clockwise rotation of the shaft, the order is 1-2-3 (winding 1 peaks first, then winding 2, then winding 3). This order keeps repeating itself as long as we continue to rotate the alternator's shaft.

FIGURE

However, if we reverse the rotation of the alternator's shaft (turn it counter-clockwise), the magnet will pass by the pole pairs in the opposite sequence. Instead of 1-2-3, we'll have 3-2-1. Now, winding 2's waveform will be leading 120° ahead of 1 instead of lagging, and 3 will be another 120° ahead of 2.

FIGURE

The order of voltage waveform sequences in a polyphase system is called phase rotation or phase sequence. If we're using a polyphase voltage source to power resistive loads, phase rotation will make no difference at all. Whether 1-2-3 or 3-2-1, the voltage and current magnitudes will all be the same. There are some applications of three-phase power that depend on having phase rotation being one way or the other.

We've investigated how phase rotation is produced (the order in which pole pairs get passed by the alternator's rotating magnet) and how it can be changed by reversing the alternator's shaft rotation. However, reversal of the alternator's shaft rotation is not usually an option open to an end-user of electrical power supplied by a nationwide grid ("the" alternator actually being the combined total of all alternators in all power plants feeding the grid). There is a much easier way to reverse phase sequence than reversing alternator rotation: just exchange any two of the three "hot" wires going to a three-phase load.

This trick makes more sense if we take another look at a running phase sequence of a three-phase voltage source:

1-2-3 rotation: 1-2-3-1-2-3-1-2-3-1-2-3-1-2-3 . . .

3-2-1 rotation: 3-2-1-3-2-1-3-2-1-3-2-1-3-2-1 . . .

What is commonly designated as a "1-2-3" phase rotation could just as well be called "2-3-1" or "3-1-2," going from left to right in the number string above. Likewise, the opposite rotation (3-21) could just as easily be called "2-1 -3" or "1 -3-2."

Starting out with a phase rotation of 3-2-1, we can try all the possibilities for swapping any two of the wires at a time and see what happens to the resulting sequence in figure below.

FIGURE

No matter which pair of "hot" wires out of the three we choose to swap, the phase rotation ends up being reversed (1-2-3 gets changed to 2-1-3, 1 -3-2 or 3-2-1, all equivalent).