ALTERNATOR, PREFERABLY FOR AN ELECTRIC POWER PLANT, AND METHOD FOR MONITORING THE CONDITIONS OF AT LEAST ONE SLIDING CONTACT OF AN ALTERNATOR

摘要

An alternator is provided with a stator (5), a rotor (6), which is housed inside the stator (5) and is provided with a plurality of electromagnets, and a collector assembly (7), which is configured to supply current to the electromagnets of the rotor (6) and is provided with a chamber (18) and at least a first sliding contact (27) housed inside the chamber (18); the alternator (3) also comprises a monitoring device (8) configured to monitor the conditions at least of the first sliding contact (27) and comprising at least a first photodetector (47) and a second photodetector (48) having a common node (50); the first photodetector (47) and the second photodetector (48) being configured to respectively generate a first current (II) entering the common node (50) and a second current (12) exiting from the common node (50) in response to a respective photon excitation; one between the first photodetector (47) and the second photodetector (48) being arranged so as to frame a region of the chamber (18) comprising at least a part of the first sliding contact (27), the other between the first photodetector (47) and the second photodetector (48) being arranged so as to frame a region of the chamber (18) not comprising the first sliding contact (27).