What is an exciter and how does it work?

There are two types of exciters, static exciter and rotory exciter.purpose of excitor is to supply the excitation dc voltage to the fixed poles of generator. Rotory excitor is an additional small generator mounted on the shaft of main generator. if it is dc generator, it will supply dc to the rotory poles through slip ring and brushes( conventional alternator). if it is an ac excitor, out put of ac excitor is rectified by rotating diodes and supply dc to main fixed poles.ac excitor is the ac generator whose field winding are stationary and armature rotates. initial voltage is built up by residual magnetism.It gives the starting torque to the generator.