Generator Failure Investigations

Dr Antony Anderson CEng FIEE/FIET

October 6th 2011

Turbine Generator System

138 MW per metre of active length

A B C D E

Main Turbine System Boiler Feedwater Pump System Condensing System Deaerating & Feedheating System Electrical Generation System

E
EA EC

Electrical Generation System

Generator Generator Neutral Earthing

EB Phase Isolated Busbars

ED
EE EG EJ

Generator Output Measurement System

Generator Transformer Generator Switchgear Seal Oil System

EK
EM ES EW

Hydrogen Supply & Purging System

Stator Winding and Cooling Water System Generator Stator & Exciter Drains Static Excitation System

EX
EY

Brushless Excitation System

AC Excitation System

EA Generator
EA 10 EA 11 EA12 EA 14 EA 18 EA 20 Supports EA Bearings Gas Enclosure System Wound Stator Wound Rotor Brushgear

EA 20

EA 11

EA 12 Gas Enclosure System

EA 14 10 10 Stator Frame

EA 14 12 Stator Winding & Supports

EA 14 Wound Stator

EA Generator

Generator Output Power

5 kW to 1200 MW + in 120 years (240,000 x increase)
MW/metre of active length
138 kW/mm of active length

Output = kBAN D2 L, where:

k B A N D2 L constant Flux Density at Stator Winding Ampere Conductor Loading 300kA/metre Rotational Speed (3000-3600 RPM) Square of Stator Winding Diameter Active Length of Stator Iron

Generator Rotor
Long thin cylinder

When things go wrong

Rotor End Ring Failure & resultant stator damage

Stator core fault in 660 MW Nuclear Power Station 600 kg molten metal

Centre of fault? Root causes? One off or type fault? Implications and for whom?

Generator - Incipient fault damage

Interlaminar spot weld

Meandering breakdown

Intermittent micro arcing rotor winding

Incipient fault damage is easily missed during failure investigation

Typology of Generator faults

Rotor faults

Multiple field winding short circuits

End windings
Loose end winding cording Coil-to-coil short circuits Coil-to-earth faults Loose slot wedges bouncing bars Conductor-to-earth faults Presumed turn-to-turn short circuits
Location

Stator faults

Active part of winding

Core damage

Bearing Faults
Shaft voltages cause bearing currents and damage
Magnetic unbalance, and many other possible factors

Excitation System: AVR/Control related Faults

Exciter field freewheel diode failures Internal AVR faults Intermittent connection faults (Loss of field control)
Failure of protection results in excessive damage before trip Line clashing Lightning Negative sequence operation due to phase unbalance

Protection Faults

External System Faults

Generator is a dynamic system Failure modes and effects must include interactions between sub-systems
Rotor Faults Stator to Rotor Bearings to Rotor Excitation to Rotor AVR to Rotor Protection to Rotor Rotor to stator Stator Faults Bearings to Stator Excitation to Stator AVR to Stator Protection to Stator Rotor to Bearings Stator to bearings Bearings Faults Excitation bearings AVR to Bearings Protection to Bearings Rotor to Excitation Stator to excitation Bearings to excitation Excitation Faults AVR to Excitation Protection to Excitation Rotor to AVR Stator to AVR Bearings to AVR Excitation to AVR AVR/Contr Faults Protection to AVR Rotor to Protection Stator to Protection Bearings to Protection Excitation to Protection AVR to Protection Protection Faults

Main Fault Categories showing hypothetical sub-system causal interactions (15+15)

How not to investigate!

Some act first and think afterwards Stator winding of small machine cut with wire-cutters and removed from core before the failure investigators had arrived on the scene. Information recovery minimal.

Managing the Unknown

Requirements:
A disciplined, systematic approach Open-mindedness on possible causes Imagination looking for the unexpected Team build up/ training -

Limitation of Scope:
Cannot necessarily investigate every aspect of failure because of time and cost restraints

Adaptability of investigators
Investigation plans may have to change to accommodate changing circumstances

Project manage failure investigations

Project Objectives (main, subsidiary etc.)
Clear definition of objectives essential right at the beginning

Investigative Team and Responsibilities

Who owns the project? Who will carry it out? What expertise needs to be brought in?

Work breakdown structure

Phases, Timescales, Resources, Deliverables

Data gathering and analysis

Photographs, samples, statistical analysis etc. Experimental work Archiving

Investigative Results Reports & Presentations

Clear presentation of the evidence, hypotheses etc. Determination of causes of failure (if possible) Remaining unknowns Preventive measures/recommendations (short, long term) Lessons learnt

Carrying out the investigation

Preliminary investigation
Establish circumstances of incident and prior history Visual, non-intrusive inspection
Have any similar incidents occurred?
Allows extent of damage to be assessed Enables likely scope of full investigation to be established

Full investigation

Preliminary Report outlines any future investigation necessary

Intrusive evidence will be destroyed in examination process

May involve additional work by outside specialists to demonstrate potential failure mechanisms May involve experimental rig work to test a hypothesis Main Report Presentations

Team must agree upon:

How to describe location of damage within machine The kinds of charts and diagrams to be prepared
Prepare masters

The approach to taking photographs of particular damage (general, local area, close up)
Ensure that close up photographs are taken with sufficient detail using tripod, small apertures, long exposures

The photographic sequences to be taken for records

Storyboard

Samples methods of preservation, labelling etc.

Sample bags, gloves

Video sequences if any Extra equipment hire

Boroscope? Q meter? Other test equipment?

Laying out damaged material

Use of a sand bed to display core fault damage in a 500 MW machine

Organising damaged material

Patterns of stator slot damage become immediately obvious

Display results of statistical analysis

Heights of red rods indicate cumulative incidence of breakdowns in stator vent ducts

Interlaminar damage SEM investigation

It maybe necessary to engage a specialist laboratory to examine samples of damage

Adopt a Physics of failure approach

Try to understand failure mechanisms

Demonstration of physical principle Mechanically-induced EMI can cause interlaminar breakdowns in stator cores and insulation breakdowns in rotor windings

Physics of failure approach

Transient leakage flux from an electric drill

Transient field on start up attracts hanging piece of steel coreplate

Transient field moves electrically driven watch on by 10 seconds

Back of Core Leakage Flux

Rotating flux pattern

Under sudden short circuit leakage flux collapses at centre of machine and rises at ends of machine

Concluding remarks
Think about failure investigation methodology before failures occur rather than on the hoof Build a generalised framework for knowledge gathering that can be used for all investigations Train investigation teams Build up expertise rather than leaving matters to chance Capture the knowledge of staff before they retire so that it is available in the future

Project Completion: Colombian style!