INDEX

ABSTRACT..........................................................................................................2
1. PROFILE OF R.T.S. ‘B’ STATION..............................................................3-4
2. EXCITATION AND VOLTAGE REGULATION.........................................5
2.1 INTRODUCTION 5
2.2 EXCITATION SYSTEM 6
2.3 WHY EXCITATION SYSTEM 7
2.4 PURPOSE OF THE EXCITATION SYSTEM 7
2.5 EXCITATION PRINCIPLE 7
3.TYPES OF EXCITATION SYSTEM........................................................8
3.1 TYPES OF EXCITATION SYSTEM 8
3.1.1 INDIRECT EXCITATION (Brushless Excitation) 8
3.1.2 DIRECT OR SHUNT SUPPLIED STATIC
EXCITATION SYSTEMS 8
3.2 BRUSHLESS SYSTEM 8
4.STATIC EXCITATION..............................................................................9-14
4.1 INTRODUCTION 9
4.2 ADVANTAGES OF STATIC EXCITATION EQUIPMENT 9
4.3 STATIC EXCITATION SYSTEM 9
4.4 FIELD FLASHING 10
4.5 CONVERSION OF AC TO VARIABLE DC 12
4.6 FIELD BREAKER 13
5.PROTECTION SCHEMES OF AVR........................................................15-21
5.1 INTRODUCTION 15
5.2 PROTECTION SCHEMES 15
5.3 THE ROLE OF AUTOMATIC VOLTAGE REGULATOR (AVR) IN
IMPROVING STABILITY 18
6.AUTOMATIC VOLTAGE REGULATOR(AVR) IN RTPS...................22-35

6.1 TYPES OF AVR’S 22

6.2 SINGLE CHANNEL AVR SYSTEM 22
6.3 DUAL CHANNEL AVR SYSTEM 22

1
6.4 TWIN CHANNEL AVR SYSTEM 23
6.5 OPERATION OF AUTOMATIC VOLTAGE REGULATOR (AVR) 24
6.6 SYSTEM CONFIGURATIONS 25
6.6.1 Shut supply 28
6.6.2 Field Flashing 28
6.6.3 Compounding option for indirect excitation 29
6.7 EXCITATION TRASNFORMER 30
6.7.1 Shunt supply with battery compounding (standard option) 30
6.8 CONTROL PANEL OPERATION 31
6.8.1 FUNCTIONAL KEYS OF AVR CONTROL PANEL 32
6.8.2 EXCITATION SYSTEM ON/OFF 33
6.8.3 SWITCHING BETWEEN AUTO / MANUAL OPERATION 34
6.8.4 UN0610 ANALOG INPUT AND OUTPUT PCB 35
6.8.5 UNO661 INTERRUPT GENERATOR UNIT 35
6.8.6 UN0662 DIGITAL INPUT/OUTPUT PCB 35
6.8.7 PULSE GENERATER UN0663 35
7.CONCLUSION......................................................................................................37

2
 ABSTRACT

The role of power in the development of the country is unquestionable. In

fact the development of the country can be estimated by its per capita consumption
of energy.

The AVR plays a vital role in the stability of the power system, and with the
advent of Power thyristors, the excitation function now became easier.

In our mini project, we have made an attempt to discuss various features of

the excitation system, types, protections, demerits of conventional excitation
system.

In executing our projects we have gone through a live example of AVR

system available at RTS (Ramagundam Thermal Station), APGENCO,
Ramagundam.

The present system at RTS is commissioned during Jan-2007, supplied by

M/s. ABB, Bangalore.

This system is dual channel Digital AVR, both the channels act in auto and
any channel can be changed to manual while the other in auto.

Various parts and functions of this DAVR (Digital Automatic Voltage

Regulator) are briefly explained in our project.

3
 Chapter-1
PROFILE OF R.T.S. ‘B’ STATION

Ramagundam thermal power station (R.T.P.S) of Andhra Pradesh State

Electricity Board (APSEB) is situated at Ramagundam in the district of
Karimnagar. The plant is situated at 60km from Karimnagar and 4km from
Ramagundam railway station. The station is 0.5 km from the state highway
connecting Hyderabad – Mancherial. The power station has only one unit of 62.5
MW.

The unit was commissioned in 1972. The plant was financed under AID
scheme unit comprises of boiler of CE USA and turbine generator of GE USA.

The raw water to the plant is drawn from the river Godavari situated about
8km from the plant. The water from the river is pumped to a reservoir on the top
of hill near the plant. Water is supplied by gravity to DM plant through clarifier
and directly to CW to cooling tower basins as make up.

The coal is received at the power station by road and rail from
Godavarikhani of Singareni Collieries. Adequate facilities are provided for
unloading coal from wagons. However at present the entire coal requirement is
received at plant by road ways by means of trucks.

The ash from the boiler is disposed to the ash disposal area situated about
1km from the plant towards east of the plant. This are is getting filled up and
extension of the area has to be developed.

The boiler was designed for coal quality of 4050kcal/kg with ash content of
38.7%. The present coal quality as reported is about 3700kcal/kg with ash content
of 42%. Due to ageing deterioration of equipment, controls and non-availability of
spares of performance has deteriorated. At present the unit ism operating at a PLF
of 65% and heat rate has been reported to be 2660-2730kcal/kwh, while the design
heat rate is 2616kcal/kwh. The unit has been adequate residual life and also for
improving the performance by implementing renovation and modernization works.
Therefore APSEB has decided to carry out renovation and modernization (R&M)
works on the unit to restore the unit to operate at its rated capacity and at design
efficiency. Before taking up such a major R&M works, APSEB desired to carry
out a study to identify the deficient and problem areas and evolve techno-economic
feasibility for implementation.

4
 Generator in RTPS

TYPE AND RATING (TYPICAL FOR 62.5MW UNIT)

THE TURBOGENERATOR IS THREE PHASE, HORIZONTALLY MOUNTED,

TWO POLE CYCLINDRICAL ROTOR TYPE DIRECTLY DRIVEN BY THE
STEAM TURBINE RUNNING AT 3000 RPM. THE GENERATOR HAS
FOLLOWING CONTINUOUS RATINGS:

RATED OUTPUT 62.5MW

POWER FACTOR 0.85 LAG
RATED TERM. VOLT 13.8 KV
VOLTAGE VARIATION +/-5%
FREQUENCY 50HZ
COMBINED VOL. AND FREQ. VARIATION 47.5HZ TO 51.5 HZ
SHORT CIRCUIT RATIO (WITHOUT NEG. TOLE) 0.48
NEG. SEQ. CURRENT CAPABILITY 8%, 8 SEC
SHORT CIRCUIT WITHSTAND TIME 3 SEC.
AT RATED MVA WITH 5% OVER VOLTAGE
THE GENERATOR IS CONNECTED TO GENERATOR
TRANSFORMER BY MEANS OF ISOLATED PHASE BUSDUCTS.

COOLING

STATOR WINDING DIRECTLY BY H2

ROTOR WINDING DIRECTLY BY H2
STATOR AND ROTOR WINDINGS HAS CLASS –F INSULATION
(MICALASTIC)
TEMPERATURE RISE IS LIMITED TO CLASS-B LIMIT

5
 Chapter-2
EXCITATION AND VOLTAGE REGULATION
2.1 INTRODUCTION :
A Synchronous machine as we know very well can be
operated both as a synchronous generator and synchronous motor. In either case a
synchronous machine requires its field winding supplied with DC voltage.
Depending on the DC current given to the field of synchronous machine (when
operated as a generator) its terminal voltage vanes. We can increase or decrease the
field voltage and thus field current to regulate the terminal voltage of the
synchronous machine. When the machine is connected to the infinite bus it is the
bus voltage, which will appear at the generator terminals, and no appreciable
change in the voltage can be observed with change in the field current. An
increase in the field current reflects in increased induced emf within the
synchronous machine. Bus voltage as well as the terminal voltage remains
constant with the infinite bus operations, we observe reactive power changes with
the change in the field current. If the reactive power demand on the infinite bus
system is more than, the total reactive power generated by all the machines
together, the entire bus voltage is low and if the demand is low and generation of
reactive power is high, bus voltage will be high. Thus there is clear necessity to
manage the reactive power generation to control the bus voltage.

It is now clear that the importance of excitation and voltage regulation. In

addition to maintaining the bus voltage it is essential also to maintain generator
terminal voltage within reasonable limits. This is because most of the power plant
auxiliaries are run on the same generator output terminals, through unit auxiliary
transformer.

6
 It is not difficult to provide the synchronous generator field winding with
DC supply, but to regulate it is so that the terminal voltage is maintained constant
is really stupendous. Voltage regulation improves dynamic stability limits of the
power system. It will help clearing of line faults, i.e. cleaning of faults with in
shortest time and with minimal voltage dip. Summing up above analysis..

 To provide DC supply to synchronous machine field winding.

 To control / maintain terminal voltage at a present value.
 To maintain system voltage under system fault conditions.
 Control reactive power flow and facilitate sharing of reactive load between
machine operating parallel in the grid.
 Guard the machine against inadvertent tripping during transients.
 Rapid response to improve transient stability.
 Modulation of field to enhance small signal stability (PSS).
 Response to transient disturbances with field forcing.
 Effective control of voltage and enhancement of system dynamic stability.

Synchronous machine is to be guarded against the following conditions,

through excitation control.

2.2 EXCITATION SYSTEM:

Creating and strengthening the magnetic field of the generator by passing DC
through the filed winding.

The Equipment for supply, control and monitoring of this DC supply is called the
Excitation system.

7
2.3 WHY EXCITATION SYSTEM :
With large alternators in the power system, excitation plays a vital role in the
management of voltage profile and reactive power in the grid thus ensuring
‘Stability’.

2.4 PURPOSE OF THE EXCITATION SYSTEM:

1. Regulates terminal voltage of the machine.
2. Meet excitation power requirements under all normal operating conditions.
3. Enable maximum utilization of machine capability.
4. Guard the machine against inadvertent tripping during transients.
5. Improve dynamic & transient stability there by increasing availability.

2.5 E XCITATION PRINCIPLE :

Stator induced Voltage
E=K.L.dØ / dt.
K = Constant
L = length exposed to flux
dØ /dt = rate of change of flux

Frequency of induced Voltage

F = NP / 120
Magnitude of flux decides generated voltage and speed of rotation decides
frequency of generated voltage.

8
 Chapter-3
TYPES OF EXCITATION SYSTEM :

3.1 TYPES OF EXCITATION SYSTEM :

1. INDIRECT EXCITATION (BRUSHLESS EXCITATION)
2. DIRECT EXCITATIONS (STATIC EXCITATION)

3.1.1 INDIRECT EXCITATION (Brushless Excitation) :

 Application in synchronous machine (thermal / gas)

 Excitation power to exciter field winding.
 The exciter armature rectified output to main field winding (on the rotor)
 Rotating diodes mounted on the rooter.
 Input power to excitation from PMG/AUX supply.

3.1.2 DIRECT OR SHUNT SUPPLIED STATIC

EXCITATION SYSTEMS

 Application in synchronous machine (hydro/thermal / gas)

 Excitation power from generator terminals.
 Excitation transformer feeds the thyristor rectifier.
 Rectified output applied to the machine field coils.
 Field circuit breaker for isolation and discharge.
COMPARISON:

3.2 BRUSHLESS SYSTEM :

 Response limited to exciter machine time constant.
 Field discharge with neutral time constant.
 Supply from PMG & NO initial buildup circuit required.
 Easy supporting of short circuit in small industrial machines.

9
  No slip rings and brush gear. Direct measurement of field parameters not
possible.
 Fast response.

Chapter-4
STATIC EXCITATION
4.1 INTRODUCTION:
 Fast field discharge by resister and inverter operation.
 Initial build up circuit is required. Less power requirements small thyristor
rectifier.
 Supporting of short circuit current needs compounding transformers. Direct
measurement of field quantities UF & IF possible.
 More power requirements no lamination on redundancy of Thyristor
Bridge.

4.2 ADVANTAGES OF STATIC EXCITATION EQUIPMENT

 Redundancy increases reliability and availability.
 Monitoring and diagnostics reduces down time.
 Absence of rotating parts enables maintenance with easy even when the
equipment is in service.
 Uprating of the machine by using up the margins or by adding additional
circuit.
 Easy of equipment layout.

4.3 STATIC EXCITATION SYSTEM :

Excitation power from generator via excitation transformer. Protective

relays for excitation transformer.

10
 Field forcing provided through 345v aux supply

Converter divided in to no of parallel (typically 4) paths. Each one having

separate pulse output stage and airflow monitoring.

Two channels: Auto & manual, provision for change over from Auto to
Manual.
Limiters: Stator current limiter, Rotor current limiter, Load angle limiter etc.

4.4 FIELD FLASHING :

For start up DC excitation is fed to the field from external source like
station battery or rectified AC from station AC supply.
Field flashing is used to build up voltage up to 30%.
From 30 to 70% both flashing and regulation remains in the circuit.
70% above flashing gets cut-off.

1. V/HZ Limiter:
To protect generator transformer from core saturation under low frequency
conditions, AVR will reduce the terminal voltage in proportion with frequency.

2. Field Current Limitation

The generator field winding should not be overloaded (a very sensitive
issue) and at the same time the field current requires to be forced disturbances very
close to the machine. Thus over current is allowed for a brief interval to maintain
the system voltage and to clear the faults. Sustained over currents in to the field
winding are not allowed. Rotor heating characteristic is taken in to account and
over currents are allowed accordingly.

3. Stator Current Limitation:

 On lagging side.
 On leading side

11
 Except at unity power factor the stator current both on supplying and receiving
reactive power will be increasing. Evidently on over excitation as well as on under
excitation stator currents will increase. They are discriminately controlled not to
cross the limits. Once again on the lagging side only sustained over currents are
controlled. Excessive field currents are some times driven to maintain, transient
stability of the system, which will automatically force the reactive power into the
grid and as result high stator currents. This condition will never appear in the
leading side. Hence stator currents increase is immediately controlled.

4. Load angle limiter:

A condition where the machine is likely to loose its stable operating
condition. Increasing the field current during such conditions will save the
machine from tripping on pole slip protection.

These are also the objectives to be met by an excitation system and

generator Automatic Voltage Regulator (AVR).

Further improvements in excitation of various regulator schemes have come

up with the evolution of Thyristor.

 Static Excitation system with digital AVR.

 Static Excitation system with Analog AVR.
 Brush less Excitation system with digital AVR.
 Brush less Excitation system with Analog.

12
 Before we try to discuss any more on the present excitation / voltage regulator
system it is necessary to know the functioning of Thyristors, a power
semiconductor device, which is responsible for the development of power
electronics today. It is basically a semi-conductor diode, but the diode function is
kept blocked and released once a small pulse signal is issued at the gate terminal of
the Thyristors. It is also called Silicon Controlled Rectifier (SCR), because of this
feature. Once a forward current seizes to zero forward conduction of the diode
function is also blocked. It is active once again when a gate pulse is given. Hence
the device provides a very fine control of the output at every half cycle of the
sinusoidal wave of the power.

4.5 CONVERSION OF AC TO VARIABLE DC :

A three phase full Wave Bridge is formed making use of six Thyristors as
we do with bridge rectifier.
A number of bridges are connected in parallel depending on the total current
requirement and also the individual bridge capacity.
At present Thyristors are available even for 4000 Amps ratings. Forced air
cooled arc in general usage. For special applications water-cooled are also
available. Instead of gate current triggering, now the present market is offering
light-triggering Thyristors also, which offers complete isolation of the power

13
circuit from the control circuit. Optic fiber cable is used to transmit the light signal
for triggering.

circuit Now coming back to automatic voltage regulators, there is a static

excitation system. This is a self excitation system and another option in this is
separately excited system. The difference is that the excitation transformer instead
of being fed from generator terminals is connected to an external supply.
Advantage is that the field flashing is not required.

4.6 FIELD BREAKER :

 It facilitates connection / disconnection of field circuit from Thyristor
bridge circuit and discharge of stood magnetic energy in to field discharge
resistor.
 Linear / Non-linear discharge resistor
 Over voltage Protector
 Rotor Temperature Monitoring (Optional)
 Earth fault Monitoring (optional)

In the static excitation configuration, rotor field winding terminals are brought
out to a set of slip rings. Initially external AC is drawn from the station supply,
rectified and given to the field winding through field breaker and field-flashing

14
breaker. Once the voltage starts building up, at 30% terminal voltage complete
voltage regulator comes into operation and at 70% terminal voltage field flashing
is switched OFF and AVR takes over. In the other alterative case the excitation
transformer is connected to a suitable station source. In this case field flashing is
not necessary but if the external suffers any interruption, the generator losses its
AVR and voltage. All the rest of the circuit is common for both.

There are two options here. A) Static circuitry B) Microprocessor based

circuitry. As such static circuits are not preferred, the reason being Microprocessor
based systems are easy for maintenance and they are fully flexible. One processor
can do any job, unlike in the static circuitry where each function requires a
separate electronic card. Now back to the block diagram of fig. 2, one set of
current transformers is also required to compensate voltage drop due to loading on
the machine. A voltage set point is another requirement for voltage regulator
function. Error amplifier receives both actual and set point and amplifies the error.
Grid control unit is actually a pulse generator and the position of the pulse is
shifter depending on the error signal received from the error amplifier. The pulse
produced by the grid control unit requires reference and is to be synchronized with
the input power supply waveform. Hence synchronous supply is derived and

15
filtered from harmonics and connected to the grid control unit. The limiters
discussed in the earlier paragraphs are also supplied-with the PT voltage and CT
currents. They do the evaluation continuously and impose an extra signal on the
error amplifier output to, limit the field current or to force the field current.

Chapter-5
PROTECTION SCHEMES OF AVR :
5.1 INTRODUCTION:
 Power system stabilizer
 Field forcing circuit
 Pulse supervision
 Rotor over voltage protection
 Rotor earth fault protection
 Excitation transformer over temperature protection and over current
protection. Depending on the complexity of the circuit they are explained as
follows..

5.2 PROTECTION SCHEMES:

1) Excitation transformer over voltage and over current protection:
This transformer is generally a dry type transformer. Generator bus voltage
is stepped down to the required level depending on the excitation
requirements. A fault in AVR or a fault with in the transformer it self can
give raise to excessive currents and temperatures in the winding of the
transformer. A set of CTs at the primary of the transformer connecting to an
over current relay with time delayed contact and also an instantaneous
contact protects the transformer. Instantaneous contact generally trips the
field breaker as well as generator breaker. The time delay contact will
change over the AVER from one channel to the other. Assuming problem in
the auto channel this will be explained as below. All the latest machines
equipped with thyristor – controlled AVR will have an auto channel and
16
 also a manual channel for producing the firing pulse for triggering the
thyristor (grid control units one for auto and the other for manual). The
manual as the name suggest will have to be adjusted manually by the
operator. This is a back up channel and will be used in emergencies. In case
of a trouble in auto channel the change over to manual channel should take
place with out much change in the field current. This is only possible if the
manual channel is following the auto channel. A follow up circuit is built
around to make the manual channel to follow the auto channel as long as
the manual channel is idle. The grid control unit for the manual channel is
made to generate pulses at the same angle as does by the auto channel. This
will provide a smooth change over in case of auto failure. Any malfunction
sensed in the auto channel will initiate change over of field current control
from AVR to a manual standby channel.

2) Rotor earth fault protection

The generator rotor winding is ungrounded. A ground at one location in the

rotor winding may not be so serious, but a second ground fault at other
location I the winding is very serious, because part of the field winding gets
bypassed. The result is an unsymmetrical magnetic field in the generator air
gap and reflects in machine shaft and bearing vibrations. This situation
should not be allowed. A rotor earth fault detection relay is employed for
this purpose. The ABB type relay operated on the AC bridge principle. Two
arms of the bridge will have equal resistors. Other two arms of the bridge
contain capacitors. One capacitor is the capacitance between rotor winding
and the earth. This value is measures at the time of commissioning and the
exact measured value occupies the other arm of the bridge by an equivalent
capacitor. Thus the bridge is balanced at the time of connecting. An earth
fault will disturb this balance and the bridge generates unbalance current
which is amplified and connected for alarm.

17
3) Field Forcing : The synchronous machine is connected to the grid, which
is susceptible to line faults. A line fault close to the generating station bus
will sink the bus voltage, also. This situation will make the distance relays
inoperative at : the switchyard. A dv/dt sensor which will sense the rate of
fall of voltage and forces the field 1.6 to 2.0 times to the full capacity of the
excitation system for a period of 2 seconds. This is called field forcing and
helps fin quick relay operation and grid stability.

4) Rotors over voltage protection: It is possible to occur over voltages in

rotor circuit because of the reason that rotor winding is a highly inductive
circuit. Any small break in the DC current supplied results in very high
voltages across the rotor. Added to this situation, rotor winding on the
rotating rotor has a space limitation for high voltage insulation and usually
rotor – winding insulation is rated only for 500 volts and generally not more
than this, A crow bar protection now a days is used to short circuit any over
voltage spikes across rotor winding.

5) Power system stabilizer (PSS) : Some times a very low frequency

oscillations are observer on the power system. This phenomenon is due to
unbalanced active / reactive power flows in a part of the system. PSS will
attempt to stabilize these oscillations. The generator rotor and turbine rotor
are rigidly coupled and has large inertia energy stored in that. The PSS will
measure the oscillations and to dampen the oscillation will either increase
or decrease the field current. A change in reactive power will momentarily
affect the active power flow. As the governor control is not disturbed the
storage and release of energy takes place in the combined rotor inertia.

18
 Usually PSS is provided with a switch on the operator desk to switch ON or
OFF at the discretion of the operator.

6. Pulse Supervision : A pulse supervision circuit is necessary because

any spurious pulse appearing at the grid control unit (auto) output is
disastrous. They may trigger the Thyristor Bridge at any level, leading
to short circuit current. This condition is supervised by pulse supervision
module. It will sense any extra pulses and also a continuously missing
pulse and then will initiates a change over of control from auto to.

5.3 THE ROLE OF AUTOMATIC VOLTAGE REGULATOR (AVR) IN IMPROVING

STABILITY:
A voltage regulator is the heart of the excitation system. The output voltage
of the generator changes only when the voltage regulator instructs the excitation
system to do so irrespective of the response of the exciter. A regulator senses
changes in the output voltage and / or current and the initiates the corrective
action. If the regulator is slow i.e., has dead band or back lash or is other wise
insensitive, the system will be a poor one. By Dead band of the regulator is meant
the time elapsing between the voltage deviation and the return to be proscribed
value due to slow action of the system regulator.

19
Modern trends are the design of power system components have resulted in lower
stability margins. The following factors contributed to this trend:

 Modern trends in the design of power system components have resulted in

lower stability margins. The following factors contributed to this trend.
 Large generator units with low inertia constant and higher p.u. reactance are
being manufactured.

These trends have lead to the increased dependence on the use of excitation control
as a mean of improving stability this has promoted significant tech advance in the
excitation system.
As studied in the earlier system above the voltage regulation was entirely
manual. The operator observed the terminal voltage and adjusted the field rheostat
until the desired o/p conditions were obtained. The speed of this device is of
greater importance in studying stability. As the manual operation gives require o/p
voltage and / or current at slower i.e. it has Dead band or insensitive. Thus it has
less stability.

One of method to obtaining a fast response is to use such a design of the

exciter which will gives a relatively higher (the higher than the one required under
steady state condition) maximum voltage when R is short-circuited. This voltage
is known as the ceiling voltage. This voltage is normally two times the normal
steady state voltage of the exciter with such a design the changes in the field
current are obtained faster and hence faster control of alternator output voltage is
obtained. It is to be noted that the use of pilot exciter along with main exciter has
a much faster response than the self-exciter main exciter alone. Since the excited
field control is independent of the exciter output voltage because the switch
operator is electromechanical, the response may be slow compared to more
modern systems.

20
 In most modern systems the voltage regulator is a controller that sense the
generator voltage and / or current and initiates corrective action by changing the
exciter control in the desired direction.

A typical arrangement for such an excitation system.

The auxiliary control may include a comparator, which may be used to set a
lower limit on excitation, especially at leading pf operation, for prevention of
instability due to very weak coupling across the air gap. Other auxiliary controls
are some times desirable for damping to prevent overshoot, feedback of speed,
frequency etc. some of the amplification and comparison functions in modern
regulators consists of a solid state active device. Various configurations have been
used but all have generally fast operation with no appreciable time delay compared
to other system time constants. The future of solid state voltage regulator is bright
because of the inherent reliability, ease of maintenance and low initial cost of these
devices. The modern regulators are known as continuously acting because of their
faster operation and because they do not have a dead band.

The transient stability of a system can be improved if the excitation system

has high speed of response and a high ceiling voltage with faster change in
excitation and hence boost of internal machine flux, the electrical output of the
machine maybe increased during the first swing which reduces the accelerating
power and the results in improved transient performance.
The modern excitation system is effective in two ways:
21
  It reduces the severity of machine swings when subjected to large impacts
by reducing magnitude of the first swing.
 It ensures that the subsequent swings are smaller than the first swing.

The modern large interconnected power system is very important. There may
be certain situations when various modes of oscillations reinforce each other
during later swings, which along with the inherent weak system damping may
cause transient instability after the first swing. With proper compensation a
modern excitation system can be very effective in correcting this type of the
problem.
The generator will be modified depending upon the action of regulator.
Basically, there are three possibilities.
 Operation with constant excitation and hence constant no load voltage
i.e. no regulator action. This operation is represented by an equivalent
circuit with synchronous impedance Zs behind a constant voltage source
E.

 The other possibility is the use of a regulator which is acting non-

continuously, i.e. the terminal voltage varies with load. This is
represented by a constant voltage behind a transient reactance.

22
 Chapter-6
AUTOMATIC VOLTAGE REGULATOR(AVR) IN RTPS

6.1 TYPES OF AVR’S:

 Single channel AVR system

 Duel channel AVR system
 Twin channel AVR system

6.2 SINGLE CHANNEL AVR SYSTEM :

Here we have two controllers one is automatic and the other is manual and both
the controllers are fed from the same supply.

The AVR senses the circuit parameters through current transformers and voltage
transformers and initiates the control action by initiating control pulses, which are
amplified and sent to the circuit components.

The gate controller is used to vary the firing angle in order to control the field
current for excitation.

In case of any fault in the automatic voltage regulator the control can be switched
on to the manual controller.

6.3 DUAL CHANNEL AVR SYSTEM :

Here also we have two controllers in the same manner as the previous case i.e. one
automatic voltage controller and one manual controller. But here in contrary to the
previous case we have different power supply, gate control and pulse amplifier
units for each of the controllers.
Reliability is more in this case than previous one since a fault in either gate control
unit or pulse amplifier or power supply in single channel AVR will cause failure of
whole unit, but in duel channel AVR this can be avoided by switching to another
channel.

23
6.4 TWIN CHANNEL AVR SYSTEM :
This system almost resembles the duel channel AVR but the only difference is that
here we have automatic voltage regulators instead of one automatic voltage
regulator and one manual Voltage regulator.

This system has an edge over the previous one in the fact that in case of failure in
the AVR of the Dual voltage regulator the manual system is switched on and it
should be adjusted manually for the required change in the system and if the fault
in AVR is not rectified in reasonable time it will be tedious to adjust the manual
voltage regulator.

There are two independent control systems

1. Auto control
2. Manual control
The control is affected on the 3 phase output of the pilot exciter and provides a
variable DC input to the main exciter.
The feedback of voltage and current output of the generator is fed to AVR where it
is compared with the set point generator volts from the control room.

The main components of the voltage Regulator are two closed – loop control
systems each followed by separate gate control unit and thyristor set and de
excitation equipment.

This equipment acts on to the output of the generator voltage, control, limiting the
set point for the above excitation current regulator. The stationary value of this
limitation determines the maximum possible excitation current set-point (field
forcing limitation);

24
6.5 OPERATION OF AUTOMATIC VOLTAGE REGULATOR (AVR):
An excitation system regulates the terminal voltage and the reactive power
flow of a synchronous machine by altering the field current with the aid of
thyristor converters in two ways:

 Field voltage of an excitation machine with indirect excitation.

 Field voltage of a synchronous machine with direct excitation (static
excitation)

Operation of excitation system

1. Supply system including excitation transformer.
2. Excitation module
3. Signal interfacing
4. Field de-excitation.

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6.6 SYSTEM CONFIGURATIONS :
 SINGLE CHANNEL
 DUAL AUTOMATIC CHANNEL

Supply system :
There are three different modes of supply:
o Shunt supply
o P.E. / PMG Supply
o Auxiliary supply.

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27
28
6.6.1 Shut supply :

During normal operation, the supply of the entire system is taken from the
machine terminals through a step down transformer, the so-called excitation
transformer. The secondary voltage of the excitation transformer is determined in
such a way that the AC supply for the thyristor converter will enable the DC output
voltage to reach the required system ceiling voltage when the Thyristors are in
maximum conducting condition.

The excitation transformer is sized with a short circuit reactance in the

range of 4 to 6% (typically 5%). This reactance value ensures sufficient limitation
of the short circuit current and / or the current increase di/dt during the
commutation period of the Thyristors.

6.6.2 Field Flashing :

In shunt-supplied excitation circuits (excitation transformer connected to

the machine terminals), the machine does not usually have enough residual voltage
for a machine voltage build-up via the converter. For this purpose, a field flashing
circuit is provided.

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 The field flashing circuit is activated as soon as the field breaker is closed
and excitation switched on. If all conditions are fulfilled, the field flashing
contactor closes and the required initial field current starts flowing. If field
flashing is not successful with in a set time (10sec), the excitation will be tripped.
The converter Thyristors are fired at an input voltage of 10v. The converter takes
over the excitation control as soon as it conducts. The field-flashing breaker opens
as soon as the machine voltage reaches the set threshold value of 30% to 40% of
rated voltage. The diode bride prevents current from flowing back from the
Thyristors converter to the battery when the Thyristors converter’s output voltage
exceeds the field flashing voltage.

The field systems, the field flashing power is taken from AC aux. Line and
stopped down to the required voltage by a transformer and rectified by the diode
bridge.

6.6.3 Compounding option for indirect excitation :

A compounding circuits is provided if the excitation transformer is fed from

the machine terminals and the excitation has to be maintained for a certain time in
the event of transient events (e.g. short circuits or major load surges in the
network) in order to allow selectivity of protection.
There are two modes of compounds:
o Shunt supply with battery compounding.
o Shunt supply with series compounding.

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6.7 EXCITATION TRASNFORMER:
Resin cast coil
High short circuit strength
Higher overload capacity.
Moisture-proof and pre-drying.
Higher impulse strength.
Partial discharge is very less.
Compact installation.
Over current and over temperature protection provided.

6.7.1 Shunt supply with battery compounding (standard option) :

Normally, station batteries are required, and provided, for the operation of
the system. This option is preferred for this reason.

The station batteries supply the compounding circuit. At the low machine
voltage, compounding contractor and the field flashing contactor close
simultaneously, feeding the required compounding current through the diode
bridge. The resistor determines the compounding current.

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6.8 CONTROL PANEL OPERATION :

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6.8.1 Functional Keys of AVR control panel:

Function keys

The membrane keypad is used to switch between the different display modes and
to operate the panel functions. The key functions are as follow:

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6.8.2 Excitation System ON/OFF:

The excitation of the machine is switched on with the command

EXCITATION ON. In the case of generators, this causes the generator voltage to
buildup. The switch on command remains ineffective as long as trip command or a
fault messages is active. If the excitation switch is still open when the
EXCITATION ON command is given, then a closing command is automatically
issued only after the switch has been closed is the excitation enabled, and the field
current begins to flow.

The command EXCITATION OFF switches of the excitation, i.e. the

converter is switched into inverter mode, so that the machine is de-excited. After
60sec, the firing pulses are blocked and the converter is shutdown completely.

6.8.3 Switching between AUTO / MANUAL operation :

AUTOMATIC operation means voltage regulation. The excitation is

automatically regulated so that a constant voltage is achieved at the machine
terminals. In MANUAL mode, on the other hand, the excitation is kept constant.
In the event of a changing machine load, the excitation must be adjusted manually
so that the voltage remains constant.

As a basic rule, it is possible to switch between operating modes at any

time, since the active regulator is always automatically adjusted to the active
regulator. Special attention should be paid to the following points.

If a fault is detected in AUTO mode ( emergency switchover to

MANUAL mode), it is not possible to switch back to AUTO mode until the fault
has been eliminated.

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Switching over from AUTO to MANUAL mode is prevented if there is a fault in
the latter.

In the event of automatic switchover due to a fault, the system switches over to the
operating mode which was active before the fault occurred. For this purpose, the
follow up control only reacts slowly to change in the machine values. This
behavior must be taken into account whenever switching deliberately. It is
necessary to wait for the signal READY FOR CHANNEL SELECTION in order
for the switchover to take place smoothly.

The generator can be switchover to AUTO mode with in extreme operating

ranges, but also with in permitted operating ranges which lie outside of the
permitted operating range of the MANUAL modes. The acknowledgement signal
READY FOR CHANNEL SELECTION allows the deviation between the
adjustment values of the two regulators to be observed. A smooth switchover is
only guaranteed if this acknowledgement signal is present.

6.8.4 UN0610 ANALOG INPUT AND OUTPUT PCB:

 16 analog inputs including 6 sample and hold inputs.

 2 analog outputs.
 Possibility to switch inputs in common mode (16i/p) or in differential mode
(8 inputs).
 Conversion range for inputs & outputs can be selected either as 0v to +10v
or as –10v to + 10v individually for each channel.

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6.8.5 UNO661 INTERRUPT GENERATOR UNIT

Performs the following functions:

I) Filtering & adjusting of analog signals like:
a) Generator voltage
b) Generator current etc.
II) Interrupt generator for the CPU either
a) From the system voltage or
b) From the internal oscillator
(In free run mode)

III) Monitoring of
a) Frequency
b) Voltage
c) Interrupt rate

6.8.6 UN0662 DIGITAL INPUT/OUTPUT PCB

32 digital inputs.
32 digital outputs.
Possibility of using 16 inputs either as normal or as pulsed inputs.
(In pulses input mode, inputs are stored until interrogated by the computer).

6.8.7 PULSE GENERATER UN0663

 Filtering of trigger voltage

 Generator of double pulses.
 Correction of firing angle for f fn
 Min/max firing angle individually adjustable
 Pulse blocking and full inverter operation upon external command
 Three control facilities
o AVR
o Internal ref. Value (open loop control)
o Internal current regulator
 Maximum field current monitoring (dc short circuit protection)
 Periodical self test

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 Follow up control

37
 Chapter-7
CONCLUSION

The power system engineer is faced with a variable load changing from
minimum to maximum at or near constant value of the voltage. Power system
stability is the most important task for today’s engineers besides the reliability of
the power, in complex electrical networks.

Modern trends in the design of power system components have resulted in

lower stability margins. The following factors contributed to this trend:

 Large generator units with low inertia constant and higher p.u reactance are
being manufactured.
 Large inter connected system operating practices with increased
dependence on the transmission system to carry generator loading.

These trends have lead to the increased dependence on the use of excitation
control as a mean of improving stability this has promoted significant tech advance
in the excitation system.

With the advent of power SCR the power system stability is now became
easier as the dead band is almost reduced and the excitation system now can cope
up with the voltages even with the short circuits ate the machine terminals.

In most of the modern systems the voltage regulator is a controller that

senses the voltage and / or current and initiates the corrective action in the desired
direction immediately and the keeps the system dynamically stable.

38
BIBILOGRAPHY

IEEE TUTORIAL ON AVR.

-- Sponsored by
The Power Engineering Education Committee,
Power System Relaying Committee.

MANUAL FOR PROTECTION ENGINEERS

….Authored by
MVS BIRINCHI, BE, FIE.
EX DIRECTOR (TECHNICAL)
APGENCO

C VENKATESHWARLU, ME., PGDIEM

CHIEF ENGG / PROTECTION
APGENCO

ELECTRICAL MACHINES
-- By PS BIMBRA

POWER SYSTES

-- By C.L. WADHWA

39