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This paper presents results of study of loss-of-excitation phenomena simulations. Loss of excitation is a very common fault
in synchronous machine operating and can be caused by short circuit of the field winding, unexpected field breaker open or
loss-of-excitation relay mal-operation. According to the statistic [1], the generator failure due to loss-of-excitation accounts
for 69 % of all generator failures. There has been concern over possible incorrect operation of the relay when operating the
generator in the under-excited region, during stable transient swings and during major system disturbances. This article can
serve as inputs for system operators in preparation of operation area or protection relaying area.
K e y w o r d s: loss of excitation, excitation system, synchronous generator, stability
1 Introduction sources do not provide the necessary power, they are con-
nected into cascade. This is however followed by increas-
The loss of synchronism (stability) of synchronous gen- ing of equivalent exciter time constant (and thus worsen-
erator and the subsequent transition to asynchronous op- ing of exciter dynamics).
eration is a very serious and unfavorable operating condi- Basic components of static excitation systems are
tion. It occurs if the machine is not able to transmit the thyristor rectifiers, controlled with excitation regulator
electrical power (Pe ) corresponding to supplied mechan- by means of thyristor ignition impulse circuits. This can
ical power (Pm ). This could be caused by the following be performed in two ways via the transformer, namely
reasons: either from an independent source (so called independent
– loss of excitation of synchronous generator (significant excitation) or directly from the generator (so called de-
decrease of internal electromotive force), pendent excitation). The main benefit of static excitation
– weakening of the transmission grid (eg line outages), systems is the speed with which the excitation voltage re-
sponds to the change of regulator voltage.
– increasing of the transmitted power (threat for static
stability), The excitation systems of synchronous machines are
subject of following requirements:
– etc.
– keep the generator in a condition when it is possible
Asynchronous operation of synchronous generator is ana-
by (long) lines to transmit the power close to the limit
lyzed eg in [2]. This article deals with the loss of excitation
line power (ie enable the generator operation in the
of synchronous generator. area of so called artificial stability [4]),
– ensure sufficient dynamic stability reserve and damp-
ing of generator power swings after failure,
2 Excitation systems of synchronous machines
– maintain stability during change of properties of elec-
The essential function of excitation system is to supply tric lines or grid to which the generator is connected,
direct current for the power of synchronous machine ex- – easily and reliably measure the parameters according
citation winding. Furthermore, it has several protection to which regulation occurs,
and control functions. The excitation system consists of – high operating reliability.
two relatively independent components — excitation reg- An integral part of the excitation system is apart from
ulator (automatic voltage regulator) and the exciter it- the exciter itself also the excitation regulator. The pri-
self [3]. The exciter power makes up generally 0.2–0.8 % mary task of the excitation regulator is to maintain the
of the generator power. The exciter voltage generally does required voltage on generator terminals. In addition, the
not exceed 1 kV so that its winding does not need addi- excitation regulator generally fulfills most of the following
tional insulation [2]. supplementary functions [3, 5]:
Basically there are static and rotating exciters. In ro- – limiter of rotor and stator current: protects generator
tating exciters, the excitation current is obtained from before stator or rotor circuit overloading,
direct current generators (eventually alternative current – under-excitation limit control: main aim is to prevent
generators equipped with rectifiers). Since direct current machine de-excitation (under-excitation) to the degree
∗ ∗∗
Power System Management s.r.o., Ondavská 5, 040 01 Košice, Slovakia, kristof.vladimir@gmail.com Vchodoslovenská distribučná,
a.s., Mlynská 31, 040 01 Košice, Slovakia, marian.mester@gmail.com
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Journal of ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING 68 (2017), NO1 55
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56 V. Krištof , M. Mešter: LOSS OF EXCITATION OF SYNCHRONOUS GENERATOR
x x
High Low
load load
0 xs
xd’/2 R Zone 2 0 xd’/2 R
1.1 xd Directional
1.0 pu Zone 1 element
xd Impedance locus during Zone 1
loss of excitation
Zone 2
x x
xs 0
Zone 2 0 xd’/2 R 5% xq R
xq
xd
Zone 1
common point with the generator that lost excitation (i.e. 4 Loss of excitation protection
generators in one power plant). As was presented above
in the text, if generator lost excitation it changes into Loss of excitation protection is the so called impedance
significant consumer of reactive power. If this generator type of protection. Their first installations reach back to
is not shut down, the adjacent generators start increasing 50-ties of the last century. The impedance principle is
the production of reactive power up to the limit when with good results used also nowadays, since it has high
their limiters of rotor and stator currents act. The effect ability to detect loss of excitation and at the same time
of loss of excitation on adjacent generators is analyzed in is very reliable. However, there is an area of generator
more details in [8]. operation when this type of protection can function im-
If not even the grid can cope with increased supply of properly. These are the cases when generator operated
reactive power, it can cause overloading and subsequent in under excited condition, during stable transient power
the transmission lines outages in cascades. Significant de- swings in the grid and during significant system outages
crease of voltage in individual nodes of the grid and the with frequency drop [8].
resultant threat of voltage collapse could have another Example of measured impedance on generator termi-
adverse effect. nals is shown on Fig. 2. It can be seen that the impedance
Operators of the transmission grids shall for reasons trajectory seen by the protection on machine terminals
of planning the operation, development or maintenance crosses the characteristic of loss of excitation protection
of safe and reliable supplies of electric energy perform and enters into it. This excites the impulse for protection
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Journal of ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING 68 (2017), NO1 57
1.2
tion of protection during some swing effects in the grid
(pu) NT or close faults (i.e. during short circuit on terminals of
0.8 UG block transformer). The characteristic (c) is taken over
from IEEE, it is modified and used in China [10]. Finally,
0.4
the characteristic (d) is an example of older type of pro-
PG tection D21 used also in our power system [2].
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
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58 V. Krištof , M. Mešter: LOSS OF EXCITATION OF SYNCHRONOUS GENERATOR
1.2 1.5
NT UG PG
(pu)
1
UG 1
0.8
PG 0.5
QG
0.6
0.4 0
0.2 QG
-0.5
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
-1 Time (s)
Time (s)
Fig. 8. Courses of values of generator No. 1 during loss of excitation Fig. 9. Courses of values of generator No. 2 during loss of excitation
0.4 -0.6
IB
0.2
-1.0
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
-0.2 -1.4
Time (s) Im (Z)
Fig. 10. Courses of values of generator No. 2 during loss of excita- Fig. 11. Impedance measured with protection during loss of exci-
tion tation
1.8
(pu) power, IBUD is excitation current and UBUD is excitation
1.6 voltage.
1.4 From the courses presented in Figs. 5 and 6 it is ob-
PG1
1.2 PG2 vious that after loss of excitation the machine starts to
1 take reactive power from the grid and at the time just
0.8 after the 4th second the machine loses synchronism. This
0.6
is obvious from the saw-tooth courses of values (powers,
voltage) that are typical for asynchronous operation. The
0.4 PG3 impedance measured with protection in Fig. 7 responds
0.2 well with its quality to the impedance course in the ref-
1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 erence article [10].
-0.2 Time (s) Figure 8 shows the courses of values of generator No. 1.
From the presented courses it is obvious that generator
Fig. 12. Courses of active powers of generators No.1 responded to failure of generator No. 2 by increas-
ing the production of active power (influence of rotations
reactance Eq equals to excitation current Ib . It applies regulation) and also reactive power. However, since gen-
the following erator No. 2 was not disconnected from the grid it also
Eq = IB = Eq′ − (Xd − Xd′ ) ∗ Id . (3) caused swings of remaining two machines operating in the
Let’s assume that on generator No. 2 at the time of 1 s grid.
there occurs the loss of excitation as result of short cir- Figure 9 shows the courses of relevant values for gen-
cuit in excitation winding. The courses of relevant values erator No. 2 for the scenario when the excitation winding
are presented in Figs. 5 and 6, where PG stands for ac- was disconnected (ie the second method (Ib = 0)).
tive power of generator, QG is reactive power of genera- When comparing the courses of values during loss of
tor, UG is voltage on generator terminals, NT is turbine excitation it is obvious that the second method (i.e. dis-
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Journal of ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING 68 (2017), NO1 59
connection of excitation winding) is less favorable and ex- on the shaft and turbine occur. These shocks have slip
citation decreases faster and subsequently generator loses frequency.
synchronism. The following figure shows the patterns of 3) Synchronous machine in non-excited condition: its
active powers of generators G1 to G3 for the case that behavior is somewhere between the two previous exam-
protection acts during loss of excitation at the time t=9 ples. The machine continues to operate as asynchronous
s. It is clear that the protection shuts down generator machine, ie with slip. It has obviously zero synchronous
G2 on time and this has significant importance from the
torque determined with the magnetic field of rotor. How-
perspective of maintaining the stability of remaining gen-
ever, there still operates the already mentioned reluctance
erators operating in the grid.
torque that is proportional to the difference of longitudi-
nal and transverse reactance of the machine. During each
6 Salient pole (hydrogenerator) slip the swing (shock) originates, the intensity of which is
vs cylindrical (turbogenerator) also dependent on the difference of longitudinal and trans-
verse reactance. This means that the average torque and
The publication [13] explains that the hydrogenerator power on the shaft remain approximately equally big as
should be immediately shut down after loss of excitation. at the time before loss of excitation. The machine supplies
The protection acts on signal, switch, de-excitation and asynchronous power (similarly as asynchronous machine)
quick release of the turbine. However, the protection will in the grid. The immediate power and torque of the ma-
not shut down the turbogenerator immediately. It acts chine swing around this median at each slip by the value
on automatics during loss of excitation (ANSI 40). The of reluctance power. If we consider the machine is turbo-
automatics acts on turbine regulator and decreases the generator, ie machine with cylindrical rotor, that has a
generator power. Since it is heated up it enables the op- very small difference between longitudinal and transverse
eration of generator in above synchronous rotations for reactance, the immediate value of power and torque of
some time. This is how operators or excitation regula- the machine will slightly swing. In case of hydroelectric
tor get time and can take an early action to eliminate the generator, ie machine with salient poles, the swing will
cause (if it is possible) and thus prevent unnecessary shut be apparent, since there is significant difference between
down of generator. If it is not possible to eliminate the the machine reactances.
cause until the specified period, the automatics will shut From this analysis it is obvious that the hydroelectric
down the generator. generator shall be shut down as soon as possible after loss
We will try to analyze this situation in more detail. of excitation. Turbogenerator can operate with approved
Hydroelectric generators are synchronous machines with asynchronous operation for some time, as long as it is al-
salient poles where xd 6= xq . The generally applicable lowed by the manufacturer. However, the question is why
relation for calculation of electric active power supplied to keep such machine in non-excited condition further in
by generator into the grid, specified also above in this
operation. This depends on several factors:
article, is simplified. Fully covered relation, described in
per units, can be expressed as (in accordance with [14]) – operating method of the whole grid,
– importance of machine that lost excitation protection,
ub uS xd − xq – will the outage of this machine be a threat for the grid
pe = sin δ + u2s sin 2δ . (4)
x 2xd xq stability?
– can the machine supplying lower power for some time
This relation consists of two elements. First is the torque, improve the grid stability?
or power of synchronous machine that is proportional to
excitation voltage (first part of equation). Second is so Basically, there are two viewpoints with respect to this
called reluctance power (second part) that is usually ne- issue. If the machine is shut down later, the grid stability
glected in calculations. However, if it is considered and will face a smaller threat, yet there will be higher risk
ub = 0 , ie we assume the loss of excitation occurred, we of rotor overheating and machine damage. On the other
determine there is reluctance power on the machine shaft. hand, if the machine is shut down earlier, it will be bet-
With detailed analysis of asynchronous and synchronous ter for the machine itself, yet with worse consequences
machine in excited and non-excited condition we can con- for the grid stability. Practically, not even turbogener-
clude the following: ators are allowed to operate in asynchronous operation
1) Asynchronous machine: has squirrel cage rotor for above stated reason in order not to cross the allowed
with regular arrangement. During operation with asyn- warming of rotor parts or damper (amortisseur) windings.
chronous rotations neither swings nor power changes oc- Generally, it is subject of agreement of the grid operator,
cur during constant load. generator operator and generator manufacturer whether
2) Synchronous machine in excited condition: by in- such machine is disconnected from the grid immediately
creasing the power up to the stability limit only the in- or asynchronous operation is allowed for some time. Fi-
ternal machine angle (rotor angle) increases. Once this nally, this time information should be provided by the
limit is crossed synchronism loss and mechanical shocks manufacturer in type tests.
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60 V. Krištof , M. Mešter: LOSS OF EXCITATION OF SYNCHRONOUS GENERATOR
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