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Research Article
Research Article
Modelling and Simulation of Static Excitation
System in Synchronous Machine Operation and
Investigation of Shaft Voltage
Copyright 2014 Arun Kumar Datta et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution
License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly
cited.
Static excitation system (SES) has been implemented in a specially designed synchronous machine installed in a testing laboratory.
This is a large capacity single machine operated in dual mode (i.e., motor or generator) with the help of static sources. It is well known
that bearings of the rotating machines are vulnerable to the effects of the shaft voltages caused by the static sources. Shaft voltage is
the prime concern for this special machine too due to SES. To find out the exact cause of the shaft voltage, SES of this machine has
been modelled with Power Systems software. Various waveforms drawn from the model are validated through computer simulations
and actual laboratory tests. Sources of shaft voltages are also analysed thereafter with the FFT analysis of the rotor voltage and current
waveforms.
Static
frequency
converter
Rotor excitation
through brushes
and slip ring
Journal
bearing
Stator
Rotor
Static +
excitation
system
Shaft
grounding
brush
Bearing Synchronous Bearing
pedestal machine pedestal
insulated grounded
to earth. This unwanted voltage is known as shaft voltage. static sources. The shaft voltage problem in the short circuit
It is a very old and common phenomenon in any electrical alternator has already been reported earlier [2426].
machine. Shaft voltage was noticed in the beginning of the This paper begins with the description of SES. Waveforms
20th century by the engineers while studying different motor at various key points are recorded with the high speed
failure cases. Shaft voltage in those days was based only recorder and stored for further analysis. A Simulink model
on sinusoidal power sources. It was noticed mainly due to has been prepared with the help of different parameters
unbalance in magnetic fluxes because of various reasons. from converter bridge. The model is run and the results
Application of nonsinusoidal or static sources came into are compared with the actual waveforms recorded from the
practice many years after the invention of semiconductor system. A discussion on the shaft voltage is brought out with
devices. With this some new types of shaft voltages appeared these results.
[9]. It is proven that shaft voltage under static power source is
more predominant due to electrostatic phenomenon rather 2. SES: Description
than pure sine wave operation [10]. Static excitation system
has also added a new type of shaft voltage on the basic shaft SES converts line frequency AC to DC which further
voltages [11]. energises field winding in the rotor. Excitation level in a
Bearing currents are the outcome of presence of shaft machine is needed to vary according to the different modes
voltages. There are three major types of bearing currents: of the machine. This is only possible with a phase controlled
circulating current, V/ current, and discharge current [12 rectifier. Now, to improve the power factor and to reduce the
14]. Each of these currents flows under different conditions. harmonic level of the system, a poly-pulse AC-DC power
Other than the mechanical reasons, majority of the premature conversion [27] is required. To maintain this theory a 12-pulse
bearing failures are due to the flow of these bearing currents. converter configuration is adopted for SES in short circuit
Common mode voltage (CMV) [15] is also responsible to flow alternator. It is formed by a series combination of two 6-
current through machine bearings to ground. Many authors pulse thyristor based silicon-controlled rectifier (SCR). Rotor
[1618] presented different inverters topologies to eliminate current is very high value in alternator mode. To cope with
CMV. Various filtering techniques (e.g., active, passive, or this current two thyristors are put in parallel in each leg of
hybrid) are also proposed to safeguard the motor from the the bridge. Detailed drawing is depicted in Figure 2.
ill effects of CMV [1921]. The circuit begins with a specially designed converter
Most of the shaft voltage and bearing current problems transformer at the bridge input. It is a step down transformer
and solutions related to work were carried out on induction with one primary and two secondary windings. Secondary
motor [22, 23]. This paper creates a different approach by windings are in star and delta fashion to get a 30 phase shift
taking a high power short circuit alternator for the study. between them. Rectified six-pulse outputs of each converter
SES has great operation flexibilities compared to the other bridge are connected in series to form a 12-pulse output. This
methods of excitation. It is also cheaper than the old con- current is controlled by changing the thyristor gate pulses
ventional motor-generator set. Fast response characteristic, from the control cubicle. A dc circuit breaker does the switch-
easy monitoring control, and troubleshooting are some other ing action between SES and rotor circuit. SES panel is divided
advantages of SES. In spite of several benefits, generation of into two main parts (see Figure 3). One is power cubicle, con-
shaft voltage is the major concern among the machines with sisting of thyristors and snubber circuits. The second part is
Advances in Electrical Engineering 3
+ I/i
DC CB SFC
Gate
pulses
CB
R Stator
CT
Converter 1 Generator
Rotor
V/
Converter 2 output
Input
supply
R
VT
CT Gate
pulses
Generator
Ref. V Ref. I
DC CB
VT
Gate pulses
Measurement Measurement protection
and protection and control
SES control cubicle
Gate
pulse
circuit
PEC rack
HMI
Snubber circuit
Figure 3: Static excitation system for 1500 MVA short circuit alternator.
4 Advances in Electrical Engineering
T T
1-1
1-1
1-2
Figure 4: Converter input voltages from transformer (top: star Figure 6: Generator output 3 kVrms, 50 Hz.
winding 950 Vrms, bottom: delta winding 950 Vrms).
T
Table 1: SES model parameter values.
Parameter Value
Input source 33 kV, 3 phases
Transformer nominal power 5 MVA
1-1
Transformer primary input 33 kV, 50 Hz
Transformer secondary output star winding 950 V
Transformer secondary output delta winding 950 V
1-2 Thyristor bridge 3 arms
Snubber resistance 500
Snubber capacitance 0.1 F
Forward resistance 1 m
Forward voltage 0.8 V
Generator field resistance 0.01
Generator field inductance 20 mH
0 s 50.0 ms 100.0 ms
Idc
g
+ + i
A
Continuous
B
powergui C
Vab
Synchronized Generator +
6-pulse generator Thyristor
+ field
Vdc
alpha deg converter
Vbc
AB
+ BC
Pulses
Vca CA
+ 0 Block
Synchronization Star voltages
Mux
voltages
In 1
Out 1 Ref. Idc
Y a2 Synchronized In 2
A Vab1
b2 + 6-pulse generator 1
Mux
A Y9 Current
c2 alpha deg regulator
N B B a3 Vbc1
+
AB Scope
C b3
C BC Pulses
c3 CA
33 kV, 3-Ph Vca1 Clock
+ 0 Block
source 5 MVA
transformer Scope 1
Synchronization Delta voltages
Mux
voltages
z
g To workspace
+
A
B
C
Thyristor
converter 1
(a) (b)
Gate pulses Vdc
(c) (d)
Idc Ref. Idc
(e)
Figure 8: Scope view of simulation run (a) star voltage, (b) delta voltage, (c) gate pulses, (d) dc voltage, and (e) dc current and ref. dc current.
and actual waveforms from the measurements points of SES Presence of harmonics and other high frequency signals
are compared which show similarities. Rotor voltage and causes the capacitive and inductive couplings in the complete
current are pulsating in nature. It contains numbers of low alternator system. Winding insulation, air, and lubricating
and high order harmonics. This is confirmed by Fourier oil work as dielectric medium for forming the distributed
transform. Figure 10 shows the fast Fourier transform (FFT) capacitances in the machine. These capacitances (also called
analysis for actual rotor voltage whereas Figure 11 is the FFT parasitic capacitances) form in stator to ground, stator to
for simulated waveform. Similarly FFT for rotor current rotor, stator to shaft, rotor to shaft, bearing to ground, cable
waveforms are depicted in Figures 12 and 13. to ground, and also supply source to ground. Leakage current
6 Advances in Electrical Engineering
Figure 9: SES simulation results (a) rotor current (A), (b) reference current (A), and (c) rotor voltage (V).
7 150 Hz 0.0103
8 200 Hz 0.0098 1400
9 400 Hz 0.0095
10 1.050 kHz 0.0086
(V) 1200
1000
800
600
0.0400 V 400
0 Hz 2.000 kHz
200
Figure 10: FFT for actual rotor voltage.
0
0 50 100 150
Frequency (Hz)
( = V/) flows all along the stator and rotor windings
due to this parasitic capacitance () and high V/. This Figure 11: FFT for simulated rotor voltage.
leakage current generates high frequency flux. Harmonics
and other high frequency spikes in the stator and rotor power
supply also generate high frequency flux. These cumulative
fluxes link with winding, core, frame, shaft, and other metallic film takes place due to close proximity or high voltage. The
parts. In this way the inductive coupling is formed. Capacitive discharge current pulses contain high amount of energy.
and inductive couplings together give an additive effect for This energy is the prime source of bearing erosion and is
the generation of shaft voltages for this long shaft machine. commonly known as fluting or electric discharge machining
As long as the shaft is insulated from ground at one end, (EDM) [30]. This EDM can damage bearing, shaft, and other
then circulating current will not flow. In the presence of nearby metal parts. As an example, pitting on a shaft due to
voltage, shaft acts like a charged capacitor with lubricating shaft discharge is shown in Figure 16.
oil as a dielectric medium. Shaft is kept at ground potential
with two grounding brushes. But during high speed rotation 6. Conclusion
it is not possible to keep shaft at ground potential all the
time. When the contact resistance of the grounding brushes is With the prime features, such as quick response, easy moni-
high (due to poor contact or contamination) the charged shaft toring, control, and troubleshooting, SES has made the first
discharges creating short high current impulses. Electrostatic choice of the designer for machine field excitation system.
discharges (see Figures 14 and 15) also happen between shaft The SES discussed in this system is responsible for operating
and bearing when dielectric breakdown of lubricating oil a single machine under different mode. Without any prime
Advances in Electrical Engineering 7
T
Linear spectrum
180.00 mV Numerical calculation
Maximum P-P value 14.700 A
1 0 Hz 167.35 m Frequency (first) 33.3333 kHz
2 300 Hz 17.86 m Period (ave.) 222.143 s
3 10 Hz 10.02 m Maximum 9.175 V
4 100 Hz 8.73 m RMS value 0.294 V
5 5 Hz 5.21 m Pulse count 113
6 50 Hz 4.13 m
7 15 Hz 2.53 m
8 20 Hz 2.48 m
9 200 Hz 2.42 m
10 900 Hz 2.22 m
(V)
20.00 mV
0 Hz 2.000 kHz 0 s 5.00 ms 10.00 ms
Figure 12: FFT for actual rotor current. Figure 14: Recorded signals of EDM pulses.
14.7 A p-p
2.5
Magnitude (% of fundamental)
1.5
0.5
mover this large machine can be started softly without much common mode voltage. Thyristors switching in the converter
loading of the supply source. The machine can run as a motor bridge and high level of harmonics in current and voltage
or generator. The SES can also be used for braking or reversal cause capacitive and inductive couplings. This was proven by
operation of the machine. The SES applied in a short circuit the FFT analysis on current and voltage waveforms. Both the
alternator is analysed with the recorded waveforms. The same simulated and actual measurements show that the waveforms
is modelled with the help of Simulink in MATLAB. Simulated contain high percentage of harmonics.
waveforms are compared with the real ones found similar in Among the various types of bearing currents discharge
nature. mode current or EDM is the most harmful causing erosion
In spite of several advantages the negative side of this on the shaft and bearings. Life of machine is reduced by
technology is the generation of shaft voltage. Sparking on this effect. Large machine requires huge investments on shaft
the grounding brushes is the evidence of presence of shaft repair and bearing replacement. To arrest the premature
voltages. Many reasons are behind this unwanted voltage, bearing failure further study in this field is needed to
for example, capacitive coupling, inductive coupling, and eliminate the shaft voltage.
8 Advances in Electrical Engineering
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