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InductionGenerators forSmallHydroSchemes
InductionGenerators forSmallHydroSchemes
by J. B. Ekanayake
icap1 iload
Using eqns. 1 and 2 and assuming that the 2 Phasor diagram for the single-phase connection
Va
ia
a
icap1 iload
iba iload
C2
ib
C1 load
ia=0
iac
icap1
b
ic
c icb ib iba=iac=ic
Vc Vb
icb
a b
-
3(a) Wrong connection machine is operating as a balanced three-phase i b = I∠–120° (where I is the RMS value of the
for C2; (b) Phasor machine, the phasor diagram can be con- balanced three-phase currents).
diagram
structed as shown in Fig. 2. As capacitor C2 The conditions for balanced operation can
is connected across phases b and c, ic is be expressed in terms of the currents as in
perpendicular to the voltage vector Vbc. In order eqns. 4 and 5. The derivation of these equa-
to obtain balanced operation the following two tions is given in the Appendix:
conditions should be satisfied:
- -
|i c| = 2|i cap1| (4)
- -
θ = 60° and |i c| = |i a| (3)
- -
|i load| = √3|i cap1| (5)
Once these two conditions are satisfied, i.e.
- -
i a = I∠0° and i c = I∠–240°, then from eqn. 2, That is, in order to obtain balanced operation
of the three-phase motor, capacitor C1 should
be selected such that eqn. 5 is true, and also
from eqn. 4 capacitor C2 should be equal to
2C1.
When an induction generator is used in this
way, particular care must be taken over the
connection of the capacitor C2. If capacitor C2
is connected between phases a and c instead of
c and b as shown in Fig. 3(a), then the resultant
phasor diagram is shown in Fig. 3(b). In this
case, the generator will run as an unbalanced
system. It can be seen that the current through
one of the windings of the induction generator
becomes twice that of the other winding
currents. Under this condition, the generator
winding will overheat. Therefore, correct
connection of the capacitor C2 is important.
4 Water wheel
Induction generator
(courtesy of IDEA, In typical induction generator based small
Kandy, Sri Lanka) hydro schemes, the turbines used are run of the
5 Schematic of a small
hydro scheme
induction
generator
consumer
loads
excitation ballast
capacitors load
controller
voltage
for the
sensing
ballast
river type, where the water input and thus the the machine at near constant using a ballast
mechanical power into the generator cannot be load. Since the terminal voltage under this
controlled. Fig. 4 shows an application of a condition is a constant, voltage sensing is used
water wheel as a turbine. In these schemes, the to control the ballast load. The ballast load is a
generator operates under manual control of the variable load where its resistance is controlled
sluice gate and, if the consumer load changes, so as to maintain the consumer load plus the
then the generated voltage and the frequency ballast load at a constant. A schematic of such
also vary. If the load is light the generator speed a scheme is shown in Fig. 5.
can increase, leading to runaway condition. The ballast load can have many configura-
The control technique used to maintain the tions. One way of obtaining a variable load is to
generated voltage and the frequency at its rated use a resistor with two anti-parallel thyristors
value is to maintain the total load connected to operating in phase control mode as shown
V
IR
IR
6 Thyristor phase
controlled ballast load
260
for C=32µF curves from eqn. 6
250 for C=36µF
for C=40µF
240
230
operating
terminal voltage, V
point
220
210
200
190
PV curves
180
170
600 700 800 900 1000 1100 1200
output power, W
11 Terminal voltage-
power characteristics
for varying values of C1
reactance of the machine. When deriving the the phase information of the three-phase
PV curve, the loading and operating speed of currents could not be captured due to
the machine are also taken into account. measuring limitations of the oscilloscope used
Intersections of the terminal voltage charac- on site. However, phases are well balanced and
teristics and that obtained using eqn. 6 give at near 50Hz frequency.
the operating points of the machine which
satisfy both the steady-state machine equiva- Runaway situation
lent circuit and eqn. 6. Under lightly loaded conditions or under no
This design method was used to design load, if the ballast load fails then only a
a small hydro scheme using an induction small part of the mechanical power input is
machine rated at 1·1 kW, 240 V, 50Hz. Fig. 11 converted into the electrical power. Since the
shows the PV curve and the characteristics turbine is run of the river type, the mechanical
obtained using eqn. 6 for three different values power into the turbine cannot be controlled.
of the excitation capacitor. It can be seen from Therefore, the turbine and the generator will
Fig. 11 that, if the value of the excitation accelerate to runaway speed within a few
capacitor (C1) is chosen as 40µF, then the seconds. The runaway speed depends on the
generator produces 900W (82% of its rated turbine chosen. When runaway occurs, the
output) at 220 V. torque speed characteristic is mainly governed
The small hydro scheme of the design by the turbine, and the speed increases to that
example is now in operation in a site in the corresponding to the torque, which is just
hill country in Sri Lanka, supplying power to enough to overcome the friction and windage
ten houses in a remote village. Fig. 12 shows loss of the system. For the commonly used
the on-site measurements of the three-phase cross-flow turbine, runaway speed is around
currents of the induction generator. In Fig. 12, 175% of the optimum speed. Under runaway
26-Jan-01
11:59:59
1
10 ms
100mV 1
42·7mV
10 ms
100mV
13·6mV
2
3
10 ms
100mV
11·5mV
10 ms
1·1 V DC time 90·000 ms
2·1 V DC 500 kS/s
3·1 V DC 3 DC 0mV
4·5 V DC 10·0 ns≤pw
10
STOPPED
12 Three-phase
currents of the
induction generator
13 Terminal voltage
under runaway
condition
operating point
for runaway
voltage condition
magnetising curve
of the machine
operating point
under normal
operation
capacitor
characteristic
current