Development of Cost-Effective Redundant

Digital Excitation Control

Hoongi Lee1, Ho-Seon Ryu2 Jongwon Kwon3 , Gyoutae Park4, Inchan Kim4 and Hiesik Kim3
1
Dept. of R&D, E2S CO., LTD, Seoul, Korea
2
Korea Electric Power Research Institute, Daejeon, Korea
3 University of Seoul, Seoul, Korea
4
Korea, Korea Gas Safety Corporation, Siheung, Korea
hoongi.lee@gmail.com, gtparkgs@kgs.or.kr, drhskim@uos.ac.kr

Abstract - In this paper, the developed digital excitation voltage or MVAR set point. This paper describes the cost-
control system was evaluated to get the strength of effective redundant digital excitation control system.
operating situations in the small power plant. Recently, most
automatic voltage control systems for big power plants
II. IMPLEMENTAION OF PROTOTYPE
employ a quick response and stationary excitation
technology. But cost of older excitation systems has been
prohibitive for redundancy. And they add much complexity A. Hardware Design
to the system relative to wiring and interconnection. To In this paper, the cost effective digital excitation
solve these problems, the new redundancy digital excitation control system as called KDR-1200D was developed
control system was developed. This system ensures adequate using a high performance microprocessor for small power
steady-state, dynamic reactive reserves, and zero tolerance. plants. This KDR-1200D consists of a main controller and
In addition, it provides protective features for the generator signal interface modules. The main controller based on 32
such as over flux limiting and field current limiting. Finally, bit DSP is a core device of the digital excitation control
the performance of this digital excitation control system was system. This main controller plays a significant role in
verified in a gas turbine of a coal-fired plant. providing fast and accurate voltage control to the power
system using results from operating analog signals such as
I. INTRODUCTION voltage, current, etc. The SIM (Signal Interface Module)
and ETP (External Terminal Panel) are I/O signal
Recently, most companies which have operated a interface modules. They were designed to be simply
small power plant require generators to be operated stably
at all times, to ensure adequate steady-state and dynamic
reactive reserves. [2,3] Generator owners have zero
tolerance for unit trips. Therefore an automatic voltage
regulator (AVR) has been used to provide voltage control
of the generator output by controlling the excitation
current. [1,4] The AVR plays a significant role in
excitation control systems. It must provide a response
which has an acceptable dead time, rise time and settling
time. It should be bump-less transfer from manual mode
to automatic mode and vice versa.
At the present time, most excitation control systems
have been designed as complete specification for large
turbine generators. [5,6] In older excitation systems, cost detachable with the KDR-1200D.
would have been prohibitive for redundancy, while adding
much complexity to the system relative to wiring and Figure 1. Units MComposition of Redundant Digital Excitation
interconnection. So, most power system companies can’t Control System (Main Controller, Signal Interface Module, External
Terminal Panel)
install the excitation control system. Therefore, the
development of cost effective excitation control system is
• Main Controller
required to provide wide range adjustment of all control
and protection parameters. • SIM (Signal Interface Module)
- Voltage Transformer Module
In recent years as digital processors have become very (Regulator PT, Metering PT)
advanced, it is not uncommon for any machine to have - Current Transformer Module
either complete redundancy or some form of it. [7,8] • ETP (External Terminal Panel)
Digital control systems are also more flexible in this - Analog Input Module.
respect than analog electronic control systems. Moreover, - Analog Output Module.
the control parameters can easily be defined and adjusted. - Digital Input Module.
The operator can adjust operating parameters such as the - Digital Output Module.

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 - Scan Power Check Module.
B. Software Design
The digital excitation controller is primarily required
to provide voltage control of the generator output by
controlling the excitation current. The controller must
provide a prompt and exact response which has an
acceptable dead time, rise time and settling time.
Therefore the proposed digital excitation controller was
developed using quick-response and static excitation
method to be economical redundancy configuration.
First, the digital excitation controller supports two
operating modes which are Automatic mode and Manual
mode to control voltage of the generator output. The
Automatic Mode can be defined as automatic voltage
regulator (AVR) which controls output voltage of the
generator. The Manual mode can be defined as field
current regulator (FCR) which controls field current. The
operating mode control function was built into the
microprocessor based digital excitation control system. In
this controller, Automatic mode and Manual mode were
embedded in the same hardware and software. See Figure
2.
The main controller has the high performance DSP
and RTOS(Real Time Operating System) to reduce
operating load and of a controller. Because the controller
must calculate an effective voltage (Vtrms), an effective
current (Itrms), frequency, electricity(P), caloric value(Q)
using input values such as PT, CT, field voltage, filed
current at sampling rates of 180Hz.
The application software uses Preemption Based
Multitasking function that RTOS provides. This function
divides into some independent or dependent tasks through
binding all tasks related to one another. In addition, the
software carries out a role after pre-occupying CPU
according to each given priority. In other words, some
tasks periodically operate, others only operate as an
environment changes. Although separate tasks have each
particular role, they make close relationships through
sharing information by special functions such as sharing
memory, mutual task communication. Basic tasks of our
digital excitation controller are as follows.
• Initialization Task
• Control Task
• Protection Task
• Communication Task
These tasks are operating in a different frequency as
well as individually carrying out their functions. The
control part is divided into two parts, automatic and
manual. The automatic part which includes AVR(Auto
Voltage Regulator), UEL(Under Excitation Limit) is
controlled at 180Hz, while manual part which includes
FCR(Field Current Regulator), OEL(Over Excitation
Limit) is controlled at 360Hz.
III. REDUNDNCY
Figure 2 illustrates the redundant control block
diagram of Master/Backup controllers. Master and Backup
controllers are embedded in the same hardware. Specially,
158
the digital excitation control system can choose an
operating mode using a particular switch. Therefore the
main controller can be set as Master or Backup controller.
In this paper, two main controllers are used for
redundancy. One is Master controller, another is Backup
controller. Two controllers are connected with a Relay
Logic board. The board detects faults of the digital
excitation systems and produces a transfer signal.
Each controller has a Watch Dog Timer (WDT) which
periodically generates a pulse signal to detect system
faults. The WDT can detect any problems on one between
DSP and FPGA. The principal signals use RS-422
protocol to communicate between the digital excitation
controllers. The Backup controller was designed to follow
the principal signals of the Master controller. If Backup
controller is operating as a Master controller due to a
Master controller’s faults, the repaired Master controller
follows the principal signals of the Backup controller. The
principal signals include control valuables such as
integration value to follow output values of other
controller. Therefore Master/Backup controllers are
complementary according to a transfer signal. It is
possible to repair the faulted controller without operation
stop of a generator by the redundancy of digital excitation
control controllers.
Figure 2. Redundant Control Block
Figure 3 describes change strategy of operating mode
for Master/Backup controller when any controller failed.
When the digital excitation control system was initially
driven, Master and Backup controllers operate
independently in a first Auto mode. Specially, each
controller follows other’s principal signals to reduce
transient state characteristics in a redundancy transfer
switch. If Master controller failed, the Master controller
disconnects and Backup controller plays as a Master
controller. If Backup controller failed by potential
transformer faults during operating as a Master controller,
the operating mode of Backup controller changes from
Auto mode to Manual mode. Consequently, If a
malfunction was detected, the system was transferred to
Manual mode to keep the generator up and running. So it
allows a repair or replacement while operating on-line of
the manual voltage regulator.
MIPRO 2012/MEET
 V. PEFORMANCE TEST OF GAS TURBINE
This digital excitation control system was evaluated in
a gas turbine of a coal-fired plant. Table I describes the
generator specification of a relevant coal-fired plant. The
following is a list of the major items in field test. This
field test was only performed in off line conditions (No
Load conditions).
• Terminal Voltage Build-up in Auto (AVR) Mode
• Terminal Voltage Build-up in Manual (FCR) Mode

TABLE I. GENERATOR SPECIFICATION OF COAL-FIRED PLANT

Rated Capacity 112,800 [KVA]

Rated Voltage and Frequency 13,800 [V], 60[Hz]

Field Voltage and Current 300 [V], 900 [A]

Power Factor 0.9

A. Auto Mode Terminal Voltage Build-up Waveform

Figure 3. Flow Chart of Master / Backup Controller Operating Mode
(No-Load Condition)
In off-line condition (no load condition), the build-up
IV. PROTECTIONS waveform was measured to check the terminal voltage
This KDR-1200D autonomously provides change trends in Auto mode. Table II and III summarize
comprehensive functions to protect rectifiers. The the performance test results. In this test, the generator’s
following is a list of the protective functions, along with a operation data such as terminal voltage, frequency, field
brief description of their purpose and the system voltage, and field current were measured. The generator’s
parameters they monitor.[9,10,11] terminal voltage was generated from the Soft-Start by a
field breaker over 95 % to rated speed of a gas turbine. In
• Volts/Hertz Protection (HXP) other words, the rated voltage rates by Auto mode Soft-
• Over Excitation Protection (OEP) Start were approximately 1.0 [PU]. Figure 4 shows the
• Generator over Voltage Protection (OVP) terminal voltage build-up waveform on Auto mode in off-
• PT Failure Detection line condition. The terminal voltage build-up waveform
describes that the digital excitation control system was
The Volts/Hertz Protection (HXP) is similar to the little bit stressed with few overshoot (less 1%) by Soft-
Volts/Hertz Limiter (HXL) but instead will apply a trip or Start. But the terminal voltage reached the steady-state
alarm signal. This function typically operates on an within hundreds msec. The overshoot will be eliminated
inverse timing curve that is meant to model heating by tuning PI gain using trial-error method.
characteristics of a generator or step-up transformer
during over excitation. TABLE II. PERFORMANCE TEST RESULTS IN AUTO MODE
The Over Excitation Protection is similar to the Over Contents Conditions Unit Baseline Result
Excitation Limiter (OEL) but instead will apply a trip or
alarm signal once the field current or voltage is above a RPM over 95% RPM 3,600 Pass
set point, typically after a fixed or inverse time delay 0.999
Generator AVR Soft Start V 1.0 [PU]
above the OEL. [PU]
No-Load
The Generator Overvoltage Protection measures Auto Voltage VCB Open - Open Pass
generator output voltage and initiates an alarm or trip Establishment
ETR Relay - Open Pass
signal when over a specified set point, typically with some
settable time delay that is coordinated with the Over Mode - AVR Pass
Voltage Limiter (OVL).
TABLE III. PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENTS AT STEADY-STATE IN
The generator terminal voltage was typically measured AUTO MODE
through some transducer. The PT Failure Detection
initiates an alarm or trip when below a set point or, in Terminal Field Field Control
Contents Frequency
some cases, if an unbalanced condition exists, typically Voltage Current Voltage Signal
with some settable time delay. In addition, this function
provides transfer to redundant potential transformer. Measurements 13785V 60Hz 288A 66V 1.337[PU]
When a loss of voltage sensing event takes place, the
voltage sensing inputs are switched to use redundant PTs.

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 Figure 4. Auto Mode Terminal Voltage Build-up Waveform (No-Load Figure 5. Manual Mode Terminal Voltage Build-up Waveform (No-
Condition) Load Condition)

In addition, the digital excitation control system

B. Manual Mode Terminal Voltage Build-up Waveform provides more precision and exact protection as well as a
(No-Load Condition) limiter function. The redundant configurations for
Next the build-up waveform was measured to check excitation control system was greatly improved compared
the terminal voltage change trends in Manual mode. Table to an existing analog excitation control system through the
IV and V summarize the performance test results. The terminal voltage or field current monitoring in realtime.
generator’s terminal voltage was generated from the Soft- Consequently, our digital excitation control system offers
Start by a field breaker over 95 % to rated speed of a gas a full range of reliable excitation systems. It improves the
turbine. In other words, the rated field current rates by generator excitation control's effectiveness and deliver the
Manual mode Soft-Start were approximately 0.282 [PU]. performance, operability, and availability needed in the
Figure 5 shows the terminal voltage build-up waveform small power plant.
on Manual mode in off-line condition.
REFERENCES
TABLE IV. PERFORMANCE TEST RESULTS IN AUTO MODE
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 [10] Hurley, J. “Underexcitation Limiter Models for Power System [11] Patterson, S. “Overexcitation Limiter Models for Power System
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