Electromechanical Equipment

Hari Prasad Neopane, PhD

Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Kathmandu University
hari@ku.edu.np
 Power house- Electromechanical
• Inlet valves
Equipment
• Turbine
• Governor
• Generator
• Cooling water system
• Instrument transformers
• Generator circuit breakers
• Metal enclosed buses
• Control system
• Auxiliary equipment
 Inlet valves
• Shut off valve, just down stream of surge chamber
• Types:
– Spherical (for heads above 200 m)
– Butterfly valve (for heads below 200 m)
• Suitable valve selected based on
– Cost
– Water head
– Head loss through valve
– Maintenance
 Spherical Valve

Spherical valve mostly applied in front of high head turbine,

covering pressure range of 160 to 1250 m water head

Consist of valve housing with flanges, valve rotor, bearing & seals
Butterfly Valve
 Butterfly Valve

• Butterfly valve normally applied in front of the low and medium

head water turbine with head range up to 200 m

• Mainly consist of a ring shaped housing, the valve disc,

operating mechanism and counter weight
Inlet valves Contd..
 Impulse turbines
(Partial turbines)

Turgo Pelton
Jostedal, Norway

Kværner
 Reaction turbines
(Full turbines)

Francis Kaplan Bulb

 Governor
• Equipments for control and adjustment of turbine power
output and even the deviation between supply and demand
of load, as fast as possible.
• Two main functions:
– Keep rotational speed of turbine (frequency) constant,
with variation in load and available water head
– During sudden load rejection and emergency stops,
turbine admission needs closing down according to
acceptable limits of rise in speed of unit and pressure
rise in conduit
Governor Contd..
Governor Contd..
 Generator types
• Synchronous generators
– They operate at synchronous speed
– Most suitable for hydropower plants
– Self excited
• Induction generators
– They operate at higher than synchronous speed
– Require external excitation
 Generator
• Salient pole type synchronous generators are
generally used
• Rated voltages:
–Up to 500 kW 415 V
–501 to 2500 kW 3.3 kV
–2501 to 5000 kW 6.6 kV
–More than 5000 kW 11 kV
• Efficiency generally taken over 97 %
 Generator
• Insulation class F for stator and rotor
materials, and Class B for ambient
temperature rise are used
Insulation Class Maximum Operating
temperature (deg C)
A 105
B 130
F 155
H 180
 Generator
• Configurations:
–Vertical (mostly with Francis turbines)
–Horizontal (mostly with Pelton turbines)
• Choice based on design head, location,
size of power house
Generator Contd..
 Generator Excitation System
• Supplies DC magnetizing current to field windings
of synchronous generator, inducing EMF and
current in generator armature
• Types:
– Rotating diode (Brushless): Do not require slip rings,
brushes and are maintenance free
– Static excitation system: requires slip rings, brushes and
periodic maintenance
 Generator Excitation System Contd..
Rotating diode
• Used in small plants
• Response is not as fast as that of static
• Power to excite field is provided by a separate small
transformer, and the exciter is mounted on the
Generator Shaft.
• Due to absence of slip rings and carbon brushes, they
require less maintenance
• Lesser maintenance and auxiliaries are required, so they
are less costly
 Generator Excitation System Contd..
Static system
• Most commonly used in all different capacities
• They have very fast response, so plays role in system
stability
• Excitation transformer of higher capacity required, high
capacity thyristor bank required
• Carbon brushes need frequent replacement.
• High overall cost, with high rating excitation transformer,
thyristor bank and maintenance cost
 Cooling Water System
• Necessary for:
– Air to water heat exchanger in generator
– Oil to water heat exchanger in generator guide bearing
– Oil to water heat exchanger in turbine guide bearing
– Turbine shaft seal cooler
– Oil to water heat exchanger in governor
• Types:
– Closed loop
– Open loop
Cooling Water System Contd..
 Generator Circuit Breaker
• Air circuit breaker
• Oil circuit breaker
• Vacuum circuit breaker
• Air blast circuit breaker
• Gas circuit breaker
(SF6)
 Metal enclosed buses
• Non segregated phase bus duct:
– Used with metal clad switchgear and is available in ratings up to 4000
A in medium voltage application.
– All phase conductors are in common enclosure with air space between
phases
• Segregated phase bus duct:
– Available in voltage ranging from 600 V to 38 kV, with ratings up to
8000 A
– There is separate enclosure for each conductor
• Isolated phase bus duct
– Each phase current is carried on a separate conductor, enclosed in
separate grounded metal housing.
– They are made in ratings from 3000 A to 45000 A, for voltages from 5
kV to 35 kV.
Metal enclosed Buses Contd..
 Control System
Generally Includes:
• Turbine Control Module
• Generator Protection Module
• Communication Module
• Differential current protection module
• Water resources transmitter
• Synchronization unit
• Rotor Earth fault protection module
• Graphical Display interface
• Main circuit Breaker
• Emergency Shutdown module
• Control Switch
• Meters (voltage ac/dc, current ac/dc, kw, kvar)
 Auxiliary Equipment
They include:
• DC battery system
• Overhead Travelling Crate
• Diesel Engine Generating set
• Fire fighting system
• Station auxiliary transformer
 DC battery System
• Used for basic controls, relaying, SCADA
equipment, inverter, communication equipment,
alarm functions and emergency lighting
• Different voltage battery systems are used:
– 110 V: switchgear operation, lighting, relay
panels, etc
– 48 V: PLC, SCADA system etc
– 24 V: Electronic equipment like microcontroller
based control unit
 Overhead Travelling Crane
• Used for maintenance
and overhauling
purpose
• Should have adequate
capacity to lift the
heaviest equipment
(rotor generally)
 Diesel Generator Set
• Used as back up during
loss of station service
power
• It also provides the
capability to “Black start”
• Black start means to
start plant without grid
back up
 Fire Fighting System
• Fire fighting generally limited to:
– Oil storage and purification room
– Generators
– Transformers
• Smoke detectors are provided at different floors and control
rooms
• Automatic CO2 extinguishing system is provided to limit
damage
• Fire hose are placed at different locations around power
house
 Station Auxiliary Supply
• Provided by station
supply transformers
• They supply
essential services
in the power house
 Switchyard
Comprises of
• Transformers
– Power transformers
– Instrument transformers
• High voltage Switchgear including
– Circuit breakers
– Disconnectors
– Fuses
– Lightening arrestors
Switchyard Contd..