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Classification of Excitation System | Power Plants

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The excitation systems can be broadly classified as: 1. DC Excitation System 2. AC Excitation
System 3. Static Excitation System.

1. DC Excitation System:
In dc excitation system, the system has two exciters—the main exciter (a separately excited
dc generator providing the field current to the alternator) and a pilot exciter (a compound
wound self-excited dc generator providing the field current to the main exciter). The exciter
output is regulated by an automatic voltage regulator (AVR) for controlling the output
terminal voltage of the alternator.

The current transformer input to the AVR ensures limiting of alternator current during
fault. With the opening of field breaker, the field discharge resistor is connected across the
field winding so as to dissipate the stored energy in the field winding which is highly
inductive. The main and pilot exciters can be either driven by the main shaft (directly or
through gearing) or separately driven by a motor.

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Direct driven exciters are usually preferred as these preserve the unit system of operation
and the excitation is not affected by external disturbances. Exciters for small sized turbo-
alternators are usually directly coupled to the shaft whereas for medium and large size
turbo-alternators, the exciters are coupled to the main shaft through gear and are usually
driven at 1,000 rpm.

The voltage rating of the main exciter is about 400 V and its capacity is about 0.5% of the
capacity of the alternator. Troubles in the exciters of turbo-alternators are quite frequent
because of their high speeds and as such separate motor driven exciters are provided as
standby exciters. In some cases the dc excitation system is equipped with amplidyne
controller.
The amplidyne is a high response cross-field dc generator, which has a very high
amplification factor and requires very small control power. It is supplied from an automatic
voltage regulator (AVR). The main shortcomings of dc excitation system are large time
constant (around 3 seconds) and commutation difficulties. As such the dc excitation systems
have been superseded by ac excitation systems and static systems.

2. AC Excitation System:
This system consists of an alternator and thyristor rectifier bridge directly connected to the
main alternator shaft. The main exciter may either be self-excited or separately excited. A
rotating thyristor excitation system employs self-excited main exciter whereas the brushless
excitation system employs a separately excited main exciter.

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i. Rotating Thyristor Excitation System:

Block diagram of a rotating thyristor excitation system is depicted in Fig. 17.2, the rotating
portion being shown enclosed by dashed line rectangle. This system comprises of an ac
exciter having a stationary field and a rotating armature. The exciter output, rectified by a
full-wave thyristor bridge rectifier circuit, is supplied to the main alternator field winding.
The alternator field winding is also supplied from the exciter output through another
rectifier circuit. Exciter voltage can be built up using its residual flux. For convenience and
to shorten the build-up time, stationary battery supply is also incorporated.
The power supply and rectifier control, incorporated as a part of rotating portion, generates
the required phase controlled triggering signals in response to a dc control level fed by the
voltage regulator.

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An automatic voltage regulator (AVR) is also incorporated in the system. The alternator
voltage signal (from the PT) is averaged and compared directly with the operator’s voltage
adjustment (voltage reference) in the auto mode of operation. In the manual mode of
operation the excitation current of the alternator is compared with a separate manual
voltage adjustment (reference) and supplied to the rotating thyristor bridge through
separate regulating elements.

For maintaining the terminal voltage of the exciter at the desired level, the exciter voltage is
averaged, compared with the exciter voltage reference and applied to the rectifier control
and rectifier in a suitable manner.
The system also incorporates additional features like overvoltage protection, overcurrent
protection in the exciter field control, lead-lag compensation for stabilization of voltage
control, watt and VAR signals for regulating the voltage and field discharge resistor, which
are not shown in the block diagram.

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ii. Brushless Excitation System:

With the increase in rating of alternators, the problem of brush maintenance gets more and
more complicated, so the brushless excitation systems are becoming more and more
popular. The advent of silicon diodes and thyristors made it possible to have compact
rectified system converting ac to dc at higher power levels.

This system is depicted in Fig. 17.3, the rotating portion being shown enclosed by a dashed
line rectangle. The excitation system comprises of an alternator rectifier main exciter and a
permanent magnet generator (PMG) pilot exciter. Both of the main and pilot exciter is
driven directly from the main shaft.

The main exciter has a stationary field and a rotating armature directly connected, through
silicon rectifiers, to the field of the main alternator. The pilot exciter is a shaft driven
permanent magnet generator having rotating permanent magnets attached to the shaft and
a 3-phase stationary armature, which feeds the main exciter’s field through 3-phase full-
wave phase controlled thyristor bridges.

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This system eliminates the use of commutator, collectors and brushes and has a short time
constant and a response time of less than 0.1 second. The short time constant has the
advantage in improved small signal dynamic performance and facilitates the application of
supplementary power system stabilizing signals.
3. Static Excitation System:
Figure 17.4 depicts the static excitation system using SCRs.
In static excitation system, the excitation supply is taken from the alternator itself through a
3-phase star/delta connected, oil immersed, forced air cooled, indoor type step- down
transformer and a rectifier system employing mercury- arc rectifiers or silicon controlled
rectifiers. The star- connected primary is connected to the alternator bus, the delta-
connected secondary supplies power to the rectifier system and the delta-connected tertiary
feeds power to grid control circuits and other auxiliary equipment.

The rectifiers are connected in parallel to give sufficient current carrying capacity. Each leg
of rectifier is protected with series fuse, surge protection and fault indicating light. The
rectifiers are forced air cooled. This system has a very small response time (about 20
 milliseconds) and provides excellent dynamic performance. SCRs are ideally suited for a
static excitation system because they have high speed of response, high power gain and can
be easily paralleled.

The advantages of the static excitation system are elimination of exciter windage loss and
commutator wearing and winding maintenance resulting in reduced operating costs and
electronic speed response. The fact that in static excitation the voltage is proportional to the
speed, affords a major advantage in load rejection.

Home ›› Electrical Engineering ›› Power Plants ›› Equipments ›› Excitation System

by Taboola

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