IPB-FAC (Forced Air Cooled) for generators > 800 MW

IPB as such are exactly the same whether naturally or forced air cooled in closed circuit is chosen.
Since with FAC it is a dynamic system certain specific care has to be taken.

Generator Connection is always singular and has to be open air forced cooled sometimes
from 20 000 A , it will always be treated separately. Generally « fresh air » is suck in generator
vicinity through filters and driven to phases & neutral compartments by ducts adpated to the
physical environnement

FAC-IPB

After several different trials in the late 60s mainly in USA it has been found better to blow cold air
in the gap between conductor and enclosure in the 2 outer phases and bring it back to Cooling unit
through central phase .
Cooling unit being in charge of energising the necessary quantity of cold air to IPB end(s) while
cooling the warmed air coming back. To almost avoid transformation of one phase to earth fault to
phase to phase fault through moving air « deionising baffles » have to be installed at air transfer
from 2 outer to central phase wherever they exist.

Physical location of Cooling unit has to take following parameters into account :

• Space availablity plus necessity of installing it indoor

• Forced Air Cooled IPB length
• Presence or not of single phase Step-up transformers ( usually yes because at those power
levels, 3 phase transformers cannot be transported because of size/weight )

Because of the size of this Cooling unit ( at least 4*5*4 m) there usually is not place enough
in the generator area, even if this might often be the best place, imposing a location
somewhere close to the plant wall at interface between indoor and outdoor.

How to chose conductor and enclosure sizes.

As always in engineering a balance has to be found between technical and economical

aspects while considering :
• Since there is no other possibility than FAC, this one will represent kind of
fix cost related to IPB size « whatever sizes chosen »
• IPB should have to transfer a relatively high current in case of failure of the
cooling system, reason why many users chose a 2*100 % capacity for the
fans in such a way to be able to run at full load in case of fan failure.
Furthermore in case GSUT are single phase, a delta run has to be supplied as
well and it might be worth chosing the size of main run identical with the
one of this delta running at In / √3 thus keeping same outside size allover the
run.

TP 036 IPB Generalities- GASPELEC May 2018

Calculation of sizing of FAC IPB is made by iterative process knowing that :

Natural Cooling Forced Air cooling

Natural Convection Conductor to Enclosure X

Convection Conductor to Forced Air X
Radiation Conductor to Enclosure X X
Convection Enclosure to Forced Air X
Natural Convection Enclosure to Ambient X X
Radiation Enclosure to Ambient X X
One can easily see that forced air cools both conductor and enclosure.

Said iterative process assumes that in an IPB length of X meters temperatures remain constant ( X
being chosen between 1 and 5 m according to the degree of accuracy required) and there is a
thermal equilibrium between losses generated by current flow in chosen conductor and enclosure
and capacity of heat removal thanks to size and forced air (refer to Technical paperTP 030 )

When forced air leaves one outer phase to go to central phase through deionising baffles the forced
air temperature will slightly decrease because it will not collect any heat during that journey
representing 1 to 2 m and convection + radiation of the duct will simultaneously extract some
calories.
Chosing right sizes of both conductor and enclosure is based on :
• Maximum highest temperatures for both conductors and enclosures
• Maximum acceptable lengthes : When cold air is blown it has a high heat capacity
absorbtion that is step by step reduced when ift warms up when going to place where the 2
outer phases flow join

Pressurisation

To ensure that IPB are IP 55 as a minimum it is highly recommended to guarantee dry and dust free
air for the surroundings of insulators within enclosures.
A cycling system like for naturally air cooled IPB is not possible because the fans generate different
pressures along the IPB layout to enable air flow.
Since the lowest pressure exist at the place where fans suck the air inside the closed system, one has
to foresee there a permanent inlet of dry air with a volume corresponding to the leaks and at the
required pressure. Safety valves will also be installed at right spots to avoid any problem.

Instrumentation

One has to ensure that forced air is permanently circulating within IPB system . To guarantee
that, following equipment is required as a minimum:
• Air flow detector to be installed within FAC Unit
• High temperature detector at suitable 2 or 3 spots ( can be infrared camera for conductor and
/ or thermocouples for enclosure)

TP 036 IPB Generalities- GASPELEC May 2018