Journal of Physics: Conference Series

PAPER • OPEN ACCESS You may also like

- Characteristics of Cantilever Retaining
Cause Analysis and Treatment of Abnormal Wall Composed of Upper Wall and Lower
Wall by Physical Testing
Vibration of Hydraulic Generator Unit Caused by Yaming Zhang, Dongsheng Chen, Jinlong
Liu et al.

Coupling Defect - Model and prototype investigations of

upper partial load unsteady phenomena
on the Francis turbine designed for head
To cite this article: Liangchao He 2023 J. Phys.: Conf. Ser. 2503 012043 up to 120 m
I Kuznetsov, A Zakharov, V Arm et al.

- Construction Key Techniques of Upper

Cross-beam for Main Tower of Super-
Kilometer Span Rail-cum-Road
View the article online for updates and enhancements. Suspension Bridge
FU Wen-xuan

This content was downloaded from IP address 152.58.81.134 on 04/01/2024 at 22:28

International Conference on Energy and Electrical Power Systems (ICEEPS 2022) IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 2503 (2023) 012043 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/2503/1/012043

Cause Analysis and Treatment of Abnormal Vibration of

Hydraulic Generator Unit Caused by Coupling Defect

Liangchao HE*
China Datang Corporation Science &Technology General Research Institute
Hydropower Branch, Nanning, Guangxi, 530033, China
*Corresponding author’s e-mail: heliangchao@163.com

Abstract: When a hydropower station 25MW hydropower unit is operated with load after
overhaul, the upper bracket vibration will exceed the standard. To find out the cause of the
problem and eliminate the fault, the mechanical, electromagnetic, and hydraulic aspects are
mainly analyzed and checked. The results show that the excessive vibration of the upper
bracket of the unit is caused by the incomplete pre-tightening force between the coupling bolts
of the turbine and generator of the unit, as well as the improper location and thickness of the
padding. It is characterized by a vibration component whose frequency is between the
rotational frequency and twice the rotational frequency. By fully pre-tightening the coupling
bolts and restoring the original padding position and thickness, the vibration of the upper
bracket, upper guide swing, and other data are significantly improved, and the desired purpose
is achieved. The cause analysis and fault treatment of the abnormal vibration of the hydro-
generator unit can provide some reference for diagnosing other similar faults.

1. Introduction
As an important dynamic index reflecting the operating conditions of the unit, the vibration throw of
each part of the hydraulic turbine generator unit is of great significance to the long-term safe and
stable operation of the unit[1]. Limiting its amplitude to the range required by the code is the basic
requirement to ensure the long-term safe and stable operation of the unit. During the start-up and
commissioning of overhauled units and newly installed units, the abnormal vibration and throw of the
units often exceed the standard. Although the causes of the abnormal vibration and throw of hydraulic
turbine generator units are mainly attributed to mechanical factors [2-4], electromagnetic factors [5, 6],
and hydraulic factors [7-9], there are many different specific reasons in each aspect. Some of the
specific reasons for different aspects are similar. In practice, many factors often work together[10-12].
These reasons often need to be carefully investigated one by one until the real reason is found.
However, due to the limitation of on-site test means and conditions, it is not easy to quickly find
the real causes of abnormal vibration of the unit, which often requires a lot of manpower, material
resources, and time. This paper takes the abnormal vibration of the unit with load and swing exceeding
the standard in a power station as an example. Through the analysis from different angles, the causes
of the unit vibration and swing exceeding the standard are determined. Through targeted treatment
measures, the abnormal vibration of the unit is eliminated, the correctness of the analysis is verified,
and the key characteristics of the abnormal vibration are summarized, which provides a quick
diagnostic reference for similar faults of the unit in the future. It is of great significance to improve the
on-site fault handling speed.

Content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 licence. Any further distribution
of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.
Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd 1
International Conference on Energy and Electrical Power Systems (ICEEPS 2022) IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 2503 (2023) 012043 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/2503/1/012043

2. Fault conditions
A diversion-type power station is equipped with four 25 MW vertical Francis turbine generator units.
The end of the penstock is divided into four bifurcated pipes to supply water to the four units. The
generator is a suspension-type structure. The rated head is 178 m, the rated speed is 428.6 r/min, the
diameter of the generator rotor is 3300 mm, and the height of the stator core is 1250 mm.
In February 2021, after the Level B maintenance of Unit 4 was started for the first time, it was
manually started to idle. The vibration and swing values of the unit were excellent. After the pad
temperature test, the unit operated normally. Then, the mechanical over speed, unit current rise,
pressure rise test, speed regulation system test, false synchronization, and other tests were carried out
successively. During these tests, the vibration of the upper and lower brackets and head covers of Unit
4, the swing, and other key index data of each guide shaft (upper guide, lower guide, and turbine guide)
have reached excellent indicators. The specific data are shown in Table 1, and the change trends of
unit vibration and swing are shown in Figure 1. However, after the unit is successfully connected to
the grid at the same time, the load increases from 3 MW to 25 MW. With the increase in load, the unit
vibration and swing value also increase. When the rated load is reached, the upper bracket horizontal
vibration (UB_Hor) reaches 61 μm. The upper limit of 50 μm allowed by the specification has been
exceeded; the swing of the Turbine Guide (TG) has reached 301 μm. It also exceeds 70% of the
bilateral turbine guide shoe clearance, the unit is forced to stop the test, and Unit 4 is shut down.

Table 1. Vibration and swing under different working conditions (unit: μm).
Working UB_ UB_ SF_ SF_ LB_ LB_ TB_ TB_
UG LG TG
condition Hor Ver Hor Ver Hor Ver Hor Ver
Idle 14 6 10 4 6 2 8 5 130 64 88
25%Ue 29 7 24 6 13 2 14 6 98 123 115
50%Ue 26 7 23 7 12 2 9 3 78 108 97
75%Ue 28 9 25 7 12 2 12 4 68 115 124
100%Ue 26 8 25 6 11 2 10 4 51 122 112
25%Pe 50 19 38 12 18 2 10 8 105 160 231
50%Pe 48 19 38 12 18 2 7 7 106 158 257
75%Pe 56 25 41 15 17 2 10 11 111 165 295
100%Pe 61 32 45 17 16 3 14 16 129 158 301

350
UB_Hor
vibration & swing (μm)

300 UB_Ver
250 SF_Hor
SF_Ver
200 LB_Hor
150 LB_Ver
TB_Hor
100 TB_Ver
50 UG
LG
0 TG
idle 25%Ue 50%Ue 75%Ue 100%Ue 25%Pe 50%Pe 75%Pe 100%Pe

Figure 1. Trend chart of vibration and swing.

2
International Conference on Energy and Electrical Power Systems (ICEEPS 2022) IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 2503 (2023) 012043 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/2503/1/012043

3. Cause analysis of excessive vibration

3.1. Mechanical factors

The common mechanical imbalance causes mainly rotor mass imbalance, turbine mass imbalance,
bearing defects, unit axis misalignment, etc. The mechanical imbalance is generally manifested as the
vibration frequency is consistent with the speed and proportional to the square of the speed. According
to the data in Table 1, when the unit is idling, the vibration and swing data of each part of the unit are
excellent, and the vibration and swing frequencies are also dominated by speed frequency. Other
frequency components are very small, and the bearing temperature of each part of the unit is also
normal after the long-time idling operation. Therefore, the possibility of excessive vibration of the unit
caused by mechanical imbalance is very small, so the excessive vibration of the unit caused by
mechanical factors can be temporarily disregarded.

3.2. Electromagnetic factors

The common causes of electromagnetic imbalance are short circuits of rotor winding, uneven air gap,
excessive ovality of stator and rotor, etc. The electromagnetic imbalance generally shows that the
vibration increases obviously with the increase of excitation current. When the unit is put into
excitation, and the generator terminal voltage is 25%Ue (Ue is the rated voltage of the generator
terminal), the vibration and swing of each part of the unit change significantly. The horizontal
vibration of the upper bracket (UB_Hor), lower frame (LB_Hor), top cover (TB_Hor), and stator
frame (SF_Hor) of the unit has nearly doubled compared with idling, and the horizontal vibration of
the upper bracket increases from 14 μm to 29 μm. The horizontal vibration of the lower rack increases
from 6 μm to 13 μm. The horizontal vibration of the stator frame increases from 10 μm to 24 μm. The
swing of the unit increases and decreases, and the law is not obvious. The upper guide swing (UG)
changes from 130 μm to 98 μm. The lower guide swing (LG) and hydraulic guide swing (TG) are
from 64 μm and 88 μm to 123 μm and 115 μm, respectively. The change is also obvious.
However, when the generator terminal voltage rises from 25%Ue to 100%Ue, the horizontal
vibration of the upper bracket, the lower frame, the stator, and the top cover of the unit remain
unchanged. The upper guide swing of the unit shows a downward trend, and the swing value changes
from 98 μm to 51 μm. The lower guide swing and the upper guide swing fluctuate slightly and have no
rules to follow.
According to the frequency spectrum analysis of vibration and swing of each part of the unit, the
upper bracket level, upper guide swing, and stator horizontal vibration are still dominated by
frequency conversion, as shown in Figure 2, Figure 3, and Figure 4 below. The upper guide swing also
contains some frequency components, such as 2, 3, and 4 times, while the horizontal vibration of the
stator frame also has some frequency components of 14 times. In the process of the terminal voltage
increasing from 25%Ue to 100%Ue, except that the frequency component of the upper pilot swing
gradually decreases, other frequency components remain unchanged. The horizontal vibration of the
upper bracket and the horizontal vibration of the stator keep each frequency component unchanged.
From the variable excitation test of the unit, it can be seen that the horizontal vibration of the upper
bracket, the horizontal vibration of the lower frame, and the horizontal vibration of the stator of the
unit have not changed during the change of the generator terminal voltage. Combining the vibration
and swing frequency spectrums, it can be judged that no common factors cause an electromagnetic
imbalance in the unit, so the excessive vibration of the unit caused by electromagnetic factors can be
temporarily disregarded.

3.3. Hydraulic factors

The common causes of hydraulic imbalance mainly include the impact of water flow at the runner
inlet caused by uneven water diversion of the spiral case and guide vane, vibration caused by
insufficient air supply due to blocked draft tube or main shaft air supply pipe, pressure pulsation
caused by the uneven clearance between the runner and top cover and bottom ring leakage ring, and

3
International Conference on Energy and Electrical Power Systems (ICEEPS 2022) IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 2503 (2023) 012043 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/2503/1/012043

Karman vortex train. The hydraulic imbalance mainly shows that the vibration increases and decreases
with the increase and decrease of load.
When the unit is just loaded, the horizontal vibration of the upper bracket and the swing of each
part of the unit increase significantly. When the load increases from 25% Pe (Pe is the rated power of
the unit) to 100% Pe, except for the horizontal vibration of the lower frame of the unit, the horizontal
vibration of the upper bracket of the unit and the swing of each part gradually increase with the
increase of the load, but the amplitude is not large. The horizontal vibration of the upper bracket
increases from 50 μm to 61 μm. The horizontal vibration of the stator increases from 38 μm to 45 μm.
The horizontal vibration of the lower frame is kept at 19 μm. The upper guide swing is increased from
105 mm to 129 mm.
From the frequency spectrums of vibration and swing, when the unit is just loaded, the increase of
unit vibration is mainly caused by a new frequency component from 1.5 times speed frequency to 1.75
times speed frequency, while other frequency components remain unchanged. In the process of load
change, the frequency size and amplitude of the new frequency change with the load change, and other
frequency components remain unchanged. When the unit is just loaded, the increase of the unit swing
is also mainly caused by a new frequency component from 1.5 times speed frequency to 1.75 times
speed frequency, followed by an increase in the turn frequency component, and other frequency
components remain unchanged. In the process of load change, the frequency size and amplitude of the
new frequency change with the load change, and other frequency components remain unchanged.

Figure 2. The spectrum of upper guide swing under different working conditions.

Figure 3. Horizontal vibration spectrum of the upper bracket under different working conditions.

Figure 4. Horizontal vibration spectrum of stator frame under different working conditions.

Compared with the frequency spectrum of the upper guide swing and the horizontal vibration of the
upper bracket when the unit is on load before the maintenance, there is no such new component from
1.5 times speed frequency to 1.75 times speed frequency of the frequency component. The excessive
vibration of the unit with load after the repair is mainly caused by the frequency component. The
common Karman vortex train, the pressure pulsation of the leak stop ring, and the hydraulic factors of
uneven flow at the runner inlet do not produce the vibration of this frequency. Through analysis, this
frequency component may be caused by the increase of runner overflow, hydraulic load, and

4
International Conference on Energy and Electrical Power Systems (ICEEPS 2022) IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 2503 (2023) 012043 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/2503/1/012043

incomplete pre-tightening force of coupling bolts of the water turbine and a generator after the unit is
loaded, which leads to uneven stress on coupling bolts during load change and hydraulic imbalance.

4. Fault handling process

According to the previous analysis, we first open the spiral case access door and the taper pipe access
door and check the opening of the movable guide vane, the main shaft air make-up pipe, and the
tailrace air make-up pipe, respectively, and no abnormality is found. Then we recheck the turning
value of the unit and the centering value of the main shaft, both of which are within the excellent range,
and there is no problem with poor shafting and out-of-center rotating parts. Finally, we check the
coupling bolts, head cover bolts, guide vane opening, guide shoe clearance, and other parts and
confirm that there is no abnormality. However, during the overhaul and reassembly of the unit, it was
found that the coupling flanges of the generator and water turbine had been padded to adjust the
verticality of the overall axis of the unit. The thickness of the gasket is adjusted from 0.004 mm before
the original repair to 0.005 mm, and the position of the gasket is also changed. Therefore, the flange
gasket of the generator and turbine coupling should be restored from 0.005 mm to 0.004 mm before
repair, the gasket position should be restored to the gasket position before repair, and the coupling
bolts of the generator and turbine should be truly pre-tightened. The turning, centering, and guide shoe
clearance of the unit should be adjusted again, and the unit should be checked completely without any
abnormality. After completing the above work, Unit 4 is started, and the idling, no-load, and load tests
are conducted, respectively. The data shows that the vibration of the upper and lower brackets and the
swing of each guide shaft during the idling, no-load, and rated load stages of the start-up process reach
excellent indicators. The specific values are shown in Table 2, and the fault of excessive vibration of
Unit 4 has been successfully handled.

Table 2. Vibration and swing under different working conditions after treatment (unit: μm).
Working UB_ UB_ SF_ SF_ LB_ LB_ TB_ TB_
UG LG TG
condition Hor Ver Hor Ver Hor Ver Hor Ver

Idle 6 6 8 4 3 2 6 7 100 68 47

100%Ue 7 6 12 5 3 3 7 8 94 82 51

50%Pe 8 7 14 5 3 2 6 6 126 106 55

100%Pe 6 4 13 3 4 2 4 3 136 108 62

It can be seen from the above treatment measures and effects that the main reason for the excessive
vibration of Unit 4 this time is the insufficient pre-tightening force of the turbine and generator
coupling bolts of the unit. After the runner rotates at high speed and the unit is loaded, the bolt load
increases sharply, causing deformation of the turbine and generator coupling parts, and excessive
vibration of the unit due to hydraulic imbalance. Secondly, the improper thickness of the unit pad also
negatively impacts the unit vibration.

5. Conclusion
(1) In this paper, the problem of excessive vibration of the hydraulic turbine generator unit caused by
the insufficient pre-tightening force of the turbine and generator coupling bolts, improper thickness,
and position of bolt gasket during start-up after maintenance is analyzed.
(2) Insufficient pre-tightening force of turbine and generator coupling bolts is the root cause of
hydraulic imbalance after the unit is loaded, which is characterized by a vibration component whose
frequency varies between the speed frequency and twice the speed frequency in the horizontal
vibration of the upper bracket and upper guide swing.

5
International Conference on Energy and Electrical Power Systems (ICEEPS 2022) IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 2503 (2023) 012043 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/2503/1/012043

(3) During the maintenance of the unit, the connecting bolts of important parts should be pre-
tightened with special tools as required. At the same time, the important positions of the unit during
disassembly should be marked as the basis and reference for reassembly.
(4) The analysis method and treatment measures in this paper can provide a reference for the
analysis and treatment of excessive vibration of the unit during start-up after maintenance.

References
[1] Zhou, Y. X., Zhang, P., & Zhou, Q. W. (2022) Analysis and treatment of lower guide swing
mutation of Namkong-1 Hydropower Station. Yangtze River, 53(3):220-224
[2] Xian, J., & Wu, B. (2013) Analysis and treatment of abnormal swing phenomenon of hydraulic
generator unit in a hydropower station. Sichuan Water Power, 32(6):120-121.
[3] Jin, Y. F. (2013) Cause analysis on the abnormal swing of lower guide bearing of generator in a
hydropower station. Yangtze River, (z1):177-181.
[4] Ding, G. L., Zou, J. G., & Li, C. X. (2001) Analysis and treatment of abnormal vibration of turbine
generator unit of Dongfeng power plant. Guizhou Water Power, 15(2):35-41.
[5] Lu, S. L., Zhang, C. W., & Peng, T. B. (2012) Analysis and treatment of vibration problems during
the commissioning of water turbine generator units. Large Electric Machine and Hydraulic
Turbine, (05):50-52, 56.
[6] Tang, Y. J. (2016) Deal with Unbalanced Magnetic Pull of Hydroelectric Unit. China Rural Water
and Hydropower, (7):187-188.
[7] Shao, G. H., Zhao, Y., & Yi, J. L., et al. (2013) Solution and prototype test analysis for the
abnormal vibration of unit 1 turbine at high-load operation zone in Goupitan hydropower
station. Water Power, 39(11):38-41.
[8] Chen, X. J. (2016). The diagnostics and handling strategy of abnormal vibration in hydropower
units start-up process. Hydropower and Pumped Storage, 2(6):100-104.
[9] Wang, Z. Q., Zhang, Y. Z., & Qu, W. Q. (2019). Hydraulic vibration monitoring and evaluation of
the turbine in Xiaolangdi hydropower station. Yellow River, 41(11):140-143.
[10] Cao, B., Yao, Z., &Xu, G. W. (2015) Vibration fault analysis and dynamic balance treatment of
unit 3 of Changtan Hydropower Station. China Rural Water and Hydropower, (2):136-139.
[11] Li, M. L. (2016) Analysis and treatment of abnormal swinging increasing of the lower guide
Bearing in the No.1 Unit in Sanliping Hydropower Station. Hydropower And New Energy,
(11):59-60, 67.
[12] Chen, Y. Y. (2014) Vibration treatment and cause analysis of hydro generator unit after
reconstruction. Small Hydropower, (4): 57-60, 69.