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ver the past couple of decades, changes have taken the exploitation of natural resources.

ation of natural resources. The upper limit for the

O place in high-voltage insulation systems that have


produced safer and more reliable operations. The
mica/epoxy insulation, which has been used in
rotating machines for over 100 years, is now being
replaced by a new concept using high-voltage cross-linked
polyethylene (XLPE) cables. Three new
products have been recently launched
output voltage from the Powerformer is set by state-of-the-art
XLPE power-cable technology. Therefore, Powerformers revolu-
tionize the age of old power generation technology and signal
a quantum leap in electrical engineering.

High-voltage vision
Conventional high-voltage generators are construct-
including the Powerformer, a new ed in a way that limits their output voltage to a
generator that can be directly maximum of 30 kV. The power grids with volt-
connected to the transmis- ages up to 1,100 kV cannot be directly sup-
sion network without the
need for a step-up trans-
former. The other prod-
Powerformers: plied by these generators, which is a reason
large power plants use power step-up
transformers in order to transform their
ucts include the Dry-
former, an oil-free
power transformer,
A breakthrough generated voltage to a higher voltage
level suitable for the interface with the
transmission grid. Step-up transformers
and the Windformer, a
new wind power gen-
erating system. Due to
of high-voltage impose significant drawbacks on the
power plant as a whole, starting from
reduction in efficiency, high maintenance
the Powerformer’s abil-
ity to generate electrici-
ty at transmission voltage
power costs, more space, less availability, and an
increased environmental impact. During
the last century, a number of attempts were
levels, it offers consider-
able gains with respect to
reactive power production and
generators made at developing a high-voltage generator
Powerformer that could be connected
directly to the power grid, with-
plant efficiency. Hence, out going via the step-up
a Powerformer both transformer (see Fig. 1).
facilitates network IBRAHIM A. Recently, a Powerformer
stability and was developed with innov-
METWALLY, R.M.
decreases ative features that enable it
RADWAN, AND to connect directly to the
A.M. ABOU-ELYAZIED transmission grid. Fig. 2
shows how the rated voltage
of the Powerformer increased
during the late 1990s. It is
expected in the coming
decade that its output volt-
age will reach up to 420
kV. High-voltage cables
with XLPE insulation are
available today for volt-
ages of up to 500 kV.
When XLPE-insulated
cables were introduced
in the 1960s there were
some initial problems
with their reliability,
caused by poor control
of the manufacturing
processes. These prob-
lems have since been
overcome, and today’s
high-voltage XLPE-insulated
cables have an impressive
track record. Therefore, the
development of the Powerformer
is inherently linked to the reliability
and the development of the XLPE-
insulated cables.
With the new technology, future trans-
formerless power plants can be constructed,

© ARTVILLE Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MPOT.2008.915315

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leading to a new concept of energy sys- 4 magnetic field distribution with values,
2 5
tems. The new machine Powerformer 1 inevitably created at each of the slot
has high efficiency, lower maintenance 3 3 four corners, as shown in Fig. 4. This
costs, reduced environmental impact, intensification of corner field dictates
and better availability, reliability, and the use of insulation materials with very
(a)
robustness. high dielectric strength (e.g., sheet mica
5 set in epoxy resin).
Going against convention 1 The practical consequence for a rec-
The Powerformer, although a new 3 tangular conductor in an electric
machine, is a three-phase synchronous machine is that the insulation and the
generator with a rotor of conventional (b) magnetic materials of the machine are
design. The basic difference, compared highly stressed and not uniformly
to the conventional generator, lies in the Fig. 1 Schematic diagram of (a) a loaded, which leads to an uneconomi-
stator windings. With Powerformers the conventional plant with step-up cal use of the involved materials.
stator winding consists of high-voltage transformer, and (b) the same plant with Failures in the machine related to the
cables instead of the conventional rec- a Powerformer connected directly to the high electric stresses on the insulating
grid. 1) Generator, 2) generator circuit
tangular cross-section windings. materials are also very likely to occur.
breaker, 3) surge arrester, 4) step-up
In order to raise the output power transformer, and 5) circuit breaker. Therefore, intricate measures have to
of an electric machine, either the level be taken in the end-winding region to
of the output voltage or the current in control the electric field so as to avoid
the stator windings must be increased. tial for technological advances leading partial discharges and corona. To mini-
Insulation technology limited the out- to lighter and smaller machines. The mize the eddy current losses in the sta-
put generation voltage, so the solution reference (conventional) system tor coils, the copper laminations consti-
was to increase the current in the requires more consumption of carbon, tuting the conductors must be trans-
machine instead of the output voltage. oil, and gas than that of the posed along the winding according to
However, in Powerformers, the output Powerformer. The highest emissions an elaborate scheme.
power is increased by increasing the originate from losses during the utiliza-
output voltage using XLPE cables in the tion phase. In addition, the emissions of Powerformers
stator winding. carbon dioxide, nitric oxide, and sulfur Contrary to conventional generators,
Figure 3 shows the quantities of steel dioxide for the conventional system are the windings of this new high-voltage
and copper in the Powerformer and the higher than that of the Powerformer. generator have cylindrical conductors.
reference (conventional) systems. The As can be inferred from Maxwell’s equa-
weights are stated as net weights per Conventional generators tions, a cylindrical conductor yields an
megawatt-hour of electricity produced. The stator windings of the conven- even electric and magnetic field distribu-
More copper is used in the convention- tional generators consist of rectangular tion, which is a prerequisite for a high-
al system than in the Powerformer, conductors that lie in the stator slot. The voltage electric machine (see Fig. 4).
chiefly due to the copper content in the main goals of rectangular conductor As mentioned earlier, the stator wind-
transformer. The Powerformer system shape selection are to maximize both the ing of the Powerformer consists of high-
has more steel, mainly because the current loading and the filling factor. voltage cables. Consequently, the output
Powerformer stator has 2.5 times more According to Maxwell’s equations, voltage of Powerformers is only limited
electrical sheeting than the conventional the shape of these conductors results in by the state-of-the-art high-voltage cable
machine. There is considerable poten- an uneven electric field as well as a technology. Recently, insulation materi-
als and production techniques offer reli-
able cables at operating gradients in the
450
420 kV
order of 10 kV/mm and even more.
Expected in a Decade

400 Such high electric field is not accepted


345 kV for the conventional mica/epoxy-based
350
coil insulation.
Rated Voltage, kV

300 The cable circular cross section


245 kV solves the two basic problems arising
250 from the use of conventional rectangu-
200 lar stator windings:
155 kV • First, within the stator slots, the
150 136 kV uniform electric field in the insulator
maximizes insulation performance and
100
45 kV
the voltage rating of the cable.
50 • Second, bending a cable of circu-
lar cross section does not result in the
0
kinks and sharp edges that arise with a
1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

rectangular cable. Thus, even in the end


regions where the cable is bent to make
Year the transition from one slot to the next,
Fig. 2 Development of Powerformer rated voltage. the electric field within the insulator

38 IEEE POTENTIALS

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remains free of singularities. At the end 30
regions of the Powerformer, the electric
Powerformer Reference
field remains confined within the cable.
Consequently, the need to control an
external electric field, as in a conven-
tional machine, is eliminated. 20 Stator
Rotor

g/MWh
Design time Transformer
The concept of Powerformers fea- Other
tures innovations that include commer- 10 Total
cial high-voltage power cables, lie in
circular bores, and are accommodated
in the stator slots.

Cable design 0
Copper Steel Copper Steel
As previously indicated, the winding
of the Powerformer consists of insulat-
ed high-voltage power cables similar to Fig. 3 Net weight consumption of copper and steel in Powerformer and the reference
system.
the standard and commercial power
cables used in power system distribu-
tion. However, the cables in the the strands in the outermost layer may in a Powerformer, to use a thinner
Powerformer have neither a metallic be non-insulated. insulation for the first turns of the
screen nor a sheath. The induced voltage in a Power- winding and thereafter increase the
Figure 5 illustrates the construction former generator stator winding will insulation thickness; it is called
of the Powerformer winding cable. It gradually increase from the neutral “stepped insulation” (Fig. 4).
consists of a stranded conductor, an point to the line terminal. Therefore, One way of obtaining this is to use
inner semiconductive layer, a solid the cable used for the stator winding a predefined number of different cable
dielectric (normally an XLPE), and is accordingly exposed for different dimensions per phase (i.e., a stepwise
finally, an outer semiconductive layer. electrical stresses along the length of increase in the insulation thickness).
The purpose of the inner semiconduc- the winding. It is therefore feasible, This type of graded insulation facilitates
tive layer is to create a uniform electric
field at the inner surface of the insula-
tion layer, while the outer semiconduc- Conventional Generator Powerformer
tive layer acts to confine the electric
field within the insulator. Stator-Bar Cable-Winding
The word “semiconductor” describes a
Stator Winding

material with relatively high resistivity, in


this case XLPE doped with carbon. Such Ground Wall
Insulation Ground Wall/Turn
a semiconductor is, more accurately, a
Insulation
resistive conductor. Turn Insulation
In general, in the stranded conductor
there is a center wire surrounded by Strand Insulation
concentric layers of 12, 18, 24, 30, 36, Conductor
and 42 wires. This is commonly known
as a “concentric-lay” conductor. Each
layer is applied with alternate direction
of lay. The conductor cross section will 3 kV/mm
be dimensioned with respect to the pre-
vailing system voltage and the maxi-
mum power of the generating unit. A 6 kV/mm
conductor used in an electrical machine or Even Much Higher
Electric Field

is exposed for a higher magnetic leak-


age flux than a conductor used in trans-
mission or distribution systems.
E (kV/mm)

In order to minimize the additional


losses due to the magnetic leakage flux
in the Powerformer conductors, it is
necessary to subdivide the conductor S
into mutually insulated strands. The
majority of the strands may be insulat-
ed, but to ensure an equal electrical
potential of the strands and the inner Fig. 4 Stator-bar of the conventional generator and stator cable-winding of the
semiconducting layer, one or more of Powerformer.

MAY/JUNE 2008 39

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a better optimization of the volume of 1 2 3 4 The shape of the cross section of the
the laminated stator core. Also, stepped rubber hose is designed to allow for
insulation has the effect of ensuring elastic deformation necessary to keep
that the tooth width is effectively con- the fixation forces within certain limits.
stant along its length, irrespective of The maximum force must be limited to
the radial spread, keeping the flux den- reduce the visco-elastic deformation of
sity constant. the cable cross section. A minimum
force has to be maintained at low tem-
Stator design peratures to avoid loss of contact
Fig. 5 Powerformer winding-cable: 1)
The Powerformer is fitted with a con- between the cable and slot wall.
conductor, 2) inner semiconducting
ventional rotor. Therefore, only the stator- layer, 3) XLPE insulation, and 4) outer However, to avoid local deformation on
related design aspects will be covered semiconducting layer. the cable at the end-winding region due
here. The Powerformer stator consists of a to vibration and bracing forces, the
laminated core, built up from electrical cables are separated from each other by
sheets. Teeth in the outer section point outside the outer semiconducting layer is a rubber distance element.
inward toward the rotor (at the center). close to zero in the coil-end region.
The winding is located in the slots formed Consequently, there is no need to con- Cooling system
by the teeth. The cross-section of the slots trol the electric field in the coil-end The cooling system of the
decreases toward the rotor because each region as in the conventional generator. Powerformer stator core is also based
winding turn requires less cable insulation In the conventional generators, the on a new concept. This is due to the
closer to the rotor. The cross section of field has to be controlled at several low current in the cables of the stator
the winding cable is taken into account by locations per turn. This eliminates field winding and the lower ratio between
the stator slot design. Each slot has circu- concentrations in the core, the coil-end ohmic and iron losses than that for a
lar bores at intervals, forming narrow regions, and the transition between conventional generator. Accordingly,
waists between the winding layers. them. There is no risk for either partial most of the heat is generated in the sta-
The slots should enclose the casing discharges or corona in any region of tor core, which is grounded. This fact
of the coil as closely as possible. At the the winding. Moreover, personal safety greatly simplifies the cooling system.
same time, the teeth should be as broad is increased substantially as the end- The new cooling system is an indirect
as possible at each radial level. This winding region is at ground potential. system that cools the stator core by axi-
reduces the losses in the machine and Due to the lower currents and cur- ally inserted water pipes made of high
also the excitation needed. The stator rent densities, the current forces in density XLPE. Thus, the stator has no
teeth can also be designed such that the Powerformers are considerably smaller radial air cooling ducts, and this leads
radial width of the slot is largely con- than those in conventional generators. to a homogeneous stator core. This
stant over its entire length. This equal- As a consequence, the support for the makes the gross length of the stator
izes the loading on the stator tooth. end windings can be made simpler in shorter, the efficiency improves, and
The winding can be described as a the Powerformer. Another important the stator assembly is more convenient,
multilayer concentric winding, which aspect when designing a Powerformer especially with respect to the cable
means that the number of coil ends is the minimization of the cable vibra- installation through the slots.
crossing each other is minimized. This tion. To achieve this goal and to ensure As the water cooling is carried out at
feature allows simpler and faster thread- good electrical contact between the ground potential, there is no need for
ing of the stator winding. Figure 6(a) cable and the laminated core, the cable de-ionized water as in the conventional
and (b) shows a sectional view of the is fixed in the slot. It is based on a tri- water-cooled stator windings. Ordinary
Powerformer stator and the temperature angular silicon rubber hose that is tap water may be used for the cooling
distribution around a stator slot. inserted between cables and slot wall of the Powerformer stator core. The use
As a result of using a high-voltage as shown in Fig. 7. of plastic tubing also eliminates the risk
cable in the stator of a short circuit
winding, an increase between the tubes
in the output voltage 6 and the core and
5
corresponds to a 4 problems with eddy
decrease in the currents in joints
3
loading current in and pipes. On the
the machine for a 3 other hand, the
given power rating. rotor and the end
Therefore, a lower windings are air
2
current density cooled.
results in lower
resistive losses in Faulty
the machine. The 1 behavior
outer semiconduct- The performance
ing layer cable is (a) (b) of the Powerformer
connected to earth Fig. 6 (a) Sectional view of the Powerformer stator: 1) rotor, 2) section of stator, 3) under fault condi-
potential. Hence, teeth, 4) slots, 5) main winding cable, and 6) auxiliary winding and tions, whether the
the electric field (b) temperature distribution around a stator slot. fault is internal or

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external, and the comparison between electrically isolated from the slot walls. on a phase winding of a conventional
the fault currents of a plant equipped A voltage is developed on the surface generator with the same rated apparent
with a Powerformer with the fault cur- coating, which may be sufficient to power. The internal short circuit current
rents in a generating station equipped break down the airgap and produce should be investigated and simulated
with a conventional generator and a arcing between the surface coating and accurately for the purpose of the protec-
step-up transformer have revealed many the slot wall. This results in the fusing tion of Powerformers by taking into
positive points in favor of the of areas of the insulation surface. This account the distributed capacitance.
Powerformer. The internal fault refers to slot-discharge activity highlights the Large conventional generators and
a fault that occurs at the terminals of the need to earth the surface coating to the long transmission lines are confronted
generator, and an external fault is a fault stator core at some points along its with the problem of increasing capaci-
that occurs at the high-voltage side of length. tive charging current. Therefore, the
the step-up transformer. In the Powerformer, the original impact on the reliability of differential
In the case of a Powerformer, inter- design of the cable fixation in the slots protection should no longer be negligi-
nal and external faults are basically the was based on the principle of ground- ble. In a Powerformer’s case, where the
same as a Powerformer that is connect- ing the outer semiconducting layer of cable is considered as a capacitor with
ed directly to the high-voltage bus-bar the cable in the slot by pressing the charges on its two electrodes as dis-
in the generating station. Here is a sum- cable against the stator laminations via cussed earlier, the capacitance in the
mary of different faults. fixation hoses (Fig. 7). protection zone causes two problems.
• For external faults, the fault cur- First, the operating value of the differ-
rents from a Powerformer at external ential protection must be increased to
three-phase short circuits will be of the 1 2 3 4 avoid unwanted operation caused by
same magnitude as the fault current the capacitive differential current.
from the conventional unit. Second, the differential protection must
• The fault current from a suppress transients in the differential
Powerformer at external single-phase current to avoid unwanted operation
ground faults will be lower than that caused by the capacitive inrush current.
from the conventional unit. The reason The differential protection for the
is that the neutral point of a conventional generators rarely consid-
Powerformer is isolated from ground ers the influence of capacitance in the
while the neutral point of the step-up protection zone because the value of
transformer of the conventional genera- the direct earth capacitance is quite
tor is solidly grounded. Therefore, the low. Similar to the analysis of the
introduction of a Powerformer decreases capacitance of the transmission line,
the fault current at an external single- Fig. 7 Fixation of the winding cables in the equivalence of winding capacitance
phase ground-fault because the elimina- the Powerformer slots: 1) laminated of the generator, in which the capaci-
stator core, 2) XLPE insulation, 3)
tion of the step-up transformer increases conductor, and 4) fixation hose. tance distribution along with the wind-
the resulting zero-sequence reactance. ing is represented by a lump capaci-
• The internal three-phase short- tance with 50% at the phase terminal
circuit current of a Powerformer is less Differential protection and 50% at the neutral point. This
than that of the conventional generator The Powerformer winding cables can assumption is suitable for the cases of
due to its higher output voltage. be considered as a capacitor with capacitance evenly distributed, such as
• In the case of the internal two- charges on the electrodes that are, in this the transmission line and the winding
phase-to-ground and the internal phase- case, the inner and the outer semi-con- of a conventional generator. However,
to-phase faults, the fault current in a ducting layers. The electrical charge on a it will lead to errors in analyzing the
conventional generating unit will be phase winding of a Powerformer at volt- stator winding of the Powerformer in
substantially higher than the fault cur- age maximum is 30 times larger than that that the winding capacitance does not
rent in the Powerformer. The currents
at internal faults, for the studied specific
case, are summarized in Fig. 8. 150 kV 150 kV
15 kV
• For the internal single phase-to- External
External
ground internal fault, the fault current Network
in a conventional generating unit is
∼ Network ∼
much lower than that of the Δ
Powerformer due to the high imped-
ance grounding of the neutral of the (a) (b)
conventional generator (Fig. 8).
In service, it is indispensable to elim- Short circuit currents Short circuit currents
inate discharges in the interstices 3-phase-to-ground: 53 kA 3-phase-to-ground: 17 kA
2-phase-to-ground: 45 kA 2-phase-to-ground: 16 kA
between the main insulation of the con- 2-phase: 45 kA 2-phase: 14 kA
ductor/cable and the walls of the slot. 1-phase to ground: <0.1 kA 1-phase to ground: 16 kA
The damage to the insulation is pro-
duced when the partially conducting Fig. 8 Comparison of the fault currents in (a) a conventional plant, and (b) a plant
coating on the bar surface becomes equipped with a Powerformer at internal faults.

MAY/JUNE 2008 41

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analyses are performed, and it has been
Table 1. Existing Powerformer generators. observed that the improvement in the
Rated voltage Rated power steady state adequacy is largely attrib-
Location Commissioning Type (kV) (MVA) uted to its higher availabilities. Its impact
depends on its location, load level, and
Porjus 1998 Hydro 45 11 the system topologies. Operating history
Eskilstuna 2000 Thermal 136 42
of a Powerformer is limited, thus long-
Porsi 2001 Hydro 155 75
term viability assessments are made sole-
Hǒljebro 2001 Hydro 78 25
Miller Creek 2002 Hydro 25 32.8
ly on the available cable data and some
Katzurazawa 2003 Hydro 66 9 of the extensive laboratory testing by the
manufacturers.
In an attempt to evaluate the failure
actually distribute evenly along with the four generators and the 13 single- rate and reliability of stator windings,
the stator winding. It is known that the phase step-up transformers. The total an electrical ageing test is conducted in
winding of the Powerformer adopts cost savings associated with a realistic Powerformer environment
graded insulation, which leads to vari- Powerformers, resulting from lower with an applied voltage of 220 kV cor-
ous cable thicknesses in different por- building and maintenance costs, were responding to 25 kV/mm of field stress
tions of the winding and the uneven estimated at 24% in addition to the to insulation. The calculated failure rate
capacitance distribution. Improving the increased annual power generation by of the high-voltage stator windings is
reliability of the differential protection 17 GWh (by 0.56%). equal to 0.53 faults/100 generators-year
of the Powerformer can be achieved by Another study was carried out adopt- and with this the mean time to failure
using a self-adaptive compensation ing a new methodology for analyzing the becomes 1/0.0053 ≈ 190 years. If a
methodology. The feasibility and effec- generation capacity of power systems. major fault occurs inside the stator core,
tiveness of the proposed scheme has The method is validated on the 24-bus complete stator laminations need to be
been proven with test results. IEEE-RTS system, augmented with realis- replaced. The mean repair time is esti-
The subtransient reactance of the tic market and plant data, by using it to mated to be 13 days. The unavailability
Powerformer is usually similar to, or compare the financial viability of several of the Powerformer stator winding is as
slightly lower than, the total fault generator investments applying either low as 0.019%.
impedance of the conventional genera- conventional or Powerformer technolo- Another independent finding sup-
tor and its transformer. Consequently, gies. The significance of the results is ports the estimated values which reveal
there is a relatively limited impact pro- assessed using several financial risk mea- that the failure rate of a Powerformer is
duced by the replacement of a conven- sures. Comparative results of different significantly lower than the recorded
tional generator by a Powerformer on risk indices have confirmed that the failure rates of the conventional genera-
the critical fault types governing circuit- Powerformer is a better option within the tor in the hydropower plants in Nordic
breaker ratings in a realistic power sys- set of assumptions used for this study. electricity generation and transmission
tem. The system modification requires The results suggest that the Powerformer systems. It is close to or lower than the
an increase in the breaker capacity to will be superior compared with its con- recorded failure rates of the generators
allow the inclusion of a Powerformer ventional generator counterpart. The dif- in the nuclear power plants in Sweden.
into an existing system where the origi- ferences in viability, however, are not Station-originated failures due to sta-
nal breakers have been rated very low, large, and more work is required to tion components such as breakers,
according to IEEE standards. Future confirm the observed trends. transformers and busbar sections can
work should concentrate on other have a significant impact on overall
properties—rather than critical fault Reliability and robustness power system reliability, where several
types—such as switching capability or The Powerformer has higher avail- potential points of failures can be elimi-
transient recovery voltage. ability, more reactive power margin, nated. Powerformer arrangement
and extra short-term overloading capac- should be more reliable for the long
Economy ity. Several studies on its impact on the run. If failure occurs in a transformer,
Using the Powerformer in a certain system dynamic behavior have been its replacement time can be very long,
power system has a significant effect on carried out. It has been confirmed that causing a high loss of power supply,
the plant’s overall cost. The cost reduc- it can delay the system voltage collapse especially if one transformer is serving
tion is due to high efficiency, lower by several seconds. Similarly, its design for more than one generator. It is fairly
losses, and low environmental impact. is capable of producing perceptible logical to assume equal failure rates for
A study has been carried out to show changes on the system fault behavior. the conventional rotors and
how a Powerformer could influence the Table 1 shows that there are six Powerformer rotors, because with
economy of hydropower projects. The Powerformers in operation: four are in minor modifications a conventional
aim of the study was to compare the Sweden, one in Japan, and another one generator rotor could be converted to
existing hydropower plant in India with in Canada, and all are running without fit the Powerformer.
a hypothetical plant with a any difficulties. The impact of a The risk of voltage collapse requires
Powerformer. The annual energy pro- Powerformer on the composite system that the system operator use all available
duction is equal to 3,200 gigawatt- reliability has been examined and com- reactive resources in the receiving area
hours. There are four turbines, four pared with the existing conventional to maintain the voltage level. There is a
generators, and 13 single-phase trans- generators using the 24-bus IEEE-RTS need to boost the reactive generation
formers. Four Powerformers replaced test system. A number of sensitivity from synchronous machines in the

42 IEEE POTENTIALS

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receiving area. Powerformers have a As discussed earlier, the electric based cooling system). Generally, it
better overload capability than conven- field is fully confined to the cable. So i s estimated that an optimized
tional generators, so the Powerformers in the Powerformer, the bracing of the Powerformer design will be between
proved their robustness under voltage coil ends is reduced to simply support- 0.5% and 1.5% more efficient than a
collapse. In 2001, statistical records ing the cables constituting the over- conventional generator and its step-up
revealed that the first Powerformer, hang (whose surface is held at ground transformer solution.
located in Porjus, Sweden, accumulated potential) such that the vibrations of XLPE cable, especially at 400 kV, is a
more than 13,700 hours of successful the coil ends are minimized. The forces relatively new product. There are serious
operation without any disturbances. The exerted on the end windings are highly doubts over its long term suitability as
unit has been synchronized to the grid reduced during operation of the stator windings. Also, the cable is very
more than 150 times and has been sub- Powerformer compared to the conven- stiff, especially at higher voltages, mak-
jected to thermal and electrical cycling. tional generator. This is due to its lower ing it difficult, if not impossible, to bend
Thorburn and Leijon also presented a rated current for a given output power. the cable at the end regions. However,
case study of upgrading Powerformer the cable in the machine “XLPE” is rated
rated voltages. Powerformers with a for continuous operation at 90 ◦ C, with
rated voltage of 245, 345, and 420 kV the capacity to operate at up to 130 ◦ C
are being considered. “SEMICONDUCTOR” for several hours. In normal operation,
Extensive tests on the first the Powerformer windings are kept at 70

Powerformer, including heat run test, DESCRIBES A C. The machine capacity to operate at a
load rejection, efficiency measurements, higher temperature (higher current),
and short-circuit tests on the terminal at MATERIAL WITH without harm for short periods means
100% magnetization, have been con- that it can play a valuable role in system
ducted to evaluate its performance and RELATIVELY HIGH management, as a controllable source of
behavior. The response on the auxiliary real and reactive powers.
winding during a short-circuit test on RESISTIVITY, IN THIS It is believed that when the adop-
the main winding revealed that the tion of Powerformers becomes more
Powerformer is robust.
CASE XLPE DOPED common, reliable data can be obtained
In addition, the second Powerformer, WITH CARBON. SUCH regarding its impact on power systems.
located in Eskilstuna, Sweden, has Fair and reliable judgment on this new
undergone workshop tests and has suc- A SEMICONDUCTOR IS, technology can be convincing to
cessfully operated at 177 kV during an power utilities.
over-excitation test. In 2000, the MORE ACCURATELY, A
Powerformer stood the sudden short-cir- Conclusions
cuit test under 100% of rated voltage. As RESISTIVE CONDUCTOR. Powerformers, wound by XLPE power
expected, the currents at the test were cables without sheath, represent a break-
close to 1,000% of normal load current. through of high-voltage power genera-
This is the highest possible current, tors, where they provide direct connec-
which may flow from Powerformer in Objection on tion to the high-voltage power grid with-
case of faults in the transmission net- Powerformer technology out going via a step-up transformer at
work. The unit also performed well Objections on Powerformer technol- voltage rating up to 155 kV.
when subjected to a sudden single ogy by designers of conventional gener- Powerformers enable very clean and
phase-to-ground fault. In this case, the ators generally fall under one of three compact power plants that are not only
voltage on the two healthy phases tem- headings: efficiency, cable technology, economical, reliable, and environment
porarily exceeded 175% of normal oper- and possible applications. friendly but also more efficient than con-
ating voltage. This is the highest possible Using a circular conductor will mean ventional ones.
voltage, which may stress the insulation that the cable occupies a larger volume Powerformers are fitted with conven-
of the stator winding in case of faults in within the stator. This will result in a tional rotors, while the stator consists of
the cable connecting the Powerformer to larger, more expensive machine. Also, a laminated core. The cross- section of
the transmission network. iron losses will be higher, offsetting the the slots decreases toward the rotor
Voltage collapse, loadability, and sta- savings in transformer losses. However, since each winding turn requires less
bility studies were made on the Swedish the generator will be larger, but the cable insulation closer to the rotor.
test systems by examining the effects of step-up transformer has been eliminat- The cooling system of the stator core
removal of step-up transformers at select- ed. Using Maxwell’s equations it is pos- in a Powerformer is also based on a new
ed generator busses (i.e., direct connec- sible to show that, in terms of energy concept, where an indirect system cools
tion Powerformers to the high voltage produced per unit volume, the the stator core by axially inserted water
bus). The 100% overload for up to 30 Powerformer must be more efficient. pipes made of high-density XLPE.
minutes was observed with reinforced Again, iron losses in the conventional The use of a cylindrical conductor
rotor cooling. Three power systems were generator are indeed higher, but the yields an even distribution of the elec-
used in the studies of the 32-bus Swedish low-current nature of the Powerformer tric and the magnetic fields, which is a
test system. The results indicate that the design means that these extra losses are prerequisite for a high-voltage electric
location of the Powerformer has a notice- more than offset by lower stator copper machine. On the contrary, the conven-
able impact on the loadability and loca- losses and lower ventilation losses (the tional generators use rectangular con-
tion of voltage collapse in the system. result of reduced demands on the air- ductors that lead to overstressing the

MAY/JUNE 2008 43

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insulation and the magnetic materials, technology (stator windings). The Parkegren, S. Lindahl, and T. Karlsson,
and a high rate of electrical failures. cable insulation of the Powerformer “Powerformer: A giant step in power
To mitigate partial discharges in cannot withstand the similar tempera- plant engineering,” in Proc. Int. Conf.
Powerformers, the XLPE cables (stator ture as the insulation materials in con- Electric Machines and Drives “IEMD,”
windings) are fitted in the stator slots ventional machines. The criterion of May 1999, pp. 830–832.
with a certain amount of clearance. A temperature in the available cables for • S. Lindah, “Improved control of
good contact is kept between the outer design practice is 70 ◦ C. It is expected field current heating for voltage stability
semiconducting layer of the XLPE cables that Powerformers with voltage rat- machine design-Powerformer,” in Proc.
and the slot walls via fixation hoses. ings up to 420 kV can be realized in a IEEE Power Engineering Society Winter
Additional magnetic losses in the decade. Meeting, 2001, vol. 1, pp. 209–214.
Powerformer conductors can be mini- • T.R. Limbu and T.K. Saha,
mized by subdividing the conductor Read more about it “Investigations of the impact of
into mutually insulated strands. The • M. Leijon, L. Gertmar, H. Frank, J. Powerformer on composite power system
majority of the strands may be insulat- Martinsson, T. Karlsson, B. Johansson, K. reliability,” in Proc. IEEE Power
ed. To ensure equal electrical potential Isaksson, and U. Wollstrom, “Breaking Engineering Society General Meeting 1,
in the strands and the inner semicon- conventions in electrical power plants,” 2005, pp. 406–413.
ducting layer, one or more of the 1998, presented at Paper 1 1/37-3, • Q. Tian, X. Lin, and W. Lu, “A
strands in the outermost layer may be CIGRE, Paris. Novel Current Differential Protection
noninsulated. • M. Leijon, “Powerformer—A radi- Scheme for Powerformer,” in
The limitation of the Powerformer cally new rotating machine,” ABB Rev., International Conference on Power
output voltage is set solely by state- pp. 21–26, 1998. System Technology, PowerCon 2006, Oct.
of-the-art high-voltage XLPE cable • M. Leijon, F. Owman, T. Sorqvist, C. 2006, pp. 1–7.
• W. Shishan, L. Zeyuan, L. Yanming,
G. Yinna, and G. Hong, “Calculation of
short-circuit mechanical strength for
Powerformer,” in Proc. Int Conf Power
System Technology, PowerCon 2006, Oct.
2006, pp. 1–6.
• Q. Tian, X. Lin, and P. Liu, “A novel
self-adaptive compensated differential
protection design suitable for the genera-
tor with considerable winding distributed
capacitance,” IEEE Trans. Power Delivery,
vol. 22, no. 2, pp. 836–842, 2007.
IEEE Personal Email Alias • X. Lin, Q. Tian, Y. Gao, and L. Liu,
“Studies on the internal fault simulations of
With Virus Scanning and UCE Filtering a high-voltage cable-wound generator,”
IEEE Trans. Energy Conversion, vol. 22, no.
2, pp. 240–249, 2007.
• IEEE Trial-Use Guide to the
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About the authors
■■ Get an @ieee.org email address Ibrahim A. Metwally (metwally@
■■ Identify yourself as an IEEE member squ.edu.om) earned an M.Eng. and Ph.D.
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a Ph.D. student in the Department of
Electrical Energy, Systems, and
Automation at Ghent University,
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