Understanding,

diagnosing,
monitoring &
addressing leakage
and pluggage
in water - cooled
generator stator
windings

A.K.Sahay, CC-OS
B.Manjul, Kahalgaon
V.K.Garg, Badarpur

Reliability of generator is dependent on electrical and

mechanical integrity of stator winding

According to survey of manufacturer including GE, Siemens /

Westinghouse and Electrosila , the most probable age of water
cooled stator windings is approximately 25-30 yrs.
Considering the age of our first generation units , it is felt that it
prudent to have a closer look of this system and some recent
advances that has taken place in this area needs to be taken into
consideration
Early detection of water cooled leakages can significantly reduce
the risk of failure associated cost.
Key is proper understanding and monitoring of associated
parameters (especially Chemistry parameters) of the system.

- Generator is a key component of a unit from its

availability point of view
- Stator water system uses water cooling system for
stator wings, while Hydrogen is the coolant for rotor
winding and briefly the schematics for stator water system is :

Reliability issues affecting generators

Water leakage of stator windings
Clogging in copper hallow conductors
Wedge looseness
Stator core looseness and hot spots
End-winding vibration
Among these we shall dwell upon the first two points

Water leakage of stator windings :

- Large generator stator the heat, originating from
losses, is removed by water cooling
- For this stator bar contain hollow copper conductor to
convey water through the bar and the bar end , these
are brazed into water box as shown below

-Leaks in stator winding cooling system mainly caused

by problems with brazed connections
- Water box leakage, combined with strand-to-strand
leakage generates a sponge effect
- water penetrates the bar insulation and increases the
risk of electrical failure

Leakage in Stator Hydraulic components and connections :

First let us have a closer look at the stator end winding
configuration

Leak may originate at any of the followings :

Copper tubings, Pipes, Pipings, elbows,fillings,
sleeve joints, tube extension
Teflon hoses / hose fittings
Liquid cooled services loop brazes and connection
rings
Small leaks in these locations will not result in winding damage
during normal operation as H2 gas Press. is maintained well above
stator cooling water pressure.
But small leaks pose problem during outage when generator is
de-gassed and stator water system is left in operation

Under those circumstance s the Press. Diff. force the leaking

water into ground insulation.

Leaks in stator bar :

a)
Leaks in clip window braze
b)
Leaks through porosity especially with older units
built with cast clips :
Some of the hydraulic plumbing components used
in older units with bottle clips were also cast which
is vulnerable for leakage in
localized area of
high porosity
c)
Leaks in clip to strand braze :
A leak process initiates in the braze alloy at the
inner surface by Crevice corrosion mechanism.
Under right conditions the leak can change to
corrosive penetration of adjacent copper tubes.

Crevice corrosion :
Due to spongy nature of braze, water makes its way
to small voids at braze surface and stagnates
If the void size is large enough, sizable amount of
water comes in and start attacking the phosphorous
rich phase of braze alloy.
As the material starts , void size goes on increasing
and water chemistry changes to phosphoric acid.
This process continues till the crevice reaches
critical volume, thereby precipitating out Phosphate
salt( Cu3P)on the surface of the braze which stops
further corrosion.

-If the void size is good enough and the phosphoric

acid inside this void come in contact with Copper
strand, the attack by Phosphoric acid to Copper is
a preferred reaction as compared to that of braze
and also the rate of reaction is also high.
-

The depth of copper is limited and constant

( approx. by 0.015 inch) partly by precipitation of
Phosphate salt on Copper and partly by volume of
liquid too large to maintain critical acid conc.

-This leads to attack of Phosphorous phase of braze

material leading to formation of Phosphoric acid
which again starts reacting with Copper.

- This mechanism switches back and forth from Crevice

to acid attack of copper as the leak path makes its way
to the strand.

Basic features of Primary water system & their

significance:

Conductivity : 0.5 to 2.0 us/cm

Water pressure 1.5 to 2 Kg/cm2 and Hydrogen

pressure 3.5 to 4 Kg/cm2

Inlet/Outlet temp. 35 /60 0C

D.O. > 2 ppm ( High oxygen regime) and < 20 ppb

( For low oxygen regime)

Stator water system monitoring parameters

Parameters
Conductivity
Oxygen
ECP
Coil/Bar Temp
Coil Flow
P coil inlet/outlet
P gas / water
Hydrogen leakage
Make up Water
consumption

Importance
Frequency of monitoring
Most important
Continuous
Useful
Continuous
promising technology Continuous
Critical parameter
Continuous
Critical parameter
Continuous
Important information Continuous
Important parameter Continuous
Important parameter
Daily
indicative information
Daily

Laboratory Analysis:
Copper Concentration Limited usefulness
Once in two week
Copper in ion exchange Good indicative
At each resin change
or filter
information

Conductivity
Conductivity is temperature dependent.
e.g. Conductivity of pure DM water at 25 Deg C= 0.054
us/cm, while that at 60 deg C= 0.25 us/cm

Important point to ponder uponi) Appropriate temperature compensation of

on-line instrument
ii) Location of probe- conductivity meter at slip
stream

Dissolved Oxygen
Measurement of DO in stator water affords valuable
information about hydrogen leakage through stator
Tiny H2 leakage- non-detectable through H2 gas trap or
consumption pattern- leads to lowering of DO content
of Stator water
Unit A

Date
29.01.08
15.02.08

DO ppm
3.8 ppm
0.4 ppm

Remark
Conductor leakage confirmed

27.12.09
22.01.10

5.8 ppm
0.5 ppm

Conductor leakage observed

Unit B

Size of leakage :
-

Direct on line measurement not possible

But quantity of H2 coming out of this gives fair idea

about the size of leakage.

Quantification can be done as follows :

A case study-Quantifying Hydrogen leakage

Quantifying H2 Leakage
Date

D.O. level ( ppm)

22.05.09
1.3 ( after stopping make up for 5 hrs)
17.05.09
4.2 ppm
14.04.09
3.8
QuantificationFrom gas trap in a 200mw set with PSW operating at 300 mm vacuum in the expansion tank.
Suppose the make up water has 8 ppm of dissolved oxygen(D.O.) and PSW temperature is 40 0
C

Henrys law , P = X . H
Where P = Partial pressure of O2 in ata
X = Amount of dissolved oxygen in ppm
H = Henrys law constant for O2 at 40 0 C (3.01 x 0.01 )
P = 8 x 3.01.0.01 = 0.24 ata

So DM water with 8 ppm DO2 exerts a pressure of 0.24 ata at

40 0 C

E.g. let

us say H2 leakage through gas traps to atmosphere

causes D.O. to drop to 1.3ppm i.e . 8.0 6.7 = 1.3 ppm i.e 6.7 ppm of

D.O. has been removed.

Or, 6.7 gm of D.O. per ton of water has been removed.
Now Hydrogen required to remove the above quantity of Dissolved Oxygen can be
calculated by applying Gas Laws as follows :
P1V1 / T1 = P2V2/T2,
V1= P2V2 x T1
--------------T 2 x P1
Where P1 = 0.24 ata,
T1 = 313 0 K ( i.e. 40 0 C )
P2 = 1.3 x 3.01 x 0.01 = 0.04 ata, V2 = 0.0224 /32 = 0.0007 M3
T1 = 298 0 K
Putting these values we get ,V1 = 0.00011 M3 = 0.11 lit of H2 gas bubbling per M3 of PSW

In this case total volume of H2 gas leaking through PSW system per day
= 0.11 x 0.027 x 24 = 0.0324 M 3
( Flow of PSW of a 200 MW set is 27 M3/hr)

of H2 gas /day

Stator water treatmentsLow dissolved Oxygen

(<10ppb) & Neutral pH

High dissolved Oxygen

(>2000 ppb) & Neutral pH

thin layer of passive cuprous

oxide

CuO is formed on the copper.

Low dissolved Oxygen(<10ppb) High dissolved Oxygen (>2000

&
ppb) & alkaline pH (8-9)
Alkaline pH ( 8-9)
Not suitable due to clip
corrosion

 The amount of dissolved oxygen in the system, and

particularly variations in that oxygen concentration,
determines when copper oxides are released.
Copper forms cuprous oxide (Cu2O) under reducing
(low-oxygen) conditions and cupric oxide (CuO) when
dissolved oxygen is high. Either of these oxides can
be stable and create a passive oxide layer on the
channels in the stator bars. A slightly alkaline pH
increases the stability of the oxide layer.

Electro Chemical Potential ( ECP)

-Research project developed by EPRI has concluded that ECP as a

significant parameters for copper release and deposition
-It shows that change in oxidation state of Copper (+1 to +2 and
vice versa) induces stresses which is driving factor for particulate
release and deposition
-Range of ECP as established by EPRI for two operating regimes
are as follows :
Parameter
ECP
ECP
( Normal Operating values) ( short term action level)

Low oxygen regime

<223 mv

>266 mv

High Oxygen regime

>315 mv

<305 mv

- Essentially a summative parameter that describes

chemical reactivity better than any single
parameter even oxygen
- governed by oxidizing and reducing agents in
water, pH, Temperature and other ionic impurities

1-ECP and Oxygen start to increase, but D.P. stays stable

2. D.P. starts increasing, 3. Test with alkalization of stator water
4. D.P. starts to decrease, ECP also decrease
5. ECP and D.O. starts to increase, but D.P. stable
6. Steady increase in D.P. necessitates a cleaning
7. after cleaning D.P. returns to its normal value so is ECP

For test of 16 days, stator water was alkalized with NaOH to pH=8.7
ECP drops from 252 mv to 69 mv, then it drifted slowly upward.
Towards the end ECP trends upward despite constant pH

- Initially stator water was alkalized with NaOH to pH=8.7

- At the start the coil has been chemically cleaned and ECP went
down to domain of metallic copper
- With time , the system drifted across Cu2O domain and CuO
- ECP and conductivity at termination alkalization period. Both
parameters react simultaneously to termination of NaOH
injection

Here 9.5 lits of air saturated water into the system .

Evenly distributed and not consumed, this will mean D.O. around 31 ppb
The oxygen increased from 2-3 ppb and stabilized at 30 ppb and then decayed.
Conductivity had a slow increase from 0.08 to a maxm of 0.185 s/cm
Pl. note that if ECP is measured in mv Ag/AgCl, the to convert the same to SHE we have
to add 219 mv to these values.

There are two types ECP analyzers are available .

a) Copper ECP electrode and a Ag/AgCl reference electrode with 1MKCl
electrolyte
b) Other one incorporates an solid state Chloride electrolyte

Addressing the plugging issues :

EPRI guidelines suggest following proactive measures
to detect flow restrictions
(i) Monitoring pressure drop, total stator water
flow and individual bar flow
(ii) Analysis of spent resins from SPU gives a fair
indication of the quantity of Cu release from
the system
Cleaning method :
(a ) Usually by EDTA as it removes only Copper Oxide
and does not react with Cu metal
( b ) But limitation of this method is that if the strand is
severely choked, this gentle organic acid may not be good
enough and in that case cleaning to be done by 9% H2SO4

Cleaning by EDTA
Before Cleaning

After cleaning

Preventing Pluggage :
(a)
( b)
(c)

(d)

On line ECP and D.O.Monitoring

Off line Cu trend analysis From Spent SPU resins
For High oxygen regime : A large diameter vent
to provide air access to the storage tank and
forced aeration to the water tank
During shut down when stator water system is
drained then it needs to be dried out with
Nitrogen (Grade-1 ) quality

Conclusion :
-

After 25 years of service water cooled stator

windings are prone to leakage
Monitoring leakage as reflected in lowering of
D.O. in case of high oxygen regime is a reliable
tool and it can be quantified as well
Latest experiment has shown that on line ECP
monitoring shall be an important tool in
assessing overall Chemistry of stator water
system

Thank u very much