ID: 664

The Turbogenerator A Continuous Engineering Challenge

C. Ginet, R. Joho, Member, IEEE, M. Verrier

Abstract Since the 1901 invention of the cylindrical rotor for a

high-speed generator, the turbogenerator has been used for converting the steam turbine and gas turbine power into electrical power. Today a wide array of turbogenerators between 50 MVA and 1300 MVA in full-speed (two-pole) design is available. The nuclear power plant business is covered by halfspeed (4-pole) designs with a range up to 2000 MVA. Today, the main drivers for design uprates are cooling design and insulation technology. The design development is supported by FEM and CFD, which in future will get linked with mechanical design tools. The future is characterized by new needs regarding power, efficiency and stability, and the commercial availability of emerging material technologies.

I. INTRODUCTION ince the 1901 invention of the cylindrical rotor of Charles Brown for a high-speed generator, the turbogenerator has been the unique solution for converting steam turbine power into electrical power. The continuously transposed stator bar, invented by Ludwig Roebel in 1912, opened the door for large scale winding application. Up to the 1930ies the generators were designed in 2-, 4- and even 6pole, in accordance with the speed optimums of the steam turbines in those days. The 1920ies ended with impressive power generation plants, having generator units in the 100 MVA range (see Fig.1). The stator winding insulation consisted in the beginning of plied-on mica-paper, compounded by Shellac varnish, later substituted by asphalt. Voltages were up to 12 kV.

In the early 1930ies two European manufacturers were introducing 36 kV stator windings, thus eliminating the machine transformer. All such designs were suffering of continuous heavy electrical discharges, and were soon discontinued. After a 60-year time-out, a manufacturer surprised the world in 1998 with a cable-based high-voltage generator up to 400 kV. However again, the cable technology was not ready for turbogenerator requirements, and a breakthrough for commercial application was not achieved. In the 1930 US manufacturers were introducing hydrogen as coolant. When combined with direct conductor hydrogen cooling in the rotor, and later in the stator, this allowed a considerable increase in specific utilization and efficiency. By early 1960 the unit ratings were achieving 500 MVA. At that time deionized water cooling in the stator winding was introduced. Around 1960 all major manufacturers changed their insulation system to mica tape with synthetic resin impregnation, a technology for thermal qualification at 155C, and which has been lasting into these days. By end of the 1960, with the power semiconductors becoming mature, the dc machine excitation (Fig.2) was superseded by the static excitation, and by an ac exciter machine with rotating diodes.

Fig.2. DC-exciter on the left, replaced by static thyristor on the right

Fig. 1. Hellgate USA, 1928, 2 x 80 MW, with external generator fan

C. Ginet and R. Joho are with ALSTOM (Switzerland) Birr M. Verrier is with ALSTOM (France) Belfort constantin.ginet@power.alstom.com

The 1970ies brought again a tremendous growth in unit ratings, going along with the introduction of nuclear power. Units of 1200 MVA at 3000 rpm and 1600 MVA at 1500 rpm at up to 27 kV were designed and put in operation. The rotor diameters were arriving at their physical limits. Water-cooling of the rotor winding was introduced. Along with plans for 2000 MVA and beyond, superconducting rotor windings and stator air-gap windings were studied. However, in early 1980 the market focus was shifting to gas turbine technology, with some 100 MW beginning to grow into the area of large power plants, and initiating a new round of uprating the simple and robust air-cooling technology in the 300 MVA range by 1996. The generator has for a long time been developed by repeating the cycle: design test adjust design tools extrapolate design. A tremendous breakthrough came with the large computers in the 1960ies, immediately being used for

ID: 664 the key competences, such as magnetic field calculations, nonlinear coolant flow networks and mechanical turbinegenerator shaft calculations. Some programs of that area are even in use in the todays PC environment. As an example, magnetic equivalent circuits were established to determine excitation currents. Once these programs were calibrated on measured data, they have been proven very accurate and still today, for most applications make obsolete any FEM method. II. TODAYS TURBOGENERATOR TECHNOLOGIES A. Small units up 150 MVA The size of these small air cooled units has evolved quite quickly. These machines are mainly devoted for gas turbines and steam turbines accepting cycling expansion. The gas turbines market has led to a very standardized range of machine based on the evolution of the turbine technologies and on the market requests. The models developed in 1980 for 40 MW 50 Hz/60 Hz; same generator for 50 Hz and 60 Hz with a gear box wheel and pinion adaptation; are nowadays joined by models in the 130-150 MW range. These generators are always designed using the simplest solution in order to reach low costs using modular solutions. For example the stator is cooled using one chamber and the excitation system does not need a third bearing and no pilot exciter. By this way, the models used for gas turbines are easily adapted for steam turbine or double drive solutions. All these machines are easy to transport and to mount on site (Fig.3) and are very often mounted and coupled to the turbine by the turbine manufacturer. They are delivered in a short time and a lot of engineering is done to improve the through put time of these models. The maintenance of these groups is quite simple requiring a small storage of spare parts.

2 values are close to generation with values between 3600 and 4200 rpm. B. Medium range up to 500 MVA Since the introduction of the 300 MVA class ten years ago, subsequent development has extended the rating up to the 400 MVA range [1]. One of the main technology drivers has been the improvement of the rotor axial cooling and winding indirect cooling using a modular stator multi-chamber airflow. These generators are characterised by their simplicity and ease of operation and maintenance. They have also proven their maturity in GT24/GT26 gas turbine applications as well as on numerous steam turbines and turbines of other manufacturers. The new ratings of the air-cooled generator series allow for the application of air-cooled technology in power ranges where hydrogen cooled generators were used previously. As a result of electrical and cooling optimisation the present air-cooled turbogenerators achieve efficiency up to 98.8 % and are used with a maximum voltage of 21 kV. Aircooled turbogenerators technology with highest ratings has now accumulated more than 1.8 million of successful operating hours with more than 100 units in operation [2]. In two decades the power output of air-cooled generators has been increased from 200 MVA to 400 MVA. Fig.4 shows this exceptional increase in generator power as a function of the time. It is clear that this strong increase in power that has occurred in the last decade was a direct response to the market demands.
MVA 400 350 300 250 200 150 100 50 0 1970 1980 1990 2000
100 MVA 200 MVA 300 MVA 400 MVA

1998 1994

1982

1977

Fig. 4. Evolution of the air-cooled turbogenerators in the last decades.

Fig. 3. Small air-cooled generator in the 150 MVA range; transport as a package

A recent trend is the increase of the power of the electrical drives used in the oil and gas industry, mainly for liquid natural gas pumps. Such drive motors require options similar to those developed for the generators, however having a variable speed drives controlled by static frequency converters. The performance is evolving quite strongly: a world record for this kind of motor at 21 MW 5900 rpm in 1985, seems modest in view of todays 100 MW. The speed

Recently, the increase of air-pressure inside the generator was realized. This measure allows a better cooling and consequently enhances the capability of the air-cooled turbogenerators. The hydrogen-cooled types have hydrogen filling up to 5.5 bar. They are designed for single-shaft and combined-cycle applications and are increasingly used with steam turbines (Fig.5) . The main features of the gas-cooled design are the same as the air-cooled. The cooling principle, end winding support system, the retightening system and the aluminum pressplate are excellent examples of the design similarities. The hydrogen-cooled types are setting the benchmark for

ID: 664 efficiency, large units commonly achieving 99.0 %. Since 1996, ALSTOM has supplied more than 50 units hydrogen-cooled turbogenerators of the 500 MVA range. However, the achievable power is much higher and will be soon at 600 MVA.

3 very long blades. The hydrogen/water-cooled generators coupled to these turbines are the largest electric turbo machines both in term of size and performance. This type of machine is ensuring 80% of the electrical production in France, which is a country with a very high electrical nuclear production. Some 50 machines in operation of this type have shown a very good reliability in operation and have a potential of improvement in performance. Based on this situation, the solution preferred in the nuclear market are not based on new technologies, but, more safely, the tend to still improve the existing validated well-running units. The 2000 MVA limit for turbogenerators for the 3rd generation of reactors is now close to be reached with improved life time and reliability. In order to reach this level of power, following choices have been done: Use the basic solutions validated by years of operation on running nuclear units Analyze those parts which have led to the faults on existing machines Implement improvements validated on full-speed hydrogen and water-cooled machines in the last decades. Adapt the cantilever type of excitation technology and adapt it to be even less sensitive to diode aging. Implement an improved type of cooling in the rotor copper ducts. The maintenance of such a machine has to be done very carefully in order to reach the guaranteed lifetime. The periodic stops to refuel the reactor are to be used for optimum maintenance. The trend on the modern reactors is also to reduce the time between refueling and the maintenance has to be adapted accordingly. A wide experience has been accumulated on the existing machines.

Fig. 5. Hydrogen-cooled turbogenerator of the 500 MVA class in standard steam turbine arrangement

C. Large units up to 2000 MVA These generators are driven by steam turbines in large coalfired power plants and nuclear power plants. They are all equipped with hydrogen-cooling with up to 6 bar overpressure, and with direct water cooling in the stator winding bars. The two-pole generator series begins at 500 MVA, and units up to 1300 MVA are in commercial operation. They are of highest specific utilization and therefore need complete direct cooling. Depending on the size the rotor, cooling is performed by axial flow of hydrogen through all conductors of a slot, either in one path over half-length of the rotor, or in two paths, supported by a subslot. The stator core is axially flown by hydrogen, symmetrically fed from both ends driven by a radial fan, arranged on the non-driving end of the rotor shaft. The stator winding is cooled by water-flown stainless steel tubes embedded in the Roebel bars. Thanks to the watercooling the stator winding has ever been open factor for upratings. The rotor winding has revealed to be the limiting part for upratings. At 1.25 m for 50 Hz, the rotor diameter is at the limits of mechanical stress. Any extension in active length beyond 8m needs careful consideration of the shaftline dynamics. Potential lies in multi-zone cooling concepts for the rotor winding, in an increase of hydrogen absolute pressure and fan pressure. All the described measures will lead to a consolidation at 1400 MVA unit rating. Any higher unit rating must go along with a break in rotor winding cooling, and the parasitic effects due to stray flux will remain a challenge as such. The four poles machines are running at 1500 rpm up to 1700 MVA. This is a key advantage for nuclear units, where the temperature of the steam is relatively low and its flow in the low pressure parts of the turbines huge (Fig.6). This allows the turbine to have very large diameter by using

Fig. 6. Four-pole turbogenerator of the 1700 MVA class in a nuclear plant

III. AN OUTLOOK INTO THE NEXT 10 YEARS A. Market trends As a part of the energy chain, the turbogenerator requires present and future developments that have to comply with the

ID: 664 market requirements as following: Higher efficiency Higher reliability Low cost energy production Grid stability enhancement

4 Design: Refined stator bar The eddy currents and the circulating currents are of a huge importance in the stator bars and can represent about 30 % of the losses in the bars [3]. An example of design modification allowing a significant gain in losses in the stator bar is to change the bar type, diminishing the strands size at the minimum production size in width and height. The strands have a circular cross-section. The production of such a bar type has been tested on samples (Fig.8). The obtained bar is a compact Roebel bar with practically no eddy currents. However the filling factor is reduced, which increases the DC losses. Everything considered, this design allows a gain in losses and the efficiency of the standard turbogenerator series Fig. 8. Braided bars sample would be increased. The production of such a bar at a large scale remains a challenge to be further investigated. This design could be used for directly and indirectly cooled stator bars. For directly cooled bars, a central column of stainless steel ducts integrating braided bars on both sides see Fig.9. Due to the braiding the inner heat transfer is supposed to be efficient on the total length of the generator [4]. In the case of water-cooled bars, the hollow conductors have to be isolated to one end of the bars as shown in Fig.9. Therefore, the challenge is to link these stainless steal ducts at the end of each bar with an insulating material such as a ceramics, Teflon or even a polymer material. Although this idea was not the object of a deep study, an expert of the EPFL laboratoire mtallurgie mcanique considers it as realisable.

To fulfill continuously these requirements huge developments are in progress as presented in the following sections. B. Substitution of hydrogen-cooled units by air-cooled units for higher reliability and low cost energy production The substitution of hydrogen-cooled units by air-cooled and of hydrogen/water-cooled by hydrogen-cooled will be continuing to shift the ratings upwards. The limits are given by transport dimensions, by the established temperature classes, and by the degree of complexity of design. The engineering will further exploit these limits involving mainly cooling and insulation materials developments. Air-cooled turbogenerators offer many benefits to the operator. Some of which are listed below: Excellent reliability Less civil work, simpler foundation No hydrogen treatment system No seal oil system and less sealing Less piping Simple engineering work due to its advanced technology

These advantages are the consequences of not using hydrogen gas as a cooling medium. This results in much simpler and shorter maintenance periods as well as a shorter delivery time and an increased reliability. The good experience with large air-cooled turbogenerators demonstrates the high potential of these generators. The largest air-cooled Fig. 7. Stator of the largest air- generator was designed for cooled turbogenerator tested at 500 500 MVA. This design has MVA been proven by tests and represents the maximum achievable capability of air-cooled generators. C. Efficiency enhancement The improvement of the efficiency is of first importance for the turbogenerator of all kind in particular in air-cooled 60 Hz units for closing the gap to the benchmark values of hydrogen-cooled units. Actually, it is one of the first issues considered in any new turbogenerator development. In this section, some examples of new design solutions and new technologies implementation to increase the efficiency will be described.

Fig. 9. Directly cooled braided stator bars with insulated cooling ducts

Design: Laminated pressplate A critical issue of the largest two-pole generators is the core end heating in underexcited operation. As a longstanding practice, large 2-pole generators with hydrogen/water cooling are equipped with conically laminated press plates on the ends of the core. They consist of stacked laminations, which are compacted to a ring by resin impregnation. By its one-side conical shape such a press plate receives and internally guides part of the magnetic stray flux of the end winding at lowest loss. A further refinement, such as interlamination and

ID: 664 intralamination gaps helps to lower the eddy currents losses (Fig.9).

5 (class 180). Such a technology is in final verification and will soon be available. - Increasing the electrical field stress to a higher value, a 15% gain seems achievable. This allows a better heat transfer and more copper in the slot. As specified by standards, insulation verification tests are commonly based on comparative tests in specific characteristics. Any modified insulation system must be at least as good in these characteristics as the established technology. Other criteria are sensitivity to manufacturing variances, throughput time, environmental compliance and second source availability for the components. All these improvements for the stator winding insulation look likely to shift the bottleneck into the rotor. Fortunately, the rotor material technology brings along all prerequisites to be upgraded into class 180 technology. This is due to the fact that many components are inherently class 180 and simply need a tighter specification to become qualified. In the case of class 180, allowing class 155 operation, and probably in a later stage class 180 peaking, it is of utmost importance that both stator and rotor winding designs can accommodate their elongation due to thermal expansion. A set of design measures has been worked out to provide this safety. Technology integration: Superconducting field coil In turbogenerators, the main possible application of superconductors is in the field winding. The present state of the superconductors allows application in small generators. A worldwide survey has been collected in particular for turbogenerator (Fig.12). For industrial production, the materials of 2nd generation of HTS and prices announced for 2012 give a real interest for future generator development integrating this technology [4].
HTSL Type
Present

Fig.10. Pressplate of large two-pole turbogenerators

Design: Cooling system An improvement of the efficiency by reduction of the airflow losses is in continuous progress using as support CFD programs. In the last decades the improvement of the cooling, such as axial ventilation of the rotor and indirect cooling of the stator winding, allowed huge capability enhancement, a better utilisation of the materials as well as a better efficiency. This trend continues especially for the hydrogen and the aircooled generators. A schema of the present cooling system of an air-cooled generator is presented in the Fig.11.

1G BISCO
-Toperation:30K -Iop: 100 A/mm2 -Mechanical stress 0.4% -B 2 T -100 Euro/kAm -

2G YBCO
-Toperation:50K -Iop: 100 A/mm2 -Mechanical stress >= 0.5% -B 2 T -800 Euro/kAm -Iop: 200 A/mm2 -15 Euro/kAm

Fig. 11. Advanced multi-chamber cooling system for an air-cooled turbogenerator 6 chambers

Technology integration: Insulation Since its introduction at the end of the 1950ies the synthetic resin mica tape insulation technology has been in use. Over the past years a worldwide re-evaluation of insulation technologies has been observed. On the far horizon polymer insulations might become an option. However when benchmarking with mica tape insulation, the required tight quality control for the application in manufacturing and the non-existent inherent fault tolerance for inner discharges become obstacles. Therefore it looks that small steps in todays proven insulation technology will be realized earlier. Such novelties close to introduction are: - Improved tape, now commercially available: high thermal conductivity using fillers (HTC), higher mica content by denser roving carrier. Both technologies are in verification tests. The maximum achievable thermal conductivity is at 0.5 W/mK. - Improving the insulation system to a higher thermal class

2008 2012

Fig. 12. High temperature superconductors: Generator market expectation

D. Stability improvement: Excitation booster Generally speaking, the excitation current of large generators is managed thanks to an avr-controlled thyristor rectifier, directly supplied by the three phase voltages generated by the generator itself. In the case this voltage drops down, the avr will counteract. This can become impossible when the thyristor rectifier reaches limits given by its AC feeding. A possible solution is to oversize the transformer connected between the output of the generator and the thyristor rectifier, to keep the control of the excitation current for obtaining the over-excitation of the generator, even if its output voltages are at a low level.

ID: 664 A solution is to add an additional energy source in the form of a pre-charged supercapacitor bank (Fig.13) that allows the control of the excitation current, even in case of heavy drop of the main supply [5]. Supercapacitors seem to be well adapted in view power density. ANSYS/ Emag UNIFELD (in-house development)

Fig. 14. Result of an advanced magnetic field calculation with UNIFELD; Turbogenerator cross section Fig.13. Principle of the Boostercap introduced in a standard excitation system

A study in collaboration with EPFL and Technical University of St-Petersburg is in progress to demonstrate the positive impact of such a system on the stability of an electrical grid. To assess the real benefit, the system is incorporated to every turbogenerator of the modeled electrical grid. The simulation is going to be performed with SIMSEN and Matlab Simulink E. Engineering calculation tools Concerning the future of engineering tools we expect the further linking of the design geometry with the modeling tools, and this in both ways. Furthermore we expect more use of CFD, eventually replacing large test arrangements. FEM will be interactively combined with machine parameter tools, a precursor is the virtual short circuit testing program of EPFL [6]. FEM integrated in machine models which themselves are part of simulation tools could be used for investigations of harmonics of currents or voltages on the generator components. Two main categories of programs are used at the present. The first is employed to simulate events in the electrical grid and to demonstrate the consequences on grid stability. These programs integrate transient and substransient models of generators. For the turbogenerator, a complete result including stator and rotor current, stator voltage, powers, torques in function of time can be obtained. Some of the more used are: SIMSEN Matlab Simulink The second category of programs is based on FEM calculation and gives detailed information of what happens in the generator. The magnetic field (Fig.14), eddy currents, losses and forces are calculated. Ventilation models are introduced in order to know the resulting temperature distribution in the generator. For this kind of calculation the detailed design of the generator is required. Some of the most used programs [7] are : Magnet (Infolytica) Electra (Vector Fields) Maxwell (AusSoft)

An approach, which mixes both categories of programs and gives combined results for the grid as well as the generator, is the most interesting for turbogenerator applications. The application of such a program provides a better understanding of the turbogenerator coupled with the electrical grid. IV. CONCLUSIONS Since more than 100 years turbogenerators have been in use for steam turbine and gas turbine applications of any size. The technical evolution has not stopped; new market requirements and new material technologies ask for adaptations in design. The future market will be characterized by a revitalized need for very large turbogenerators, both two-pole and 4-pole. The future will also be characterized by an exciting competition between well-established conventional solutions and new high tech solutions. In any case highly skilled engineers paired with the best available design tools will be required. REFERENCES
[1] R. Joho, C. Picech, K. Mayor, Large air-cooled turbogenerators extending the boundaries, CIGRE Session 2006, paper A1-106. C. Ginet, B. Zimmerli, A. Ziegler, W. Shugui, "Ten years of operational experience with ALSTOMs air-cooled TOPAIR turbogenerator in the 300 MVA class and above", Power-Gen Asia 2006, Hong Kong, China. J. Haldemann, Transpositions in stator bars of large turbogenerators, IEEE Trans. on EC, vol. 19, no. 3, Sept. 2004. R. Joho, C. Ginet, A. Schleussinger, Generators: superconducting technology competing with improved conventional technology, Swiss Federal Department of Energy (BFE), Report 260037 (in German), 23 Oct. 2006. R. Joho, "Flexible AC generation solutions, presented at IEEE PES Swiss Chapter Workshop on Power System Stability, 17 November 2006, Dttwil, Switzerland. J.-J. Simond, C. Ramirez, M. Tu Xuan, C.-E. Stephan, "A numerical test platform for large synchronous machines also useful as a design optimization tool", IEEE PES General Meeting 2006, Montreal, Canada, paper 615. J. Bialik, P. Arend, Electromagnetic and thermal calculations of end region components of large turbogenerators, SME 2006, Cracow, Poland.

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