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This is the published version of a paper presented at IECON 2014 – 40th Annual Conference of IEEE
Industrial Electronics Society,October 29 - November 1, 2014, USA.

Citation for the original published paper:

Almas, M., Vanfretti, L. (2014)

Experimental Performance Assessment of a Generator's Excitation Control System using Real-
Time Hardware-in-the-Loop Simulation.
In: IEEE conference proceedings

N.B. When citing this work, cite the original published paper.

Permanent link to this version:

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 Experimental Performance Assessment of a Generator’s
Excitation Control System using Real-Time Hardware-in-the-
Loop Simulation
M. S. Almas, L. Vanfretti
Electric Power Systems Departmeent
KTH Royal Institute of Technology
Stockholm, Sweden
{msalmas, luigiv}@kth.se
Abstract—This paper presents methods and results for
e xpe rimental performance assessment using Real-Time
Hardware -in-the -Loop (RT-HIL) simulation of an Excitation
Control System (ECS) for both terminal voltage regulation and
powe r oscillation damping. The ECS configured for this study is
Unitrol 1020 from ABB and its performance is assessed for both
Automatic Voltage Regulator (Auto) and Field Current
Re gulator (Manual) modes. RT-HIL simulation is performed by
using Opal-RT’s eMEGAsim RT Simulator using a power system
mode l including a synchronous generator. Finally, the Power
Syste m Stabilizing feature of Unitrol 1020 is calibrated and
asse ssed.
Keywords—Excitation System, Synchronous Generator,
Automatic Voltage Regulator, Field Current Regulator, Power
System Stabilizer, Real-Time Simulation, Real-Time Hardware-in-
the-Loop Simulation, Opal-RT, Unitrol 1020, SmarTS-Lab
I. INTRODUCTION
Synchronous generators are widely used in power systems
as a source of electrical energy. They are equipped with
sophisticated control systems to adapt to frequent dynamical
changes in the power system (e.g. load changes). One of such
controls is the Excitation Control System (ECS) which
provides direct current to the synchronous machine field
winding and controls the terminal voltage [1]. In addition ECS
also provides protection functions to ensure that the capability
limit of synchronous generators is never exceeded. Some of the
important features of an ECS are synchronous generator’s
terminal voltage control, over and under excitation limiters,
field current limiters and protections [2].
To guarantee the safe and reliable operation of a
synchronous generator, the performance of ECS should be
thoroughly verified under both steady and dynamic conditions.
This can be achieved by using the Real-Time Hardware-in-the
Loop (RT-HIL) [3] simulation approach. A performance
assessment of ABB’s Unitrol 1020 Excitation Control System
[4] for both voltage regulation and its capability for enhancing
power system stability is carried out in this paper.
The paper is organized as follows: Section II provides
information about the ABB’s Excitation System Unitrol 1020
and test case modeling in MATLAB/Simulink. Section III
presents the RT-HIL simulation for Automatic Voltage
Regulation (Auto) and Field Current Regulation (Manual)
This work was supported in part by Nordic Energy Research through the
STRONg2rid project and by Statnett SF, the Norwegian TSO.
M. S. Almas, and L. Vanfretti are with KTH Royal Institute of
Technology, Stockholm, Sweden. (e-mail: {msalmas, luigiv}@kth.se)
L. Vanfretti, is with Statnett SF, Research and Development, Oslo,
Norway (email: luigi.vanfretti@statnett.no)
L. Vanfretti
R&D Department
Statnett SF
Oslo, Norway
Luigi.vanfretti@statnett.no
modes of controller using Opal-RT’s eMEGAsim real-time
simulator. Power system stabilizer configuration of the
controller together with RT-HIL simulation results for inter-
area oscillation damping of the Klein-Rogers-Kundur power
system model are discussed in Section IV. Section V discusses
the experimental results obtained and in Section VI,
conclusions are drawn and future work is summarized.
II. UNITROL 1020 OVERVIEW AND TEST CASE M ODELING
A. Unitrol 1020 Excitation Control System
Unitrol 1020 is an automatic voltage regulator (AVR) that
provides excitation control of indirectly excited synchronous
machines and rotors [4]. The primary purpose of the device is
to maintain the generator’s terminal voltage while taking into
account all the operational limits associated to the generator
[5]. The regulator can also be switched over to function as field
current regulator (Manual Mode), reactive power or power
factor regulation. Figure 1 shows the single line diagram of a
typical generator which is receiving mechanical power input
from a turbine and its field excitation is provided by an
excitation control system. Terminal voltage of the generator is
fed to the excitation system which compares this value to the
set-point (reference voltage) and computes required field
current to bring the terminal voltage to the reference value.
Mechanical
Power (Pm)
Step Up
Transformer
TURBINE Pm Transmission
Generator Line
Vfield
Metering
Load
Transformer
Rotor Excitation Generator
Field Current System Terminal Voltage
Fig. 1. Interaction between synchronous generator and excitation system
B. Power System Test Case Modeling in MATLAB/Simulink
Test case modeled in MATLAB/Simulink [6] for RT-HIL
testing of Unitrol 1020 is shown in Figure 2. The generator
modeled is a Turbo Generator (Round Rotor) of 50 MVA and
nominal voltage of 20 kV. The parameters settings for the
synchronous generator are presented in Table 1. Steam turbine
and governor system provides mechanical power to the
synchronous generator and regulates its frequency by Real-Time
Simulator
increasing or decreasing the mechanical power input to the
generator. The electrical power output of the generator is fed to V and I
Amplifiers Amplified Generator
the user-controlled dynamic load through step up transformer. UAC : Generator
Voltage (ML1, ML3)
Terminal Voltage Amplified Generator
The generator receives the field voltage from Unitrol 1020. For IB: Generator current (MC2+, MC2-)
this purpose one of the Analog Output of Unitrol 1020 is Stator Current
Unitrol
configured for Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) which is scaled Rotor Field Current sent to analog input
of Unitrol as Ie External (AI1, BI1)
1020

between 0 and 100% to represent actual field voltage output of PWM scaled (0-10V) representing
actual field voltage 0.5-99%
0.5 to 99%. Generator’s terminal voltage (single phase), stator 2 3
Ethernet
current (single phase) and field current are fed to Unitrol 1020 Low level voltages and · 0-10 V input to amplifier Switch
currents from RTS are sent gives output of 0-100V
by using Analog Outputs of Opal-RT’s eMEGAsim Real-Time 1 to amplifier · 0-10 V input to current

Simulator [7]. Test Case model being executed

in real-time using Opal-RTs
amplifiers give current
output of 0-6 A
eMEGAsim Real-Time Simulator Computer with CMT
1000 to tune parameters
C. Interfacing Unitro 1020 with Opal-RT’s eMEGAsim Real- of Unitrol 1020

Time Simulator
Fig. 3. Connection Diagram for interfacing Opal-RT with Unitrol 1020
Real-Time Simulator (RTS) can only provide voltages upto
±10 V and currents upto ±20 mA. These low-level signals Configuration settings for Unitrol 1020 are shown in Figure
(generator terminal voltage and stator current) are amplified 4 together with screenshots showing configuration of the
using linear amplifiers to scale voltage upto 100 V and currents analog I/Os for this study. The parameter setting for “Ie No
to 1 Ampere at rated power [8]. The field current measurement Load” is measured by executing the test case model under no-
is supplied to Unitrol 1020 using low-level ±10 Volts. For this load. The model initially executes with a fixed field voltage
purpose one of the inputs of Unitrol 1020 is configured for (configured inside the simulation model) to achieve steady
receiving an external excitation current. The complete state and then the user can send a command in real-time to
connection diagram is shown in Figure 3. switch to the field voltage measurements supplied by ABB
Excitation system.
III. RT-HIL A SSESSMENT OF VOLTAGE REGULATION
Mechanical
50 MW Turbo Generator
2-Pole, 20 kV
(A UTO) AND FIELD CURRENT REGULATION (M ANUAL) M ODES
Current
Power (Pm)

TURBINE Pm
Ifield
Transformer
1500:1
Bus 1 Bus 2 Bus 3 A. Automatic Voltage Regulation (Auto) Mode
Generator Transmission
Vfield VAC IB 20kV : 230 kV
Line
Length = 20 Km In AUTO mode, Unitrol acts as an AVR with all its
Voltage
Transformer
Step Up Transformer Voltage = 230 kV
100 MVA operational limiters active as shown in Figure 5. The model
20kV:100
was initially executed at no-load and with a fixed excitation
Generator
voltage configured in the model. Once the steady state is
Terminal Voltage Dynamic Load
Auxiliary Power Supply (UAUX) 230 kV, 50 Hz
reached, Unitrol 1020 takes over the exciter in the RTS model.
Generator
Stator Current
for powering up excitation A Series of disturbances were introduced by increasing both
UPWR,UAUX
unit and Power Electronics
Supply (UPWR) for IGBT circuit the active and reactive power consumption of the load. The
Field
Voltage
Rotor Field supplied from same source different experiments performed to assess the performance of
the Auto mode are presented in Table 2.
Current
PWM scaled from 0 to Excitation current of generator is scaled
100 % and represents between 9 to 10 V representing 0 to 150 % of
actual field voltage excitation current. This analog signal is fed to
output of 0.5 to 99% the Ie External of ABB Excitation System.

Fig. 2. Single line diagram of test case model developed in

MATLAB/Simulink for RT -HIL execution of Unitrol 1020.

TABLE I
GENERATOR P ARAMETER S ETTINGS
Parameter Value
Nominal Power 50 MVA
Line-to-Line Voltage 20 kV
Frequency 50 Hz
Reactances (Xd, Xd’, Xd’’, Xq, Xq’, Xq’’, 2.20, 0.2, 0.20, 2.00, 0.4,
Xl) 0.20, 0.15 (pu)
Time constants (Tdo’, Tdo’’, Tqo’, Tqo’’) 4.0, 0.05, 1.5, 0.05 (s)
Inertia Cofficient H (s) 3
Pole Pairs 1

Fig. 4. Unitrol System Data and Analog I/Os configuration for RT -HIL
simulation.
 Active Power Consumption of Load Reactive Power Consumption by Load
Vsetpoint 40 20

PID

Reactive Power (MVAR)

Error Field Voltage To Real-Time
Vmeasure

Active Power (MW)

30 15
Controller (PWM) Simulator
20 10
Figure 5: Auto Mode of Unitrol 1020
10 5

TABLE 2
0 0
DISTURBANCES INCORPORATED IN THE T EST C ASE S YSTEM 0 100 200 300 400 500 0 100 200 300 400 500
Time (sec) Time (sec)
(AUTOMATIC VOLTAGE R EGULATION MODE) Load Current Voltage at Load Bus
Event Instance Disturbance Change in 1
9
(sec) Load 0.8
6
1.15
8

Load Voltage (pu)

7

Current (pu)
0.6 1.1 2
1 t=0 Simulation starts (no load) 0 4
1.05
2 t = 47.1 ABB Excitation System takes over 0 0.4 3 5 3 4 6 8
3 t = 108.9 Load increase 10 MW and 10 MVAR +10MW, 0.2
1

+10MVAR 2 0.95 9
5 7
4 t = 171.3 Load increase to 20MW & 10 MVAR +10MW 0
0 100 200 300 400 500 0.9
Time (sec) 0 100 200 300 400 500
5 t = 222.0 Load increase to 30 MW & 10 MVAR +10MW Time (sec)
6 t = 272.4 Load increase to 35 MW & 10 MVAR +5MW
7 t = 319.5 Load increase to 35 MW & 15 MVAR +5MVAR Fig. 6. Load characteristics when subjected to disturbances as listed in Table
8 t = 407.1 Load increase to 37 MW & 15 MVAR +2MW 2. The number corresponds to the events as per Table-2. The voltage at load
bus decreases with an increase in load.
9 t = 482.1 Load cut off (no load condition) -37MW,
-15MVAR .

Field Voltage From ABB Exciter and Field Current Input to Exciter Mechanical Power Input to Generator vs Generator Active Power Output
3.5

3
1
Field current and Field Voltage (pu)

2.5

0.8
2
Active Power (pu)

1.5 0.6

1
0.4

0.5
Field Voltage Input from Unitrol 1020
Rotor Current Input to Unitrol as External Excitation Current 0.2
0
Mechanical Power Input by Turbine
Active Power Output by Generator
-0.5 0
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500
Time (sec) Time (sec)
Reactive Power Output by Generator Generator Terminal Voltage
0.6 1.15

7
0.4
4 5 1.1
0.2
8 Generator Terminal Voltage
Reactive power (pu)

0
6 1.05
Voltage (pu)

-0.2
2 3 3 5 7
1
-0.4
2 6 8 9
-0.6 4
0.95

-0.8

9
-1 0.9
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500
Time (sec) Time (sec)

Fig. 7. Generator characteristics when subjected to disturbances listed in Table 2. The Excitation is provi ded by Unitrol 1020 in Automatic Voltage Regulation
(Auto) Mode. Note that the generator terminal voltage (bottom right plot) is at 1 pu. The field voltage input provided by Unitrol 1020 (top left plot) increases with
the change in the load to keep terminal voltage of generator strictly to 1 pu. The highest positive peak in generator terminal voltage (bottom-right) correspond to
Event 9 when the complete load is cut-off (37MW, 15MVAR) and causes a momentarily increase in the terminal voltage. This is detect ed by Unitrol 1020 and it
regulates the field voltage to bring terminal voltage to the reference (1 pu). The positive peak can be reduced by narrowing the operational limits of terminal
voltage in Unitrol 1020. For this study the voltage regulation range is 80-120% of nominal terminal voltage.
 The model was initially executed at no-load and with a
B. Field Current Regulation (Manual) Mode
fixed excitation voltage configured in the model. Once the
In manual mode Unitrol 1020 acts as field current regulator steady state is reached, Unitrol 1020 takes over the exciter in
as shown in Figure 8. The limiters are not active in this mode the RTS model. A series of disturbances were made by
and the generators terminal voltage is no more maintained. increasing the active power consumption of the load. The
Figure 9 shows the important parameter settings for manual variation in generator’s terminal voltage was compensated by
mode operation of Unitrol 1020. The same model used for manually increasing the field current setpoint of Unitrol 1020.
evaluating Auto Mode is used here. Only small disturbances were applied for testing the manual
mode in order to maintain the generator’s synchronism and
avoiding the real-time simulation from crashing. The
Analog input as
experiments carried out are presented in Table 3.
Ie External
Error PID TABLE 3
Ifieldsetpoint Field Voltage DISTURBANCES INCORPORATED IN THE T EST C ASE S YSTEM
Controller (PWM) (F IELD C URRENT R EGULATION MODE)
Ifieldmeasure
Event Instance Disturbance Change in
(sec) Load
Figure 8: Manual Mode of Unitrol 1020 1 t=0 Simulation starts (no load) 0
2 t = 44 ABB Excitation System 0
takes over
3 t = 193 Load increase 1 MW +1MW
4 t = 254.4 Load increase to 5MW +4MW

Active Power Consumption by Load Reactive Power Consumption by Load

Reactive Power (MVAR)

Active Power (MW)

Time (sec) Time (sec)

Load Current Voltage at Load Bus

Voltage (pu)
Current (pu)

2 3 2 3 4
Time (sec) Time (sec)

Fig. 10. Load characteristics when subjected to disturbances listed in Table 3.

Figure 9: Parameter settings for manual mode operation of Unitrol 1020 Note the change in bus voltage (bottom right plot) with the increase in load.

Field Voltage from ABB Exciter and Field Current Input to Exciter Mechanical Power Input to Generator vs Generator Active Power Output
Field Current and Field Voltage (pu)

2.5 0.2
Field voltage input from Unitrol 1020
2 Field current input to Unitrol as External
Active Power (pu)

Excitation Current 0.15

1.5
0.1
1

0.05
0.5 Mechanical Power Input by Turbine
Active Power Output by Generator
0 0
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 0 50 100 150 200 250 300
Time (sec) Time (sec)

Reactive Power Output by Generator Generator Terminal Voltage

0
1.6
-0.05 2
Reactive Power (pu)

1.4 Generator Terminal Voltage

Voltage (pu)

-0.1
3 1.2
-0.15
4 3 4
-0.2 1
2
-0.25 0.8
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 0 50 100 150 200 250 300
Time (sec) Time (sec)

Fig. 11. Generator characteristics when subjected to disturbances listed in Table 3. The Excitation is provided by Unitrol 1020 in Field Current Regulation
(Manual) Mode. Note that the generator terminal voltage (bottom right plot) is no more kept constant to 1 pu. The field voltage output by Unitrol 1020 is
manually increased by changing manual set-point of the field current shown in Figure 9.
 IV. POWER SYSTEM STABILIZER (PSS) CALIBRATION AND Generator
A SSESSMENT Terminal Voltage
Frequency
V1
Washout Lead-Lag
PSS Gain
Ust_max ΔVPSS
Filter Compensator
UM Calculation
Small disturbances such as changes in loads or large To ECS
Ust_min
f Tw1, Tw2
Lead Time KPSS
Constants:

disturbances like generator outage or a high voltage T1, T3, T10

Lag Time Power
transmission line fault may result in undamped power Tw3, Tw4
Constants:
T2, T4, T11
System
V2 Stabilizer
oscillations in a heavily loaded interconnected power system Power Washout
(PSS)
IM Calculation Filter
[9]. Undamped oscillations if not adequately addressed, result Pe
in loss of synchronism of one or group of machines from the Generator Stator
Current
rest of the power system and may cause the system to
Fig. 13. Simplified model of PSS incorporated in Unitrol 1020 ECS. The
collapse. This is called rotor angle instability and is mostly calculated frequency and electric power Pe is fed to the PSS as voltage signals
dominated by low frequency inter-area oscillations [10].
In order to provide adequate damping to these inter-area C. Power System Modeling and Calibration of PSS
oscillations, Power System Stabilizers (PSS) [11] and Parameters
supplementary control of Flexible AC Transmission Systems In order to investigate the performance of Unitrol 1020 for
(FACTS) devices are utilized and are referred as Power power system stabilization (PSS), the Klein-Rogers-Kundur
Oscillation Dampers (POD) [12]. test system [14] was modeled in the MATLAB/Simulink
A. Power System Stabilizer (PSS) environment using the SimPowerSystems toolbox. The single
line diagram of the test case is shown in Figure 14. The test
The PSS is a feedback controller and is part of the control system consists of two fully symmetrical areas linked together
system of a synchronous generator, which acts through the by two 230 kV lines of 220 km length. Each area is equipped
excitation system to provide an additional signal to modulate with two identical round rotor generators rated 20 kV/900
the field voltage. The main function of PSS is to damp MVA. The nominal power system frequency for the test case
generator rotor oscillations in the range from 0.1 to 2.5 Hz, model is 50 Hz. It was specifically des igned to study low
which are called electromechanical oscillations. frequency electromechanical oscillations in large
The simplest method to provide a damping torque in the interconnected power systems. The load is represented as
synchronous machine is to measure the rotor speed and use it constant impedances and split between the areas in such a way
directly as an input signal in the stabilizer structure. The that area 1 is exporting power to area 2.
simplest one is known as IEEE PSS1A model [13] and is
documented in the IEEE Standard 421.5-2005 [5]. It is Area 1 Area 2
illustrated in Figure 12. It consists of a low-pass filter, a 900 MVA
Bus1
220 Km Parallel
Bus2
900 MVA

general gain, a washout filter which is effectively a high-pass

Transmission Lines 10 Km 25 Km
G1 25 Km 10 Km G3
filter, a phase-compensation system in the form of lead-lag 900 MVA
20 kV / 230 kV Power Transfer
900 MVA
20 kV / 230 kV

compensator, and an output limiter. The general gain “K” is 900 MVA
Local
Loads
Area 1 to Area 2 Local
Loads
900 MVA

proportional to the amount of damping produced by the G2

967 MW
100 MVAR (Inductive)
1767 MW
100 MVAR (Inductive)
G4
stabilizer. The washout high-pass filter allows the PSS to 900 MVA
-387 MVAR (Capacitive) -537 MVAR (Capacitive) 900 MVA
20 kV / 230 kV

respond only to transient variations in the speed input signal

20 kV / 230 kV

“d𝞈”. The phase-compensation system is represented by lead- Fig. 14. Single line diagram of the test case power system
lag transfer functions used to compensate the phase lag
between the excitation voltage and the electrical torque of the In order to analyze the response of the power system, a
synchronous machine. The output limiter ensures to bound the large disturbance in the form of three phase to ground fault (8
amount of control action of a PSS during a major system cycles i.e. 160 msec) at t = 20 sec is introduced in the middle
disturbance and thus avoids the PSS to adversely affect the of one of the two 220 km transmission line connecting Area 1
generator’s synchronism. with Area 2. The system response to this perturbation in
Washout Vreference absence of PSS is shown in Figure 15. This results in an un-
PSS Gain Filter Limiter Vmeasured Excitation VField damped oscillation of 0.64 Hz which is observable in the tie-
dw
K
1+T1s
1+T2s ΔVPSS
Control
System line power transfer between Area 1 and Area 2 as shown in
Low Pass Phase Compensation
Figure 13. This is an inter-area mode involving both the
Filter Lead-Lag Filter machines in Area 1 oscillate against the machines in Area 2.
Fig. 12. Model of a conventional Δω PSS [12]. The PSS capability of Unitrol 1020 is exploited to damp this
inter-area mode of 0.64 Hz.
B. PSS Feature of Unitrol 1020 Excitation System
The PSS parameter settings are configured according to the
PSS feature available in Unitrol 1020 ECS is represented recommendations in the IEEE Standard 421.5-2005 [5] and
by the IEEE Std. 421.5-2005 PSS 2A/2B model [5] and its are presented in Table-4. The gain of PSS is deliberately kept
simplified representation is shown in Figure 13. The PSS2A low along with low positive and negative limits of PSS output
type has dual structures that use two signals of angular to avoid major changes in the field voltage due to large
velocity “ω” and power “P” as compared to single input of disturbances which could lead to generator’s loss of
angular velocity ω in PSS1A model shown in Figure 12. synchronism and to minimize the influence of noise.
 Case 1: No PSS Case 1: No PSS Case 1: No PSS
Rotor Angle Deviation of All Generators (d-theta) Active Power Transfer Between Area 1 and Area 2 Rotor Speed of All Generators (wm)
20 800 1.06

700
1.04
15
Machine 1 600
Machine 2 1.02
Machine 3 500
10

Active Power (MW)

Rotor Angle (rad)

Rotor Speed (pu)

Machine 4 1
400

5 300 0.98

200 Machine 1
0.96
0 Machine 2
100 Machine 3
0.94
Machine 4
0 Active Power Transfer
-5 from Area 1 and Area 2
0.92
-100

-10 -200 0.9

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 0 10 20 30 40 50 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Time (sec) Time (sec) Time (sec)

Fig. 15. Response of Test Model when three phase to ground fault (8 cycles) is introduced at the middle of one of the 220 kV transmission lines at t=20 sec. Rotor
angle deviation of machines with reference to rotor angle deviation of Machine 4 (left), power transfer from Area 1 to Area 2 (middle) and rotor speed of all the
generators (right) are shown. Inter-area oscillation of 0.64 Hz is observable in the tie-line power (middle). The PSS capability of Unitrol 1020 is disabled in this
case.
Case 2: ABB Unitrol 1020 PSS at Generator 1 Case 2: ABB Unitrol 1020 PSS at Generator 1 Case 2: ABB Unitrol 1020 PSS at Generator 1
Rotor Angle Deviation of All Generators (d-theta) Active Power Tranfer Between Area 1 and Area 2 Rotor Speed all Generators (wm)
10 1000 1.01

8
800 Machine 1
Machine 2
6 1.005
Machine 3
Active Power (MW)
Rotor Angle (rad)

600

Rotor Speed (pu)

Machine 4
4
Machine 1 400 1
2 Machine 2
Machine 3
Machine 4 200
0
0.995
-2 0

-4 -200 0.99
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 0 20 40 60 80 100 0 20 40 60 80
Time (sec) Time (sec) Time (sec)

Fig. 16. Response of Test Case model when three phase to ground fault (8 cycles) is introduced at the middle of one of the 220 kV tran smission lines at t=20 sec
when Generator 1 is equipped with PSS and AVR through Unitrol 1020 ECS. Inter-area oscillation of 0.64 Hz is adequately damped. The response of PSS can be
enhanced by fine tuning of PSS lead-lag compensation parameters and by increasing the PSS gain.
Case 2: ABB Unitrol 1020 PSS at Generator 1
Field Voltage Input from ABB ECS and Field Current Input to ABB ECS
Figure 16 shows the response of the PSS integrated within 4

Unitrol 1020 ECS coupled to Generator 1 when subjected to

Field Current and Field Voltage (pu)

large disturbance. All the generators remain in ´synchronism 3

after the disturbance and the system soon achieves nominal

2
operating conditions. Figure 17 shows the plot of field
voltage supplied by Unitrol ECS to Generator 1.
1 Field Voltage Input from Unitrol 1020
Field Current Input to Unitrol as
TABLE 4 0 External Excitation Current
IMPORTANT P ARAMETER S ETTINGS OF PSS IN UNITROL 1020
Parameter Description Setting -1
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Time (sec)

Tw1, Tw2 Washout time constants for 5.0 s, 5.0 s

Fig. 17. Field Voltage supplied by Unitrol 1020 to Generator 1 when
frequency channel
subjected to large disturbance with PSS feature enabled.
Tw3, Tw4 Washout time constants for 5.0 s, 0 s
power channel V. DISCUSSION OF RT-HIL SIMULATION RESULTS
T1, T3, Lead time constants 0.03 s, 0.03 s,
T10 0s In Automatic Voltage Regulation (Auto) mode, Unitrol
T2, T4, Lag time constants 1 s, 1 s, 0 s 1020 successfully maintains the voltage at generator’s
T11
Ust_max, Maximum and minimum limit 0.1 pu, -0.1 pu terminal when subjected to step increase in load demand as
Ust_min value of PSS signal shown in Figure 7. Some overshoots are observed in field
voltage input from Unitrol 1020 to generator’s model being
executed in real-time simulator especially when load’s
reactive power demand is increased. These overshoots can
be reduced by proper tuning of the PID controller
parameters. For the overall test run, the voltage remained
maintained at 1 pu at generator’s terminal.
Manual Mode is much difficult to test using the RTS
when subjected to load increase as the decrease in terminal
voltage due to load increase is much faster than the human
response to increase the setpoint of field voltage manually.
This is the reason for adding only small load variations
while performing RT-HIL simulation for Unitrol 1020 in
manual mode.
The field voltage analog input signal from Unitrol 1020
has some noise in it (e.g. Figure 11) where red line does
have its mean at around 0.85 but the signal has noise. This
can be countered in the simulation by adding a discrete
mean block which computes the average of this analog input
and then feeds it to the input of the generator model.
However this has not caused any issues during RT-HIL.
There is always a small variation between the active
/reactive power shown by CMT 1000 (Unitrol 1020
configuration software) [15] as compared to the
measurements seen with the simulation interface. The
reason is due to series of scaling of the signals performed to
remain within the threshold limits of Opal-RT’s analog
outputs and the amplifiers inputs . The whole scaling
procedure adopted for this study is shown in Figure 16. The
small variations are likely due to the low dynamic range of
the D/A converters of the simulator.
Inside
Simulator
Model Simulated
Terminal Multiplying by
in Real-Time
Voltage
Dividing
Per 6.66 to get an
20 kV by 20000 unit amplified output
Pm of 100 V
Generator
Vfield Dividing Per
Multiplying by
1.66 to get an
1443 A
Stator
by 1443 unit amplified current
Current of 1 A
Figure 16: Signal scaling stages in the experimental setup.
VI. CONCLUSION AND FUTURE W ORK
Real-time hardware-in-the-loop simulation of an
excitation control system (Unitrol 1020) is performed using
Opal-RT’s eMEGAsim real-time simulator. The
performance of the ECS is analyzed for both Automatic
Voltage Regulation (Auto) Mode and Field Current
Regulation (Manual Mode) for a 50 MVA generator
together with subsequent power system executed in real-
time. The power system stabilization capability of the ECS
is evaluated by utilizing the ECS to provide adequate
damping for an inter-area oscillation in a test case power
system model by using the RT-HIL simulation approach.
The RT-HIL results have shown that Unitrol 1020
effectively maintains generator’s terminal voltage to 1 pu in
AVR (Auto) Mode. The PSS feature of Unitrol 1020, when
enabled, provides adequate damping to inter-area
oscillations.
Unitrol 1020 has the capability to receive external PSS
signals. This capability of Unitrol 1020 is currently being
explored to provide remote signals based on synchrophasor
measurements to the ECS to provide optimum damping to
the oscillatory modes. In addition the System-in-the-Loop
(SITL) package [16] together with OPNET network
simulator is being configured in the SmarTS-Lab to
simulate network delays and latencies in the feedback signal
for damping controls to effectively address the effect of
communication delays in power system stability. These
results will be submitted in a future publication.
A CKNOWLEDGMENT
KTH SmarTS-Lab would like to thank ABB Switzerland
AG for their donation of Unitrol 1020 Excitation System.
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