A STUDY ON GENERATOR RUNNING AT LOW FREQUENCY, LOW SPEED, UNDER
produced by the synchronous generator will
EXCITATION AND REVERSE
increase.POWER
Prepared by
Saleh Ebn Sharif
EEE, BUET
A synchronous electrical machine is intended to
be operated at a constant speed (synchronous
speed). When the generator rotor is rotated,
the magnetic flux of the generator rotor induces
a voltage in the generator stator windings--
called the generator terminal voltage.
When the speed of the generator rotor is
constant (or at rated) and the excitation is
constant, the generator terminal voltage will be
constant, or stable. The magnitude of the
generator terminal voltage is a function of the
strength of the magnetic field of the generator
rotor-since the generator rotor is being rotated
at a constant speed: synchronous speed.
The exciter controls the strength of the rotor
magnetic field, and the strength of the rotor
magnetic field controls the magnitude of the
generator terminal voltage. Mathematically,
Voltage is proportional to rate of flux change in
winding.
Again, to have a constant terminal voltage, the
generator rotor magnetic field must be held
constant. And the exciter controls the strength
of the generator rotor magnetic field. So, that
means the exciter will normally operate at a
relatively constant, stable, output to maintain a
relatively constant, stable generator terminal
voltage.
If torque being applied to the generator rotor is
increased, the amperes flowing in the generator
stator will increase. And, when the generator
stator amperes increase, then the power being
So, fuel equals torque, and torque equals
amperes, and varying amperes varies the power
produced by the generator. So, to make more
power, increase the fuel flow-rate. To make less
power, decrease the fuel flow-rate.
Again, to have a constant terminal voltage, the
generator rotor magnetic field must be held
constant. And the exciter controls the strength
of the generator rotor magnetic field. So, that
means the exciter will normally operate at a
relatively constant, stable, output to maintain a
relatively constant, stable generator terminal
voltage.
When Rotor rotates, its segments passes
through north and South Pole and voltages
induced through a complete cycle. The
frequency of generator depends on two factors.
 The speed at which the rotor rotates
within magnetic field
 The number of stator poles that creates
the magnetic field
F = PN/ 60;
P = number of poles
N= Rotational Speed in RMS
Low freq operation due to the prime mover
running slow could be caused by a governor
fault, fuel supply or a steam supply issues. Now,
Effects of running generator on low frequency
can be analyzed into two scenarios.

MULTIPLE GENERATORS CONNECTED IN
SINGLE BUS:
Low speed of paralleled generators causes the
slower generator to give up its load to the other
generators. If speed is reduced enough the
generator will become motorized and draw
current from the bus. A reverse power relay is
supposed to trip a motorized generator off of
the bus.
In any case it is possible to have additional
generators trip off line due to being overloaded
as the slow generator is not taking its share of
the electrical load. The sudden loss of one or
more generators off of a bus can result in a
progressive failure ending in a blackout.
SINGLE GENERATOR CONNECTED IN
SINGLE BUS:
Low speed operation (low freq) can cause over
heating of the generator. Air circulation and
cooling within the generator box is reduced.
Low frequency operation of the electrical bus
reduces the reactance of motors causing an
increase in current demand. Lower speed also
reduces the amount of voltage produced, the
automatic regulator will increase field current
to the field winding in an attempt to maintain
bus voltage. If the regulator cannot maintain
voltage then low bus voltage results further
increasing current demands of the connected
loads.
These overheating factors combine and the
amount and rate of overheating is directly
proportional to the amount and time of
reduced speed operation. As system is unstable
due to low frequency, harmonics will increase in
power system as well as generators will loss
synchronism with grid. So, Fuel pressure drop
leads to low speed of prime mover and
alternator causing under excitation of generator
causing loss of excitation of generator. Loss of
excitation causes the generator to draw
(absorb) lots of reactive power from the grid in
an effort to maintain the magnetic field in the
air gap. The Reverse Power Relay ( or loss of
excitation ) monitors the amount of real power
that is flowing from the generator; it is there to
ensure that a loss of fuel, steam, water, etc.
does not cause the generator to run as a motor.
The real danger is to a fully loaded machine
under high demand conditions. Here there is a
very real probability of your machine slipping
poles (losing synchronization) with the grid, not
because it over speeds (it shouldn't unless there
are governor and/or control valve problems),
but because as the field decays the magnetic
field in the air gap will ultimately become too
weak to couple the power from the prime
mover to the grid (think of a viscous coupling as
the fluid leaks out). If it does slip poles then the
reverse power relay might act as the grid tries
to pull the rotor back into synchronization, but
if the field has weakened significantly then
there won't be any 'poles" for the air gap flux to
align with.
If your generator is a significant portion of the
overall load then there may be a system
transient stability problem. If it is lightly loaded
then it might continue operating until the
operator notices that his field current is too
low, there's no power being produced, there's a
lot of VARs/current flowing into the machine,
the power factor meter is reading much too
low, the fuel flow is lower than expected, etc,
etc., or any combination of them. Some of this
will depend upon the type of governor and the
mode that it is in, so overspeeding, though
unlikely, can't be ruled out.

When the excitation is lost and the generator

remains connected to the grid and prime mover
continues to supply power, the generator starts
acting as "Induction generator". It no more
remains a "synchronous generator". It draws
excitation current from the grid and runs at
some "slip". The control room will notice rise in
speed of this particular set (other sets running
at synchronous speed). The slip value depends
on various parameters of the generator (various
reactances etc.) and the amount of load
delivered by this set. The stator current would
exceed its rated value (assuming that it is
supplying its rated load at that moment) as it
would be the vectorial sum of load current and
the excitation current drawn from the grid. As
the generator is not running at synchronous
speed, the rotor direct axis and quadrature axis
would be cutting stator field axis. As the two
axes reactances are different, the currents and
the reactance drop would fluctuate at slip
frequency. This in turn will make fluctuation in
the terminal voltage of the generator. The final
value of this fluctuation will depend on the grid
strength and its parameters. What percentage
of grip capacity is the generator under question
will decide the amount of fluctuation in grid
voltage.

Ultimately which parameter causes the tripping

of the set will be decided by generator and the
grid parameters. But if allowed to run as
induction generator, then generator will be
damaged due to excessive stator current. The
power station accessories (various motors etc.)
may trip due to fluctuation in grid voltage.