Digital for AVR
Digital AVRs are becoming the preferred core of hydropower generator excitation systems, offering
reduced downtime and easier maintenance.
By Dieter Hopf
When PLN, Indonesia's national electricity
company, decided to install new generator
excitation systems at seven of its hydropower
stations on the island of Java, it turned to the
growing array of microprocessor-controlled
AVRs for part of the refurbishment. Over the
past few years, production of digital automatic
voltage regulators has become one of the
hydroelectric industry's biggest growth sectors.
Digital AVRs are becoming so popular that
small hydropower operators as well as the
larger owners are now beginning to use them.
The growth in interest in digital AVR
technology has been fuelled partly by an
increase in demand for upgrading and
refurbishment projects, replacing old and
increasingly inefficient hydro generator
excitation systems, together with the higher
reliability and simplicity of digital control
equipment.
Although the requirements of each individual
unit on java (1-7.5MVA) were different, a single
standard excitation system was used to
upgrade all 22 generators under the PLN's so-
called Seven Hydros programme. Additional
functions, such as self-supervision for trouble-
shooting, were installed to improve the
reliability of the generating units.
Each power station was equipped with a new,
fully automatic control system supplied by Elin.
The turbine governors were also replaced.
Because the project involved seven power
stations, built between 1922 and 1950, almost
each generator was different in design. Their
condition also varied considerably. As a result,
the generator upgrade varied in scope from
replacing stator windings, poles and bearings
to a simple generator overhaul.
All the generators were originally equipped
with dc main exciters. Of these, some 13 units
had to be upgraded with fully static excitation
systems. The client decided to retain dc
exciters at the remaining six units.
For the reasons mentioned above, each of the
generators had different electrical transient and
static characteristics and thus different
requirements to the excitation system. For
example, at the Seven Hydros Lamajan power
station, the generators were installed decades
apart and the required excitation current varied
between 200A and 300A. But the most difficult
problem was that the generator specification
data was very vague. Data could not be
accessed by direct measurement because
some of the units were either inoperable or
could not be loaded up to designed output.
The main objective of the exciter replacement
programme was therefore to achieve a design
which offers the possibility of carrying out all
modifications required as a result of
unexpected site conditions. A major
modification requiring workshop or even
laboratory installations had to be excluded
because of the remoteness of the Seven
Hydros sites. In addition to this generator
design flexibility, the excitation system control
and interface to other systems had to be open
to changes if operating staff were to accept the
technology.
Refurbishment of exciters
A total of 19 new digital AVRs were delivered
for the Seven Hydros refurbishment. However,
at three of the units, the AVRs had already
been replaced with analogue units. These only
required a minor overhaul.
The main components of a modern excitation
system comprise the digital voltage regulator
and a thyristor converter bridge as a power
element.
The key component of the system is the digital
voltage regulator. The AVR covers all
regulating functions as well as the excitation
system control tasks and supervision functions.
The Elin voltage regulator, 'GMR', is a
standard configuration system for each
application, consisting of a main processor
board, a sub-processor board, an analogue
board, a digital input board and digital output
board.
The regulating functions such as automatic
voltage control, manual control and all limiting
functions are standard and type-tested
software modules which are implemented in
the main processor unit. All parameters for
these modules can be changed freely across a
wide range.
The excitation system control functions, such
as start and stop sequences, are implemented
as a separate task in the main processor unit.
These logic and sequence functions are
programmable and designed to site-specific
requirements. Functions can be modified
quickly on site because no hardware
modifications are involved.
The subprocessor unit, which contains three
'sub' subprocessors, provides actual value
computation, thyristor gate control and exciter
current regulation. In the value computation
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subprocessor, a complete generator model is
implemented providing an on-line computation
of the electrical generator readings required for
regulation and supervision.
This model covers all possible configurations
and generator types. The sire-specific
configuration can be selected, using a
parameter in the regulator software. Single or
three-phase current and voltage measurement
can be performed without any hardware
changes. The thyristor gate control unit is also
designed for different applications such as
single or three-phase supply, or fully or semi-
controlled thyristor bridges.
Selecting the right type of rectifier bridge is
also achieved by setting a single parameter.
Power aspects
Regulation of the generator stator voltage is
effected by the control of the main alternator
field current. In static excitation systems, the
field current is directly controlled by gate
control of a thyristor rectifier bridge. Configured
with ac or dc main exciters, the main alternator
field current is effected indirectly by control of
the main exciter field current, as well as by
gate control of a thyristor rectifier bridge. For
any possible application, a thyristor rectifier
bridge serves as an actuator. Only the size of
the thyristor bridge is very much dependent on
the application.
In the Seven Hydros project, the required
current output ranged from between 2A (dc
exciters) and 440A (static systems).
Wherever the response ratio of the regulation
is not of high importance, semi-controlled
rectifier bridges can be used.
Four different thyristor rectifier types were used
in the Seven Hydros project:
• Three-phase, fully-controlled (six-pulse)
bridges.
• Three-phase, semi-controlled bridges.
• Single phase, fully-controlled bridges.
• Single phase, semi-controlled bridges.
For any of the above applications, the digital
gate control, which is part of the regulator unit,
could be applied without any hardware
modifications. Therefore, the same excitation
system design was used, but different standard
rectifier modules were installed, depending on
the application.
Limiting functions
A major aim of the Seven Hydros upgrade
programme was to reduce the outage time of
the generating units. Enhanced limiting
functions were provided to keep the generators
in their safe operating envelope, avoiding
protection trips and guarding the equipment
against damage.
A generator stator current limiter provides
stator current limitation with over current
dependent time delay.
This ensures that the generator stays below
the heating limit of the stator, even though it is
capable of delivering the allowable short-time
over current to support the power system.
A two-stage rotor current limiter is also
provided. One stage has an over current
dependent time delay ensuring that the rotor
heating limit is not exceeded. The second
stage acts without time delay, limiting the
maximum allowable current.
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The under-excitation limiter limits the maximum
load angle of the generator, preventing the
generator from pole slip. Because the
underexcitation limiter also includes the line
reactance in the calculation of the stability limit,
safe operation is guaranteed in any power
system configuration.
An over-fluxing limiter reduces the generator
stator voltage when the system frequency
drops to prevent the unit transformer from
overfluxing.
When a different parameter set is loaded for
isolated operation, the overfluxing limiter can
also be used to stabilise the turbine frequency
by providing a frequency-dependent voltage
reference.
Together with prograrnmable reference value
ranges, these limiters are designed to ensure
that the generator always remains within its
safe operating envelope. Generator operation
cannot be jeopardised by operation errors,
faulty input signals or sudden changes in load.
Generator trips by the electrical generator
protection system are therefore limited to
severe faults such as short circuits in the grid.
Analogue regulators required a lot of additional
hardware to provide these limiters. They were
therefore only used in large generators.
Since these functions are now included in the
regulator software, they are also available for
small generators at low cost.
Self supervision functions
The digital regulator is equipped with extensive
self supervision features. A processor
independent hardware watchdog, supply
voltage supervision, digital and analogue
output board monitoring and software
monitoring functions provide on-line
supervision of regulator hardware and
software. In additional to these on-line
functions, the entire system is checked at
every system start. In case an error is
detected, the error type, the defective
equipment and its location are displayed when
the user terminal is connected to the regulator.
But error messages are not only available for
the regulator components themselves. They
are also available for external devices like
voltage transformers or circuit breakers. Since
the type of defective equipment and its position
is displayed, there is no need for specially-
trained staff to be on-site to change the parts
and re-start the unit. This reduces the forced
downtime of a generating set, particularly at
remote sites.
In general, trouble shooting and maintenance
is easier and quicker with digital regulators
than with analogue ones. Analogue AVRs
require an extra piece of hardware for each
additional function and these functions can
now be implemented in software. Reduction of
hardware in this way reduces the potential
causes of failure, making trouble shooting
easier.
Another drawback with analogue regulators
was that their parameters had to be re-tuned
from time to time, requiring expensive
specialists and unit downtime. The new AVRs
have rendered this procedure obsolete
because all regulator settings are stored
digitally.