Negative Sequence Losses in Turbine Generator

Rotors
Christopher P. Riley

Φ
Abstract – Negative sequence currents are induced in the However, this is a simplification. In many designs, the
rotor of a turbine generator when there is imbalance in the rotor body includes milled slots, called transverse balancing
three phase armature currents. By adopting surface impedance slits, in the pole face of the rotor. Their purpose is to
boundary conditions to represent the rotor steel, three
equalize the mechanical stiffness of the rotor orthogonal to
dimensional finite element methods can be used to determine
the effect of barriers to the current flow caused by transverse the slotted area of the rotor which carries the windings.
balancing slits and gaps between slot wedges or dampers, with Similarly, the wedges and dampers are also made from short
realistic computational resources. Total loss is largely sections and have gaps between them. These discontinuities
unaffected by these barriers but loss distribution may be force the negative sequence currents to not flow entirely
modified by more than 10% from a model where they are orthogonal to the cross-section. Consequently, an accurate
ignored. The dampers play a vital role in reducing the total simulation of the rotor requires three dimensional modeling.
loss.
Advances in both computers and software tools for
Index Terms — Alternators; Boundary conditions; Eddy construction of models allow such calculations to be
currents; Electrical machines; Finite element methods; Rotors considered [5].
This paper presents a detailed view of the distribution of
I. INTRODUCTION the negative sequence losses in a representative rotor,
showing the difference in loss distribution that results from
T HE term “negative sequence” refers to the backward
rotating, balanced 3-phase system component of an
unbalanced 3-phase system of vectors, when it is
the three dimensional effects. It also shows the vital role
played by the copper dampers inserted under the stainless
steel slot wedges in reducing the losses. An edge variable
resolved into forward, backward and zero sequence balanced
finite element method solving for magnetic vector potential
systems [1]. In large electrical alternators, such as a turbine
combined with nodal electric scalar potential (an A-V
generator, the term negative sequence current is also often
method) [6] is used. The equations are solved in the
commonly used to describe the eddy currents induced in the
frequency domain using a complex arithmetic formulation.
rotor by the backward rotating field in the armature. Since
The method is further modified by use of a surface
the rotor is still rotating forwards at synchronous speed,
impedance boundary condition to represent the small skin-
these eddy currents are induced at two times the
depth rotor steel material. Reference [7] had already shown
synchronous speed frequency [2]. In this paper, the term will
the efficacy of this for a solid rotor salient pole machine, as
be used to refer to the induced currents and the associated
it substantially reduces the problem size. Similarly, [10],
Ohmic losses.
[11] show its use in stator end regions. In the turbine
During normal operation, a small level of negative
generator rotor, the boundary condition must be used in
sequence current exists due to small imbalances in the load
conjunction with volume element representation of materials
supplied by each phase of a turbine generator. The losses
where the skin-depth is comparable to dimensions. A test
associated with these small currents are generally not
model is used to show that the surface impedance boundary
significant. However, under fault conditions, such as a line-
condition gives acceptable accuracy in this situation.
to-line short circuit at the generator terminals, negative
sequence currents and losses become very large [3].
Consequently, the design of the rotor must include an II. TURBINE GENERATOR MODEL
investigation of the ability of the rotor to withstand the
negative sequence currents.
The complexity of the geometry of the rotor requires that
a numerical approach is adopted to achieve this. Due to
limitations in computer power, early work in this area was
confined to two dimensional models [3], [4]. In the main
rotor body, the simulations were normally made by
considering a cross-section of the rotor in the plane
orthogonal to the axis of the rotor. The assumption made
was that the rotor body steel, slot wedges, and dampers
which carry the currents could be considered infinite in the
third dimension. This results in the assumption that only the
component of the negative sequence current orthogonal to
the modeled plane exists.

Christopher P. Riley is with Cobham Technical Services Vector Fields

Software, 24 Bankside, Kidlington, Oxford OX5 1JE, UK (e-mail: Fig. 1. Geometry of model
chris.riley@cobham.com).

978-1-4673-0142-8/12/$26.00 ©2012 IEEE 1364

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 Fig. 1 shows the geometry included in the finite element
model. It includes the machined steel rotor body, the
stainless steel slot wedges that hold the field winding in
place and the copper damper strips.
The model represents one pole pitch of a short section of
the rotor between the mid-plane of one of the transverse
balancing slits and half-way between two of the slits. By
imposing boundary conditions that the field is tangential on
these two planes, it is implied that this section is one of a
large number of similar sections with mirrored axial
geometry at each boundary. In the real generator, there are,
of course, a finite number of these sections. At the end of the
rotor shrunk-fit retaining rings are used to support the end-
windings, which act as a return path for the eddy currents.
The additional impedance of the retaining rings and the
associated contact resistance [4] are neglected in this model,
leading to an overestimate of the induced currents.
However, the purpose of this modeling is to determine the
three dimensional effects in the main rotor body and the
overestimate will apply to all variations of the geometry.
Negative rotational periodicity boundary conditions are
imposed to imply the other pole. The model is excited by a
current sheet at the bore of the stator surface that produces a
100 Hz travelling field in the azimuthal direction. This is the
field that would be seen by the rotor from the negative
sequence m.m.f. in the stator. The rotor winding is not
included in the model as the field will not penetrate it
because of skin-effect.
Fig. 2 shows a detailed view of the geometry in the
region of the transverse balancing slits. The slot wedges are
truncated above the slits to allow the required mechanical
flexibility, leaving a small gap. However, the damper crosses
the slit to allow eddy currents to flow axially. The dampers
are also short sections with axial gaps at the half-way plane.
Fig. 2. Detail of model showing transverse balancing slit and axial gap in
the rotor wedges
III. SURFACE IMPEDANCE
The rotor steel is assumed to be operating near to
saturation due to the current in the DC field winding.
Negative sequence currents will produce a perturbation of
this field, so it is appropriate to use an incremental
permeability for these models [7]. A relative permeability of
100 has been chosen. However, even with this modest value,
the skin-depth in the steel at 100 Hz is only around 2 mm.
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This can be seen in fig. 3, which shows the eddy current
density distribution in the region of the pole face dampers
and wedges from a two dimensional model through the
cross-section.
Fig.3. Eddy current density in pole face
In the two dimensional model, it is possible to define a
sufficiently fine discretization of the steel to support an
accurate calculation of the skin-effect. However, in three
dimensions, imposing the same level of meshing would
create a very large finite element mesh. For computational
efficiency, an alternative approach is adopted.
A. Surface impedance representation
Surface impedance representations for small skin-depth
materials [4], [6], [7] have been used effectively in many
applications, such as electrical machines, non-destructive
test and RF cavities. The surface impedance boundary
condition replaces the volume discretization of the
conducting material with an appropriate expression at the
material surface. The expression assumes that the material
depth is large compared to the skin-depth and that simple
one-dimensional skin-effect theory [8] can be used to
represent the decay of fields and currents into the material.
From the resulting solution at the surface of the material, the
current distribution in the material and, hence, Ohmic losses
can be determined using the same theory. The method has
been verified for some simple geometric shapes for which an
analytic solution may also be obtained [9]. However, these
analytic models all comprise a single conducting medium in
free space.
In the turbine generator model, the surface impedance can
only be applied for the rotor steel. In the wedges and
dampers, the skin depth is comparable to the dimensions and
a volume mesh must be used. Since no analytic solutions are
available for multi-media models, a simple test model was
created where the full volume discretization solution could
be compared to the solution where one of the media was
represented by surface impedance boundary conditions.
B. Test model
The test model comprises three 4 x 2 x 2 mm conducting
blocks in electrical contact. The blocks are made from
copper, steel and aluminum with the properties shown in
Table I. The steel block is in the center. The blocks are
subjected to a uniform 12 kHz vertical field in the form H =
H0 cos(ωt) = H0 + j0 (in complex notation). The properties
of the materials in the model are such that they are operating
within the resistive limit and the resulting eddy currents are,
consequently, primarily 90° out of phase with the applied
field. Hence, fig. 4 and fig. 5 respectively show the
imaginary part of the eddy current density pattern for the play in reducing loss. Table II shows the material properties
model using surface impedance at the surface of the steel used.
and the model using volume mesh throughout.
TABLE II
MATERIAL PROPERTIES IN THE GENERATOR MODEL

MATERIAL PROPERTIES
CONDUCTIVITY RELATIVE
(MS/M) PERMEABILITY
COPPER 50 1
STEEL 3 100
STAINLESS STEEL 1.25 1

A. Equivalent two dimensional model

Fig. 4. Eddy current density with surface impedance model
Table I also shows the computed losses for the three
materials. As can be seen, there is about a 7% maximum
difference in the results for the losses between surface
impedance and volume mesh. However, the total losses
agree within 2.5%. The difference is primarily associated
with over-prediction of the loss at the sharp corners due to
the breakdown of the one-dimensional skin-effect theory,
which assumes a semi-infinite conducting medium.
The equivalent two dimensional model is constructed by
filling the transverse balancing slit in the model with steel
material and extending the stainless steel wedges and
dampers to meet the boundary where the magnetic field has
been set as tangential. Fig. 6 shows the real part of the eddy
current density in the pole face. (Note that the travelling
field, H = H0 cos(ωt - kθ + φ), is applied such that the real
component of the eddy currents is more significant in the
pole face region.)
One of the interesting results is that the negative sequence
currents induced in the pole face wedges and steel can be
flowing in the opposite axial direction to the currents in the
dampers. This can be seen quite clearly from the vector
directions in the detail view near the left most pole face
wedge and damper shown in fig. 7.

Fig. 6. Real part of negative sequence current density for equivalent two
Fig. 5. Eddy current density with volume mesh model
dimensional model. Range of contours is 0 to 55 MA/m²

TABLE I
MATERIAL PROPERTIES AND LOSSES IN TEST MODEL

MATERIAL PROPERTIES LOSSES (W)

CONDUCTIVITY RELATIVE SURFACE VOLUME
(MS/M) PERMEABILITY IMPEDANCE
CU 50 1 0.0304 0.0298
STEEL 3 100 0.0768 0.0823
AL 20 1 0.0244 0.0228

In the generator model, the currents will flow primarily

axially and the errors associated with corners will be quite
small. Consequently, the surface impedance approximation
can be used with reasonable confidence.

IV. TURBINE GENERATOR LOSS CALCULATIONS

Three models have been examined. In the first, the
equivalent to a two dimensional model is modeled in three
dimensions. This is to show the effect of not including the
transverse balancing slits and wedge discontinuity when
estimating the losses. The second model includes the slits,
wedge gaps and damper gaps. Finally, the third model
removes the copper damper strips to show the vital role they
Fig. 7. Detail view of real part of negative sequence current density for
equivalent two dimensional model. Range of contours is 0 to 55 MA/m²
B. Model with slits and wedge gaps
Fig. 8 shows the real part of the negative sequence
current density in the region of the pole face. The inclusion

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of the slot and gaps increases the maximum current density
in the damper by about 60%. It also produces considerable
phase change with the damper current under the pole face
wedges now flowing in the same direction axially as in the
wedges and teeth. The detail view is shown in fig. 9.
Fig. 8. Real part of negative sequence current density for model with slits
and gaps. Range of contours is 0 to 90 MA/m²
Fig. 9. Detail view of real part of negative sequence current density for
model with slits and gaps. Range of contours is 0 to 90 MA/m²
C. Model without dampers
Fig. 10 shows the real part of the negative sequence
current density in the region of the pole face. The eddy
currents must now find an alternative path to flow past the
transverse balancing slit. The peak current density in the
steel is about the same as in the dampers for the previous
model but this will result in considerably higher Ohmic
losses as the conductivity of the steel is much lower.
Fig. 10. Real part of negative sequence current density for model without
dampers. Range of contours is 0 to 85 MA/m²
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V. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Table III shows the normalized loss distribution for the
three models obtained by integrating the loss density and
normalizing against the total loss of the equivalent two
dimensional model.
TABLE III
LOSSES IN THE GENERATOR MODELS
MATERIAL LOSS IN MODEL (NORMALIZED)
EQUIVALENT 2D SLITS AND GAPS NO DAMPERS
COPPER 0.267 0.236 -
STEEL 0.365 0.376 1.691
STAINLESS STEEL 0.368 0.394 1.662
TOTAL 1.0 1.006 3.353
The results show that the transverse balancing slits and
the gaps in the slot wedges and dampers make less than 1%
increase to the total negative sequence losses. However, the
loss in individual materials changes by more than 10%. Fig.
11 shows the real part of the current density in the damper.
The increased current density in the damper as the currents
cross the slit is not maintained along the entire length of the
damper and, because of the axial gap in the dampers, the
current transfers to the less conducting wedge and steel in
order to continue flowing axially. Hence, the losses in the
copper actually reduce, while they increase in the wedge
and, to a lesser extent, in the steel. The higher impedance in
the wedge and steel also causes the change to the phase of
the negative sequence current in the damper from the
equivalent two dimensional model.
Fig. 11. Real part of negative sequence current density in the dampers of the
model with slits and gaps
The importance of the dampers providing a path for the
negative sequence currents across the transverse balancing
slit and in parallel with the wedges and steel can be clearly
seen. Omitting the dampers causes the losses in both the
steel and the wedges to increase in the order of four times
and, although there are no copper losses, the total loss
increases by 235%. In particular, the loss intensity at the end
of the transverse balancing slit is very high. Fig. 12 shows
the time average loss intensity for this model with the
dampers removed, normalized against the maximum loss
intensity for the model with the dampers. The maximum
intensity near the end of the slits is now more than 7 times
higher.
VI. FURTHER WORK
To obtain a comparison of the predicted losses with
measurement, it is necessary to allow for the additional
 impedance associated with the end rings. Reference [10]
shows the feasibility of modeling the end ring in three
dimensions with a small axial section of the rotor. With the
added efficiency of surface impedance shown here, it should
now be possible to simulate most of the generator rotor. The
usefulness of three dimensional surface impedance methods
has already been demonstrated in practical models of the
stator end-region of a hydrogenerator [11] and the end shield
and frame of a large induction motor [12].
Fig. 12. Normalized time average loss intensity. Range of contours is from 0
to 7.44
VII. CONCLUSIONS
Accurately calculating the negative sequence currents and
losses in a turbine generator rotor can be achieved using a
surface impedance boundary condition to model the rotor
steel. A three dimensional simulation is required to capture
the effect of transverse balancing slits and gaps in the slot
wedges and dampers. Although the total loss in the rotor is
almost unaffected by these barriers to the flow of the
induced currents, there are differences of more than 10% in
the loss in each material. The dampers play a vital role in
transporting the negative sequence currents across the
transverse balancing slits and as a lower resistance path than
the steel and slot wedges. Omitting the dampers would
increase the total loss by more than a factor of three.
VIII. REFERENCES
[1] M.G. Say, Alternating Current Machines,, Pitman Publishing Limited,
1976, p. 413.
[2] A.B.J. Reece, T.W. Preston, C.P. Riley and M.A. Coulson, "Transient
negative sequence capability of turbine generators: a rational
assessment method", presented at CIGRE International Conference on
Large High Voltage Electrical Systems, Paris, 1980.
[3] A.C. Williamson and E.B. Urquhart, "Analysis of the losses in a
turbine generator caused by unbalanced loading", Proc. IEE, Vol. 123,
No. 12, 1976, pp.1325-1332.
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[4] T.W. Preston and C.P. Riley, "The calculation of turbine-generator
negative sequence losses at the rotor body/end bell interface",
presented at UPEC, Loughborough University, 1979
[5] Dong Jianyang, Liang Xubiao, Lin Feng, Yang Shiyou and Ni
Guangzheng, "Negative sequence eddy current field analysis of a 1055
MVA turbogenerator by using 3d finite element methods", Proc.
ICEM 2005, Vol. 3, pp. 2075-2078
[6] Opera-3d Reference Manual, Version 15R1, Cobham CTS Limited,
January 2012
[7] J.P. Sturgess and T.W. Preston, "An economic solution for 3-d
coupled electromagnetic and thermal eddy current problems", IEEE
Trans. Mag., Vol. 28, No. 2, March 1992
[8] G.W. Carter, The Electromagnetic Field in its Engineering Aspects,
2nd edition, Longman, 1972, pp. 243-247.
[9] P. Kirby, Private communication, 2011
[10] K. Takahashi, K. Hattori, A. Nakahara and M. Saeki, "Three
Dimensional Harmonic Field and Eddy Current Analysis for Rotor
End Region of Turbine Generator", IEEE Electrical Machines and
Drives Conference, 2007, pp. 477 - 481
[11] Viviane Christine Silva, Yves Marechal and Albert Foggia, "Surface
Impedance Method Applied to the Prediction of Eddy Currents in
Hydrogenerator Stator End Regions", IEEE Trans. Mag., Vol. 31, No.
3, May 1995
[12] Ranran Lin, Ari Haavisto and Antero Arkkio, "Analysis of Eddy-
Current Loss in End Shield and Frame of a Large Induction Machine",
IEEE Trans. Mag., Vol. 46, No. 3, March 2010
IX. BIOGRAPHY
Christopher P. Riley graduated from University College, London in 1975
in electrical engineering. He subsequently worked for GEC Power
Engineering in Stafford as a development engineer in the turbine generator
division and in the electromagnetics laboratory, where he worked on finite
element methods for electromagnetic and thermal simulations. After periods
at Compeda and University of Liverpool, where he worked on small
permanent magnet motors, he joined Vector Fields, Oxford in 1986 and has
remained with the company since. In 1992, he became Vice-President of
Vector Fields Inc. in Aurora, IL and returned to the UK in 1995 to be a
director of the company.
His particular responsibility as a director was to develop Vector Fields’
active collaborative research and development program through UK and EU
funded projects and commercial relationships. This included managing the
EU funded EPOCH project on design optimization with Philips, University
of Oxford, EC Lille and four other partners. Since the acquisition of Vector
Fields by Cobham plc in 2005, he has remained at the Oxford office where
he is now Technology Manager. He is currently managing a collaboration
with Jaguar Land Rover and Ricardo, co-funded by the UK Technology
Strategy Board, to develop a traction drive motor.
His fields of interest include finite element modeling of electrical
machines, superconducting magnets and signatures from naval vessels. He
is the author of more than 55 papers and articles in computational
electromagnetics and its applications, is a Fellow of the Institution of
Engineering and Technology (IET) and has served two terms on the
Electromagnetics Knowledge and Professional Network Executive
Committee for the IET.