IET Generation, Transmission & Distribution

Special Issue: New Trends in Wide-Area Monitoring and Control of

Power Systems with Large Scale Renewables

Online monitoring of generator damping ISSN 1751-8687

Received on 23rd September 2016
Revised 21st December 2016
using dissipation energy flow computed from Accepted on 3rd February 2017
E-First on 15th March 2017
ambient data doi: 10.1049/iet-gtd.2016.1523
www.ietdl.org

Lei Chen1, Ming Sun1, Yong Min1 , Xialing Xu2, Jianghui Xi2, Yong Li2
1Department of Electrical Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, People's Republic of China
2Central China Branch of State Grid Corporation of China, Wuhan, People's Republic of China
E-mail: minyong@tsinghua.edu.cn

Abstract: Online monitoring of generator damping assists in identifying wrong parameters or detrimental changes in generator
control systems that may reduce damping ratios of power system oscillation modes. An approach for generator damping
estimation using ambient data during normal operation of power systems is proposed. The ambient phasor measurement data
at generator terminal is collected and filtered, and then the dissipation energy flow (DEF) into the generator is computed. The
rate of change of the DEF represents the rate of transient energy dissipation of the generator and is used to estimate the
generator damping. Test results show the validity and possible applications of the approach. A more comprehensive online
monitoring system of small-signal stability can be constructed using the approach together with system mode estimation
methods.

1 Introduction The concept of energy flow is proposed in [18–20] for low-

frequency oscillation source location and damping evaluation. The
Small-signal stability is an important part of power system stability energy flow through branch Li j from bus i to bus j is calculated
[1, 2]. Loss of small-signal stability will lead to oscillations in the
with
system and pose a serious threat to system security. Online
monitoring of electromechanical oscillation modes has great
significance for the secure operation of a power system. With the
development of phasor measurement units (PMUs) and wide-area
W TEFL = ∫ (I i j, xdUi, y − Ii j, ydUi, x) (1)

measurement systems (WAMSs), many measurement-based modal

analysis methods have been proposed in the literature. Among where Ui, x + jUi, y is the voltage of bus i and Ii j, x + jIi j, y is the
them, the methods using ambient data, which refers to system current in Li j out of bus i.
responses to small random load fluctuations, can compute the W TEFL may have various forms. It can be expressed as
mode parameters in power system normal operation and realise
real-time monitoring. Several methods have been developed to get
the damping ratio, the frequency, and the shape of W TEFL = ∫ Pi j dθi +
Qi j
Ui
dUi = ∫ (P i j dθi + Qi jd(ln Ui)) (2)
electromechanical modes in power systems [3–12].
Besides modal damping, we also hope to find out generator where Ui∠θi = Ui, x + jUi, y, and Pi j and Qi j are active and reactive
damping that reflects its contribution to the damping of a system powers in Li j, respectively.
mode. Wrong parameters or detrimental changes in generator
The energy flow into an element is composed of two parts. One
control systems such as the failure of power system stabiliser (PSS)
is the transient energy variation of the element, and the other is the
will reduce the generator damping and the modal damping of the
energy dissipated by the element [18–20]. The energy dissipation
system. If online identification of these generators is achieved,
reflects the damping of the element.
inspections or control measures can be taken to reduce the
Consider a generator represented with classical model
oscillation risk. The concept of damping torque is proposed to
evaluate the damping of a generator [13–15], but the method is
based on ringdown data and only applicable when the system is δ̇ = ω0ω
(3)
already oscillating [16, 17]. An energy flow method is proposed in T J ω̇ = Pm − Pe − Dω
[18–20] and the generator damping can be evaluated with its
transient energy dissipation. However, the method is also based on The energy flow into the internal bus of the generator is [18]
ringdown data and its application is restricted. According to the

∫ ω dt
authors’ knowledge, there has been no effective method to estimate 1 x
generator damping from ambient data up to now. This paper W ING = T ω ω2 − Pmδ + Dω0 2
(4)
2 J 0 x0
focuses on the problem. The method based on energy flow is
further developed. The transient energy dissipation of a generator is x
computed with ambient data to estimate its damping. The energy flow has two components, i.e. ((1/2)T J ω0ω2 − Pmδ) x0
This paper is organised as follows. Section 2 reviews the as the transient energy variation of the generator, which is a path
concept and the properties of the dissipation energy flow (DEF). independent integral term and can be named conservative term, and
Section 3 studies the computation of the DEF with ambient data. Dω0∫ ω2 dt as the energy dissipated by the damping, which is path
Section 4 presents the approach for online monitoring of generator dependent and can be named non-conservative term. The energy
damping, and it is tested in Section 5. Section 6 is the conclusion. dissipation is consistent with the damping of the generator.
For more detailed generator models including the third-order
2 Dissipation EF model [18], the fourth-order model [19], and the sixth-order model

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Fig. 1  Single-machine infinite-bus system
[20], the above proposition is still valid. Take the following fourth-
order generator model as an example [19]:
δ̇ = ω0ω
T J ω̇ = Pm − Pe − Dω
′ (5)
T d′ 0Ė q = E f d − Eq′ − (Xd − Xd′ )Id
′
T q′ 0Ė d = − Ed′ + (Xq − Xq′ )Iq
The energy flow into the generator is (see (6)) It is also composed
of conservative terms, which are actually the transient energy of
the generator, and non-conservative terms. Among the non-
conservative terms, Dω0∫ ω2 dt,
(T d′ 0 / Xd − Xd′ )∫ (Ė q) dt
′ 2
(T q′ 0 / Xq − Xq′ )∫ (Ė d) dt are definite dissipative terms, which
represent the damping of the mechanical damping, the field
winding, and the damper winding, respectively. The sign of
−(1/(Xd − Xd′ ))∫ E f d dEq′ is indefinite and depends on the excitation
control, which means that the damping of the excitation system is
influenced by the control strategy. More details can be found in
[18–20].
The energy flow into an element is composed of its transient
energy variation and energy dissipation (or production). The energy
dissipation or production reflects its contribution to the damping of
the oscillation, which is used to locate oscillation source [18] and
evaluate generator damping [19, 20]. As the energy flow is actually
the transfer of transient energy in the network, it is renamed
transient energy flow in this paper.
The energy dissipation is contained in the following DEF
computed using deviations from steady-state values [18]:
WD = ∫ (ΔP dΔθ + ΔQ d(Δ ln U ))
ij i ij
= ∫ (2πΔP Δ f dt + ΔQ d(Δ ln U ))
ij i ij
In the DEF, the transient energy variation is greatly eliminated,
while the energy dissipation reflecting damping is fully reserved.
The DEF is effective in locating oscillation sources [21] and
evaluating damping of components. However, in the previous work
the method is applied when the system is already oscillating. In this
work, we hope to monitor the generator damping during normal
operation.
3 DEF computed from ambient data
A power system in normal operation is continuously subjected to
small disturbances that mainly result from random load variations.
The ambient data, which refers to the system responses to these
ambient excitations, contains information of the electromechanical
modes of the system, and also the properties of generators in the
modes.
Assume that the random load variations are the only ambient
excitations in the system and there are no ambient excitations
1 1 (Eq)
W ING = T J ω0ω2 − Pmδ +
2 2 Xd − Xd′ Xq − Xq′
1
∫ ∫ ω dt + X
− E f ddEq′
Xd − Xd′
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© The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2017
inside generators. This assumption is reasonable in actual power
systems since the primary components of the ambient excitations in
the electromechanical dynamic range are random load variations
[3]. Under this assumption, a generator is excited by external
disturbance and the DEF into the generator reflects the damping of
the generator. When the random response is stationary, the DEF
into the generator changes monotonously and steadily. When the
DEF is ascending, the generator is dissipating energy and exhibits
positive damping. When the DEF is descending, the generator is
producing energy and exhibits negative damping. The rate of
change of the DEF reflects the rate of energy dissipation and the
value of damping.
To further illustrate the relationship between the DEF and the
generator damping, we use the DEF to estimate the damping
coefficient in classical generator model. The DEF is computed with
the random signals at the generator terminal. First, obtain the
random signals including voltage magnitude U, frequency f, active
power P, and reactive power Q into the generator, and compute
ln U . Second, compute the deviations from the steady-state values
and get Δ ln U, Δ f , ΔP, and ΔQ. Then, the DEF into the generator,
W D(t), is computed with (7). Compute the linear fitting of W D(t)
and denote it as αDt + βD. Then, compute Kω = ∫ ω2 dt and obtain
′ 2
and the linear fitting αωt + βω. From (4) we can get a formula to
estimate the damping coefficient as follows:
αD
Dest = (8)
ω0αω
The approach is demonstrated in the single-machine infinite-bus
(SMIB) system as shown in Fig. 1. The generator is represented
with (3). The parameters of the system are as follows. f 0 = 50 Hz,
US = 0.995, XL = 0.65, Xd′  = 0.30, T J  = 7.0 s, D = 2.0, and Pm = 0.9.
The system is disturbed by random noise of the infinite-bus
voltage US which is shown in Fig. 2. The generator output power
Pe is shown in Fig. 3. The power spectral densities (PSDs) of ΔUS
and ΔPe in the range of 0–5 Hz are also shown. The DEF into the
generator is computed and shown in Fig. 4, where the linear fitting
is also shown. The DEF ascends steadily and reflects that the
generator dissipates energy and exhibits positive damping. The
damping coefficient is estimated with (8) and the result is Dest = 
i
2.0045, which coincides very well with the actual D = 2.0. The
DEF computed from ambient data can be used to estimate the
(7) damping of a generator.
i
4 Online monitoring of generator damping
In actual power systems, the ambient data obtained from PMU/
WAMS is complicated. Moreover, from the method of damping
torque analysis (DTA), we know that generator damping is
dependent on oscillation frequency. Thus, we focus on the
generator damping corresponding to the dominant mode of the
system. In the online application, pre-processing of PMU data
including filtering is vital and necessary. An approach for online
monitoring of generator damping with the following steps is
proposed:
(S1) Data collection: Select a time period of PMU data at the
terminal of the generator to be analysed including voltage
magnitude U, frequency f, active power P, and reactive power Q
into the generator, and compute ln U . The data should be long
enough and stationary. Length more than 1 min is preferred.
(S2) Linear component removal: Remove the linear component (dc
component included) in ln U , f, P, and Q to obtain Δ ln U, Δ f , ΔP,
′ 2 2 x
(Ed′ )
+ + Xd′ Id2 + Xq′ Iq2
x0
(6)
T d′ 0 T q′ 0
∫ ∫
′ 2 ′ 2
+ Dω0 2
(Ė q) dt + (Ė d) dt
d − Xd′ Xq − Xq′
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Fig. 2  Infinite-bus voltage
Fig. 3  Generator active power
Fig. 4  DEF into the generator
and ΔQ. The linear component can be obtained with least squares
linear fitting and then subtracted from the original data.
(S3) Frequency spectral analysis: Conduct frequency spectral
analysis on ΔP to get the frequency f d of the most prominent
component in the range of electromechanical oscillation, i.e. 0.1–
2.5 Hz. This frequency corresponds to the dominant mode that the
generator participates in. The subsequent analysis corresponds to
the mode.
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(S4) Band-pass filtering: Apply a band-pass filtering with the
frequency passband [ f d − ε, f d + ε] on the signals. It can be found
from (7) that the phase differences between signals significantly
influence the DEF. Therefore, a zero-phase filter is required. In our
research, the procedure of forward–backward filtering is utilised
together with Butterworth filter. The details of the filtering can be
found in [22]. The threshold ε is set 0.1 Hz in our research.
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© The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2017
 results in large errors. A more effective way to analyse modes other
than the dominant mode still needs further investigation.

Fig. 5  Block diagram of excitation system
(S5) Data selection: Pick the middle part of the filtered signals for
DEF computation because filtering may induce errors at the
beginning and the end of the signals. In our research, 30-60% of
the middle part is selected.
(S6) DEF computation: Compute the DEF W D with (7) using the
selected data of S5, and compute the linear fitting of W D to obtain
the slope αD.
(S7) Damping estimation: If accurate ω can be obtained, (8) can be
used to compute Dest, which is the damping coefficient of the
generator. In online application with PMU data, the frequency is
used instead of ω because accurate ω of generators is often
unavailable. Compute Kf = ∫ Δ f 2 dt and get the slope αf with linear
fitting, then we get the damping estimation as follows:
f 0αD
Dest, f = (9)
2παf
 
Discussion 1: In multi-machine power systems, the damping of a
generator has not been well defined in conventional methods. The
generator damping largely depends on its location in the network.
Two identical generators may show different damping
characteristics at different locations. We focus on the difference of
Dest or Dest, f rather than the absolute value to concentrate on the
generator and its control system. The difference maybe between the
damping of two similar and proximate generators, or the damping
at two different points in time. The former can be utilised to
identify faults in control systems, while the latter can be utilised to
monitor the variations of damping often caused by changes of
parameters.
 
Discussion 2: The approach is only applied to the dominant mode
in this paper. This is realised in S3 and S4 by band-pass filtering
with the passband around the frequency of the most prominent
component in the PSD of active power. To analyse other modes, a
simple and direct way is using the passband around the frequency
of the mode. However, test results show that this simple way
5 Test cases
5.1 SMIB system with detailed model
In the SMIB system, the generator adopts the third-order model
with automatic voltage regulator (AVR) and PSS in Fig. 5. The
system is disturbed by random noise of the infinite-bus voltage.
The damping of the generator is estimated with the proposed
approach and compared with the result of DTA method. Several
cases with different parameters are studied. For each case, the time
period for generator damping estimation is 100 s and 20
simulations are executed. The mean value and the standard
deviation (STD) of the Dest obtained using (6) are computed. The
results are shown in Table 1. Satisfactory results are obtained with
the proposed approach. The errors from the DTA results become
bigger in the cases with high damping. Nevertheless, this is
acceptable in practical applications because large errors are more
tolerable in high damping cases. This is also a property of system
mode estimation algorithms using ambient data [7, 8]. The
estimator is expected to do poorly in the case of a mode with high
damping. More research is needed to improve accuracy in high
damping cases.
5.2 Four-machine two-area system
The approach is tested in the four-machine two-area system. The
parameters can be found in [1]. The loads are represented with
20% constant impedance and 80% constant power. All generators
are equipped with AVR and PSS as shown in Fig. 5. We study the
variation of generator damping caused by parameter variations. In
the base case, the parameters of the excitation systems of all the
four generators are the same. They are K A = 50.0, T A = 0.05 s,
KSTAB = 10.0, T W  = 1.4 s, T 1 = 0.154 s, and T 2 = 0.033 s. The
damping ratio of the inter-area mode is 0.048. The damping
estimations Dest, f obtained using (9) of G1, G2, G3, and G4 are
0.900, −1.277, 2.163, and 2.299, respectively. The meaning of
these values still needs investigation. Here, we focus on the
variations of generator damping. The KSTAB of G1, G2, G3, and G4
are set one at a time to 0 in case 1, case 2, case 3, and case 4 to
simulate the disabling of PSS. Computed Dest, f of generators in
each case and the variations from the base case are shown in
Table 2. We can see that though the damping of other generators
are also influenced, the generator with PSS failure shows great
decline of estimated damping as indicated bold in Table 2, which
results in the decrease of system damping ratio.

Table 1 Results of damping estimation

Case KA TA KSTAB T1 DTA result Mean of Dest STD of Dest
1 10 0.10 0 0.154 0.507 0.494 0.189
2 10 0.10 10 0.154 1.181 1.074 0.116
3 10 0.10 10 0.200 1.637 1.535 0.175
4 10 0.05 10 0.200 2.188 2.073 0.280
5 20 0.05 12 0.200 3.839 3.398 0.328
6 20 0.05 20 0.154 4.876 4.268 0.259
7 40 0.02 10 0.154 4.793 3.919 0.655
8 40 0.02 10 0.200 6.938 5.662 0.660

Table 2 Variation of generator damping

Case Variation of damping ratio Variation of generator damping
G1 G2 G3 G4
1 −0.038 −1.885 −0.647  + 0.128  + 0.228
2 −0.031 −0.212 −2.055  + 0.129  + 0.198
3 −0.024 −0.366 −0.629 −1.410  + 0.588
4 −0.019 −0.304 −0.496  + 0.357 −1.209

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Fig. 6  Active power outputs of generator A and generator B
Fig. 7  PSD of active power of generator A
The results show that the variation of generator damping can be
monitored with the proposed approach. We should pay more
attention to the great decline of damping and check it carefully.
The decline may result from the change of control systems in the
generator.
5.3 Actual PMU data
The approach is tested with actual PMU data. The data is collected
from two generators in three Gorges hydropower station of China.
The generators are equipped with different types of exciters. On 14
July 2010, power oscillations of 0.82 Hz occurred in the generators
and the sending lines of the plant. After careful investigation, a
parameter in PSS of several generators is found to be wrong.
Generator A is selected from these generators and Generator B is
selected from the remaining generators with right parameters. A 3  mode estimation methods using ambient data. In addition to mode
min PMU data during normal operation before the oscillation
incident is selected. The active power outputs are shown in Fig. 6,
and the PSD of Pgen, A is shown in Fig. 7. The mode of 0.82 Hz is
dominant.
The approach is used to estimate the damping of these two
generators. The DEF into Generators A and B are shown in Fig. 8.
The obtained Dest, f of Generator A is −6.090, whereas the Dest, f of
Generator B is −0.352. Compared to Generator B, Generator A
shows distinct negative damping. The two generators are similar in
location, operation status, and generator parameters, and they are
4434
expected to exhibit similar damping characteristics if with the same
exciter. From the results, we can conclude that the parameters of
Generator A are much worst than those of Generator B and need to
be checked. The result coincides with the actual situation, and the
fault could be found before the incident with the approach.
6 Conclusion
An approach for online monitoring of generator damping in power
system normal operation is proposed. The ambient data is used to
compute the DEF into a generator, and then the generator damping
is estimated from the energy dissipation. Test results in different
cases show the validity and possible applications of the approach.
A more comprehensive online monitoring system of power system
small-signal stability can be constructed together with system
parameters including damping ratio, frequency, and shape, the
generator damping that reflects its contribution to the damping of
system mode can also be monitored with the proposed approach.
Wrong parameters or detrimental changes in generator control
systems can be detected. Nevertheless, the results in this paper are
still preliminary. Future work includes generator damping in multi-
machine systems and their interactions, application to modes other
than the dominant mode, reliability, and robustness of the
approach, and application in actual systems.
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Fig. 8  DEF into generator A and generator B
7 Acknowledgments
The work was supported by the National Natural Science
Foundation of China (51377002) and Central China Branch of
State Grid Corporation of China.
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