A REPORT ON GENERATOR TRIPPING ON ROTOR

EARTH FAULT AT UNIT 2 AT 2 X 351MW GPPC PROJECT

Rotor earthfault trippings:

1) On 12/06/2015 at 07:30 am in Generator Protection Relay1 (GR1). GTG on 31MW
2) On 13/06/2015 at 02:30 am in Generator Protection Relay1 (GR1). GTG on 80MW
3) On 17/03/2015 at 09:30 am in Generator Protection Relay1 (GR1). GTG on 110MW

Generator type: THRI 108-44, Static Excitation System

Protection Relay: GR1: Siprotec 7UM622, 1-3Hz injection unit: Siprotec 7XT71

Tripping value: Resistance <5kohms- Tripping with time delay of 1 sec, Resistance <80Kohms-
Alarm with time delay of 10 secs.

Main problem observed: Continuous fluctuation of Rotor resistance value measured in Generator
relays.

Connection for rotor earthfault:

Following fig. is self explanatory; the only change in actual & below fig is that A3 & A11 is
shorted and only one connection goes to rotor winding positive terminal. Umeas (low frequency
Current is converted to voltage) & Ucontrol (50V, 1.5Hz supply) is used as inputs in both
Generator protection relay (i.e. GR1 & GR2) to measure rotor resistance.

Fig.1. Rotor Earthfault circuit

Checks & Observations:

1) Check: Rotor Insulation resistance was checked by disconnecting 1-3 Hz injection wire with
Field breaker closed & open.
Observation: The Insulation resistance was 9Mega ohms when field breaker was open &
200Kohms when field breaker is closed.
2) Check: Rotor Insulation resistance was checked by starting 1.5 Hz injection unit with FB
closed & open
 A REPORT ON GENERATOR TRIPPING ON ROTOR
EARTH FAULT AT UNIT 2 AT 2 X 351MW GPPC PROJECT
Observation: GR1 & GR2 relay reads value 999Kohms (max value for display) when FB is
open and 200Kohms when FB is closed and there was no fluctuation in rotor resistance
value.
3) Check: GR1 & GR2 relays rotor earthfault protection was checked by placing a test resistor.
Observations: GR1 & GR2 relays were reading the same resistance value which was
placed. Also it tripped on tripping values with set time delay.
Action taken: DC & AC bus insulators in AVR were cleaned. And clearance was given
for machine start up on 13.06.2015.

4) Check: During next start up on 13.06.2015 measured rotor IR was checked in GR1 & GR2
relay.
Observation: The resistance value was observed fluctuating/varying from 90kohms to
300kohms. Sometimes value even reached 50kohms. Machine tripped after running for
approx 10 hrs.

5) Check: Disturbance record was checked.

Observation: The current feedback in form of voltage was in 180 deg phase shift with
applied voltage (50V, 1.5Hz) also the magnitude of Imeasured in terms of voltage was higher
than for even a dead short condition. The max. value of Imeasured in terms of voltage can be
0.9V. The circuits of GR relays are given in fig below. The TD (Transducer 1) input to GR
relay is (50/6= 8.3V) and TD2 (50*375/(20000+375+R); when R=0 i.e. rotor is earthed;
max voltage is 0.93 V). Even though high Imeasured may be due to capacitive coupled voltage
of excitation system the magnitude was high even after subtracting DC offset value. It was
evident that excitation voltage has some influence over rotor resistance measurement.

Fig.2.Schematics of Rotor earth fault circuit

Fig.3. Disturbance record showing high Imeasured (TD2)

 A REPORT ON GENERATOR TRIPPING ON ROTOR
EARTH FAULT AT UNIT 2 AT 2 X 351MW GPPC PROJECT
6) Check: Dummy load was carried out of AVR by keeping 250 ohms resistor and connecting
only positive side of rotor cable to positive bus, keeping negative side field supply cables
disconnected. With this setup Rotor Earth Fault Protection system will be in service during
Light Load Test.
Observation: When the excitation was switched ON and voltage was raised to 120V DC,
small fluctuation was observed in measured rotor insulation resistance in both the relays.
Same response was observed when 1.5Hz injection kit was seen when taking STG GRP
Rotor Protection circuit in service (It also has the same configuration).

Fig.4. Small disturbance observed during above conducted test

The injection frequency was changed from 1.5 Hz to 1 Hz.

The cable from GRP to rotor was changed to screened cable to minimize the interference.
Clearance was given for start up on 15.06.2015. However machine tripped on rotor
earth fault on 17.06.2015.

Fig.5. Disturbance record of tripping on 17.06.2015.

 A REPORT ON GENERATOR TRIPPING ON ROTOR
EARTH FAULT AT UNIT 2 AT 2 X 351MW GPPC PROJECT
Observation: The Imeasured waveform shows high content of third harmonics. This may be
generated due to Common Mode Voltage in the DC output of Static Excitation.

Action taken: Machine started to perform to check the fluctuation in resistance due to high
variation in filed current.

7) Check: Step test was done after giving excitation at FSNL.

Observation: Once rated voltage is achieved, rotor earthfault circuit automatically comes in
line. Tripping class was changed in both the relays and turbine trip was by passed. During
continuous step test of 10% i.e. from 90% to 100% ref & vice-versa, high fluctuation
was observed in the rotor resistance value in GR1 & GR2 relays. This demonstrates that
during disturbance in grid when field current is changed drastically, rotor earthfault
protection may mal-operate.

8) Check: The shaft grounding brush on the shaft between Gas turbine and Generator was
grounded bypassing Ground Brush Monitoring system (GBM).
Observation: When this grounding was done bypassing grounding brush monitoring system,
the fluctuation in rotor resistance almost disappeared. The AC-DC toggle switch in the
Detector Unit of GBM was placed in DC. Due to some problem in detector unit, the
continuity between incoming shaft brush connection was disconnected with the ground.
Connection from GR1 was removed (As per Siemens recommendation only one relay need
to be connected to 7XT71)
Observation: The variation in rotor insulation resistance in GR2 was reduced. The result
was checked in GR1 too.
Observing the values for half an hour, machine was synchronized. After running the
machine at 26 MW for more than 5 hours the rotor insulation resistance was stable at
999Kohm (Max value to display).