Research on the properties of high thermal

conductivity stator bar for large generator

Gao Hongjun1, Shan Zhiduo2, Wang Xiaohang1, Fu Qiang*1, Cheng Qingguo*2, Hu Chunxiu1, Shi Weili1, Huang
Chengwei1, Feng Chao1, Guan Shaobo1, Wang Yutian1, Chen Yang1, Jiang Yu1, Zhang Qiuhan1, Yang chenhao1
1. HADONG National Engineering Research Center-Hydropower Equipment Company LTD. (NHEC), Harbin, 15000, China;
2022 IEEE International Conference on High Voltage Engineering and Applications (ICHVE) | 978-1-6654-0750-2/22/$31.00 ©2022 IEEE | DOI: 10.1109/ICHVE53725.2022.9961383

Harbin Electric Machinery Company Limited, Harbin, 150040, China ; Harbin Institute of Large Electric Machinery, Harbin,
150040, China; State key laboratory of hydropower equipment, Harbin, 150040, China ; National engineering research center
hydropower equipment, Harbin, 150040, China; 2. State Key Laboratory Breeding Base of Dielectrics Engineering, Harbin
University of Science and Technology, Harbin, 150080, China
fuqiang@hec-china.com, qgchen@hrbust.edu.cn

Abstract: The application of high thermal conductivity (HTC)
insulation material will reduce the new generator volume,
increase the modification unit capacity and reduce the
manufacturing cost. The basic research was carried out to
optimizate the insulation structure of HTC mica tape and the
properties of the HTC mica tape were firstly determined in China.
The HTC mica tapes were compressed into the sheets. The
relationship of the adhesive content and the thermal conductivity
coefficient was used to determine the tape wrapping layers and
hot pressing curing process for the trial bars, the trial bars had
good electrical properties. At last, the 13.8kV stator bars
fabricated by HTC mica tape had also well electrical properties,
such as their electrical ageing tests 3Un>10h, 2Un>500h,
breakdown voltage >100kV. Conclusions were that the technical
problems of HTC insulation material had been preliminarily
solved, which had been present for a long time, such as low
dielectric strength and short electrical aging. In the next works,
the HTC stator bars can be used in generators.
Keyword: large generator; stator bar; high thermal
conductivity (HTC) insulation; breakdown voltage; electrical
ageing.
I. INTRODUCTION
Currently, some international well-known enterprises
maintain leading advantages in the development of high
thermal insulation materials, such as Mitsubishi Hitachi [1],
VonRoll Isola and ABB [2], Siemens Westinghouse [3],
Toshiba [4]. Some universities have also carried out research
works [5]. But the high thermal conductivity (HTC) insulation
materials are the main research direction in foreign companies,
which has been applied in the prototype of the generator. There
are a few foreign researches on resin-rich HTC insulation, only
the patents of Jeffrey David Sheaffer et al from GE company
[6] mentioned the resin-rich HTC insulation, and the trial
applying of resin-rich HTC mica tape mentioned by Mitsubishi
Hitachi Company [1].
The HTC VPI insulation material has been made remarkable
research progress abroad and has been applied to the prototype
of large air-cooled or hydrogen-cooled generators[7~10]. In
fact the VPI high thermal conductivity insulation material had
been applied to the generator stator bars, but VPI HTC
materials is not suitable for China's resin-rich molding (RRM)
insulation system. In the end, HEC (Harbin Electric Machinery
Company Limited, in China) develops HTC resin-rich
insulation material. There are still fundamental problems in
domestic researches on RRM HTC insulation. After adding
HTC materials into the mica tape, the thickness of the mica
tape is increased while the thickness of mica paper is
unchanged, so that the mica content is reduced. But the mica is
the main electrical property materials in the mica tapes, the
discrease of the mica content in the mica tape leads to the
decline of mica tape breakdown strength and electrical aging
properties. Therefore, HEC had used the different amount of
mixed size h - BN (hexagonal boron nitride crystal) powder to
improve the thermal conductivity performance of the adhesive
in the RRM insulation system. The composite materials was
composed of the h-BN mixed powders and adhesives, the ratio
of the two components was different in the composites. The
dielectric property changes of the composites were researched
by frequency domain spectrum (FDS) [11]. And the
breakdown field strength of composite was also tested [12,13].
The HTC resin-rich mica tape had been fabricated by using
high thermal conductivity adhesive in HEC. The thermal
conductivity of mica tape met the requirement of ≥
0.35W/(mK). The dielectric strength and tensile strength of the
HTC mica tape were same as that of the normal mica tape.
HEC had solved the technical problems of the HTC insulation.
It is the first time to use the qualified HTC resin-rich mica tape
to manufacture real stator bars and to study the hot pressing
curing forming technology and the electrical performances of
stator bars.
II. EXPERIMENTS
The HTC mica tapes were placed in a 250mm*250mm
frame with 2mm height, the mica tape was in a half-lapping
manner. And the mica tapes were pressed to 2mm thickness
sheet by the automatic pressing equipment (High Speed
Railway Technology Co., LTD., GT-7014-H30). The pressed
sheets were cut into the test samples by the automatic milling
machine (High Speed Railway Technology Co., LTD., the
equipment attached to GT-7014-H30). These samples were

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used to measure the thermal conductivity and mechanical of the HTC stator bars were measured by the AC voltage
strength test. withstand equipment in HEC. The dielectric loss instrument
The thermal conductivity of the mica tapes was detected by was 2809A precision measuring bridge (Tettex Corporation in
DTC300 Thermal Conductivity Instrument (TA Company in Switzerland), and the partial discharge was measured by LDIC
the United States). The measuring range of the DTC300 was partial discharge instrument (German). The HTC stator bar
0.1 ~ 40W/(mK). The sample size was 50mm in diameter and electrical aging tests were carried out by the HEC devices.
2mm in thickness. The flexual strength of the HTC sheets was III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
detected by 3367 testing equipment (Instron Company in
America), the impact strength was detected by HIT 25P charpy A. HTC Mica Tape Properties
impacting equipment ( Zwick Roell in Germany ), the sample The HTC adhesive [12~14] with good properties were used
size was 80mm*10mm*4mm. HTC stator bars were produced to fabricate HTC mica tape. In the research process of the HTC
in HEC. The automatic tape wrapping machine imported from resin-rich mica tape, HEC constantly optimized the HTC mica
Switzerland was used to wrap the HTC stator bars. The tape manufacturing technology according to the test results of
wrapping tension and speed of the HTC mica tapes were same the mechanical performance, electrical performance, and the
as that of the normal mica tapes. The HTC stator bars were thermal conductive performance.
adopted 15kV anti-corona structure, and the single side
insulation thickness is 3.5mm. The normal electrical properties
TABLE I
THE PROPERTIES OF THE RESIN-RICH MICA TAPES WITH THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY ≥0.35W/(MK)
items units seven production batches of high thermal conductivity mica strips
Thickness mm 0.13 0.14 0.14 0.14 0.17 0.16 0.166
Dielectric strength MV/m 54 46 45 53 39 43.8 42.8
Tensile strength N/10mm 191 189 196 165 195 186.2 181.1
Gel time (170±2) ℃ min - - - 11'22" 12'24" 15' 15'10"
Thermal conductivity W/(mK) 0.352-0.399 0.381-0.397 0.352-0.36 0.43 0.357-0.383 0.367-0.381 0.37-0.388

This is the first time that the property index of HTC resin- samples, and the minimum flexural strength (282.7 MPa) met
rich mica tapes is determined in China, which would be the the requirements of ≥180 MPa. The minimum impact strength
examination standard for the manufacture of HTC resin-rich of the sample was 96.3 kJ/m2, which met the requirements of
mica tapes in the insulation materials industry. Seven ≥50 kJ/m2. Therefore, BN powder adding in the mica tape
production batches of the HTC mica tape had favourable could not influence the HTC mica tape to own good
quality, and the test results were shown in Table Ⅰ. The results mechanical properties. On the whole, the mechanical
described that the HTC mica tapes could be produced to properties of the HTC insulation are same as that of the normal
applying to fabricating stator bars. insulation.
B. HTC mica tape application property TABLE Ⅱ
THE MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF HTC SHEETS
After the performance indexes of HTC mica tape met the
requirements and the thermal conductivity of the pressed sheet items indexes Test value
was more than 0.35W/(mK), the wrapping property was tested 311.3
on the real stator bars. The HTC mica tape, same as normal Flexural strength ≥180 MPa
282.7
mica tape, needs to be preheated before use, and then wrapping 314.1
property test. In the wrapping process, the mica tape is soft and 290.2
attached without delamination, warping, wrinkle, fracture and 146.7
so on. Thus, BN powder adding in the mica tape could not 113.0
Impact strength ≥50 kJ/m2
influence the HTC mica tape to own good application property, 66.7
so that the stator bar would has favourite insulation layers. In 96.3
the end, the technological problem of wrapping HTC mica
tapes was solved preliminarily. D. HTC Stator Bar Manufacturing Technology
HEC utilized the conductors of the real stator bars, which
C. HTC insulation mechanical properties were fabricated for a hydropower plant in China, to wrap HTC
The HTC mica tape was used to make test samples resin-rich mica tapes and to be made into real stator bars.
according to GB/T 1449-2005 Fibre-reinforced plastic Section size of top stator bar: slot part 21.4mm*62.2mm, end
composites-Determination of flexural properties and GB/T part 21.4mm*49.5mm; Section size of bottom stator bar: slot
1451-2005 Fibre-reinforced plastic composites-Determination part 21.1mm*58.6mm, end part 21.1mm*53.2mm; The rated
of charpy impact properties. The results were shown in Table Ⅱ. voltage (Un) of the generator is 13.8kV, the slot part length of
There was almost no difference in the flexural strength of the

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the stator bar is 1020mm, and the single-side insulation HTC stator bars. It could be seen that the problems of high
thickness is 3.5mm. After wrapping the stator bar with HTC dielectric loss of high thermal conductivity stator bars had
mica tapes, then to hot-press in mold to cure the insulation. been solved preliminarily.
After the HTC stator bars were fabricated, as shown in Figure
1, the HTC insulation was white, while the insulation layers of
normal stator bars were dark brown. Due to the addition of
white BN powder, the HTC mica tapes appear white. After hot-
pressing and curing, the HTC insulation layer color is lighter
than the normal insulation layer.
Normal stator bars
E. Dielectric Loss and Partial Discharge
The normal dielectric loss and partial discharge (PD) HTC stator bars
tests were carried out on the HTC stator bars. The results
were shown in Table Ⅲ. The initial dielectric loss (0.2Un)
of almost all bars were less than 1% except for C9444 stator
bar, its initial value is 1.060% which still met the
requirements of CEEIA 154 (which is a standard of China
Electrical Equipment Industry Association). And the
problem of large initial dielectric loss of HTC insulation
was solved preliminarily. The dielectric loss tip-up of
C9383 (0.6096%) was slightly more than 0.6%, and the Figure 1. Normal stator bars and HTC stator bars
dielectric loss tip-up of other bars all met the requirements
of superior products (which is less than 0.6%) in CEEIA
154. There was almost no difference in PD values of the

TABLE Ⅲ
THE DIELECTRIC LOSS AND PARTIAL DISCHARGE OF THE HTC STATOR BARS
Trial stator Normal dielectric loss tanδ /% Tip-up Partial discharge /pC
bars No. 0.2Un 0.4Un 0.6Un 0.8Un 1.0Un ∆tanδ/% Phase voltage Line voltage
2.76kV 5.52kV 8.28kV 11.08kV 13.8kV 7.69kV 13.8kV
C9383 0.8784 1.256 1.488 1.581 1.622 0.6096 230 315
C1405 0.7967 0.9347 1.096 1.297 1.319 0.2993 174 223
C1383 0.9318 1.085 1.257 1.378 1.426 0.3252 220 410
C1409 0.7379 0.9418 1.176 1.362 1.388 0.4381 178 217
C9391 0.9294 1.249 1.384 1.501 1.535 0.4546 190 320
C9394 0.7915 1.052 1.202 1.314 1.342 0.4105 210 230
C1385 0.8335 1.035 1.212 1.327 1.401 0.3785 179 223
C9389 0.8371 0.9821 1.119 1.341 1.408 0.2819 210 212
C9444 1.060 1.243 1.369 1.535 1.591 0.309 270 526
C1485 0.7938 0.9476 1.053 1.253 1.304 0.2592 191 325
C9466 0.8637 1.230 1.392 1.55 1.586 0.5283 215 216
C1478 0.8365 0.9742 1.103 1.274 1.316 0.2665 218 240
Note: ∆tanδ=tanδ0.6Un-tanδ0.2Un

which indicated that the high thermal insulation had had good
F. Breakdown strength and electrical ageing
breakdown strength.
Table Ⅳ showed that C9389 breakdown voltage was slightly
less than the index of the HTC stator bars, but was better than TABLE Ⅳ
BREAKDOWN FIELD STRENGTH OF HTC STATOR BARS
the breakdown voltage in 20 years ago. The C9389 breakdown
voltage was lower than the other two stator bars, which might Stator bars Breakdown voltage Breakdown field strength
be material quality deviation or manufacturing quality (kV) (kV/mm)
deviation. In the future the high thermal conductive mica tape Measured Required Measured Required
and stator bar need to be paid more attention to the problems, value value value value
such as material quality and manufacturing quality. The C9391 99.3
≥75.9
28.4
≥21.6
breakdown voltage of C9391 and C1485 were very good, C9389 74.6 21

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 C1485 113.5 32.4 preliminarily mastered the HTC insulation manufacturing
TABLE Ⅴ technology; in the next step HEC would apply the HTC
3UN (41.4KV) ELECTRICAL AGEING TEST OF HTC STATOR BARS insulation to fabricate stator windings for generators.
Stator bars Measured value ABB-Alstom Required value ACKNOWLEDGMENT
(h) (h)
C9394 >48
This project was supported by the National Key Research
and Development Program of China (No: 2018YFB1501900),
C1383 46
>10 Open project of State Key Laboratory of Hydroelectric
C1409 >48
Equipment (No: SKLHE-QRF-202004) and the Science
C1478 >48
Research Plan Projects of Shaanxi Education Department
TABLE Ⅵ (No:19JK0570).
2UN (27.6KV) ELECTRICAL AGEING TEST OF HTC STATOR BARS
Stator bars Measured value ABB-Alstom Required value
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