Introduction to Turbine

Governing Systems
By
J.Bhaumik
 Why Governing is required?
 The characteristics of an
ungoverned turbine is unsuitable
for electric power generation. The
figure shows the characteristics of
an ungoverned and a speed
governed turbine.
 The turbine output is controlled by
varying the steam flow by means
of throttling valves of the turbine
.The valves are controlled by the
governor.
 Governing system is required to
ensure that the system demand is
followed automatically without
large deviation in the nominal
electric frequency
 Functions of Governing System
 To control the initial run up and synchronization of the
machine
 To control the turbine load when running in parallel with
other generating sets.
 To contain the speed rise within acceptable limits in case
of the unit getting disconnected from the load
 To provide protective gears to ensure the safe operation
of the turbine
Thus the individual TG governing system imply a need to
 withstand a full load rejection safely
 provide appropriate contributions to system
frequency control.
 Governor characteristics
The main characteristics of a governing system is therefore the
relationship between the generated load of the machine and its
speed which is the prime governor input. This is known as the
speed-loop droop or frequency regulation characteristics of the
governor.
Considering NR: Rated speed,
NPR : Speed at full load
NO: Speed at No load

The steady state overall frequency regulation is defined as

N N
0 PR
100
N R
THE EFFECT OF REGULATION
This regulation permits a machine
to share load with other
machines in a stable manner.
Generally the droop of a turbine
used for electric power
generation varies between 4-
7%.
Typical governor frequency
regulation characteristics is
shown here as
THE EFFE CT OF CHANGING
SPEED SET POINT
 USE OF VARIABLE DROOP SETTINGS
FOR CLOSED LOOP LOAD CONTROL
Closed loop control of turbine electrical
load by use of proportional and integral
load controllers is added to the basic
governing system to facilitate the provision
of variable droop settings. The frequency
range over which the load loop is operative
is limited so that even when the load loop
droop is set to high or infinite values the
unit response any large frequency errors in
a manner matched to the characteristics of
the normal droop of the basic speed
governor.
 Governing Of Large Reheat Machines
On reheat machines it is necessary to control not only the hp
valves but also the interceptor (IP) valves because on a full
load rejection the stored steam in the reheater and the
associated pipe lines could be sufficient to overspeed the
machine to destruction. The characterstics of the IP valves
are such that they usually remain fully open over the
normal low range of the machine and the governing action
is achieved by throttling of the HP valves. This operating
regime is known as HP governing & is achieved by giving a
fixed bias to the IP valves.

However, the reheater control valves comes into

action during certain abnormal conditions like fast load
rejection or low load conditions with excessively high
reheater pressure, with the help of over riding controls
provided by features like load sheding relay, IP trimming
device etc.
 Types of Governors

There are three types of speed Governors

 Mechanical
 Hydraulic
 Electrical
 Combination of Hydraulic & Electrical

With the increasing amount of automatic control equipment

employed in a power plant greater demands are being
made on turbine governing system with regard to their
response sensitivity & speed of operation.

An electro hydraulic governing system as thus been

developed which needs these stringent requirements.
 Mechanical Governor
 It is a force balanced
system, the centrifugal
force of the rotating
weight is balanced by
the elastic force of a
spring and the radial
position taken by the
weight is dependent
on the speed of the
rotation
 Hydraulic Governor
 A hydraulic Governor for a turbine consists
of a centrifugal pump driven from the main
shaft which supplies oil to a cylinder
containing a spring loaded piston or bellows.
The pressure is proportional to the square of
the speed, so the position of the piston or
bellows is a function of speed.
 Electrical governor
 Common design incorporates a permanent type shaft
driven permanent magnet generator producing an a.c.
wave having frequency of shaft speed. This wave is fed
into an electric filter that resonates at a frequency
corresponding to rated speed and the output is rectified
to produce a d.c signal proportional to difference
between rated and actual speed. This signal is amplified
to form required speed correction signal.
 Another design utilizes digital signals from a shaft driven
square wave generator, the output is compared with a
reference square wave signal generated by an oscillator.
The output of the comparator is rectified and amplified to
form required control signal.
 ADVANTAGES OF ELECTRICAL GOVERNING SYSTEM

1. House load operation is possible within acceptable range

of frequency.
2. Provision of load controller - Proportional + Integral
control action as against pure proportional action of
Mechanical/Hydraulic governors.
3. Provision of taking aspects of thermal stresses of
different parts of the turbine during startup, shutdown and
normal load operation. This is valuable for enhancing life
of the Turbine.
4. Accurate control of the desired acceleration of the
machine during rolling.
5. Accurate control of the load gradient while loading the
machine.
 Parallel Systems

Modern day turbines are equipped with

two parallel governing systems a) Hydraulic
(b) Electro Hydraulic – Both independent of
each other. Although only one of them
comes into control action at any given point
of time, the other governor acts as a backup
and its output is in the ready- to- takeover
mode(tracking mode).
Basic Elements Of A Governing System
 Relays
 The output of the speed governor requires amplification
of both force and displacement to provide sufficient
power to actuate the steam valves. It is the function of the
governor relays (or servos) to perform this duty. More
than one relay is usually employed due to the relative
positions of the governor and steam valves and to
provide the required force amplification
 The hydraulic amplifier is best suited as force amplifier
for steam valve actuation. No other form of electrical or
mechanical amplifier can develop the very high powers
demanded by the essential high speed motions of the
modern steam turbine valves. Even where electrical
speed governor is adapted the electrical signal is
converted to mechanical displacement to enable the final
force amplification to be performed hydraulically.
HYDRAULIC AMPLIFIER
 Speeder Gear
 Speed Governors are fitted with stops which limit the
speed range above and below which they operate. The
normal operating range is ± 6% of the nominal speed.
Within this range the speed may be controlled by an
operator making an adjustment to the relationship
between the radius of the governor weights and the
position of the governor weights. The adjusting gear
known as speeder gear acts in parallel with the speed
governor. After an initial run up the speeder gear is used
to bring the machine to rated speed before
synchronization. After the machine is synchronized the
speeder gear controls its power output. In electrical
governing system function of speeder gear is achieved
by means of a motor driven potentiometer. As the
speeder gear setting is represented by a voltage that is
added to the electrical speed governor signal.
Speeder Gear
 Acceleration feedback
 With a disconnection from the power system, the response
of a governor without acceleration feedback would be
controlled by the speed error term as modified by the droop
law. If the speed droop is set to 4%, the valves would have
fully closed by the time the speed was 4% above normal. A
typical value of the initial acceleration rate is 12% per
second, so it would be at least 0.33 seconds before the
valves had been signalled to the fully closed state. In
addition, inherent delays in the hydraulic system mean that
the valves do not achive the signalled closure response.
Taking a linear acceleration rate of 12% per second, the
time to reach an overspeed of 10% would be 10/12 = 0.833
seconds. Because of the expansion of steem entrained
between the steam valves and the turbine, the turbine will
continue to accelerate after the steam valves are closed.
To contain the overspeed within the trip setting of 10%, it is
generally necessary to incorporate an acceleration term.
 With acceleration detection valves can be instructed to
closed within 30 Ms of the load rejection and should be
fully closed 100 Ms later.
 Anticipatory Gear
 The response of the governing
gear should be sufficiently
rapid in action, to prevent the
transient over speed in the
event of full load rejection so
that it does not reach the
setting of the over speed trip
gear. This is achieved through
the provision of anticipatory
gear or the secondary
governor in the circuit which
acts by sensing the loss of
electrical load either directly
from the generator terminals or
from the resultant acceleration
of the turbine shaft.
 Turbine Protective Devices
(A) Hydraulically Operated Devices
 Over Speeding
 Vaccum Failure.
 Thurst Bearing Failure.
(B) Protection Through Electrical Circuit
 Lubricating Oil Failure
 Generators Motoring
 Abnormal Generator Parameters.
(C) Through Operators Intervention
 Excessive Vibration
 Excessive Temperature Diffrentials.
 Abnormal Expansions.
 Abnormal Eccentricity.
(D) Automatic Unloading Gears
 Low Vaccum Unloading Gear.
 Low Steam Pressure Unloading Gear.
For (A), (B) & (C), tripping of the turbine is effected by automatic actuation
of hydraulic or remote electrical tripping devices. (D) is achieved by
features available with the hydraulic circuit with governing system.
On-Load Testing Of Valves & Protective
Devices
 To ensure that governing & emergency valve spindles
remain free during long period on load provision is made to
close & open the valves when the machine is on load .

 Similarly, on-load testing fascilities of various protective

devices like Over Speed, Trust Bearing, Low Vaccum &
Trip Solenoids are the features of present day governing
systems.
Various methods of on-load operation of valves are
adopted depending upon the design of the particular
governing system.
In one particular design which is currently popular in
India (KWU design) these functions achieved through the
programme called Automatic Turbine Tester (ATT).
 Free Governing Action
In advanced countries free Governing Action of the
turbogenerators is used to take care of the fluctuations in
the grid demand (load). This indicates a situation where the
loading and unloading of the machine takes place in tune
with the changes in the grid frequency. In United kingdom,
normal operational tolerance is ±0.4 % i.e 50.2 Hz. To 49.8
Hz.
However in the Indian Context, due to large variation in
the grid frequencies ( normal operating range 48.0 Hz. To
51.5 Hz) free governing mode operations will have many
disadvantages. A frequency variation of 2 to 3 Hz in daily
basis would mean frequent load change by large quantum
i.e from 100% to 40% load or lesser.
 COMPARISON OF SYSTEM
FREQUENCY PATTERN
UK INDIA
 0.07 Hz Variation in  2 Hz variation in 10
5 Minutes. Minutes is observed.
 The operational  The above limits
limits (50Hz+0.4%) have crossed many-
are to be exceeded fold times , even to
no more than 1500 the extent of 15,000
times each year times a year.
(equally split
between high and
low deviations).
Free Governing Action …..cont
Such large variation of output will require a matching
change in boiler output. This will lead to large and quick
changes in boiler fuel firing rate (oil support, if needed, for
low load operation), air flow, attemperation quantity etc.
But the boiler response is not as fast as that of the changes
in the electrical load of the generator. This gives rise to
fluctuations in the drum level, furnace instability and
temperature excursion.
So, sustained operation under this regime would lead
to frequent equipment failures and less reliability of the
system.
Hence , free governing should be used only for
trimming purpose after the frequency has been brought
down to a band range of ±0.25 Hz, for which the boiler
response time would not come into the picture to a great
extent.
 INTERNATIONAL PRACTICE..

Availability of large regulating/ contingency

reserves in the grid

Pumped storage plants,fast acting hydel

plants are available at the command of load
despatchers
 INTERNATIONAL PRACTICE..

 Coarse frequency variation as shown above is

brought in the fine variation range of 0.07 Hz ,
then the frequency control is done by free
governor mode by fossil fired power stations.
 In UK, Coarse frequency control is provided by
committing pumped storage plant (on reserve
duty) to and from the generation mode, as
required , plus dispatch instructions to other
plant.
 INTERNATIONAL PRACTICE..

 In the U.K. power system , it is usual for the

peak demand to be met by first pumped
storage devices , then by gas turbines and
only after that merit order ranked coal fired
power plant.
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