ROOT CAUSE ANALYSIS OF UNIT NO.

3 AND 4 TRIPPING
INTRDUCTION Unit No.3 and 4 tripped during commissioning tests as mentioned below:Tripping Unit No. 4 4 3 Date Time Cause Unit No.4 Oil Sump Tank-Low Trip Unit No.4 Oil Sump Tank-High Trip Unit No.3 Oil Level Upper Oil Tank-Low Trip

26.02.2013 1907Hrs. 28.2.2013 0851Hrs.

01.03.2013 1210Hrs.

A Committee comprising of the under mentioned officials was constituted during daily executive meeting to investigate the root cause of the above Trippings.
1. Mr. Muzaffar Husain Sr.Engr. (C&I) Convener

2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

Mr. Safdar Husain Shah Sr.Engr. (Mech.) Mr. Waqas Shehzad Sr.Engr. (Planning) Mr. Masroor Rasool SSCE Mr. Akbar Ali Sr.Engr. (Elect.) Mr. Hammad Ur Rehman Trainee Mr. Sardar Ahsan Sarfaraz Trainee

Member Member Member Member Member Member

Oil level: - The filling level in the Oil High Tank and Oil Sump Tank is monitored with Level switches. Oil level is too high or too Low Alarm and Shut-down is usually due to the under mentioned reasons. 1. Level switch is blocked 2. Chocking of Oil Filter 3. Oil system is leaky 4. Penetration of water in oil system 5. Electrical or Mechanical fault in Motor-Pump set 6. Failure of Power/Control supply. (AC/DC) 7. Failure of LCU of relevant Unit

Motorized butterfly valve Bearing oil piping (Figure 1, Item 7) opens on auto with the start pulse of the Unit whereas gate valves (Figure1,item8) are manually opened before starting unit. The required pressure for maintaining the oil circulation is by Gravity. The oil flows from the elevated oil high tank (Figure 1, Item 6) through separate pipes to the Combined thrust bearing (thrust and guide bearing Figure 1, Item 1-3) and turbine bearing (guide bearing Figure 1, Item 4) . The bearing oil flows via a hole in the bearing body to the bearing surface of the guide bearing and hot oil exits through a second hole in the bearing body. Oil nozzle pipes arranged between the thrust bearings pads to distribute the cooled oil on the bearing surface. Thus the oil flowing into the lubricating gap cools and lubricates the thrust bearing. Seal rings prevent seeping of oil out of the bearing. The bearing hot oil flows by gravity into the Bearing oil Sump Tank located at elevation 227 masl Figure 1, Item 09. From there the hot bearing oil is pumped through the oil filter and oil-water coolers (Figure 1, Item 5) back to the oil high tank. Oil-water coolers, which are mounted on the oil high tank, cool the hot oil. Level Switches are installed on both tanks for monitoring as well as regulation of oil Level according to preset maximum-minimum values through Bearing oil Pump Motor Set.

In case of failure of the oil system or both pump sets, the oil high tank will feed lubrication oil into the generator bearing for approx. 5 minutes. Within these 5 minutes the machine has to be stopped as the oil Level in High Tank will deplete and Leakage Tank will increase consequently will harm Bearings due to inadequate lubrication and cooling. In order to protect the bearings against excessive wear, the HP-oil system starts, if the generator speed falls below a certain value (approx. 90% rated speed).

INVESTIGATION/ PROCEEDINGS Tripping analysis is based on the relevant Events Lists attached with the Tripping reports of these Units.

Unit No.4 Tripping on 28.02.2013

Station Transformers No.1 and 2 (ST1 &ST2) tripped at 08:45:53.497 and 08:45:53.504 respectively on Zero sequence Diff. Protection. 400 Volt MDB 2 incoming circuit breaker Q 01 opened at 08:45:58.906 and 400 Volt EDB incoming Circuit Breaker closed at 08:46:21.093. Unit 4 tripped on Oil Sump Tank- High level at 08:51:40.309. Unit No. 4 tripped on Oil Sump tank high level after laps of 00:05:86.812 time , since tripping of both the Station transformers. The tripping of Unit 4 on Oil sump tank high level is normal phenomenon as the failure of screw oil pump for any reason will result in Level increase of Oil Sump Tank and if the

unit does not trip within the 5 minutes then it should be shut down manually to protect the bearings against excessive wear. Failure of changeover of Unit Auxiliary Incoming supply from Non-Essential to Essential supply is the prime cause of Motor-Pump Set outage consequently increasing the Level and tripping the Unit No.4 on oil sump tank high level. High Oil Tank

Motorized Butterfly Valve

Combined Thrust Bearing

Turbine Guide Bearing

Leakage Oil Tank

Figure No.1

Normally Unit Auxiliaries are fed through their respective incoming breakers and Motor operated circuit breakers from 400 VAC Normal Bus (Non-Essential). Also standby supply arrangement from 400 VAC Essential Bus is provided which is energized by 600KW Diesel Generator on Auto in case of tripping of both Station auxiliary Transformers or DE

energizing of Non-Essential bus. Normally Incoming supply breakers (+20BFA01Q01~Q04) from Non-Essential bus and (+20BFB02-Q01~Q04) from AC Essential Bus are in closed position and changeover of Unit Auxiliaries from Non-Essential to AC Essential takes place through Motor operated Circuit Breakers (+01CJA01 Q100 & +01CJA01 Q101) which operate on Under voltage of Non-Essential incoming supply.
+20BFA01 Q04 +20BFB02 Q04

+01CJA01 Q100

+01CJA01 Q101

Unit No.4 Tripping on 26.02.2013 Unit No.4 Oil Sump Tank-Low Level 0ff/on alarm appeared repeatedly since 1844Hrs as reported in the Tripping report and there after Unit tripped on Unit 4 Oil Sump Tank-Low Trip at 19:07:53.550Hrs. Frequent appearance of alarm for 23 minutes indicates erratic behavior of Level Switch and seems to be the probable cause of the Unit tripping. Unit No.3 Tripping on 01.03.2013 Indication Unit No.3 Oil Level Upper Oil Tank-Low Alarm" appeared at 12:10:06.651Hrs followed by LCU3 PE11 Warning Alarm and Failure at 12:10:06.651Hrs, thereafter Unit No.3 Tripped with the Indication Upper Oil Tank Level-Low Trip" on 01.03.2013 at 12:10:23.455Hrs. Probable cause of Tripping seems to be the failure of LCU-3 consequent upon loss of Unit Auxiliary control including Bearing Oil Pump-Motor set.