1/25/2018 All kinds of faults in an alternator and their protection.

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Electrical System/All kinds of faults in an alternator and their protec on.

Electrical System

All kinds of faults in an alternator and

their protection.
October 10, 2012 | sirajul | 1 Comment

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We can divide alternator faults in two type -Internal fault, External fault. There is
internal Fault like 1.Stator Winding Fault (most severe), 2.Excitation circuit fault or
failure of rotor field, 3.Unbalanced loading. On the other hand, there is external fault
like 3.Failure of prime Mover, 4.Over current, 5.Over / under Voltage, 6.Over Speed;
7.over / under frequency.8. Loss of synchronism or pulling out of step . 9.Over or
under frequency fault of alternator(newly added).

01. Stator winding fault.

It is the most severe fault and considered most important for alternator protection.
This vital protection of alternator stator is Differential circulating current scheme or
Mertz price differential current protection scheme of alternator is discussed in a
separate post.

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02. Alternator Prime Mover failure fault or reverse

power fault-
What is prime mover in an alternator-We know about prime mover. Its the
mechanical system that rotates the rotor in alternator or just in simple word runs the
alternator. Typical prime movers are diesel or gas engines, steam turbine, wind –
tidal force, water flow static force in hydro electric plant with dam etc.Now that we
understand about prime mover, it is clearly understandable that any time a prime
mover might fail to keep the alternator running. The root causes are so simple like
fuel flow shut up in gas /diesel engine, inadequate water flow in hydro electric plants
etc.

The effect of prime mover failure in an alternator– we can imagine the situation, an
alternator is coupled with prime mover running, and it is directly connected to the
grid or some parallel electrical bus supplying power. When the prime mover fails, it
is still connected to the live electric bus. Then the alternator fails to supply power but
starts receiving power from live electric bus. This time the synchronous alternator
takes power acts as an synchronous motor and run the engines or turbine in
uncontrolled high speed. This is called reverse power.

Severity of reverse power: For gas turbine and any hydroelectric system the turbine
installed is capable of running in very high speeds, so when high speed occurs due to
reverse power, any technician can decouple the circuit breaker. But for diesel /
engine system, the reverse power is so dangerous, as the over speed limit of engines
re nominal like 120% of rated speed. As example our plant’s Wartsila engines rated
speed was 750 RPM, and its high speed limit was 840/880 RPM.

Remedy -A reverse power relay is recommended.But this relay should have time
delay to avoid false trip in case of short time system disturbance,phase swinging and
fluctuation in synchronization.Thus when a reverse power problem occurs, the first
thing is to decouple the corresponding circuit breaker to disconnect the alternator
from live line. If it is stuck, then shut down the whole bus, if that too is not possible
then shut the whole power plant for engine based power plant only.

03. Over current fault on an alternator.

Causes of over current fault on an alternator is the Partial breakdown of internal
winding insulation, Overload on the supply system.Over current protec on for
alternator is unnecessary because of high internal impedance of alternator, Modern
design concept of alternator is to set high internal impedance of alternator.Thus if
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over current fault occurs,due to high internal impedance alternator can withstand
short circuit for a while.It can manually disconnect from the bus.

False tripping on an alternator by over current protec on relay is need to be

considered as this might disconnect alternator from bus for some fault out side of
plant.This will cause interruption of continuous operation, so over current relay used
must have time delay.

04. Over voltage protection of an alternator:

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If we talk about over voltage of an alternator, its internal over voltage. Over volatge
fault of an alternator is very rare, as the excitation current that controls the voltage
has closed supervision with AVR, automatic voltage regulator system.

However, if somehow alternator suddenly disconnected from the load, its speed
exceeds rated speed, over voltage might occur. So an over voltage relay is
recommenced to install where alternator rpm is not closely supervised.

05. Unbalanced loading of an Alternator

This is not a direct fault, just a symptom of some severe faults. But we can
summarize those faults in one fault category to apply a common protection scheme
for it. First of all, unbalanced loading means there are different current in three
phases of alternator. In normal condition, the difference in phase current varies +/-
5% , but when this difference exceeds- then it is unbalanced condition. As it is stated
earlier that this unbalanced is not itself a fault, does not apply any ham but the cause
of unbalanced is harmful like grounding of one phase, or short circuit of phase to
phase.

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To sense and protect the unbalanced loading a simple conception is used that the
three phase current is equal in magnitude but 120 degree separate by phase angle. So
when we vectorically sum up three phase current- the result is zero. Thus we can
apply some simple instrument transformer to watch out the summation of three
phase to zero, if by some means there is some value other than zero that is not in the
range of tolerable, then this circuit can send a trip signal.

The below circuit foloow the above conception. See the secondaries of three CT’s are
shorted, so the sum of normal phase currents is zero, no current in the trip coil. By
some instance if there is some unbalanced, then there will be some current in the
secondary, that will eventually sen trip signal.

Unbalanced loading fault protection of an alternator with a protection relay.

06. Stator inter turn protection of alternator

This specific protection is for alternators with multiple coils turns like in double
phase winding used in large steam turbine alternators. The concept is that this
protection scheme covers the stator coil inter turn to turn short circuit, not coil to
coil(phase to phase) or coil to ground(phase to ground). Its like a local fault in one of
the coil.

The protection scheme to cover stator inter turn fault is simply basissing the theory
of differential theory. In normal condition, the two coil or multi coils individually
carry same magnitude of current but with a phase displacement. If this current is
summed up in a common circuit then the result will be zero. So we can just place
some CT’s with their secondaries shorted and primaries with individual coils. If some
fault persists, then there will be current in the secondaries which will energize the
trip circuit.

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07. Loss of Synchronism or pulling out of step fault

of alternator
This type of fault we used to see in power plant. Suddenly one of alternator shut
down and in protection relay fault log display shows “Loss of sysnchronism”.

To understand this fault we can have some brief theory. As in all electrical
rotating machine, the common working principle is that there is some
disalignment generated between two flux- rotor flux & stator flux. Thus a
force is exerted to straighten this dis alignment-which is harnessed as
working force.

Fp=resultant air-gap flux per pole

Fw = mmf of the dc field winding
Drf = electrical phase angle between magnetic axes of Fp & Fw

As the prime-mover torque is

increased, the magnitude of Drf
must increase until the
electromechanical torque
balances the shaft torque. The
readjustment process is
actually a dynamic one,
requiting a change in the
mechanical speed of the rotor.

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As can be seen from Fig, an

increase in prime-mover torque
will result in a corresponding
increase in the torque angle.
When Drf becomes 90 °, the
electromechanical torque
reaches its maximum value,
known as the pull-out torque.
Any further increase in prime-
mover torque cannot be
balanced by a corresponding
increase
The adjustment of the rotor to its new angular position following
in synchronous
a load change
electromechanical torque, with
the result that synchronism will
no longer be maintained and the rotor will speed up. This phenomenon is known as
loss of synchronism or pulling out of step.

As remedy– Under these conditions, the generator is usually disconnected from the
external electrical system by the automatic operation of circuit breakers, and the
prime mover is quickly shut down to prevent dangerous over speed. The value of the
pull-out torque can be increased by increasing either the field current or the
resultant air-gap flux. However, this cannot be done without limit; the field current
is limited by the ability to cool the field winding, and the air-gap flux is limited by
saturation of the machine iron.

08. Over frequency & Under frequency fault and

protection for alternator
The frequency has a constant stable value, defined by the equation (Ns=120f/p). But
frequency varies causing over and under frequency fault. Over or under frequency
has its own severe effect on both the load side and generating equipment side, We
are talking here about the generating set – alternator. The first thing we like to know
why the over or under frequency occurs.

The frequency varia on created by the load demand(excess or less then genera on).
Say when a generating station producing power that equals the net consump on plus
the loss, then the system will be stable. But when the load demand is higher then
production, that is production is low then use/demand then frequency will be low,
on the other hand when the load demand is less then production or production is
excess then frequency will be higher.

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We can summarize over & under frequency in a mathematical concept to

understand and memorize as below-
Produc on > Load demand = frequency high
Produc on < Load demand = frequency low
Produc on = Load demand = frequency stable.

The remedy or protection of over and under protection is simple. When under
frequency occurs that is more power consumer then the covering capacity, then the
only solution is to effect load shedding or increase the power generation. For over
frequency the only solution is to lower the power generation. A relay can be used to
automatically control the loading, unloading of generator or effect the load shedding.

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ONE THOUGHT ON “ALL KINDS OF FAULTS IN AN ALTERNATOR

AND THEIR PROTECTION.”

Hady
OCTOBER 16, 2014 AT 3:24 AM

If I set up my wind turbine with AC can I then hook that up to a very

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