Three Phase Partial Discharge Investigation of a 108 MW Hydro

Stator
EEA Conference & Exhibition 2016, 22 - 24 June, Wellington

Andrew Lapthorn ∗1 , Yanosh Irani2 , Wade Enright2 , Paula Race3 , Karl Schicker3 and Colin
McDonald3
1
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Canterbury
2
Viva Technical Solutions Ltd.
3
Contact Energy Ltd.

May 6, 2016

Abstract
Online monitoring of a number of 108 MW hydro generators discovered that high levels of partial discharge
(PD) were present. An attempt was made to locate the source of the PD using a power factor test set energising
one phase at a time but was unsuccessful. Between 2004 and 2006 the units were all rewedged and the end cap
scraped and repainted, reducing the levels of PD activity recorded. Experience from similar units suggested that
the P.D. activity would reduce overtime and the effected units were not in any danger of experiencing a failure.
However, analysis performed in 2013 revealed a normalized quantity number (N QN ) of over 2000 and the
maximum PD magnitude (Qm ) of 1200 pC.
As part of a planned outage window on one of the units, an attempt at a three phase livening up to rated voltage
of the stator was made for the purpose locating the sources of PD. With the rotor of the generator removed, the
three phases of the stator were successfully energized to rated voltage and held there for 70 minutes using three
partial core resonating transformers. While energized, sources for PD were investigated using online and acoustic
methods.
In this paper the engineering challenges involved in livening the three phases to rated voltage are presented.
Details of the PD investigation process are given along with the major findings and results of the investigation.
The paper concludes with reflections on what we learnt during the process and how we would approach this
exercise if we were to do this again.

∗ andrew.lapthorn@canterbury.ac.nz – Presenting
1 Introduction
Preventive maintenance practices are an important aspect of managing assets in the electricity sector including
generator assets. By utilising various inspections, diagnostic tests and maintenance procedures, asset owners can
be confident of the safe, reliable operation of their assets for many years.
As generators are complicated machines, there are many things that could possibly affect their normal op-
eration. One such anomaly that can possibly occur in the high voltage windings of generator stators is partial
discharge (PD). If left unchecked, PD can eventually lead to insulation failure of the stator and possibly a catas-
trophic failure of the stator winding and surrounding core laminations. Online monitoring systems can be used
to see if a PD problem is occurring but it is often difficult to determine the exact location of the problem if the
online system has detected PD. Visual inspection of the stator windings for signs of PD is usually difficult while
the machine is assembled.
By utilising an outage window where the rotor is removed, better access to the stator windings is possible. Be-
ing able to liven all three phases to rated voltage with the rotor removed provides engineers with an unprecedented
opportunity to inspect the windings in a simulated in-service condition. In this paper the engineering challenges
involved in livening the three phases to rated voltage are presented. Details of the PD investigation process are
given along with the major findings and results of the investigation. The paper concludes with reflections on what
we learnt during the process and how we would approach this exercise if we were to do this again.

2 The Reason for the Offline Three Phase Testing

The generator investigated was commissioned in 1993 but was based on a 1984 vintage design and there was some
concern regards possible end cap PD activity, especially where line and neutral bars are in adjacent slots. Online
PD activity monitoring was started in 1994 with the installation of stub configured cable type coupling capacitors
and the purchase of a PDA-IV Analyser, from IRIS Power Engineering.
The first test samples were carried out in September 1994 as shown in Figure 1. The levels of activity were
much higher than had been expected, however it had not been possible the get the machine thermally stable at the
time of testing, which made the results somewhat variable. It was not until October 1995 that the first thermally
stabilised results were obtained and the high levels of PD activity observed in the earlier tests were not apparent
as shown in Figure 2.
From the analysis at the time, the PD was considered to be internal which prompted us to try and locate the
source via offline tests by energising one phase at a time using a power factor test set as the energising source. A
collective of various PD detectors (TVA probe and the like) and specialist were gathered together, at some expense
and with great expectations, but in the event the test was a total failure. No PD activity at all was recorded by any
of the method arranged on site, including the PDA-IV instrument.
PD activity had developed within the initial two years of service on each of the generators installed at the
station, but the first opportunity to inspect a unit (G2) was not until March 1997. The inspection revealed a lot of
activity on the top endwinding caps, with a lot of paint coming off the rubberised caps, and surface deterioration
of the rubber starting to occur. This condition had been reported on earlier units supplied by Hitachi in South
Africa. The reason for the PD activity was deemed to be the surface layer of a rubberized type material applied

Figure 1: Phase A test result from September 1994. Operating load 96 MW, 1 MVAr. Operating Temperature
54◦ C

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Figure 2: Phase A test result from October 1995. Operating load 89 MW, 3 MVAr. Operating Temperature 56◦ C

Figure 3: Phase A test result from October 2013. Operating load 95 MW, 0 MVAr. Operating Temperature 58◦ C

to the insulated epoxy end caps dielectric constant. This value, relative to the remaining insulation system of the
end caps, resulted in the surface rubberized insulation experiencing a voltage drop across it, which gave rise to an
electrical field stress greater than 3/,kV/mm. Thus surface PD activity occurred.
Between 2004 and 2006 the units were all rewedged and the end caps all scraped and repainted which reduced
the levels of PD activity recorded. It was also thought, from other world related experience, that the PD activity
would reduce overtime and the effected units were not in any danger of experiencing a failure. However it was
recommended that the PD activity relationship be correlated with high/low humidity and ozone concentration
(ppm).
High humidity will give reduced values of PD activity and low humidity gives increased values of PD activity.
PD activity with normalized quantity number (N QN ) positive values of between 250-300 should be considered
acceptable. However if surface PD activity N QN + values persists above 700 and the ozone concentration is over
0.7 ppm then consideration should be given to implementing discharging end cap removal and reinsulating the bar
to bar connection with epoxy resin and mica tape. Expert comments at the time (2007) were that if PD activity
N QN + values exceed 700 usually they keep increasing.
In 2013 the generator owner purchased a new PD Analyser, which made it easier to download and review
results and the results of the tests carried out in October of that year really made us sit up and take notice (Figure 3).
The N QN + figure for the G1 unit was 2303 and Qm + 1200 but the initial stator examination during strip down of
the unit did not reveal the expected evidence of PD activity. The stator winding and wedges appeared in reasonable
condition, although dirty. Shortly after the machine had to be stripped down to address a turbine related issue,
which provided the opportunity to investigate three phase testing of the stator winding offline.
Offline tests were needed to try and confirm if the noted activity is real and its location, or if there is an issue
with the old cable type couplers that were installed in the units back in 1994. It is possible that the couplers will
need to be replaced with the more modern post type couplers that are less prone to random discharges.

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 Figure 4: Circuit schematic of the test setup for the three phase livening of the hydro stator

3 Three Phase Livening

In March 2015, engineers from the University of Canterbury were contracted in to provide an offline, three-phase
livening of the 108 MW hydro generator stator, something which had never been attempted before anywhere in
the world. To achieve this, three individual Partial Core Resonating Transformers (PCRT) were used. PCRTs have
been used to perform short term (60 s) high voltage withstand tests on a number of generator and motor stators
throughout New Zealand for well over a decade [2, 4]. During this test, both ends of a single phase winding under
test are connected to the output the PCTR while the remaining phases and stator core are earthed. The phase under
test is then raised to the test voltage (usually 2Un + 1 kV) and held there for the test duration before being lowered
to 0 V. The test is a pass if there is no significant leakage current which would indicate a failure of the winding
insulation.
This test is performed at mains frequency (50 Hz) and can require significant reactive power from the local
distribution board due to the capacitance of the insulation under test. The capacitance can be in the order of a few
10s of nF to over 1 µF and with test voltages reaching 30 kV the reactive power requirements for a test can reach up
to 300 kVAr which would need over 700 A from a 400 V distribution board. Because of the sometimes significant
reactive power requirements of a test, reactive compensation in the form of a tunable high voltage inductor place
in parallel to the insulation under test is often employed. The PCRT design used in this paper incorporates the
tunable inductor and high voltage step up transformer into a single device which greatly simplifies the test setup
and can reduce the VA requirements from the distribution board by a factor of 20. More information on the design
and use of these devices can be found in [1, 3]

Table 1: General Generator Data

Rated Output 0.9 PF Lagging 108 MW
Rated Speed 125 rpm
Rated Voltage 15.4 kV
Stator Resistance 0.003 pu
Synchronous Reactance Direct Axis 0.87 pu
Stator Insulation Capacitance per phase 0.7 µF

The generator being investigated was a 108 MW, wye connected, 50 Hz, hydro generator. Some basic data
on the machine is given in Table 1. An initial request was made to attempt to liven the generator stator to rated
voltage in the wye configuration as it is in service. This was quickly ruled out as unfeasible due to the very large
current that would flow because the stator impedance (Table 1) would be the only thing limiting the current flow.
Instead, the method chosen to achieve the three phase rated voltage was to isolate each phase by removing

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 (a) The three PCRT along the the capacitive loads. (b) The three single phase variACs used for correcting the output volt-
age

Figure 5: Photos of the test setup being trialled in the high voltage lab

the links at both the neutral and the isolated-phase bus ends and connect both ends of each phase winding to the
high voltage output of three PCRT connected in a wye configuration. The three PCRT were connected to the local
distribution board via a three phase, 70 A, 400 V variAC connected in wye-wye. This enabled the voltage applied
to each phase to be controlled simultaneously.
A further complication was due to the fact that we did not have three identical PCRT capable of tuning to
the stator insulation capacitance. The three PCRT used had different turns ratios which means that for a given
input voltage their output voltage was different by up to 30%. This was accounted for by using three single phase,
10 A variACs on the input to each PCRT to act as a sort of tap changer (Figure 5(b). Voltage and current were
monitored on the input and output of the PCRT using calibrated meters. Protection from overvoltages was made
via calibrated sphere gaps. A circuit schematic of the test setup is given in Figure 4
The circuit shown in Figure 4 was tested before going onto site at the University of Canterbury high voltage
laboratory using capacitors to simulate the stator insulation capacitance as shown in Figure 5 and was proven to
work effectively.
Upon arrival at site, an induction and safety briefing took place followed by a discussion of the test plan by all
parties. A number of factors needed to be considered before the stator could be livened to rated voltage. These
included:
Preparation of the stator for testing The stator windings are wound in 2 parallel sections per phase. For the
testing, the line end terminals were tied together with fuse wire and the neutral end is permanently tied via
a copper strip. Connections to the isolated-phase bus and the neutral tie ends were removed and the stator
windings earthed with temporary earths. The embedded RTD’s were not earthed for the testing due to the
following arguments:
• A previous 20 kV high potential withstand test in 2004 was not performed with the RTDs disconnected
and earthed.
• The test voltage is at rated voltage, not a high potential withstand test.
• The test is like an in-service condition except the voltage is not graded. However the neutral end
insulation is rated for full service voltage because of a high impedance earth.
Testing of Earths and sphere gaps For the high voltage testing all equipment was earthed to an earth block
connected to the local station earth. All earths were checked with an earth loop tester at 25 A. The protection
sphere gaps, as shown in Figure 6(c), were set 120% of the test voltage according to IEC 60052-2005 [5]
and soak tested for 3 minutes at the test voltage. The applied voltage was then increased to flash-over to
prove the flashover point of the sphere gaps.
The hv connections to the stator phases The high voltage connections from the PCRT to the stator terminals
required some careful planning. The neutral cubical and the isolated-phase bus were approximately 10 m
from each other around the stator and about 3 m down the pit from the machine hall floor. This required the
construction of a transmission line like system out of conduit pipe, cable ties and wire whilst making sure to
allow sufficient clearances for the applied voltages, see Figure 6(a) and 6(d). In addition a stand made from
fibreglass poles was needed to clear the hand rail around the pit (Figure 6(b)). The star point in the neutral
cubical and the isolated-phase bus were earthed during testing.

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(a) View of the hv connections to the stator. Neutral connection bot- (b) Fibreglass stand used to clear the handrail.
tom left ipb connection top right.

(c) The three PCRT on site along with the protective sphere gaps. (d) Closeup view of the neutral connection showing the clarences.

Figure 6: Photos of the test setup on site

The phase rotation of the PCRT Because the PCRTs had only been used as single phase devices in the past no
thought had ever been given to the phase rotation of the output terminals before. While setting up on site
it was realised that the phase rotation would need to be considered to ensure a balanced 3 phase voltage
was applied to the stator. With only single phase high voltage probes, this was confirmed by performing
three tests while measuring the phase-to-ground and phase-to-phase voltages of two phases at 1 kV phase-
to-ground. If the phase alignment is correct the phase-to-phase voltage should be 1.73 kV for 1 kV phase-
to-ground. If one of the windings is out of phase the the phase to phase voltage will be 0.52 kV for 1 kV
phase-to-ground. The results from the phase allingment test are given in Table 2

Table 2: Three phase alignment test results

Test 1 VR = 1 kV VY = 1 kV VR−Y = 1.8 kV
Test 2 VY = 1 kV VB = 1 kV VY −B = 1.8 kV
Test 3 VB = 1 kV VR = 1 kV VB−R = 1.7 kV

Tuning of the PCRT to the stator insulation capacitance In order to limit the current needed from the distri-
bution board each PCRT needs to be tuned to the capacitance of the stator windings. This means the the
self-inductive reactance of the high voltage PCRT winding is matched to the capacitive reactance of the
stator insulation so that the power factor seen from supply side is unity. The steps to achieve this are as
follows:
• Use an insulation tester to perform Insulation Resistance and Polarization Index tests on the stator
phases under test. Record the stator capacitance obtained at the end of this test.
• Adjust the secondary inductance of the PCRT to match the stator capacitance of the stator buy selecting
the appropriate tap setting and/or by adjusting the core spacing. Adding more turns or decreasing the
core spacing increases the secondary inductance.

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 • Check the tuning by connecting the PCRT to the stator and increasing the voltage to a safe level (for
example 1 kV) and monitor the power factor of the lv side of the PCRT. A power factor greater than
0.8 is usually considered to be tuned. If the power factor is less than 0.8 lagging it means too much
inductive current is being drawn. The inductive current can be decreased by increasing the inductance
via increasing tap setting (more turns) or reducing the core spacing. Likewise if the power factor is
less than 0.8 leading indictates that too little inductive current is being drawn. The inductive current
can be increased by decreasing the inductance via decreasing tap setting (less turns) or increasing the
core spacing.
• Check that the current drawn from the distribution is acceptable and that the test voltage is able to be
achieved without overloading the supply.
With the preparations complete the stator was livened to rated voltage at 5:25pm for the PD investigation and
was shutdown at 6:10pm upon completion of the investigation. Current drawn from the distribution board supply
at 8.9 kV was 6.45 A on the red phase, 9.46 A on the yellow phase, and 10.00 A on the blue phase. No overloading
from the supply or the PCRTs were noted throughout the duration of the testing.

4 Partial Discharge Investigation

The stator investigated is of split ring configuration with two circuits per phase with the circuits on each phase are
denoted C1 (circuit 1) and C2 (circuit 2). A phase has two circuits which are denoted AC1 and AC2, similarly
with B and C phases. The stator windings are composed of 792 stator bars in 396 slots. Each phase has 48 poles
in a 3, 3, 3, 2 configuration. Six old style cable type PDA coupling capacitors were installed in 1994, one for each
circuit, as shown in Figure 7.
With the stator livened to rated voltage, the investigation was carried out using an ultra TEV (Transient Earth
Voltage) PD measuring device from ea Technology limited (Figure 8(a) to scan around the circumference of the

Figure 7: Stator Winding Diagram showing PDA coupler locations, Drawing no 10P114-149

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 (a) The Ultra TEV PD probe locating PD on the end winding. (b) The PDA-IV online system from IRIS power

Figure 8: Photos of the partial discharge measurement equipment

stator to try and locate sources of PD. In addition, the PDA-IV online PD monitoring system from IRIS power
(Figure 8(b)was used to correlate the measurements from earlier recordings.
From the ultra TEV monitoring, PD was noted at around 0030 if 12 noon is the upstream line. PD around the
C2 coupler on the top or maybe from the winding near the coupler. The IRIS system showed the same result with
PD on the C2 coupler. There also appeared to be some noise on the bottom end windings around the 3 o’clock
position. After TEV inspection the extinguish and inception voltages were found by varying the applied voltage.
The corona extinguished at 8.4 kV and the corona inception occurred at 8.2 kV.
Following the three phase livening, a visual inspection and cleaning of the stator was carried out along with
installation of new Epoxy Mica Capacitor (EMC) couplers to replace the old cable type coupling capacitors. The
inspection found evidence of PD in one location at the top end windings at slot 234 as shown in Figure 9(a), where
the wedges end and on several stator bars at the bottom end windings. This was wiped clean with a lint free rag.

(a) Slot 234 evidence of PD on top end winding. (b) Slot 387 evidence of PD on bottom end winding with pack-
ing migration.

(c) Slot 177 evidence of PD on bottom end winding with pack- (d) Slot 177 back bar evidence of PD on bottom end winding.
ing migration.

Figure 9: Photos of the partial discharge evidence.

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 Evidence of PD, in the form of a white-orange powder, was found in several places around the bottom end
windings. The stator bar packing was found to have migrated down in several locations and evidence of PD
was found in some of these locations. It is suspected that the reason for the packing migration was due to core
cylindrical deviation in the machine [6]
It was noted that PD occurred on the back bar of slot 387 (Figure 9(b)). This bar is at 2.78 kV in service
which is lower than the 4 kV value which is generally accepted as the minimum voltage that PD will occur in a
machine. It is suspected that this partial discharge occurred during 3 phase livening tests. During these tests the
entire windings were energised to rated voltage, i.e. 8.9 kV phase to ground. It should also be noted that this
migrating packing seen at slot 387 was 107 mm, the greatest of the packing migration seen on this machine.
Evidence of surface PD was found on several stator bars at the bottom end windings (Figures 9(c) and 9(d)).
It appeared in similar locations on the stator bars in every case; at the edge of the insulation tape just above the
bend of the end winding. In summary evidence of PD was found in a total of 77 locations. The lowest voltage
that this surface PD was found on was 4.95V (slot 31, back bar, circuit CC1, 59th out of 132 half coils). Note this
is disregarding the PD found on slot 387 which has a normal operating voltage of 2.78 kV for reasons explained
earlier.
The powdery substance left behind from the partial discharge was wiped away and the area was painted with
red anti-tracking varnish VA42.

5 Reflections and Conclusions

Overall the off-line three phase livening of the generator stator was successfully able to confirm the presence of
PD activity. However, upon reflection, the most valuable test would have been to use the corona probe to identify
individual slots where PD is occurring. Unfortunately the stator platform was not present on the day and so we
were unable to go ahead with this test. Conducting this test with all three phases livened and with each individual
phase livened one at a time would have helped to determine the cross coupling PD and the phase to ground
PD. This kind of detail would assist in determining whether the PD report from the IRIS online PD monitoring
equipment was true or not.
The ultra TEV, which we used during the test, did show that PD was present however it was not accurate
enough to pin point the exact location and cannot be used to verify or otherwise the Iris PD reports.
Since changing the PD couplers from cable type to EMC type there has been a reduction in the amplitude
(Qm +) and quantity (N QN +) of PD seen on red phase C2 coupler (prior to the works this was connected as C1
but was found to be incorrectly connected during the coupler swap out). Both values have approximately halved.
Yellow and blue phase do not show any significant change.
Did the PD seen on red phase C2 reduce as a result of changing out the PD coupler or was it a result of the
work that was carried out around the stator? The only work that was carried out around the stator that would affect
red phase C2 was the cleaning and touch up varnish painting of the bar in slot 261 and the cleaning of the top and
bottom and windings. These results are inconclusive.
Unfortunately we do not have a big success story as a result of the testing and still have several questions,
however our experience can be used for others to learn from.

References
[1] S. C. Bell. High-voltage Partial-Core Resonant Transformers. PhD thesis, Univ. of Canterbury, Christchurch,
New Zealand, 2008.
[2] P. S. Bodger and W. G. Enright. A Resonant Transformer for High Voltage Testing of Generator Stators. In
Australasian Universities Power Engineering Conference (AUPEC’03), page CD, University of Canterbury,
Christchurch, New Zealand, Sep 2003.

[3] P. S. Bodger and M. C. Liew. Reverse as-built transformer design method. International Journal of Electrical
Engineering Education, 39(1):42–53, 2002.
[4] W. G. Enright and P. S. Bodger. Short Time Rated and Protected High Voltage Ac Testing of Generator Stators
Using Parallel Resonant Circuits. In Electricity Engineers’ Association of New Zealand Annual Conference
(EEA’04), page CD, Christchurch, New Zealand, June 2002.

[5] International Electrotechnical Commission. Voltage Measurments by Means of Standard Air Gaps, IEC
60052, 3rd edition, 2002.

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[6] Paula Race. Clyde Unit 1 Stator Installation of PDA Couplers and Stator Inspection. Technical report, Contact
Energy Ltd., 2015.