s

RT2DB
Excitation and voltage regulation system
for synchronous generators

Fully digital.
Parameter settings
done by software.
Self monitoring
routines.
Maintenance free.
High reliability.
Excellent dynamic
performance.
Strong construction.
Several
communication
protocols available.
1) Introduction
The RT2DB excitation
system was developed
for excitation and
voltage regulation of
synchronous generators
equipped with rotating
exciters (brushless or
DC exciters).
In the case of brushless
exciters it will result in a
maintenance free power
generation system.
The system can be used
not only in hydro but
also in thermal power
plants, in new projects
or as an excellent
alternative for
refurbishment of old
regulators.
The RT2DB excitation
system can take the
necessary energy either
from the terminals of the
generator being excited,
through a three-phase
dry type excitation most severe overload
transformer in this case, conditions of the
or from a permanent generator.
magnet exciter (PMG). If
a PMG is used to supply In the cases where the
the system, its excitation system takes
frequency should be at its supply voltage from
most 100 Hz. the generator terminals
it may be necessary to
The voltage regulation sustain the excitation
is achieved by actuating current during a short
on the field winding of circuit on the generator
the exciter machine. terminals in order to
guarantee the actuation
For the field flashing of protection relays or
auxiliary energy is taken protection selectivity.
from the auxiliary power For that reason the
supply (DC or AC). RT2DB excitation
system can also include
The voltage and current a special circuitry for
regulation, the setpoint sustaining the stator
generation, the actual current of the generator
value measuring, the at a certain level in the
control of the field case of near short
flashing and shutdown circuit.
processes, as well as
the excitation system
monitoring are fully
digital. These functions
are carried out by a 32
bit processor module,
which is plugged in a
three-phase fully
controlled converter of
the series Simoreg DC
Master.
2) Power stage
Fig. 1: The Simoreg DC
The current rectification Master converter unit.
is carried out by the self
cooled Simoreg DC
Master unit. The
thyristors are protected
by monitored ultra-fast
fuses. The Simoreg
converter is designed
taking into account the

3) Configuration of the
electronics
The voltage regulation,
the control and the
monitoring functions of
the excitation system
are carried out by the
processor module T400
plugged in the Simoreg
converter. The thyristor
gating and monitoring
are implemented by the
converter itself.
The power supply for
the electronics is taken
in a redundant way from
the excitation
transformer and from
the station battery.
Fig. 2: The generator voltage
regulation is carried out by
the T400 technological board,
which is plugged in the
Simoreg unit.
There are two regulating
channels: AUTOMATIC
(automatic voltage
regulator) and HAND
(field current regulation).
Both regulating
channels (AUTOMATIC
and HAND) act on the 1. Quick acting
same power stage. The excitation current
bumpless channel limiter (field forcing
change-over is carried limiter)
out by software. 2. Overexcitation limiter
3. Underexcitation
limiter
3.1) Automatic channel 4. Volt/Herz limiter
5. Stator current limiter
The automatic channel
corresponds to the When a limiter
automatic voltage intervenes an indication
regulator (AVR), which signal is released.
compares the generator
voltage actual value with The software routines
the reference value for the limiters run on
(voltage setpoint) the T400 module.
adjusted by the power
plant operator. The AVR possesses an
underordinated
The actual values of the excitation current
active and reactive regulator. This
power are measured configuration ensures
directly on the generator the system an excellent
terminals through 3 dynamic behavior and
potential transformers simultaneously allows
with secondary voltages limiting the excitation
of 110, 115 or 120 V as current at its maximum
well as 2 current values.
transformers with
secondary current of 1 A power factor (or
or 5 A. reactive power)
regulator is also
The generator voltage included. This additional
setpoint is digitally regulator allows the
generated and can be generator to operate at
adjusted in the range any desired power
90% to 110% of the factor regarding its
rated generator voltage capability diagram.
The setpoint value is
During the operation of digitally generated by
the synchronous the T400 module.
generator attention must
be paid to its capability
diagram. For this reason
the following limiters act
on the AVR:
3

Fig. 3: By means of the Drive
Monitor parametering
software it is also possible to
record oscillograms of
analogical signals.
3.2) Hand channel
This control channel
corresponds to the
excitation current
regulator. It is extremely
useful when performing
tests on the generator.
In addition the hand
channel works as a
stand-by regulator
allowing continuing of
the operation even at
failures in the AVR.
The setpoint of the
excitation current
ranges from about 10%
up to 110% of the rated
excitation current of the
exciter. By taking an
independent power
supply for the excitation
system the setpoint
range stretches from
zero to 110%.
3.3) Channel switch
over and follow-up
control
A bumpless channel The excitation cubicle is
change-over from AVR delivered with
to excitation current provisions both for local
regulator and vice-versa control (from the cubicle
can occur at any time. door) and for remote
control (from a central
This is possible thanks control room).
to the follow-up routine,
which ensures that the In the standard version
selected control channel of this cubicle the local
follows up the settings operation is carried out
of the other channel. by means of push
This way both channels buttons on the cubicle
outputs always the door. Alarms and status
same firing angle for the indications are made by
thyristors, what LED signalizations.
guarantees a bumpless
channel change-over at A man-machine
any time. interface (MMI) is
optionally available to
Certain failures make the operation of
involving the AVR cause the system easier. This
an automatic change- optional device is
over to the hand equipped with keyboard
channel. A trip signal is and display (LCD).
released if failures occur Through this device
in the hand channel commands can be
being selected the hand entered and actual
channel. system parameters
(excitation current and
voltage, generator
active and reactive
power, generator
voltage, setpoints etc)
can be read out.
Fig. 4: The regulation and
control software is user
friendly, what makes the
programming and
understanding very easy.
3.4) Operation Fig. 5: In order to make die
operation easier a man-
machine interface can be
4
additionally ordered. The inverter. The field
figure shows one of the polarity inversion
available models (OP17).
causes thus a very
quick reduction of the
There are two
excitation current
standardized types of
towards zero. About 5 s
MMI: a simple one
after introducing inverter
(OP1S) and a more
operation the controller
comfortable one, which
opens the field
can display alarm
contactor. Since the
messages of the
excitation current at this
excitation system in Fig. 6: With the optional time will have already
clear text with indication module OLM the excitation
system can be connected to reached zero, the main
of the time in which the
a PROFIBUS DP contacts of the field
alarm occurred.
communication link using contactor open at no
optical fiber. load condition, what
The RT2DB cubicle can
increases the lifetime of
be connected to the
the device.
superordinated control 4) Instrumentation and
system by means of operation Additionally the RT2DB
normal cabling because
excitation cubicle is also
all of the input and In the standard version equipped with a linear
output signals are of the system the field discharge resistor.
available on terminal following instruments It is used to dissipate
strips as potential-free are installed on the the stored energy of the
contacts. cubicle door: reset exciter field winding in
push-button, signaling emergency situations,
The optional board LEDs to indicate where inverter operation
CBP2 allows the system operational statuses and cannot be ensured any
to be connected to a grouped alarms and more.
communication network push-buttons to enter
using the PROFIBUS commands for the local The RT2DB excitation
DP protocol. operation. system has a
This communication link
suppressor device in
can be optionally built In the case the optional parallel to its DC output,
using optical fiber. In MMI is ordered neither in order to protect the
this case the optional push-buttons nor thyristors and the field
module OLM has to be signaling LEDs are winding against induced
ordered. supplied. overvoltages.
Other communication
protocols are optionally 5) De-excitation and 6) Mechanical features
available. overvoltage protection
The excitation cubicle
At normal conditions de- has the following
excitation is carried out approximate
by forcing the thyristor dimensions:
bridge to operate as
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Width: 600 mm be installed in a client’s
Depth: 800 mm existing cubicle saving 8) Optional features
Height: 2200 mm thus the costs of an
additional cubicle. The following devices
The cubicle has only can be additionally
front door. Cables inlet ordered:
and outlet are made
from the bottom. - Man-machine
interface;
The cubicle is - Rotating diode
constructed with 1.9 mm monitoring (for
dick steel sheets. The brushless generators);
supporting frames are - Communication board
made of 2.5 mm dick for PROFIBUS DP link;
steel sheets. - Communication port
for other protocols;
Fig. 7: The Simoreg DC
The cubicle wiring uses - Redundancy in the
Master converter includes the
self extinguishing electronics for controlling and power stage (in this
copper conductors monitoring the fully controlled case two automatic
insulated for 750V. three-phase rectifier bridge. channels are supplied,
All conductors have each one with its own
identification rings at rectifier bridge, i.e. two
both ends. independent Simoreg
DC Master units are
Each one of the devices supplied);
has identification tags - Compounding circuitry
with the device symbol for sustaining the
according to the generator current during
electrical diagrams. near short circuit.
Each device can be
easily accessed.

The protection degree is

IP41.

7) Optional frame
assembly

As an economical
alternative all the low
voltage parts of the Fig. 8: As an economical
RT2DB excitation solution the RT2DB excitation
system can also be supplied
system can be supplied
on a steel sheet to be housed
assembled on a steel in a client’s existing cubicle.
sheet (frame) sized 800
x 1200 mm (see Fig. 8).
This way the system can
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Fig. 9: General diagram of the RT2DB excitation system

7
General technical data of the RT2DB digital excitation system
Maximum excitation current
Maximum ceiling voltage
Voltage for control and interfacing
Auxiliary voltage for field flashing
Connection to potential transformers
Connection to current transformers
Regulator
Limiters
Power supply for the regulator
electronics
Setpoint range
Rectifier
Power requirements from the station
battery
Dimensions
Approximate weight
Protection degree of the cubicle
Finish color
Dimensions of the steel sheet in the
case of frame assembly
Standard interfaces
Output signals (4 ... 20 mA) for remote
indication
Up to 20 A DC
Up to 600 V DC
From station battery
Power plant auxiliary power supply (AC or DC); current
consumption: 2 A typ. during max 10 s (depends on
generator data).
3 x PT’s; secondary voltage: 110, 115 or 120 V (“V
connection” is allowed ); power consumption: 10 VA per
phase.
2 x CT’s; secondary current: 1 or 5 A; power
consumption: 10 VA per phase.
Fully digital; double channel configuration: Auto
Channel (AVR) and Hand Channel (excitation current
regulator).
· Quick acting excitation current limiter
· Overexcitation limiter
· Underexcitation limiter
· Stator current limiter
· V/Hz limiter
Redundant configuration: from the excitation
transformer and from the station battery.
· Generator voltage: 90% ... 110% (typical)
· Excitation current: 10% ... 110%
Fully controlled thyristor bridge (6 pulses), self cooled,
continuous DC output current: 30 A DC.
Interfacing and control circuits: max. 100 W
Regulator redundant power supply: max. 250 W
600 x 800 x 2200 mm (W x D x H)
300 kg
IP 41
Grey Munsell N6.5 or according to customer’s
specifications.
791 x 1200 mm
Conventional wiring (potential-free contacts)
· Excitation current
· Voltage setpoint

For more information please contact:

Siemens Ltda.
Rua Werner Siemens, 111
05069-900 Lapa São Paulo, SP
Tel: (11) 3833-4052 / 4106 / 4098 FAX: (11) 3833-4189
Internet: www.siemens.com.br/excitacao

E-mails: sebastiao.carpi@siemens.com
jorge.humberto@siemens.com

Issue: July 2006