Generator Hydrogen Cooling System

6 Hydrogen is used for cooling in most large generators rather than air for several reasons. 1. Inherently better heat transfer characteristic (14 times). 2. Better the heat transfer with higher hydrogen pressure. 3. Less windage and friction losses than air. 4. Suppression of partial discharge with increased hydrogen pressure. 5. Significant increase of the breakdown voltage of generator components. In additional to the hydrogen, a separate supply system is required for CO2 to purge the generator of hydrogen during filling and de-gassing. CO2 is used because it is inert and will not react with the hydrogen. If hydrogen in the generator were to be purged with air, this would encroach upon both the upper and lower explosive limit due to combustible nature of a hydrogen/oxygen mixture. Hydrogen at high purity will not support combustion above 90%, and at this level there is no danger of explosive since the explosive range of a hydrogen/oxygen mixture is 4 to 75% hydrogen in air. To prevent the possibility of an explosive mixture when filling the generator with hydrogen for operation, air is first purged from the generator by CO2, and CO2 is then purged by hydrogen. When degassing the generator for shutdown, hydrogen is first displaced by CO2 and then CO2 is purged by air. This way no explosive mixture of hydrogen and oxygen can occur. If hydrogen leaks occur, the pressure regulator admits additional hydrogen from the supply system until predetermined pressure is restored. There is always a certain amount of expected leakage into the seal oil, through minute leaks, permeation through the stator winding hoses and so forth, but most generator should capable of continuous operation below 500 cubic feet per day loss. If the loss increases to 1500 cubic feet per day, the source of leak should be investigated immediately and corrected. Click here or here for calculation Generator H2 leak. A hydrogen gas analyzer is usually present to monitor the hydrogen purity, which should be maintained above 97%. Dew point monitoring is sometimes provided to control the level of moisture inside the generator. The dew point is generally maintained below -10C and should not be allowed to rise above 0C.

Hydrogen is used for two reasons: The gas which fills any generator is also present in the generator's airgap and there due to high turbulence, it develops a quantity of friction loss, the so called windage loss. This heats up the gas.

The gas is also normally circulated through the hotter active parts of the generator to cool them and taken through water coolers to remove these losses to the outside. The best gas will have: 1) low friction loss to avoid heating itself and 2) a high heat capacity to pick up heat with minimum temperature rise. With its low viscosity and high specific heat, hydrogen is the best gas available and is therefore used in large generators where the cooling requirements are severe. Even then the low density of hydrgen is a disadvantage so it is always employed at elevated pressure - usually between 3 and 5 atm gauge. At the high flow rates used and turbulence involved, the heat transfer to the hydrogen is not a problem and its thermal conductivity is not an issue. The only other gas used for cooling generators is air (basic reasons should be clear) which of course is used wherever possible in preference to hydrogen. Since about 1990 great progress has been made in the use of air cooling and nowadays it can be used on generators up to about 400MVA unit size.

y In large alternators, 500 MVA and above, hydrogen has been used extensively than air or other gases. Hydrogen has been found to be most efficient in heat transfer.Further, hydrogen evaporates at low temperature. Air cooled units easily gets dust from the surrounding area even when filter is used.

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y by themrmik... Member since: 03 June 2008 Total points: 13,539 (Level 6)

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hydrogen does two things in this application. one it is a small molecule and does not add much friction to the rotational or convective motions of the system and two it has a large enough molecule to transfer heat away from the rotor to the outer shell to be dissipated. tmm
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y by _ Member since: 03 July 2006 Total points: 2,454 (Level 3)

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hydrogen has the highest heat transfer of any gas, because it has high thermal conductivity, and low viscosity so it can be pumped at a high rate with low pumping losses. It also has higher specific heat than helium.