ELECTRO-HYDRAULIC GOVERNING SYSTEM

Structure & Elements of EHC system

The EHC & HC are connected in parallel. The controller with minimum set point controls the turbine.

The EHC comprises of the following sub-control loops: a) Speed Control Loop b) Load Control Loop c) Pressure Control Loop d) Selection Circuit (Control Mode Selection) e) Admission Control Loop (Position Controller)

A) SPEED CONTROL LOOP Function

The speed controller performs the following functions: To increase the turbine speed from barring gear to rated speed (3000 rpm) in a controlled manner. To assist auto synchronizer in synchronizing the machine. For effecting block loading and full loading of TG at exceptional emergency situations. House load operation during bulk load throw-off and over-speeding situations (power grid separation) or severe frequency fluctuations.

Sub-sections of Speed Control Loop

Speed Reference (NR) Setter Speed Reference Limiter (NRlim or NRtd) Actual Speed Measurement (Nact) Speed Controller Acceleration Monitoring (dn/dt monitor)

1. Speed Reference (NR): The speed reference signal is derived or generated by following means; Manually by the operator By the AUTO Synchronizer (when selected) By the follow up signal The NR set point changes at a gradient of 2160 rpm/min up to 2820 rpm and at a gradient of 360 rpm/min after 2820. This facilitates accurate setting of set point in the working range & also enables smooth loading after synchronization. 2. Speed Reference Limiter (NRlim or NRtd): NRlim influences the NR considerably. During start up of turbine, NRlim allows rising of the turbine speed at the highest possible rate consistent with the operation as decided by the TSE computed speed margin signal. An integrator module performs this function with time like a ramp. 3. dN/dT monitoring: During rolling of the turbine, if between the speed of 600-2820 rpm dN/dT < 108 rpm/min, then dN/dT is less than monitoring signal appears to alarm the operator. It also blocks any further rise in speed & brings back the speed reference to 600 rpm. It is introduced to take care of low acceleration rate of turbine at the critical speeds between 600-2820 rpm. 4. No load correction: As the speed controller is PD (P), so an error in the input is a must to keep the valves OPEN for running the machine at the rated speed. To avoid this error between set point and actual value, a pressure dependent correction signal is given since the valve opening for running the machine at rated speed is directly dependent on steam pressure. Follow Mode of Speed Controller: Speed Controller comes into follow mode during two conditions; 1) When turbine trips, speed set point (NR) follows 120 rpm less than Nact during coasting down (NR= Nact-120) . This ensures that set point always remains below the actual speed and speed controller output is always negative. Hence re-rolling will not be possible till the turbine trip reset. 2) After synchronization when load controller takes over, the speed controller follows the actual speed between 49 to 51 Hz (NR= Nact+21). This follow up ensures that output of speed controller remains zero and it does not interfere with Load controller. After synchronizer, speed controller output will be 21 rpm up to 3060 rpm (51 Hz)

B. LOAD CONTROL LOOP: The Load controller is used fro controlling the turbine output during load operation. For selecting the load controller a push button module Load controller ON/OFF is provided. An indication Load controller in action is provided on the turbine control panel. Function:
The Load controller is used to maintain the load set by the operator or AUTOMATIC load dispatch centre. The Load controller comes into action only after synchronization and the block load is achieved. Before that it remains in follow mode for taking over the control from Speed controller in a smooth manner. The Load control loop consists of the following sub-sections; a. Load set point of Load ref value b. Load gradient & TSE margin influence c. Load set point control or limiter d. Pressure influence e. Frequency influence f. Load Limiter g. Actual Load acquisition h. Load controller a. Load Set Point/ Load reference (Pr): Load ref signal is generated or derived by following means; Manually from desk From the CMC control desk (Restricted within upper & lower load limits)

Actual load signal is acquired threefold by means of the load measuring device & transmitted to the controller comparator module. In case the signals of the three parallel channels deviate by >5% an alarm Actual Load Signal Faulty along with group alarm of Turbine Controller Faulty appears. The Load reference is set by potentiometer at a gradient of 100MW/min. The gradient remains same throughout the range. The load set point indicator is provided on control desk with the range of 0-250 MW.

b. Load gradient & TSE influence: Load gradient is an additional feature available in Load control loop. The load gradient acts in parallel with TSE margin with a minimum selector. Load gradient has a range of 0-25 MW/min. It can be changed from desk. It is common for increasing as well as decreasing the load. While for TSE margin 0-30oK corresponds to 0-25 MW/min. Both Load gradient & TSE margin have got an ON/OFF button, so if any one is desired to be taken out of service can be switched OFF. The one which remains ON controls the output. If both are kept OFF then Prlim value changes at fixed rate of 25 MW/min. TSE upper margin controls the load increasing rate & Lower margin controls the load decreasing rate if the margins are less than 30oK. If TSE influence is ON & TSE develops any fault, immediately a BLOCK command is initiated so that wrong TSE margins are not allowed to control Prlim. To reset it, the TSE influence should be switched off from EHC cabinet.

C. Load set point control (Prlim): The maximum rate of change here is 25 MW/min in both directions. The follow mode & fast calibration (FM) signal are used for different purposes as explained below; The set point remains in follow mode when a. Gen Breaker is OFF b. Load controller is OFF OR OR

c. Load is < 10% of rated load (< than block load) This follow mode is must so that the Prlim is brought back to zero after breaker opens. After synchronization, Prlim tracks the actual load so that more time is not wasted in bringing the Prlim from zero to working value. During this follow mode fast calibration signal is given so that Prlim follows Pact without any delay. STOP command is generated if PC in action +LP mode selected+ Pr> Prlim TSE ON & Faulty OR OR

D. Pressure Influence: A pressure influence signal during operation of turbine in LP mode is added in P rlim value whenever there is a press deviation. The correction of 12 MW for the change of 4 Ksc (linear relation) is implemented in order to prevent drop or rise of MS pressure. This correction allows the load controller to manage small pressure changes & prevents the Pressure Controller coming in to service in LP mode. E. Frequency Influence: Frequency influence is used to correct the Prlim whenever frequency drifts. Depending upon the frequency deviation a load correction signal is generated. The frequency influence has got a droop of 5% (it can be changed from 2.5% to 8% in steps of 0.5% on line). A deviation of 0.5 Hz will cause a load change of 40 MW. The correction signal is limited to 40 MW. The circuit has got a filter so that normal hunting in frequency will not cause hunting is load. It can be switched ON/OFF depending upon requirement. Correction signal is provided on control desk.

F. Load Limiter: Prlim, after frequency correction, is fed to a MIN selector with the Load Limiter. In Emergency situation Load limiter can be used for fast load reduction. While doing so Pr should also be reduced, so that during loading load increases as per P rlim & not as per Load limiter.

G. Actual Load acquisition (Pact): Three load transducers are provided for measuring the actual load. All the three transducers get signal from PT & CT and give the output in mA. The output range for this transducer is 4-20 mA which corresponds to 0-250 MW. These three signals are passed on to EHC cabinet for selection & fault indication.

The mean value of the three is selected fro further processing. If any value drifts from other value by >5% then a selective alarm is generated. The fault does not disturb the working of the controller as the selection circuit discards the defective channel.

H. Load Controller: The final controller is a PI controller. It consists of two electronics cards specially designed for this purpose. The final load set point & actual load are entered into the Load controller card. The gain of the loop is set in this card. This card has got an inbuilt frequency influence to prevent over-speeding of the turbine. This frequency influence acts only in one direction. It cannot be switched OFF. This card also detects the large error between set point & actual value (if it is >10% and frequency goes beyond 51 Hz) and it changes the controller to isolated grid mode. The output of the above card is than fed to other card which provides the integrator part of the loop. Apart from the integrator this card has also got a filter so that it does not take any action if output of earlier card is hunting at higher frequency than the one set for filter. This integrator card has also provision for follow mode i.e. Follow above or Follow low

FOLLOW MODE OF LOAD CONTROLLER: Load controller has the following tracking modes; 1. Follow Above: This mode is in operation during following conditions. a. When Generator breaker is OPEN, the Load controller is made to follow Speed controller all the time. During this follow mode, the load controller output remains below speed controller output all the time by 150mV. This ensures that as long as Generator breaker is OPEN Load controller does not come into action. b. Load thrown off is >10MW & remaining load is <25MW, During these disturbed conditions, Speed controller comes into action and prevents over speeding of turbine. c. Load controller is OFF In the above mode of operation, the Speed controller controls the reference value of Load controller (irrespective of the setting of Pressure controller) if Pressure controller is not in action. Load controller output= Speed controller output-1.5% 2. Follow Low: This follow mode appears once the GCB is closed and Speed controller is still in action. During this mode also the Load controller output tracks the Speed controller output with error of 150 mV. The only difference in this mode is that the Load controller output can go more that Speed controller output but it cannot go 150mV below the Speed controller output. 3. GCB is ON and Press controller (IP mode)in action: In this mode of operation, the Press controller output controls the reference value of Load controller. Load controller output = Press controller output+2% In this case, Load controller output will be 2% more than the Press controller output so that machine in Press controller mode always through MIN selector.

C. PRESSURE CONTROL LOOP: The Press controller controls the turbine load with respect to the MS press deviation, and prevents large press drop during a quick load increase. Pressure controller has got two modes of operation. 1. Initial Pressure Mode 2. Limit Pressure Mode 1. Initial Press Mode: It may be selected from control panel. In this mode, Press controller tries to maintain initial press (Turbine inlet throttle press) i.e. reduces the difference between set press & actual press to zero, by sacrificing load. The power delivered by the turbo-set is determined by the boiler capability up to a maximum of power level set by load controller. Load increase above this level is blocked. 2. Limit press Mode: In the Limit Press mode the boiler storage capacity is utilized. In this mode, the Press controller influences the MSCV to support boiler pressure control only if a preset main steam press deviation is exceeded. Limit Press mode is effective either by manual selection or gets automatically selected as soon as the press deviates to 15 ksc from throttle press set point. When Limit press engaged alarm is appearing, the increase in load is blocked by means of Load reference

HOW MACHINE CONTROL CHANGES FROM LC TO PC (LIMIT PRESS)? If Machine is running in Load control mode and actual throttle press matches with set value then Press controller output will be at 120% (saturation). As PC output is at 120%, so it will never be selected through MIN selector. If boiler firing reduces due to tripping/unloading of mills then throttle steam press will starts falling down. If actual throttle steam press reduces by 7 ksc w.r.t. throttle press set value then Limit Press reached alarm will appear and Press controller will go to tracking mode. Press controller output starts tracking the Position controller output by >2%. If throttle steam press further falls and reduces to <10 ksc w.r.t. throttle press set value, then Press controller stops tracking and goes to AUTO mode. Now PC will be selected through MIN selector. If PC is selected through MIN selector then LC will go to tracking mode. LC output starts tracking the Position controller output by >2%. If machine is in PC mode then Position controller output will not reduce below value already defined in the loop to avoid substantial drop in unit load.

SELECTION CIRCUIT: When the turbine is running, one of the three controllers (Speed, Load or Press controller) will be exercising the control & others will be matched continuously for quick transfer. The selection of appropriate controller or the transfer of the control mode is performed by the Selection Circuit. The output signal of Speed controller & the Load controller pass through a MAX selector. The MAX of Speed & Load controller output signal is passed on to first MIN selector. 10.5 V is added in Speed controller output signal and this value is also fed to first MIN selector. This is done to prevent over-speeding of the turbine. As soon as the turbine speed increases above the speed set point then the controller will give negative output and it will never be selected for controlling of turbine speed. Hence MIN selector is provided with proper correction. The value selected in first MIN selector is passed on to the second MIN selector along with the output of Press controller output. The value selected here is passed onto admission controller for positioning the control valves.

DROOP: The % change in speed of an isolated turbo-generator, when load on turbogenerator is increased from no load to full load or decreased from full load to no load is known as DROOP. If speed of TG reduces from 3000 to 2850 rpm on increasing its load from no to full load, hence Droop= (3000-2850) X 100/3000= 5% The above droop function is used in EHC at three places: 1. DROOP IN SPEED CONTROLLER: The speed controller is PDP controller and has a droop of 5%. As the rated speed of the turbine is 3000 rpm, 5% of 3000 rpm is 150 rpm. 150 rpm (5% droop) = Full opening or closing of control valves (0 to 100%) 150 rpm = 210 MW load change 15 rpm = 21 MW The range is 0-3600 rpm = 0-10.8 V 1 rpm = 3 mV 150 rpm = 450 mV The range for valve is 0-100% = 0-10 V So a speed controller input deviation of 450 mV will give an output of 10V, range beyond this is not useful as valve is fully OPEN at 10 V itself. 2. DROOP IN FREQUENCY INFLUENCE OF LOAD CONTROLLER:
Frequency influence takes the corrective action whenever there is a change in turbine speed. If speed is decreased it will increase the load. The amount of load increase/decrease with change in turbine speed will depend upon the droop setting of the curve. Normally the droop setting is kept at 5%. Hence, 2.5 Hz = 150 rpm 150 rpm change in speed will change the load by 100% i.e. 210 MW.

150 rpm 15 rpm

= =

210 MW 21 MW

So if speed increases by 15 rpm, load will be decreased by 21 MW or vice versa. A certain limitation in the load change has been provided to ensure load correction due to frequency influence as per requirement. This facility can be used or can be switched OFF.

3. INTERNAL DROOP OF LOAD CONTROLLER: (from 51.3 to 53.8 Hz)

This circuit is mainly used to prevent the over speeding of the turbine and it work only in one direction i.e. if speed is going high it will reduce the load but if speed is going low it will not take any action. This also has the droop of 5% and its amount of correction is in the same proportion as of frequency influence. This droop can not be switched OFF and it is always in circuit.