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A1-112

CIGRE 2008

A NEW METHOD FOR ONLINE THYRISTOR CONDUCTION MONITORING BASED ON THYRISTOR CURRENT WAVEFORM RECORDING IN STATIC EXCITATION SYSTEM SUBIR KARMAKAR National Thermal Power Corporation Ltd India

SUMMARY
This paper describes present system of thyristor conduction monitoring, problems facing by maintenance engineer and proposed a method for On line thyristor monitoring in static excitation system based on thyristor current waveform recording for better and effective monitoring The purpose of the excitation system is to regulate terminal voltage of the synchronous machine, meet excitation power requirements under all normal operating conditions and enable maximum utilization of machine capability. The excitation equipment comprises of regulation cubicle (DVR system), thyristor cubicles, field flashing cubicle, field breaker cubicle and transformer cubicle. One thyristor cubicle consists of six thyristor (full wave Thyristor Bridge) and generally there are four such cubicles (banks) connected in parallel to share the total generator field current in a 200MW generator excitation system. Since all the four banks connected in parallel the thyristors will carry current depending on there parallel circuit resistance. If one thyristor of any particular bank not conducted then the current of the non conducting thyristor will shared by the corresponding thyristor located in the other three banks. Generally Following methods are presently used for thyristor monitoring of static excitation system. 1) Periodic monitoring of all four-thyristor banks average current from panel ammeter. This method unable to indicate individual thyristor conduction and current sharing. 2) Conduction monitoring unit in DVR system for online conduction monitoring. This method unable to indicate current sharing of individual thyristor or banks. Here, a new method is proposed for online conduction and current sharing monitoring for static excitation system. For this Software simulation of static excitation done in MATLAB software and thyristor bridges current waveform under different condition studied and same had been demonstrated at one of the 200MW unit of FSTPS NTPC Ltd. The method is very effective and advantageous for detection of thyristor current sharing and help to balancing the thyristor current in static excitation system. Field recorded waveform before and after current balancing of a bank in 200MW unit are also presented in this paper. This system of monitoring is very much advantageous for old AVR base excitation system, and also for DVR system without conduction monitoring unit

KEYWORDS
Thyristor, conduction monitoring, generator, static excitation.

subirkarmakar@ntpc.co.in

PROBLEMS FACING BY MAINTENANCE ENGINEER

Presently following problems are facing by the maintenance engineer. I) In static excitation system there are always differences in current sharing in between thyristors. Sometimes it varies from 100A to 150A in between the thyristors. This is a major concerned for the maintenance engineers and there are no methods available which will indicate the current sharing of each individual thyristor. II) Maintenance engineer also faced problems to analyze any fault occurring in static excitation system as there is no data available during fault. III) There is no method available which distinguish furious and actual unit tripping due to excitation system. In NTPC Farakka, one of the 200MW unit trip 3 times due to regulator card failure. It takes around two hours for checking and identification and rectification of the problem IV) Old station doesnt have conduction monitoring unit in there AVR system and its quit difficult to install the conduction monitoring unit (like in new DVR system).

NEW METHOD FOR THYRISTOR MONITORING

In static excitation there are 4 thyristor banks connected in parallel & shared the total generator field current. Each bank contained 6 thyristor (R+, Y+, B+, R- , Y- and B-). There is a resistive shunt in series with each bank and a Panel Ammeter is connected in parallel with the shunt. Panel ammeter indicates the bank current. Voltage across a resistive shunt have six pulses per cycle due to conduction of six thyristor combination R+B-, R+Y-, B+Y-, B+R-, Y+R-, Y+B- and each pulse area indicate the current shared by each combination. If one thyristor of any particular bank not conducted then the two current pulses will missing in the voltage waveform across the resistive shunt connected to that particular bank and current of non conducting thyristor will shared by the corresponding thyristor located in the other three banks and voltage waveforms across the shunts are also changed. By seeing the waveform it is very easy to identify that one thyristor is not conducting. Hence, by capturing the waveform across of all four shunt its possible to monitor conduction as well as current sharing of thyristor. This is the main idea of proposed method. This method will help the maintenance engineer to solve the above mention problems as the current shared by the thyristor is available. Proposed method is very easy to implement in old Station generator AVR system as well as new station DVR system as only waveform recorder is required to install.

SOFTWARE SIMULATION
Software simulation of a 200MW Generator static excitation system has been done in Power System Block-Set MATLAB- software. Following are the software simulated waveforms under different condition.

Fig. 1 Output DC current waveform of Thyristor banks when all thyristors are conducting.

Fig.2 Output DC current waveform of Thyristor banks when R+ thyristor of bank-4 not conducting.

Fig.3 Output DC current waveform of Thyristor banks when R+ & Y+ thyristor of bank-4 not conducting. Figure-1 shows the Output DC current waveform of thyristor banks when all thyristors are conducting. figure-2 shows the Output DC current waveform of thyristor banks when R+ thyristor of bank-4 not conducting. Its clear from the figure-2 that two current pulses are missing in on cycle due to non conduction of R+ thyristor of bank-4. Current of R+ of bank-4 will share by the R+ thyristor of banks 1 to 3 as shown in the figure-2. Figure-3 shows the Output DC current waveform of thyristor banks when R+ and Y+ thyristor of bank-4 are not conducting.

FIELD RECORDED WAVEFORM

Waveform recording with portable waveform Recorder of thyristor banks current of one of the 200 MW Generator static excitation system has been done under different simulated conditions. waveform Recorder has been connected across the resistive shunt of thyristor panels. Following are the field recorded waveform under different condition.

Fig.4 Output DC current waveform of thyristor banks when all thyristors are conducting.

Fig.5 Output DC current waveform of thyristor banks when R+ thyristor of bank-1 not conducting.

Fig.6 Output DC current waveform of thyristor banks when R+ thyristor of bank-1 & R+ thyristor of bank-2 not conducting.

THYRISTOR CURRENT BALANCING

One thyristor cubicle (bank) consists of six thyristor modules. Generally one thyristor module consist of thyristor mounted on the heat sinks , snubber circuits and two parallel connected fuse in series with thyristor. Six such modules are mounted in two tiers inside a thyristor bank and connections are made with AC & DC Bus with nuts and bolts. Also there are off-load three nos of AC and two nos of DC isolator with each bank. Four such cubicles (banks) connected in parallel to share the total generator field current in a 200MW generator static excitation system. Hence in static excitation thyristor banks there are so many contact point which offer resistance in the current following paths. Since all the four banks connected in parallel the thyristors will carry current depending on there parallel circuit resistance. If the contact resistance and the thyristor on state resistance are uniforms, then all thyristor will share the equal field current. But in practical condition this will not happened, because of rusting of nuts & bolts, not proper tightness of nuts & bolts at the joint in the AC DC Bus Bar, not proper mounting of thyristor in the heat sinks, thyristor modules it self not properly mounted in the panel tiers and also not proper contact of the AC & DC off-load isolator. Figure-7 shows the current of bank-2 of one of the 200MW generator static excitation system . The waveform was taken during unit running condition ( before unit over hauling). Maintenance done in the thyristor bank during unit overhauling. Figure-8 shows the thyristor current waveform of bank-2 after unit over hauling.

Fig.7 Output DC current waveform of thyristor bank-2 (200MW generator) before current balancing.

Fig.8 Output DC current waveform of thyristor bank-2 (200MW generator) after current balancing.

CONCLUSIONS
The above software simulated waveform and waveform recording in 200MW Generator Static Excitation system shows the possibility of online monitoring of thyristor conduction and measurement of field current sharing of individual thyristor of all four banks. A four channel chartless recorder can be connected permanently across resistive shunt for better and continuous monitoring. Following are the advantages of this type of thyristor monitoring system with chartless recorder with data storage facility. a) Easy detection of non-conducting thyristors. b) Individual thyristor current and also banks current balancing can be done during Unit shut down c) Better post fault analysis (Thyristor fault, thyristor panel flush over etc.) d) Better distinguishing between furious and actual tripping. e) Participation of turbo-generator on power system disturbance can be detected and analyzed. This system of monitoring is very much advantageous for old AVR base excitation system, since conduction monitoring system is not available in AVR and also for DVR system without conduction monitoring unit

BIBLIOGRAPHY
[1] Power Electronics converters, applications and design by Ned Mohan, Tore M. Undeland & William P. Robbins, John willey & sons publication. [2] BHEL AVR O&M Manual. [3] MATLAB Software Manual.