A Hydro Power Generator with Adjustable Speed

Harald Musum

Initiation and funding

I graduated from NTNU1 , Department of Elec-
Main
trical Power Engineering in December 1996. In transformer

November 1997 I started my studies towards a

PhD. The plan is to complete my thesis by Novem-
ber 2001.
This PhD is a part of the EFFEKT research pro- Converter
transformers
gram, which is funded by the Research Council of
Norway.
My supervisor is Professor Øyvin Skarstein. Wound-rotor
machine

Introduction Cycloconverter

A hydro power plant with an Adjustable Speed

Drive (ASD) (see Figure 1) consists of a turbine,
a wound-rotor machine, a cycloconverter (or an-
other kind of AC-DC converter-inverter) and a con-
troller. This system can be used in a hydro power
system and might be especially useful in a pumped
storage plant (all existing ASD systems are used
in pumped storage plants). The machine has rotor
circuits which are excited with a three phase alter-
nating current with a low frequency compared to
the frequency of the currents in the power system
it is connected to. The current in the rotor wind-
ings are supplied by the cycloconverter to the ma-
chine via slip rings. The controller system takes
care of controlling both the cycloconverter and the
turbine.
Operation and use
The machine can be operated at asynchronous
speed by exciting the rotor circuits with an AC cur-
rent with a frequency fr , that together with the
mechanical “frequency” fr;mek of the rotor itself
adds up to the frequency fs of the power system.
1
Norwegian University of Science and Technology
Turbine
Figure 1: A hydro power station with ASD
Thus, the induced currents in the stator will have
the same frequency as those of the power system.
(Using a DC current in the rotor and operating the
machine as a conventional synchronous generator
is of course also possible).
The rotor speed is adjusted by controlling the
turbine output and the real power output of the gen-
erator. Since the phase angle of the internal voltage
is not fixed to the rotor body, the angle can be con-
trolled by adjusting the AC excitation current. In
this way, both the active and reactive power output
of the machine can be changed quickly.
The construction of the machine is similar to a
wound-rotor induction machine, but it has a much
larger capacity. The needed capacity of the cy-
cloconverter, however, is limited according to the
range of the asynchronous operation speed.
An Adjustable Speed Drive (ASD) has some ad-
vantages to a conventional synchronous machine
in a hydro power station. It can improve the tur- ence on Large High Voltage Electric Systems,
bine efficiency, control power disturbances in the 11(3), 1988.
power system and control pumping input and wa-
ter flow when used in a pumped storage plant. [2] Akira Shibuya et al. Commisioning of 400
The kinetic energy stored in the rotor can be MW adjustable speed pumped storage system
utilised in case of load variations or short circuits for Ohkawachi hydro power plant. CIGRÉ
by changing the rotor speed. Since the rotor speed Symposium in Tokyo, (520-04), 1995.
can be changed by changing the rotor currents and [3] Yifan Tang and Longya Xu. Stability analysis
not by changing the turbine flow, this can happen of slip power recovery system under open loop
much faster than in a conventional synchronous and field oriented control. Power Electron-
power generator. ics Specialist Conference, Seattle, WA, pages
558–564, 1993.
Goals and further work
First, I will try to find a complete nonlinear math-
ematical model of the ASD. For computer simula-
tions and for making a control system this model
will probably have to be linearized or the model
order has to be reduced in some way. Different
turbine models will also be investigated to find a
model that is suitable at speeds in a certain range
around synchronous speed.
Laboratory experiments will be performed to
validate the mathematical model. Parameter esti-
mation techniques will probably be used for some
of this work. The control system will also have to
be tested.
When a suitable model for computer simulations
has been found I will perform transient and small
signal analysis in a power network where several
ASDs are installed. Different control methods and
the effect of the location of such a machine will
be evaluated to find out how an ASD can improve
power system stability.

Status
My work on the thesis is in an early stage. In ad-
dition to working as an scientific assistant, I par-
ticipate in several courses as a part of my PhD. I
will be finished with these courses this summer and
plan to work full time with the thesis from then on.

References
[1] S. Hayashi et al. Development of adjustable
speed generator. CIGRÉ International Confer-