Capability chart for generator-transformer units
A. Losi M. Russo P. Verde
Dipartimento di Ingegneria Industriale
Universiti degli Studi di Cassino
03043 Cassino, via Di Biasio 43, Italy
Ph. (39) 776-299643 e-mail: losi@ing.unicas.it
Abstract- The concept of capability chart, traditionally
related to the synchronous machines, is extended to the
whole generator-transformer unit, including not only the
limitations due to the generator technical limits hut also the
Characteristics of the step-up transformer and of the
electrical power system the unit is connected to. The
capability chart for generator-transformer units proves to be
an effective tool in planning and design activities; different
solutions can be compared in terms of active and reactive
powers actuaily injected by the generating unit into the
high-voltage busbar. To highlight the effectiveness of the tool
numerical applications are presented with reference to a
typical generating unit.
I. INTRODUCTION
The concept of capability chart is traditionally related to
synchronous machines, and has been widely accepted as
an indispensable tool for planning of power systems and,
in particular, of generating units. Moreover, capability
chart has already been extended to HVDC links [l] and
electric power systems [ 2 , 3 ] . The great advantage of
capability charts is the clear way in which they relate
active and reactive powers, thus allowing an easy and
direct understanding of the abilities of the system in study.
With reference to synchronous machine, recent studies
[4,5] have underlined the importance of determining the
possible operating range the generator is capable of in
actual operation; in fact, the operating conditions of the
generating plant and of the electrical power system may
effectively limit the possible operating range of the
generator, with a significant reduction with respect to the
synchronous machine capability chart furnished by the
manufacturer. In this connection, it can be useful to look
at the whole generating unit, that is to the system
composed of the generator and the related step-up
transformer. For such a system, a capability chart can be
defined as the domain of possible operating conditions in
the plane of active and reactive powers injected into the
high-voltage busbar. This capability chart can be a useful
tool to perform a direct evaluation of the limitations
introduced by the step-up transformer and by the power
system characteristics; it is useful in planning activities
because it helps to choose the best values of the
transformer parameters and it can prevent overestimation
of the generating unit capability.
0-7803-3 1 -09-S/96/$S.00 1996 IEEE
1580
D. Meyiti
Dipartimento di Elettronica, Informatica e Sistemktica
Universiti degli Studi della Calabria
87036 Arcavacata di Rende, Italy
Ph. (39) 984-494707 Fax (39) 984-494713
Further help is provided by this capability chart in the
case of unit step-up transformers with off-nominal turns
ratios, which are sometimes equipped with under-load tap
changer (ULTC); it is often the case of generating units
connected to industrial electrical systems [6,7]. Beyond
protecting the synchronous machine from large voltage
fluctuations of the high-voltage busbar, the ULTC assures
high operating flexibility to the generating unit but, on the
other hand, significantly increases the cost of the step-up
transformer Capability chart applied to the generating
units equipped with ULTC may prove to be an effective
tool bccause it evidences the benefits, in terms o f both
active and reactive powers, introduced by a ULTC, thus
allowing a detailed cost-benefit analysis.
In the paper, it is described a model to obtain the
capability chart of the generating unit in terms of active
and reactive powers injected by the unit into the high-
voltage busbar. The model takes into account all the
technical and operating constraints of both the
synchronous machine and the step-up transformer.
Different representations of the electrical power system
are adopted to take into account the effects of the injected
powers on the voltage of the high-voltage busbar.
Moreover, the capability chart of a generating unit is
extended to the case of step-up transformers equipped with
ULTC. The general model is a constrained non-linear
optimisation problem and cannot be solved analytically:
the problem must be repeatedly solved numerically to
obtain the capability chart of the generating unit. With
reference to a study case, significant numerical
applications are presented to evidence, in particular, the
effects of power system operating conditions and of the
step-up transformer characteristics on the capability chart
of the generating unit.
11. CAPABILITY CHART FOR GENERATING UNITS
The capability chart for generating units refers to the
general schematic system in Fig. 1.a; the steady-state
electrical equivalent circuit is shown in Fig. 1.b .
The prime mover is supposed to limit the active power
generated by the synchronous machine within a fixed
range according to:
'gmin 5 g' 'P g m a 1 (1)
where P is the active power generated by the synchronous
g
machine.

Auxiliaries I depend on the generated power in a way that is specified
Hv
(4
Vft
Fig. 1. Generating nnit diagram and equivalent electrical circuit.
The operating capability of the synchronous machine is
usually boundcd by thtrx limits. The first boundary
represents the rotor field thermal limit specified by a DC
current rating; the second boundary represents the thermal
limitation on the stator current; the third boundan
represcnts the underexcitation limiter OJEL) action. The
three allowable operating regions of the synchronous
machine can be represented by three circles described,
respectively, by the following inequalities [4,5,8,9]:
where Q, is the generaied reactive power, V, is the
voltage amplitude at the generator terminals, Vfnlax IS the
e.m.f. corresponding to the rnaximum exciting current, Xd
is the synchronous reactance, Igmaxis the maximum stator
current, K m and Kuc determine, respectively, the radius
and the centre of a circular IJEL limit [9].
Moreover, the voltage amplitude at the synchronous
machine terminals is limitcd according to:
(5)
Vg min 2 Vg 5 Vg max .
From the equivalent circuit of the step-up transformer
(Fig. l.b), two operating equality constraints are derived
in the following general formulation:
g - pa - st, cos 'Pb - PL cvg > v b ,F bg > a) = 0 3 (6)
Qg -Qa -Sb sincpb - QL ('Jg ,vb >6bg,a) = 0 , (7)
where P, and Q, are the auxiliary active and reactivc
powers, s b is the apparent power injected by the
generating unit into the high-voltage busbar and <Pbis the
related power angle, V, is the voltage amplitude of the
high-voltage busbar, 8bg is the phase shift between the
voltage phasors related to the synchronous terminals and
the high-voltage busbar, a is the transformer ratio, and PI,
and Q, represent the transformer active and reactive
power losses, respectively. Auxiliary powers Pa and Qa
accoxding to the particular generating plant considered
[SI.The general representation of the step-up transformer
provides for a nominal or off-nominal ratio, and, if EL
ULTC is adopted, the ratio is a discrete variable that can1
be iidjusted within a fixed range:
amin I a < amax .
Other technical limitations related to the transformer
(811
can be neglected because the step-up transformer is:
usually sized on a larger and more conservative basis than
the synchronous machine, and, consequently, the technical
constraints of the synchronous machine are more
restrictive than the ones of the transformer.
The high-voltage busbar operating conditions are
stritstly related to the electrical system the generating unit
is connected to. Two extreme cases are possible:
i. the generating unit is connected to a "stiP' electrical
power system, that is, the high-voltage busbar voltage is
fixed at a constant value by the power system regardless
the: active and reactive powers injected by the
generating group;
ii.the generating unit is connected to an islanded
electrical system, that is, the high-voltage busbar
voltage is determined only by the generating unit
operating conditions.
In the first case, a further equation represents the W E '
electrical power system:
Vb =eonst , ' (9)
whereas, in the second case, the voltage v b is determined
by The operating conditions of the generating unit, and
must be kept within a technical operating range to
gua:rantee a good voltage profile in the islanded electrical
system:
'bmin b" "bmax . (10)
In betvveen the two ,ex<reme cases, various operating
conditions are possible in which the generating unit is
conne:cted. to a "weak" electrical power system and the
high-voltage busbar voltage is influenced by the operating
conditions of both the electrical power system and the
generating unit. In these cases, a relationship in the
follov,ing general form
vb 'Vb(Pb9Qb) (11)
can be written and specified according to the particular
representation of the electrical power system. It is worlhy
noting that inequality (10) might be used together with
(11) to describe the requirements of good voltage on the
highi-voltage busbar.
The: border of the capability chart of the generating unit
can be obtained, similarly to [2], by maximising and
min:imising the apparent power injected by the generating
unit into the high-voltage busbar for fixed value of the
powmix angle. For each value of 'pb the following
optiniisation problems must be solved:
 min Sb or rnax Sb (12) assuming a total exiemal equivalent reactance of 0.3 p.u. .
subject to: Auxiliary powers are neglected in this application, due to
their strict dependence on the generation plant
- constraints (1)-(7), characteristics.
- constraint (8) if a load tap changer is adopted, It is interesting to compare the results for different
- constraints representing the power system, that is either operating conditions of the power system the unit is
constraint (9), or (lo), or (11), or (10) and (11). connected to and for dif€erent types of step-up
In their most general formulation, the optimisation transformer. In particular, regarding the power system,
problems cannot be solvcd analytically and numerical the two extreme cases described in Sect. I1 are considered.
solutions must be obtained by means of well-known non- Concerning the unit transformer, the following three
linear programming algorithms. The solutions are different cases are considered and their results are
repeatedly evaluated for different values of the power compared:
angle 'pb, so as to obtain the border of the closed domain a) nominal turns ratio (a = l,O),
of possible operating conditions of the generating unit in b) off-nominal turns ratio (a = 0.98),
the (Pb.Qb) plane. c) transformer equipped with ULTC ( +in 5 a 5 amax).
If the step-up transformer is equipped with a ULTC,
then the optimisation problenis are non-linear mixed-
integer problems. However, their solutions can be obtained
assuming a continuous variable for the transformer tums
ratio if the discrete steps of variations of the ratio are
small enough.
In the case of unit transformers equipped with ULTC,
all the operating conditions allowed by the capability chart
can be attained in actual operation only if the generator 0-
voltage regulator and the ULTC control law are properly (13 04 05 06 07 08 09
'~b
P
-0 2~~
designed. It is not the case of present day industrial
practice [6]: usually, the gencrator excitation system is
regulated to assure the reactive power output according to
an optimal setpoint, while the ULTC is adjusted to
maintain the voltage at the generator terminals within its
.081 --ULTC ----a=O98 a=10
allowed operating range. To help overcoming this Fig 2 Capability charts for vb = 0 95 p U
limitation and eqloiting the whole capability of the unit,
the solutions of the optimisation problems that describe
the capability chart border, in particular the solutions of
the maximisation problems, can be used to build up some
look-up tables for the generator voltage regulator and the
ULTC control, which give the appropriate values of the
references for given load power angle 'pb and for given
power system operating conditions, 0-
C3 04 0.5 06 01
111. NUMERICAL. APPLICATIONS -0 2.-

Several applications for different generating units have

been studied. In the following the results for a typical
generating unit are presented. The per-unit data of the -o$ -ULTC ----a=O98 a=lO
components of the generating unit are reported in Table I; Fig 3 Capability charts for Vb = 1 0 p U
the values for the UEL limitation are derived from the
static stability limit according to the standard practice [9],
Table I. Generating unit data (D.u.)
IPrime mover I pWin = 0.30 1 Pwax = 1.00 I
t I

1
I

VWax= 1.05
4

I1
1 Synchronous I Vfmax = 2.60 I Igmax = 1.10
1 machine I K,, = 1.37 I KLJR = 1.97 1
lTrmsfomcr 1 XT =0.08
amin = 0.95
1 KT
amax
=0.008
= 1.05
1 0 4 __ U L T C ----a=O98
Fig 4 Capability charts for Vb = 1 05 p U
a=10
 In the case of the generating unit connected to a "stiff"
power system, Figs. 2 to ,4 report the capability charts
obtained for v b equad to 0.95, 1.0 and 1.05 p.u.
respectively. From the: comparison among the three
different solutions considcre:d for the unit transformer, it is
evident that the ULTC guarantees the best performance of
the generating unit regardless the variation of the power
system operating conditions. Moreover, in the cases
considered, ULTC improvias thc maximum active and
reactive powers that the generating unit can inject into the
high-voltage busbar around the rated power factor, that is
around the typical operating conditions of the unit.
In the case of the generating unit supplying an islanded
electrical system, Fig. 5 shows the capability charts drawn
assuming Vbmin = 1.0 p.u and Vb,, = 1.05 p.a. in eqn.
(10). In this case, sincc: the voltage amplitude v b is
determined by the generating unit, the differencesbetween
the off-nominal turns ratio and the ULTC solutions are
negligible. The benefits introduced by UTLC arc more
significant if thc value cif Vbmin must be increased to
guarantee a better voltage profile in the islanded electrical
system; it can be cvide:nced from the capability charts
shown in Fig. 6 that are derived changing \'bmin to
1.02p.u. .
0-41 I
0.2
-o.$ .- ULTc ---- a = 0.98 .--.-.. a = 1.0
Fig. 5. Capability charts for 'Vljmin = 1.0 P.u., Vbmax = 1.05p.u
0 '1
191 IEEE Task Force on Excitation Limiters, "Underexcifafion
Fig. 6. Capability charts for \Itlmjn= 1.02 p.u.,Vbmax= 1.05 P.u..
1583
IV. CONCLUSIONS
The concept of capability chart has been extended to the
generator-transformer unit in terms of active and reactive
powers injected into the high-voltage busbar. Moreover,
the unit transformer turns ratio is taken into account,
inclluding the possibility of adopting a ULTC. The
capability chart of the generating unit proves to be a useful
tooll to:
i. take into account the actual operating conditions of the
power system the unit is connected to, and their
influence on the capability chart of the generating unit;
ii. evaluate accurately all the benefits of equipping the
step-up transformer with a ULTC;
iii. help defining control laws that assure the best
exploitation of the generating unit capability while
operating conditions change.
Numerical applications have been presented with
refercmce to a typical generating unit to highlight the
effectiveness of the tool in companng the performances of
the generating unit rclatcd to different charactenstics of
the step-up transformer and different operating conditions
ofthe electncal power system.
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