A STUDY ON EXCITATION SYSTEM FOR

SYNCHRONOUS GENERATOR

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Certificate

Acknowledgement

Table of contents

List of figures

INTRODUCTION

Introduction to NTPC 6

NTPC Capacity 9

Single line diagram of Power Plant. 11

AC GENERATOR

Constructional Features of AC Generator. 14

Generators used in NTPC. 15

Specifications of 200MW Alternator. 16

Specifications of 500MW Alternator. 16

Types of Excitation System. 17

EXCITATION SYSTEM USED FOR 200MW ALTERNATOR(STAGE I)

1
Static Excitation system 19

Components of Static Excitation system. 20

EXCITATION SYSTEM USED FOR 500MW ALTERNATOR(STAGE II)

Brushless Excitation system. 22

Components of Brushless Excitation system 23

Conclusion. 29

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure Title Pg. No.

1 Brush gear 25

2 Rotor Shaft 25

3 Exciter Rotor 26

4 Three phase Main Exciter 26

2
 INTRODUCTION TO NTPC
NATIONAL THERMAL POWER CORPORATION

Power is an important infrastructure in developing countries. Power

development in INDIA received a big boost with the dawn of National
Thermal Power Corporation Limited (NTPC) NTPC is established on
7th, of November 1975 to construct, operate and maintain large
capacity power developing stations.
With the vision “To be one of the world’s largest and best
power utilities, powering India’s growth” this corporation is on the run
is maintaining its impeccable record by consistently generating
quality and reliable power.NTPC became “Maharatna Company” in
2010.
Leader in power sector: NTPC with an installed capacity of
41,184 MW (including 5,364 MW through JVs) comprising of 23
NTPC Stations (16 Coal based stations, 7 combined cycle gas/liquid
fuel based stations), 7 Joint Venture stations (6 coal based and one
gas based) and 2 renewable energy projects.41,249 MW is
generating 26.5% of the countries entire power requirement. So it is
recognized as the India’s largest power utility.
VISION:
“To Be the World's Largest and Best Power Producer, Powering
India's Growth.”

3
 Mission:
“Develop and provide reliable power, related products and
services at competitive prices, integrating multiple energy sources
with innovative and eco-friendly technologies and contribute to
society.”

Profile of RSTPS: NTPC Ramagundam, a part of National

Thermal Power Corporation, is a 2600 MW Power station situated at
Ramagundam in Karimnagar district in the Indian state of Andhra
Pradesh, India. It is the current largest power station in South India. It
is the first ISO 14001 certified "Super Thermal Power Station" in
India. Availability of power in the southern region at certain duration
was not as per the demand.
As there was an imbalance in the power developed from that
being generated, the annual reports were made during 1984-1985 to
1988-1989 which made evident that an installation of large capacity
power station was must to meet the growing requirements.
As the basic inputs availability’s like coal, land and water were in
abundant a mammoth thermal station was setup to fulfil the
requirements at Ramagundam named Ramagundam Super
Thermal Power Station (RSTPS).

Foundation:

Ramagundam Super Thermal Power Station is third in the

series of super thermal power stations set up by NTPC. Late
Shri.Morarji Desai, the former Prime Minister of India, laid foundation
stone for this project on 14th November 1978. This station consists
of 3x200MW units referred as stage-1 and 3x500MW units referred
as stage-2 and 1x500MW units, as stage-3,making a total capacity of
2600MW.

Plant location and Lay out:

While planning for the future the total area presently is about
10,231 acres based on unit composition of

4
3x200MW+3x500MW+1x500MW. The area is covered between
longitudes 79deg-52min and 79deg-30min. Within the latitudes
18deg-35min and 18deg-52min with a lot remaining for setting up of
additional units as per the future demands

Fuel requirements:
The entire requirement of coal for the plant was proposed
to be met from the nearby Singareni Collieries Mines which are about
13km away from the plant. The mines were possessing about
1800million tones of coal at the time of installation. A dedicated MGR
system having a length of 53km has been developed to haul the coal
from nearby open cast mines.

Water Requirements:
At the time of making feasible report several alternatives were
considered for meeting the water requirements of cooling water. A
detailed study indicated that it would not be possible to meet it
through direct circulation so a dam was proposed. The Pochampad
dam was built on river Godavari. Measures were taken to ensure
that station is not required to be closed under closure of irrigation
canal or during droughts. Water requirement of the plant during such
conditions can be met for 9-10 weeks without any replacement from
the distributor canal.

Ash Disposal:
Large area of land is required for the disposal of the waste like
coal ash. Ash being generated from the plant is pumped in slurry from
through pipelines to the ash pod at Kundanpalli,which are 5km away
from the power station. The ash disposed is utilized in various forms.

Environmental Control:
Station is equipped with highly efficient ESP system and with tall
chimney of about 225m height. Effluent treatment plant was also
installed for reuse of decants ash water from ash pad.

5
Evacuation of Power:
The power generated from the station is evacuated through seven
no’s 400kv / four no’s 200kv /two no’s 132kv over head transmission
lines.

Distribution of Electricity:
Total Capacity of Ramagundam NTPC is 2600 MW of stage 1, 2
& 3 ( i.e. 1, 2,3, & 4,5, 6 unit’s ) distributing electricity to following
states in MEG
NTPC ranked 337th in the ‘2012, Forbes Global 2000’ ranking of

the World’s biggest companies. With a current generating

capacity of 43,039 MW, NTPC plans to become a 128,000 MW

company by 2032.Present installed capacity of NTPC is 43,039
MW (including 5,974 MW through JVs) comprising of 38 NTPC

Stations (17 Coal based stations, 7 combined cycle gas/liquid fuel

based stations), 7 Joint Venture stations (6 coal based and one
gas based) and 7 renewable energy projects.

NTPC CAPACITY:
Installed Commercial
NTPC – COAL 33015 32355
NTPC-GAS 4017 4017
SOLAR 75 75
TOTAL NTPC 37107 36447
Joint Venture 6001 5391
TOTAL NTPC+ Joint
43108 41838
Venture

6
In terms of operations, NTPC has always been
considerably above the national average.

SALIENT FEATURES OF RSTPS

NTPC RAMAGUNDAM POWER STATION (2600 MW)

SALIENT FEATURES:
Installed 2600 MW (3X200+3X500+1X500)
Capacity
Cost Of The STAGE- I & II - Rs. 2059 Crores
Project STAGE- III - RS. 1818 Crores
(Approved)
Land 9558 Acres
Through Irrigation Canal From Sriram Sagar
Water Source Dam
(160km From Site)
Stage I&II - SCCL (102 LMT Per Annum)
Coal Source
Stage-III- SECL (25.6 LMT Per Annum)

7
Single Line Diagram of Power Plant:

8
 ABSTRACT

This project deals with study of excitation system

used for 500MW and 200MW generators. The purpose of
the excitation is to provide dc current for rotor of
synchronous generator in order to develop the magnetic
field. Excitation helps in speed control of generator .there
are many schemes of excitations. They are broadly
divided into two types:
1. Static excitation system
2. Brushless excitation system.
In Static excitation system excitation is given through
slip ring and brushes. Were in brushless excitation system
eliminates use of slip rings and brushes. Wholly project
deals with study of schematic of excitation system.

9
 AC GENERATOR

The working principle of an alternator or AC generator:

Principle of generator:
According to the Faraday's law of electromagnetic induction, whenever a
conductor moves in a magnetic field EMF gets induced across the
conductor. If the close path is provided to the conductor, induced emf
causes current to flow in the circuit.
(OR)
It states that ‘whenever the number of magnetic lines of force i.e. fluxes
linking with conductor or a coil changes, an electro motive force is set up in
that conductor or coil’.
Note: a generating action requires following basic components to exist,
i) The conductor or a coil

ii) The flux

iii) The relative motion between conductor and flux.

Fleming’s right hand rule:

If three finger of a right hand, namely thumb, index and middle finger
outstretched so that every one of them is perpendicular to each other. If
index finger is made to point in the direction of lines flux, thumb in the
direction of relative motion of the conductor with respect to flux then the
outstretched middle finger gives the direction of e.m.f induced on the
conductor.
The magnitude of the induced e.m.f is given by,
E = b*l*v*sinq
B=magnetic flux linkages
L= length of conductor
V =speed of the conductor
Sinq =angle between the conductor and flux

10
Constructional features of a AC GENERATOR or
ALTERNATOR:
Main parts of the alternator:
1. STATOR
2. ROTOR
Stator: The Stator carries the three separate ( 3-phase ) armature
windings physically and electrically displaced from each other by 120
degrees producing an AC voltage output. The stator of a synchronous
machine has the same construction as the stator of a three-phase induction
motor. In review, the stator contains a set of three-phase windings that
establish the stator field. This field consists of P magnetic poles, alternating
between north and south around the circumference of the stator and
rotating at synchronous speed. In a synchronous machine, the set of stator
windings is called the armature.
The stator produces a rotating magnetic field that is proportional to the
frequency supplied. This motor rotates at a synchronous speed, which is
given by the following equation:
Ns = 120∗f/ P
Where
f = frequency of the supply frequency [Hz]
p = number of poles
Ns = Synchronous speed.

ROTOR: The rotor carries the magnetic field either as permanent

magnets or wound held coils connected to an external DC power source
via slip rings and carbon brushes. The rotor of a synchronous machine is
usually a P-pole electromagnet with field windings that carry dc currents.
The current can be supplied from an external dc source through stationary
brushes to slip rings mounted on the shaft. The slip rings are insulated from
one another and from the shaft. Another method is to place a small ac
generator, known as an exciter, on the same shaft and use diodes mounted
on the shaft to rectify the ac. This avoids the maintenance associated with
brushes and slip rings.
There are two types of rotor used in an AC generator / alternator:
(i) Salient and (ii) Cylindrical type
1. Salient pole type: Salient pole type rotor is used in low and medium
speed alternators. Construction of AC generator of salient pole type
rotor is shown in the figure above. This type of rotor consists of large

11
 number of projected poles (called salient poles), bolted on a magnetic
wheel. These poles are also laminated to minimize the eddy current
losses. Alternators featuring this type of rotor are large in diameters
and short in axial length. Salient-pole machines are common in
hydroelectric power generation
2. Cylindrical type: Cylindrical type rotors are used in high speed
alternators, especially in turbo alternators. This type of rotor consists of
a smooth and solid steel cylinder having slots along its outer periphery.
Field windings are placed in these slots. Cylindrical-rotor machines are
common in thermal (coal, nuclear power plants etc).

SLIP RINGS:
Slip rings are metal rings completely encircling the shaft of a machine but
insulated from it. One end of a DC rotor winding is connected to each of the
two slip rings on the machine’s shaft. Graphite-like carbon brushes
connected to DC terminals ride on each slip ring supplying DC voltage to
field windings regardless the position or speed of the rotor.
.Slip rings and brushes have certain disadvantages: increased friction and
wear (therefore, needed maintenance), brush voltage drop can introduce
significant power losses. Still this approach is used in most small
synchronous machines.

Generators used in NTPC

There are totally three stages in NTPC namely
1. stage I

2. stage II

3. stage III

Stage I consists of 3 alternators, with a capacity of 200MW each.

Stage II and stage III together consists of 4 alternators, with a
capacity of 500MW each.

12
Their specifications are:

Specifications of 200MW alternator:

Rated power 200MW
Stator voltage 18 KV
Stator current 13100 A
Rotor voltage 438 V
Rotor current 1327 A
Speed 3000 RPM
Phase 3-phase
Frequency 50 Hz
Power factor 0.85 lag
Connection Y
Coolant hydrogen
Insulation class F
Excitation type static excitation
Manufacturer ANSALDO (Italy)

Specifications of 500MW alternator:

Rated power 500MW
Stator voltage 21 KV
Stator current 16200 A
Rotor voltage 340 V
Rotor current 4030 A
Speed 3000 Rpm
Phase 3- phase
Frequency 50 Hz
Power factor 0.85 lag
Connection Y-Y
Coolant water and hydrogen
Insulation class B
Excitation type brushless excitation
Manufacturer BHEL (India)

13
 Excitation system:
Creating and strengthening the magnetic field of the generator by passing
DC through the field winding.

Use of Excitation system:

With large alternators in the power system, excitation plays a vital role
in the management of voltage profile and reactive power in the grid thus
ensuring ‘Stability’

EXCITATION PRINCIPLE:
Stator induced Voltage E = K. L. dΦ/ dt
(K = constant, L = length exposed to flux & dΦ/ dt = rate of change of flux)
Frequency of induced Voltage F = NP / 120
Magnitude of flux decides generated voltage and speed of rotation decides
frequency of generated voltage
Flux in the generator rotor is produced by feeding DC supply in the field
coils, thus forming a 2 pole magnet of rotor.
The Equipment for supply, control and monitoring of this DC supply is
called the Excitation system.

TYPES OF EXCITATION SYSTEM:

1. D.C exciter either directly or gear driven.
2. A.C exciter with static rectifier.
3. Brushless excitation system.
4. Static excitation system with power tapped from generator terminals.

Excitation System Requirement:

 Reliability

 Sensitivity and fast response

 Stability

 Ability to meet abnormal conditions

 Monitoring and annunciation of parameters

14
  User friendliness

Components of Typical Excitation System:

 Input and output interface , Aux. power supply, FB
 AVR: At least two independent channels

 Excitation build up and Field Discharging system

 Cooling / heat dissipation components

 Limiters

 Protective relays

 Testing, Monitoring and alarm / trip initiation

 Field Flashing, Stroboscope, PSS,

Excitation system developments:

The purpose of all excitation system is to provide direct current to the
field winding. The excitation power requirement of generator is about 0.4 to
0.5 percent of the generated power.Considerations in selecting the
excitation systems are:

1. The excitation system shall be able to meet the field power

requirement of the generator under rated load.

2. The excitation system must be reliable, stable in operation and must

respond quickly to changes in excitation current requirement.

3. The excitation system should enable the generators to operate under

over excitation and under excitation conditions as well as provide
means for single unit and multi unit operation with proper distribution
of reactive power between synchronous machines.

4. The excitation control system should accurately control the generator

voltage inder steady state conditions.

5. The excitation system should ensure steady stability of the electrical

system under all possible operating conditions.

15
 6. The excitation system should ensure good damping of free and
forced oscillation of small and large amplitude.

Excitation system used for 200MW alternator

(stage - I):
In stage – I of NTPC for 200Mw alternator static excitation
system is used.

Static excitation system:

In the static excitation system a power potential transformer is

connected directly to the terminals of the generator and the field on the
generator is flashed with series battery while the field is rotating. The
resulting small voltage generated by the initial field is then fed to the
terminal transformer, which is connected to a set of solid state rectifier
that converts A.C to D.C.
This is sort of a boot strap operation because now the new D.C
current is fed back to the field brushes and the process continues until
either the generator iron is saturated and the voltage does not get any

16
 higher or a control loop in the feedback circuit limit the terminal voltage.
The generator may then be connected to the power system. If there is
no control mechanism on the field current the generator load current
through the stator causes the terminal voltage on the power potential
transformer to drop. Thus causing fewer field currents resulting in lower
terminal voltage and so on. To correct this problem a saturable current
transformer (SCT) is used to provide supplementary current to the
power rectifiers to compensate the voltage drop caused by the stator
load current.
The SCT’s are connected in the series with stator line terminals,
therefore the higher load current the more the excitation current is
available to be fed to the power rectifier to provide direct current to the
field. The amount of the current to be used from this current source is
controlled by the bias winding on the SCT. The control loop in the
feedback circuit is used to adjust the field current and consequently the
power factor of the machine after it is online. The terminal voltage
cannot be adjusted significantly after the machine is online. Only the
power factor can be changed because the capacity of a single
generator is almost always small compared to the entire power system
to which it is connected.

Components of static excitation system:

Static excitation system comprises of the following components.
1. Excitation transformer

2. Thyristor bridge

3. Field flashing unit

4. Field discharging resistor

5. Automatic voltage regulator

6. Limiters

Excitation transformer:
The input power to the excitation transformer is taken from the
generator output. The excitation transformer steps down the generator
output voltage and given to the Thyristor Bridge which rectifies this voltage
and outputs D.C voltage.

17
 The excitation transformer should have high reliability, as its failure will
cause shut down of the generator unit. It is chosen suitably to rated
excitation current continuously and ceiling current for ten sec.

Thyristor Bridge:
Thyristor Bridge consists of N+1 bridge connected in parallel. Hence
N is the number of bridges, which meet the ceiling requirement. By
changing the firing the angle of thyristor variable output is obtained. These
bridges are equipped with protective devices and failure of even one bridge
will activates an alarm. Each bridge consists of six thyristors working as a
fully controlled bridge rectifier. In case of second bridge current is limited to
present value. Failure of third bridge will trip and rapidly de- excites the
machine.

Field flashing unit:

For initial build up of excitation field-flashing unit is required. It consists
of 415V A.C supply taken from station supply with rectifier, filter circuit and
one 220V D.C supply unit. As the voltage level reaches a present value of
approximately 30% of the generator rated output voltage this switch over to
manual channel and field-flashing unit is taken out. At a level of 70% the
excitation further build up by using auto channel.

Field discharging resistor:

Field discharging resistor is used to dissipate energy stored in the rotor
at the time of tripping the generator.

Field breaker:
The field breaker is selected to carry the full load excitation current
continuously. It also suitable to break the maximum field current in case of
3-ᶲ short circuit.

Automatic voltage regulator:

It is the subsystem of the excitation system for regulating the terminal
voltage of alternator automatically.

Limiters:

18
 When a generator is running in parallel with the power network, it is
essential to maintain it in synchronism without exceeding the rating of the
machine and also without the protection system tripping.
It is necessary to influence the voltage regulator by suitable means tp
limit the over excitation and the under excitation. This is not only improves
the security of the parallel operation but also makes the system operation
easier.
The static system excitation system is equipped with three limiters which
act in connection with the AVR. These limiters are as under
 Rotor current limiter

 Rotor angle limiter

 stator current limiter

Excitation system used for 500MW

alternator (stage - II):

In stage – II of NTPC for 500Mw alternator brushless

excitation system is used.
Brushless Excitation System:

The three phase exciter has a revolving field with permanent magnet
poles. The three phase A.C generated by the permanent magnet poles pilot
exciter is rectified and controlled by the thyristor voltage regulator to provide a

19
variable D.C current to the main exciter. Three phase A.C current induced in
the rotor of the main exciter is rectified by the rotating diode rectifier and fed to
field winding of the generator rotor through the D.C leads on the rotor shaft

Components of brushless excitation system:

1. Three phase main exciter

2. Three phase pilot exciter

3. Regulation cubicle

4. Rectifier wheels

5. Exciter coolers

6. Metering and supervisory equipment

A common shaft carries the rectifier wheels, the rotor of the main and
permanent magnet rotor of the pilot exciter. The shaft is rigidly coupled to
the generator. The exciter shaft is supported on a bearing between the
main and pilot exciters. The exciter rotors are thus supported on total of
three bearings. Mechanical coupling of the two shaft assemblies results in
simultaneous coupling of the D.C leads in the central shaft bore through the
multi contact electrical contact system consisting of plug-in bolts and
sockets.
 Eliminates slip rings, brush gear and all problems associated with
transfer of current via sliding contacts.

 Simple, reliable and increasingly popular system the world over, ideally
suited for large sets.

 Minimum operating and maintenance cost

 Self generating excitation unaffected by system fault/ disturbances

because of shaft mounted pilot exciter Multi contact electrical
connections between exciter and generator field.

20
 Pilot exciter:
 The three phase pilot exciter is a 16 pole revolving- field permanent
magnet generator.

 Each pole consists of 12 separate permanent magnets which are

housed in a non-magnetic enclosure.

 It supplies 220V 400hz supply to main exciter.

 AVR is connected at the output of this pilot exciter.

 Field breaker is also provided at the output only.

Main exciter:
 The three- phase main is a six revolving armature unit.

 Stator consists of field.

 Rotor produces three phase supply to feed to rectifier wheels.

 Quadrature- axis coil is fitted for inductive measurement of the exciter

current.

 Rotating diode assembly on the shaft rectifies this voltage and supplies
to field winding through the shaft.

 Stroboscope is used to check the healthiness of the diodes.

 60 diodes per wheel and two wheels will be there.

21
 BRUSH GEAR

ROTOR SHAFT

22
 Exciter rotor

Three- phase main exciter

23
Rotor E/F monitoring system:
 alarm 80 KΏ, Trip 5 KΏ
Stroboscope:
 For thyristor fuse monitoring (one fuse for each pair of diodes,)

 Auto channel thyristor current monitor

 For mo ‘Auto’ to ‘Manual’ changeover in case of Auto channel power

supply, thyristor set problem, or generator volts actual value problem.

 Monitoring of thyristor bridge current and initiating change over to

manual.

Excitation Power Requirement:

Excitation Excitation
Unit Ceiling
Current at Full Voltage at full
capacity MW Volts
Load load

200/ 210 2600 310 610

500 6300 600 1000

24
Description Brushless Excitation Static Excitation
Brushless system gets
activated with pilot exciter,
System type
main exciter and rotating
diodes.
No external source
Dependency on requirement since pilot
external supply. exciter has permanent
magnet field.
Slower than static type since
control is indirect (on the field
Response of the
of main exciter) and
excitation system.
magnetic components
involved.
Requirement of
additional bearing One additional bearing and
and increase of an increase in the shaft
turbo generator length are required.
shaft length.
Less since slip rings and
Maintenance
brushes are avoided.
Static excitation system
uses thyristors & taking
supply from output of the
generator
Field flashing supply
required for excitation
build up.
Very fast response in
the order of 40 ms. due
to the direct control and
solid state devices
employed.
No additional bearing
and long shaft are
required.
More as slip rings and
brushes are required.
Vibrations are very high
resulting in faster wear &
tear.
25
 CONCLUSION

In static excitation system, at starting we can use DC supply

or station supply (field flashing). This system has fast response
which is essential requirement now. The basic difference between
static and brushless excitation is in static system all components
are solid state, no moving parts while in brushless system
components (diode rectifier) are rotating. Brushless has a merit
that there is no brush and slip ring required as in case of static
system which led to maintenance problem.

The permanent magnet generator in a brushless excitation

system also requires maintenance. But since the permanent
magnet generator (PMG) is needed for normal operation, this
maintenance is "easier" to justify and to follow through. If there is
any break-down in the maintenance in a plant, from the strict point
of view of black-start capability, I tend to consider the
PMG+brushless excitation system arrangement as more reliable
than the static excitation system with external DC supply for field
flash. More reliable in the sense of counting on the unit to really
start up when required, under black-start conditions.

26
References:
1.BHEL O&M Manual for 500MW Turbo Generator DAVR.
2.Performance and Design of AC Machines-M.G.Say,BPB
Publishers.
3.Electrical Machines – J.Nagrath& D.P.Kothari,TMH
4.Electrical Machines – A.E.Fitzerald, C.Kingsley &
S.Umas,THM.
5. Electrical Machines – P.S.Bimbhra, Khanna Publishers.
6.Power Electronics – M.D.Singh & K.B. Khanchandani,THM.
7. Power Electronics - P.S.Bimbhra, Khanna Publishers.
8.Modern Power System Analysis – J.Nagrath &
D.P.Kothari,TMH
9. Modern Power Station practices – British Electricity
International , pergamon press

27