230.

25-3
EXCITATION SYSTEMS

GENERATORS: PART 3
EXCITATION SYSTEMS

1. 0 OBJECTIVES

The student must be able to:

1. Exp1ain:

a) The requirements for excitation systems.

b) How an excitation system is controlled, and the

consequences of incorrect control.
2. Explain what is meant by the following:

a) Reference signal
b) Feedback aignal
c) Comparator
3. Explain, using the necessary labell.ed diagrams, an
excitation system similar t~ the one used at your
location.
4. a) Explain the function of the field discharge
resistor and its associated breaker.
b) State the consequences of incorrect operation of
the resistor and/or its associated breaker.
5. Explain how, at his location, the de excitation supply
is obtained.
6. Explain:
a) The function of the voltage comparator.
b) The function of the AVR.
c) Using b10ck diagrams, how the main generator
output vo1tage is automatica11y contro11ed at his
1ocation.

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2.0 INTRODUCTION
This lesson explains the requirements of and the control
methods used with small and large generators.
It then describes, in simplified form, the excitation
systems used at Pickering A and B and the Bruce A Generating
Station.

3.0 REQUIREMENTS
An excitation system must have the following features:
3.1 Reliability
Lesson 230.22-1 explained that a generator requires
excitation to produce an electrical output. If the
excitation fails whilst a generator is on load, the magnetic
coupling between the rotor and stator will be lost. The
generator will no longer produce an electrical output. As
the turbine is producing a mechanical output and the
generator is not acting as a load, the turbine- generator
will speed up. The amount of overspeed will be~ determined
by the ability of the turbine governor to hold the speed to
a safe valuea .
It follows that an excitation system must have a very high
level of reliability. When excitation systems are designed,
the reliability of each component and the reliability of the
electrical supply for the excitation are carefully
considered a Because there has been so much development of
electrical components, in particular semi-conductors, there
are many different designs.
3.2 dc Requirements
An excitation system must be able to provide the required dc
output to provide the magnetic flux for a generator, under
the fOllowing conditions:
a) When the generator is on no load, the excitation system
has to provide sufficient flux to cause the generator
to produce rated voltage at rated speed a
b} From no load to fUll load operation, the excitation
current has to be increased to counter-act the effects
of armature reaction a Typically, between no load and
full load, the excitation current has to be increased
by a factor of 2.0 to 2.5, for example 1700 A to
4000 A.

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c) When faults occur on the grid system, due to lightening

or other causes, the voltages are depressed or reduced.
An excitation system must have a very fast response.
It must be able to increase excitation very rapidly
(typically within 0.25 seconds) to counter-act these
voltage depressions and in turn, quickly restore the
main ee generator output voltage to normal.
4.0 TYPICAL EXCITATION SYSTEMS
Small Be generators (less than 1 MW output) have their
output provided by de generators. This excitation is either
manually controlled or controlled by a simple Automatic
Voltage RegUlator (AVR).
Medium-sized ee generators (1 MW to 250 MW) have their
excitation provided by de generators which are controlled by
an automatic voltage regulator (AVR).
Because of teChnical difficulties, associated with large dc
generators (see Section 4.3a1 of this lesson), large ac
generators (above 250 MW) take their excitation from an ac
source. This ac is converted to de before being applied to
the rotor of the main ac generator The control of this
a

excitation is done by the AVR.

4.1' Excitation Systems For Small ac Generators
Figure 1 shows a system where the output from a de shunt
generator is applied through a control rheostat to the
sliprings of the main ae generator.

Sliprings
Slwnl
Field
G
DC Shunt
Genetator Brushes~ain /tIC Generator
Rotor Winding

....
Cont...

Figure 1: An ac Generator Being Excitated

Using a dc Shunt Generator
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 230.25-3

The system shown has four disadvantages. They are:

a) The field rheostat has no automatic control and
therefore has to have constant attention from the
operator who will have to adjust the excitation with
each change of voltage or load.
b) There is, in'proportion to the so generator output, a
large waste of power 1n the control rheostat.
0) In the event of a fault qr short circuit 1n the main
generator, there is no method of quickly reducing the
main generator field. When 8 fault occurs in the main
generator, 1f the field is not rapidly reduced to zero,
the generator will continue feeding current into the
fault and severe damage, due to burning will follow.
d) The output current from the exciter will vary. This
variation is mainly due to the generator rotor windings
heating up. As the rotor heats, its resistance
increases and for a given excitation supply VOltage,
the excitation current falls. This fall in excitation
current will if not corrected, reduce the output
voltage of the generator.
4.2. Excitation Systems for Medium Sized ao Generators
Medium sized ac generators (1 MW to 250 MW) require more
than one stage of excitation, see Figure 2. The automatic
VOltage regUlator could be plaoed in series with the main
excitation supply, but because of the muoh higher currents
involved, (up to 1500· A on a 200 MW generator) the
components would be large and costly. There would also be a
large power loss. Placing the automatic voltage regulator
(AVR), in series with the pilot exoiter, enables the AVR to
contrOl a sma1.l. current (l.ess than 100 A). The AVR is now
much smaller and cheaper and there is a much smaller power
loss, typically one hundredth.
4.2.1 The dcpilot exciter gives a constant VOltage
output. This output is controlled by the AVR and
applied 'to 'the field of 'the main dc exciter. The
output from the main dc exciter is taken through
the field breaker to the main ae generator
sliprings.
4.2.2 The comparator compares the voltage produced by'
the ma1.n ee genera'tor wi'th "the vol'tage 'that is
demanded by the control room operator. The
voltage produced by the main ac generator is
proportionally reduced by the potential
transformer and is applied to one side of the
comparator.
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This signal is called the feedback signal because

it is fed back from the output. The other side of
the comparator is supplied with the vOltage that
is set by the control room operator. This signal
1s known as the reference signal.
If the output voltage of the main generator falls
below the voltage setting applied by the operator,
the comparator will sense the difference and send
a signal 'to the AVR. The AVR will. then raise the
field current on the main exciter which will
increase its output voltage. The excitation will
now be increased, enabling the generator to
produce the required output vOltage. Similarly,
1f the main generator output voltage rises, the
comparator will once again sense the difference.
The AVR will lower the exciter output which will
reduce the main generator output VOltage to the
required value.

Pitot Exciter
...... F10td
D_
Field

Resistcw
Mom
,...J,i',, '-Tol----, Sliprings Gen,,_
, ...._ _
Rotor and
~Windings
Pilot
Main
Exciter ,,I
Exciter FilJId ,,
I
t---
,
AVR
Resistor Series
Contact

Ret.rence Stgnal"'_-E~~.....
~.!!§!t-I Potential
Transformar
Voltage
Indication

( 1 phase
shown I
OUTPUT

Figure 2: Typical Excitation System for an

ac Generator (1 MW to 250 MW).
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4.2.3 A field circuit breaker and field discharge

resistor are used to protect the generator stator
and rotor. The field circuit breaker is arranged
to trip when a faUlt occurs 1n the main generator
windings or associated equipment, including the
main transformer. Bearing 1n mind this breaker
can open when fUll current is flowing 1n the
generator rotor windings, opening the breaker
under this condition will cause the generator
field flux to decay rapidly. As the generator
rotor has many turns, a rapid change in flux will
cause a very large voltage to be induced 1n the
rotor windings because of
dllS
e • N-
dt
The value of induced voltage may be sufficient to
cause a flash over 1n the generator ~otor, at the
sliprings or on other parts of the excitation
system. To guard against this, the field
discharge resistor series contact closes and
switches the field discharge resistor into circuit
just before the main field breaker contacts open.
This resistor safely dissipates the energy from
the rotor and limits the value of induced voltage
to a safe value. It shoUld be noted that the
field discharge resistor series contact:
a) closes before the breaker main contacts open,
and

b) opens after the breaker main contacts close.

Therefore at all times, the breaker contacts are
closed and/or the field discharge resistor contact
is closed. The rotor is never left open
circuited.

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4.3 Excitation systems for Large ae Generators

4.3.1 Generators of 250 MW output and above do not use
de generators for their excitation because:
a) the de generators would be too bUlky and too
expensive, compared with ae exciters and
rectifiere.
b) more maintenance is required with de
generators (compared with ae generators) and
consequently their reliability is usually
lower.
c) excitation schemes using de generators have a
slow response due to the inductance of their
windings opposing changes in field currents
and hence flux and output voltage. Because
of thill, they are unsuitable for use where
~aat r8l1POnae ie required.

.....
,~

D_
"""
-
........
Rotor and

""'....
MAG
AMP m
~.r.::::.r::P-""ResiStor Series

'"-.tiTj
TrM8former
OUTPUT

Pigure 3: S:LDIp11:fied Version of the Pickering

Bzcitation System
4.3.2 Excitation systems using rectified ac have been
developed. These systems have fast response and
large outputs. Figure 3 shows a simplified
version of the Pickering excitation system. Note
that the system is basically the same as the one
shown in Figure 2, with the exception that ac
pilot and main exciters are used.

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The Permanent Magnet Generator (PMG) output is

rectified and produces the field for the pilot
exciter. This de output from the pilot exciter
and rectifier is fed to the main exciter rotor via
the magnetic amplifier. The magnetic amplifier
rectifies the output from the pilot exciter and at
the same time controls the main exciter rotor
current and flux. The ae outpu~ from the main
exciter 1s rectified and fed to the main generator
rotor via the field breaker.
The comparator 1s supplied with the same signals
as 1n Figure 2. The comparator controls the AVR
which 1n turn controls the magnetic amplifier.
ThiS type of excitation system has two main
disadvantages:
a) it is complicated and has many moving parts
consisting of the permanent magnetic
generator (PMG) the pilot exciter and the
main exciter. There are three sets of
sliprings and brushes, all of which require
regular on load maintenance.

b) its response is faster than if dc exciters

have been used. It is not as fast as the
excitation system used at Bruce A NGS. The
Bruce A system is described in the next
section.

-- .........
Main Gw.rator
S11prings Rotor de; Stator ac

CUbiCle Resistor

C,:"" o--i'-:-l--~==l-"i:':+:-;I
13.8 kV~=~3~"~~=:t.. SC::Rj,:::S7~
SupPly AC
Excitation
" -- L...I._ _..1
Circuit
T,_ [~jJB'_
AVR
Potential
Transformer

~ ----1EC~O~M~pl-:~f~~~:~1
___ Feedback

--v Signal

OUTPUT

Figure 4: Simplified Version of the Bruce 'A' Excitation

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4.3.3 To overcome the two problems stated in

4.3.2 a) and 4.3.2 b) the excitation system
shown in Figure 4 has been developed for use
at Bruce A NGS. On each unit, instead of
using a shaft driven PMG, pilot exciter and
main exciter, the excitation supply is taken
from the 13.8 kV Class 4 system, via the
excitation transformer. The output from the
transformer is converted on de and at the
same time oontrolled using thyristors
(silicon controlled rectifiers).' These
silicon contrOlled rectifiers are controlled
by the AVR. This results in a much simpler
system having fewer moving parts. The only
disadvantage is that any fluctuations in the
Class 4 supply voltage must be compensated
for by the action of the AVR and thyristors.
In practice, this system has given exce11ent
resu1ts.

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ASSIGNMENT

1. What three features must an excitation system de output

provide?
2. What are the disadvantages of using a de generator with no
AVR to excite a large generator?
3. Explain what is meant by "reference" and "feedback" signals
1n an excitation scheme. Taking the Bruce A or Pickering A
~xcitat1on system, explain the sequence of events which
occur when the main generator terminal voltage 1s lowered by
a lightening faUlt striking a nearby transmission line.
4. Explain the function of the field discharge resistor and the
probable consequences of the discharge resistor becoming
open circuited.
5. Given a simplified schematic diagram of either the Pickering
or Bruce A excitation system, state and explain the function
·of the principal components.

J.R.C. Cowling

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