Maszyny Elektryczne – Zeszyty Problemowe Nr 3/2015 (107) 89

Stefan Schmuelling, Christian Kreischer

TU Dortmund University, Chair of Energy Conversion
Marek Gołȩbiowski
Rzeszow University of Technology, Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering

COMPARISON OF DIFFERENT METHODS FOR EXCITATION OF

SYNCHRONOUS MACHINES
Abstract: The energy turnaround in Germany leads to new operating conditions for small and medium syn-
chronous generators. Since the electricity generation through renewable energy sources, such as wind or pho-
tovoltaic, is highly volatile, generators have to run up from standstill into rated operation within several
minutes. Hence, it is necessary to compensate a lack of electricity generation caused by wrong weather fore-
casts. Usually, gas turbine systems provide this possibility. The generator is used as a starter engine due to
the connection to a frequency inverter. The excitation current is often provided by static excitation systems.
Thus, it is possible to start from standstill and run up the drive until the gas turbine is able to generate a posi-
tive torque. A new excitation concept, based on an induction machine with a 3-phase rotor winding, is able to
provide an excitation current at 0 rpm and eliminates the need for brushes. To verify the applicability for
power systems, both systems are compared under different aspects. The control of the excitation current at
different speeds and the possibility to settle shaft oscillations after electrical faults are aspects researched in
the paper at hand. A power system simulation is performed with a synchronous machine connected to a grid.
Both excitation systems are modeled by equivalent circuit diagrams in Matlab Simscape.
Keywords: AC machines, Brushless machines, Electromagnetic transients, Excitation system, Power system
simulation

synchronous machines and therefore with

1. Introduction common brushless exciters works only while
The increasing amount of highly volatile ener- the system is rotating, since there is no elec-
gy generation, such as wind power stations tromagnetic induction in the multi-phase
and solar plants, leads to new operating condi- winding at 0 rpm. Compared with common
tions for fossil-fueled power plants [1]. Since brushless excitation systems, static excitation
it is possible that the amount of active power systems use controlled rectifiers connected via
fed by renewable energy sources changes slip rings and brushes to the generator’s field
within several minutes, the amount of conven- coil. Thus, it is possible to provide an excita-
tional fed energy has to compensate for those tion current at standstill. This system requires
fluctuations. Some gas power plants operate in a higher amount of maintenance work.
turning operation for up to 70 % of time per In order to start a turbine generator or a syn-
year [2], since it is not possible to start them chronous condenser within a few minutes
from standstill in a short time. from standstill without using auxiliary drives,
Common generators are direct current excited the synchronous machine can be used as motor
synchronous machines. Therefore, it is possi- for the start up by using it as inverter drive.
ble to regulate the amount of reactive power There is a wide range of inverter topologies
by adjusting the DC excitation. There are which are appropriate for the use with syn-
mainly two set-ups to feed the field winding of chronous machines [5].
a synchronous generator with direct current Typical brushless excitation systems are not
[3], [4]: able to provide an excitation current at 0 rpm.
1. Brushless excitation systems Thus, it is not possible to start a generator
2. Static excitation systems from standstill, unless it is equipped with a
Brushless exciters are synchronous machines static excitation system.
with a rotating multi-phase winding mounted A third excitation system uses an induction
to the shaft and a stationary DC coil. The mul- machine as inductive energy transfer system to
ti-phase winding is connected to a rotating rec- generate a direct current without using brush-
tifier and the rectifier is connected to the gen- es. This system is typically used for very large
erator’s field coil. The energy conversion with drive applications, such as multi-megawatt
90 Maszyny Elektryczne – Zeszyty Problemowe Nr 3/2015 (107)

compressor drives in liquid natural gas (LNG) the field coil with a negative field voltage to
plants. reduce the field current in the case of an over-
Fig. 1 shows the brushless excitation systems excitation. It has the disadvantage that it de-
(green) typically used for large drives. pends on using brushes and may cause shaft
voltages [6], [7].
2. System under investigation
Switching operations in the grid or grid faults
can cause oscillating shaft torques, which can
damage the power system and lead to mechan-
ical failures. Thus, the excitation system has to
attenuate those resonances between the rotat-
ing system and the grid. In order to verify the
applicability of the induction machine exciter
(IM exciter) for turbine generators, a detailed
power system simulation is performed. The
control performance of the IM exciter is com-
Fig. 1. Schematic drawing of an induction ma- pared with a static excitation system. The de-
chine based excitation system (a) and a static tailed equivalent circuit of the static excitation
excitation system (b) for turbine generators system is modeled and the controls are taken
The induction machine stator winding is con- from the ST1A standard excitation system [8].
nected to an AC power controller. The rotary Both excitation systems are equipped with the
field, generated by the 3-phase stator winding same power system stabilizer (PSS1A) [8].
of the exciter, turns in the opposite direction of The stabilizer modifies the input signal of the
the rotating direction of the shaft. Thus, the voltage controller in order to suppress shaft
operational slip of the induction machine is at oscillations in consequence of grid faults or
s = 1 during standstill and at s = 5 during rated resonance excitation. It uses the shaft accelera-
operation. This system is brushless and it is tion as input signal.
able to feed the generator’s field coil with a The simulation is performed by using a typical
DC current at standstill. Its effects on the gen- benchmark model. As depicted in Fig. 2, the
erator performance are unknown, since it is generator is connected to 2 equivalent grids.
only used as an excitation system for large Hence, they have the same short circuit capac-
drives. Those drives do not have to regulate ity (SCC) of 1500 MVA. Furthermore, both
reactive power or have to stabilize the grid lines have a length of 50 km with the same
during faults. values for resistance and reactance.
Fig. 1 also shows a typical static excitation Both excitation systems are fed by the on-site
system (orange dashed). It consists of a con- power. The on-site power is supplied by a
trolled 6-pulse rectifier, which is directly con- transformer connected to the generator’s ter-
nected to the rotating field coil by using minals. Thus, both systems get affected by
brushes and slip rings. The static excitation voltage drops on the transmission line.
system has the advantage of being able to feed

Fig. 2. Simulation model for the performance analysis of the excitation systems
 Maszyny Elektryczne – Zeszyty Problemowe Nr 3/2015 (107) 91

Two scenarios are chosen to prove the ap- This second simulation is called unsuccessful
plicability of the IM exciter for power genera- reclosing. The reclosing fault is cleared after
tion systems. First, a 185 ms 3-phase fault is additional 185 ms.
simulated in the middle of one transmission For both scenarios it is assumed that the tur-
line. At the beginning of the simulation the bine torque keeps constant to simplify the
system runs at rated operation and at the time comparison. The fast travel mode of the tur-
of t = 0 s the switch S1 is closed. After 185 ms bine valves may be activated at real power
the fault is cleared by opening the switch S2. plants due to the fault, in order to reduce the
Following it is assumed that the fault is overspeed of the shaft [9].
cleared and the switch S2 recloses successful-
ly. 3. Simulation and results
Secondly, the 3-phase fault is simulated once 3.1 Successful reclosing
again. The switch S1 is closed similar to the Fig. 3 shows the most important generator
successful reclosing simulation. After 185 ms values during the 3-phase fault on the trans-
the switch S2 opens and the generator gets mission line. The values are expressed in the
separated from the 3-phase fault. per unit system, which brings benefit to the
37 periods or 740 ms after S2 was opened, it comparability of the presented figures.
closes again. In this case the generator is con-
nected to the 3-phase fault once again.

Fig. 3. Most important generator values for both excitation systems during the successful reclosing
simulation
92 Maszyny Elektryczne – Zeszyty Problemowe Nr 3/2015 (107)

The generator operates under rated conditions ic excitation system offers the possibility to
at 3000 rpm. At the time of t = 0 s the switch S1 reverse the field voltage. The negative field
is closed. The sudden short circuit leads to voltage values lead to lower field current val-
high transient generator currents. Since the ues after fault clearance. Thus, the oscillating
turbine torque is constant during the whole air gap torque of the generator has lower am-
simulation, the generator starts to accelerate. plitudes after fault clearance. Nevertheless,
Both excitation systems have no visible influ- both excitation systems return the generator
ence on the transient values during the short into rated operation within a time period of 3
circuit. Generator currents and the air gap seconds. The generator stator currents have the
torque have the same behavior. same maxima for both excitation systems.
After 185 ms the switch S2 opens and the gen-
3.2 Unsuccessful reclosing
erator returns into rated operation. The recov-
ery time for the rotor angle ϑ and the speed ω Fig. 4 shows the most important generator
is similar. values for the unsuccessful reclosing simula-
The generator field current if shows a big dif- tion. The generator runs at rated operation and
ference. By using the IM exciter, the field cur- at the time of t = 0 s the switch S1 is closed.
rent is about 1.5-2 pu greater than the field cur- 185 ms after S1 is closed, the switch S2 opens.
rent with the static excitation system. The stat-

Fig. 4. Most important generator values for both excitation systems during the unsuccessful reclos-
ing simulation
 Maszyny Elektryczne – Zeszyty Problemowe Nr 3/2015 (107) 93

Compared to Fig. 3, all values are equivalent

until the switch S2 closes 37 time periods after
5. References
the first fault clearance. S1 is kept still closed [1] S. Schmuelling and S. Exnowski, "Start-up per-
during the whole simulation. Hence, the gen- formance of very large synchronous generators," in
erator gets connected to the 3-phase fault once 2013 Fourth International Conference on Power
Engineering, Energy and Electrical Drives
again.
(POWERENG), May 2013, pp. 305–308.
The rotor angle ϑ and speed ω show higher os- [2] D. Thien, "Effects and analysis of the altered
cillation amplitudes for the IM exciter. By us- operation of gasturbine power plants, [in German:
ing the speed ω as reference, the static excita- Betriebsauswertung und Analysen zur veränderten
tion system is 500 ms faster in suppressing the Fahrweise Gasturbinengetriebener Fossiler Kraft-
oscillations. By using the rotor angle ϑ as ref- werke]," 8. Essener Tagung: Turbogeneratoren in
erence value, both systems are at rated opera- Kraftwerken, Feb 2015.
tion after 5 seconds. [3] "IEEE Standard Definitions for Excitation Sys-
As noticed during the successful reclosing tems for Synchronous Machines," IEEE Std 421.1-
simulation, the IM exciter leads to higher field 2007 (Revision of IEEE Std 421.1-1986), pp. 1–33,
July 2007.
current values after the first fault clearance.
[4] G. Klempner and I. Kerszenbaum, Operation
The generator’s field current is at 3.5 pu with and Maintenance of Large Turbo-Generators, ser.
the static excitation system and at 4 pu with IEEE Press Series on Power Engineering. John
the IM exciter while S2 is reclosing at the time Wiley and Sons, Inc., 2004.
of t = 1.12 s. Hence, the maximum value of the [5] L. Golebiowski, M. Golebiowski, and D. Ma-
field current during the second fault is at zur, "Inverters operation in rigid and autonomous
6.75 pu for the static excitation system and at grid," COMPEL - The international journal for
8 pu by using the IM exciter. The same effect computation and mathematics in electrical and
is visible at the terminal currents. electronic engineering, vol. 32, no. 4, pp. 1345–
Nevertheless, both excitation systems help to 1357, 2013.
[6] C. Ammann, K. Reichert, R. Joho, and Z.
return the generator into rated operation. There
Posedel, "Shaft voltages in generators with static
are visible differences, but both systems can excitation systems-problems and solution," IEEE
totally suppress the shaft oscillations within 3 s Transactions on Energy Conversion, vol. 3, no. 2,
after the second fault clearance. pp. 409–419, Jun 1988.
[7] L. Golebiowski, M. Golebiowski, and D. Ma-
4. Conclusions zur, "Voltages in the shaft of the induction motor in
The IM exciter shows good regulation charac- 3d fem formulation, " in IEEE International Sym-
teristics for the presented simulations. A dis- posium on Diagnostics for Electric Machines,
advantage, which comes with all brushless ex- Power Electronics and Drives, 2007. SDEMPED
citation systems, is the lack of possibility to 2007, Sept 2007, pp. 142–145.
feed the field coil with negative field voltage [8] "IEEE Recommended Practice for Excitation
System Models for Power System Stability Stud-
values. Thus, the field current if has higher
ies," IEEE Std 421.5-2005 (Revision of IEEE Std
values. This has a negative influence on the 421.5-1992), 2006.
generator’s air gap torque values and current [9] C. Kreischer, M. Rosendahl, Bennauer, and H.
amplitudes after an unsuccessful reclosing Werthes, "Dynamic behavior of steam turbine con-
event. The settling times are comparable to the troller in the event of load rejection following a
static excitation system ST1A. threephase short circuit close to the power plant,"
In order to build brushless excitation systems VGB Power Tech, vol. 91, pp. 77–79, May 2011.
for turbine generators with the possibility to
generate a field current at standstill, the IM Authors
exciter is an efficient way to combine fast reg-
Stefan Schmuelling and Dr.-Ing. Christian Kreischer are
ulation characteristics and the advantages of with the Chair of Energy Conversion, TU Dortmund
classical brushless excitation systems, where University, Dortmund, 44227 Germany (phone: +49 231
less servicing is required. 755-2585; email: stefan.schmuelling@udo.edu, chris-
tian.kreischer@udo.edu)
Marek Gołȩbiowski is with The Faculty of Electrical and
Computer Engineering, Rzeszow University of Technol-
ogy, Rzeszow (email: yegolebi@prz.edu.pl)