2024 Paris Session

ID – 11065
A1 ROTATING ELECTRICAL MACHINES
Rotating Electrical Machines and the energy transition

Incorporating Fibre Optic Arc Flash Detection into

James DASH
Origin Energy
Australia
James.Dash@originenergy.com.au

Len GUNN
Origin Energy
Australia
Len.Gunn@originenergy.com.au

SUMMARY

Following a significant uncontrolled arc flash event on a large, air-cooled Generator, investigations
found that the existing conventional protection systems failed to detect a smaller arc flash which then
escalated to a significantly higher energy secondary event. The damage sustained during the event lead
to the complete replacement of the generator.

Due to loss of containment following the arc flash, access restrictions were implemented to the other
unit on site which had the same design and operating history. Enhancements to the typical Generator
protection systems were sought with the result being the installation and commissioning of Fibre Optic
arc flash detection used in Electrical Switchboards.

This paper covers an overview of the failure that drove the need for supplement the typical protection
installed on Generators along with other potential uses, options considered, and final solution installed.

KEYWORDS

Generator - End Winding - Arc Flash

Generators can experience high end winding vibration due to issues with the bracing and the
support structure causing harmonics of the operating frequency to excite harmonic
frequencies of the end winding. In some cases, if the unit is operated with high levels of
vibration for long periods of time the copper strands in the stator bars can fatigue to a point
where they can crack and begin to separate. Once this begins to occur, the stator bar will
reach a point where it can no longer carry the operating current of the unit, causing a
catastrophic failure. As this failure progresses, an arc is typically generated if the bar
separates in the end winding away from the core and casing of the Generator.

The authors of this paper investigated such a failure which occurred on the neutral end of the
winding. The resulting arc being at low voltage did not activate any of the installed protection
on the Generator. From subsequent investigations, it was found that the initial arc generated a
conductive atmosphere in the enclosed environment which eventually caused a much larger
flash over at the exposed HV bushings above the end winding (Fig 4). The resultant much
larger arc flash and associated pressure wave were not contained within the machine and
dislodged several large panels from the acoustic enclosure around the machine (Fig 2) as well
as a large flash being seen on security footage coming out of the Generator (Fig 1). This
resulted in significant damage to the machine and enclosure as well as potentially causing a
safety issue if personnel had been in the area at the time of the failure. As this unit was one of
two built at the same time, access and load restrictions were put in place for the other unit
while in service due to the risk of a similar failure.

2 FAILURE EVENT

The generator had an initial failure of a stator bar at the neutral end of the winding, which was
not picked up by the installed protection relays. From investigations of the incident a section
of the bar overheated and melted with current flowing in the bar drawing an arc across this
section. This produced vapourised copper within the generator, in particular the end-winding
area around the failed bar above which were the non-insulated connection bushings of the
unit. This propagated to a phase to phase and phase to ground fault which caused arcing
much larger in magnitude than the initial fault. Generator Differential Protection picked up
the second fault as a three-phase earth fault and tripped the Generator.

From the initial fault to the point when the Unit was taken out of service by the Unit
Protection there was extensive damage to the failed stator bar with about a 5 cm section of the
bar melted or vapourised also adjacent bars were severely damaged (Fig 3). Arcing products
were also spread throughout the stator and the rotor cooling paths.

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Fig 1. Arc flash during event Fig 2. Damage to generator enclosure

Fig 3. Failed stator bar Fig 4. Generator connections where second arc initiated

3 OPTIONS CONSIDERED

Due to the risk of a similar failure on the other Generator on site of the same design and
similar operational history restrictions were put in place for personnel accessing areas close to
the machine whenever it was in service. This restriction added a level complexity to operating
and maintaining the unit which was necessary to ensure the safety of personnel but was a
driver to explore options for making the machine safe to access in service. As the machine
already had all the normal protection devices associated with large synchronous generators

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options were explored to improve the ability of the generator to be tripped or taken offline
before a fault developed or reached a level to initiate a large arcing fault.

The options considered were technology used in switchgear, smoke detection and arc flash
detection as well as on-line end winding vibration monitoring.

Smoke detection was considered as the Generator is a closed-circuit air-cooled machine and
there was a report that there had been a possible burning smell around the failed generator
prior to the failure that no source had been identified for.

Arc flash detection was settled on as the failure was confirmed to have occurred following
two arcing events and this technology is a proven technology and could be relied upon to
detect the first smaller event before progressing to a larger arc flash that may not be contained
within the Generator. The equipment required was also readily available for a quick
installation as well as considered applicable to other Generator and large motor types.

In addition to this on-line end winding vibration was also installed later as this may provide
an indication of copper strands separating in one of the stator bars allowing for intervention
and repairs. This technology also allows for identification of high levels of vibration allowing
early intervention for repairs as this would increase the risk of damage occurring to the stator
bar strands. The cost of this option was considerably higher than the arc flash detection and
took longer to implement but has the benefit of potentially preventing the bar separating and
arcing therefore being more cost effective to repair. The potential limitations of relying on
this to prevent an arc flash event is the limited number of locations monitored which raised
concerns that there was still a high enough probability of a failure progressing to an arc
without being detected. This concern would have meant maintaining personnel access
restrictions around the Generator.

4 DESIGN

Off the shelf switchboard arc flash relays using fibre optic loop sensors were used for the
installation, with one relay used for each of the two generators on the site.

Both end windings of the generators were fitted with fibre optic loops sensors.
The sensors were affixed to the inside of the Generator casing on a support ridge adjacent to
the end of the end winding (Fig 5).

A trip output is wired from the arc flash relay to the generator protection relay to a spare
binary input and configured as a latched trip. The generator is only tripped if the generator is
excited as it is conditioned with the Generator Excitation Breaker. The relay was not set up to
use generator current as a conditioning signal at the time of installation due to time
constraints, but this is also an option and would add another level reliability to avoid spurious
tripping.

In addition to the protection trip the fault alarm from the arc flash relay is connected to the
control system. This alarm operates if the relay suffers a fault, loses power, an arc flash
sensor is damaged or too much ambient light is detected by a sensor.

Relay settings are similar to a switchboard setup.

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Fig 5. Fibre Optic arc flash sensor installed in adjacent to end winding

Fig 6. Fibre Optic arc flash sensor connection

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5 INSTALLATION

The arc flash sensors were a fibre optic loop rather than a point sensor and were installed on
the casing of the Generator directly opposite the end-winding. Only one sensor was required
for each end-winding as they were of sufficient length to cover the complete diameter. The
positioning of these was based on the failure that had occurred and experience from fault
finding and repairing cracked strands in other Generators. The section of the bars chosen to
have the most direct line of sight to the sensors was final bend in the bars in particular the
bars with phase and neutral connections (Fig 7) as they tended to have more weight and
displayed higher levels of vibration when tested. These areas of the end-winding also tend to
be the locations chosen for on-line vibration sensors for a similar reason. Regardless of this it
is expected that an arc flash further back into the end-winding will trigger the arc flash
protection in line with how it is designed to work in Switchboards.

While the installation wasn’t initially supported by the OEM (Original Equipment
Manufacturer) they provided the labour for the installing the fibre optic sensors and have
since had their technical staff document the solution. Also, as well as this installation the
OEM installed on-line vibration monitoring and carried out X-raying and voltage drop testing
to detect if any strands were currently cracked in the stator bars.

Fig 7. End winding showing final bends and phase connections.

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6 COMMISSIONING

As part of the installation and commissioning process a standard flash unit from the
manufacturer was used to test that the sensors would recognise an arc flash event, this was
tested following mounting of the sensors and connection to the relay. The relay was shown to
pick up using this unit.

Also following installation and post putting the first Generator back into service the trip was
disabled for a number of weeks to ensure that there were no false trips as this was a unique
application of the arc flash technology. No triggering events occurred on the relay over this
period, so the trip function was subsequently enabled and there have been no trips in the
subsequent 3 plus years of operation of two Generators with the arc flash sensors installed.

7 APPLICATIONS

While this setup has been used for a large, air-cooled Generator it could also be considered for
other rotating machines where there are concerns for failures that could result in arcing in the
end winding such as large motors or possibly Hydrogen Generators with the use of a
Hydrogen penetration through the casing for the fibre optic connectors. Used in other air-
cooled machine applications it would be expected that the protection should be as effective as
the application of an air-cooled Generator, testing if the relay arc detection bandwidth is
affected by hydrogen wasn’t in the scope of the work carried out, so possibly some
investigation or consultation with the relay manufacturer may be required for a hydrogen
machine application may be required.