My Experience with an Australian Grid

CARTESIA

BIMAL K. BOSE

n my long professional career that has spanned over 40 years, I have handled many technical consulting projects from industries. These include settling technical disputes among corporations and complex failure studies in plants with power electronics equipment. I would like to share with the readers my experiences regarding one particular projecthopefully they will find it very interesting. While in my office one morning, I received a telephone call from someone in Australia informing me of a fault that had occurred in the large cycloconverter drive of a mining ore-crushing mill. Around midnight, when the mill was running at full load, there was a roaring thudfollowed by the mill shutdown and blackout of power supply. Extensive damage occurred to the system, and the plant shutdown led to a severe economic loss for the company.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MIE.2011.943022 Date of publication: 9 December 2011

12 IEEE INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS MAGAZINE n DECEMBER 2011

1932-4529/11/$26.00&2011IEEE

The problem required critical investigation. I was considered the worlds expert on cycloconverters. My responsibility was to investigate: What was the problem? Why did it occur? Were there any flaws in the design of the drive and protection system? Were the plant personnel adequately trained for the operation of the equipment? Was there any gap in communication among the equipment designer, installer, and personnel of the plant? What should be the possible solution and remedial measures so that this does not happen again in the future? The tasks appeared very complex. I had the opportunity to visit the damaged plant in Australia. I agreed to undertake the project but was not very confident whether I could satisfy their expectations. For confidentiality reasons, this description is very general and does not identify any of the parties involved. The description indicates the complexity of the project, requiring an intimate understanding of utility grid operation, power electronics, machines, control, faults, and protection systems. First, we need to understand the background systems in detail.

Utility Grid Operation

A utility grid is responsible for maintaining a reliable quality power supply to the customers [1]. Quality power means that the three-phase power should be balanced with the regulation of voltage and frequency; there should be no harmonic distortion or transients; and of course, there should not be any interruption of power supply. Typically, the bus voltage should be regulated within 10% of the declared voltage and the frequency deviation within a small fraction of a hertz from 50 Hz (Australian grid). Note that the frequency is identical throughout the grid, but the voltage can vary at different locations. The frequency accuracy is important for electric clocks as well as the speed of ac motors (induction and synchronous) operating on the grid. Low voltage causes light dimming and deteriorates the speed and torque

capability of motors, besides affecting the performance of voltage-sensitive apparatus. The customer power demand on a grid always fluctuates, and at any instant, the generated power should match the demand power neglecting losses and any storage of energy. Frequency is the normal messenger for real power-demand variation, whereas voltage is the messenger for reactive power-demand variation. The increase of real power demand tends to get extracted from the stored kinetic energy pool of the rotating machines on the grid that results in the drop of frequency. However, as the governors on the turbo generators sense the drop of speed, they pump more fuel (steam in fossil and nuclear power plants and water in hydro power plants) to the driving turbines to compensate for the speed drop. Normally, one generating plant is assigned the responsibility of frequency regulation, whereas the others carry assigned block loads. If loading is large and sudden, and the grid capacity is small (single generator in an extreme case), the frequency drop will be large because of the inertia delay of the rotating system. Although the bus voltage is affected by real power demand, the effect is more dominant by reactive power loading. Lagging reactive power reduces the bus voltage that is normally compensated by the generator excitation control. Static volt ampere reactive (VAR) compensators (SVCs) or synchronous rotating

VAR generators can be installed in strategic locations of the grid to improve power factors and thus reduce reactive current loading (and loss) of equipment and excitation control range of generators. Again, the load is distributed on the grid so that there is no overloading of any line and equipment and the grid operates at optimal efficiency. If the total load on the grid exceeds the generation capacity (indicated by frequency dip), the excess load is shed selectively. If the load exceeds the line capacity, the line circuit breaker is tripped to relieve the load. The advanced smart grid of tomorrow with state-of-the-art power electronics, computers, and communication equipment will permit optimum resource utilization and economic electricity to customers, maintaining higher energy efficiency, reliability, and security of the system.

Cycloconverter Drive Operation

Traditionally, a thyristor phase-controlled cycloconverter (CCV), as shown in Figure 1, is used in large multimegawatt gearless mill drive applications [2], [3]. The applications include ore-grinding mills, rolling mills, cement mills, pumps and compressors, variablespeed constant frequency systems, limited-speed range slip power-recovery Scherbius drives, ship propulsions, and more. A CCV is essentially a direct frequency changer that converts ac input power at 50 Hz into variable voltage and variable frequency (VVVF)

+C

C c a b

FIGURE 1 A 36-thyristor phase-controlled cycloconverter supply with a synchronous motor load.

DECEMBER 2011 n IEEE INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS MAGAZINE

13

FIGURE 2 An ore-grinding mill.

FIGURE 3 Fabrication of a phase voltage wave of a cycloconverter.

output power to drive an induction or synchronous motor. Figure 2 shows a typical ore-grinding mill [4] that is coupled to the motor. For a large drive, wound-field synchronous motor (WFSM) is preferred because of better efficiency. The three-phase to threephase CCV consists of three dualbridge six-pulse 36-thyristor phasecontrolled converters, where each phase group is supplied by a stepdown transformer with secondary delta windings in isolation. The stator winding of the machine is wye connected to the CCV. The thyristors operate in a phase-control linecommutation principle to fabricate sinusoidal phase voltages, as shown by the waveform in Figure 3. The CCV operates in the blocking mode, i.e., when the positive converter (C) of a dual bridge conducts positive phase current, the negative converter (C) is blocked (to prevent short circuit) and vice versa. This is unlike circulating current mode operation of the component bridges where an intergroup reactor is inserted between the bridges. The advantages in blocking mode operation are that the control is somewhat simple and the device current rating is low. However, the disadvantages are that the output voltage and input line current waves contain higher harmonic distortion that limits the output frequency range typically within 33% of line frequency. A CCV operates in four quadrants (motoring and generation in either direction). Because of phase control with sinusoidal firing angle modulation, the line displacement power factor (DPF) is low and harmonic patterns are very complex [2]. The output phase voltage harmonic family is given by the

expression pnfi nf0 , where pn n is an odd integer, p is equal to six, m and n are integers, fi is the line frequency, and f0 is the load frequency. The line harmonics family is given by ( np 1)fi mf0 , where ( np 1) m odd integer. The line side of CCV normally needs an SVC to improve DPF and an active harmonic filter (AHF) to restore sinusoidal line currents. The machine inductance on the load side gives adequate filtering to give a near sinusoidal load current. Figure 4 shows the fundamental phase voltage and line current waves in the motoring mode, where / is the lagging DPF angle. The positive half cycle of the current wave is carried by the positive converter (C), whereas the negative half cycle is carried by the negative converter (C). The figure indicates that the major part of the half cycle operates in the rectification mode, whereas a small segment operates in the inverting mode. With a WFSM drive, the field current is normally controlled so that the machine terminal DPF is near

unity. However, it is difficult to eliminate the inverting mode operation entirely at the trailing edge of each half cycle of the current wave. In a six-pulse CCV, the thyristors in each phase group are fired synchronously at 60 interval (i.e., 3.33 ms for 50 Hz supply) by the gate driving circuit. The principle of thyristor commutation (current transfer) is explained in the inverting mode by a simplified half-wave positive converter [3] in Figure 5. When an incoming thyristor is fired at an advance angle bb p a, a firing angle, the incoming and outgoing devices overlap in conduction for angle l before commutation is completed at turn-off angle c xtoff , where x is the line frequency and toff is the turn-off time. The variables are related as shown in the following equation [3]: 2 xL c I d cos c cos ( l c) p , 6V s

(1)

where Lc is the line leakage or commutating inductance, Id is the CCV

vo io

Rectification 0<P /2 Rectification 0N < /2 /2N io vo

/2P

+ Converter

Inversion Converter

FIGURE 4 Output phase voltage and current waves in the motoring mode (with perfect filtering).

14 IEEE INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS MAGAZINE n DECEMBER 2011

load current at the instant of commutation, and Vs is the supply phase voltage (rms). The turn-off angle c with the reverse voltage segment across the outgoing thyristor is crucial for the successful turn-off of the outgoing thyristor. The equation indicates that the increase in Lc and Id and decrease in Vs increases the angle l and decreases c angle b l c that tends to cause commutation failure. Obviously, thyristors are more likely to have commutation failure in the inverting mode, where the c angle and inverse voltage can be too small (unlike the rectification mode where their magnitudes are large). The commutation failure or line short circuit may also occur in the dual bridge if an incoming bridge converter bank is enabled before turning off the outgoing bank (defined as cross-commutation failure).

vd 0

t Q5 Q1 (a) iQ5 (b) iQ1 Q3 iQ3 t

id 0 vQ1 0

= toff (c) t

FIGURE 5 Parts (a)(c) show three-phase half-wave positive converter (+C) waveforms in the inverting mode.

The System Under Investigation

Grinding Mill Cycloconverter Drive The CCV synchronous motor drive system for the ore-grinding mill consists of two identical drive units as shown by the simplified diagram in

Figure 6. The 33-kV, three-phase, 50-Hz power supply to the drive system comes from the Australian grid through the electromechanical circuit breaker CCB. Then, the 33 kV supply steps down to 1.22 kV through three identical wye/deltawye transformer banks (details are not shown). All the secondary delta windings supply to CCV-1, whereas the wye windings are connected to the CCV-2 unit. Each CCV takes the

1.22-kV, three-phase, 50-Hz power at the input and converts to threephase VVVF (014 Hz) supply for controlling the speed of each wyeconnected synchronous motor. The CCV units are the same as shown in Figure 1. The field excitation current of the motors are controlled so that DPF is near unity (0.99 lag) at the machine terminal for optimum efficiency and power rating of the CCV-machine system. Each

If

Transformer 1.22 kV

Cycloconverter 1 (CCV-1)

VVVF Motor-1

TLC Pinion-1

33 kV Power Supply From Grid CCB Circuit Breaker 50 Hz

Variable Voltage Variable Frequency Ore-Grinding Mill with Ring Gear

Motor-2 Cycloconverter 2 (CCV-2)

Pinion-2 TLC 6 MW, Eight-Pole, 0210 r/min Synchronous Motor

VVVF

If
FIGURE 6 Dual cycloconverter synchronous motor drives for the ore-grinding mill (a simplified diagram).

DECEMBER 2011 n IEEE INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS MAGAZINE 15

machine is rated at 6 MW, eight-pole and 0210 r/min speed range corresponding to the frequency range of 014 Hz. Both the motors are controlled to operate at an identical speed and share the load torque equally under all conditions. Because of the phase shift of 30 between the delta and wye phase groups, the two CCV units receive gate-firing pulses with a phase skew angle of 30 (1.67 ms). The advantage of the phase shifting operation is to reduce the harmonic orders in the primary line current. With a six-pulse operation of each CCV, ideally the line current has a 12-pulse wave shape, i.e., the harmonic orders are 11th, 13th, 23rd, 25th, and so on. The machines do not have any damper winding and their field excitation is controlled by the thyristor rectifier. The motor shafts contribute torque to the respective pinion through a mechanical torque-limited coupler (TLC), and the pinions drive the ring gear that is coupled directly to the grinding mill drum as shown in the figure. Also, the direction of rotation of the pinions and ring gear in the motoring mode is shown in the figure. The TLC limits the shaft torque to the pinion and decouples the load if the torque exceeds the safe limit. The TLCs are shown by dotted lines because these were not originally connected. The speed and torque of each drive unit is controlled by vector or field-oriented control with accurate tracking so that the respective pinions carry identical driving torque. A simplified control block diagram with the explanatory phasor diagram is shown in Figure 7, where all the symbols are standard [3]. The speed control in the outer loop generates the torque command that then generates the torque component of current IT as shown in the figure. The machine always operates in the constant torque region with the stator flux (ws ) as constant. The orthogonal relation between ws and IT and the corresponding flux linkage relations shown in the phasor diagram are difficult to maintain in the transient condition because the field

current (If ) response is sluggish. With the increase in the torque command, the shortage in If is compensated by temporarily injecting magnetizing current IM from the stator side. Since If IM =cos d in the steady state, a sudden increase in the torque angle d by an increase in the torque command will increase If . But the response delay of If will cause a finite IM trying to maintain constant ws . As If builds up, IM decreases until it vanishes to satisfy the steady-state phasor diagram at unity DPF. The motor has a position sensor, but all the other feedback signals are estimated from the machines terminal voltages and currents [3]. Cycloconverter Commutation Faults and Protection System The reliable CCV operation on the grid mainly depends on satisfactory commutation of the thyristors, which in turn is dictated by the supply voltage waves, as discussed before. Unfortunately, the utility power supply is not 100% reliable. The common causes of commutation failure are as follows: n very low supply voltage [defined as undervoltage (UV)] n supply voltage interruption by open or short circuit n transients in supply voltage n very high line inductance (Lc ) (long line or new transformer added) n very high load current. With the exception of the supply interruption, the commutation failure normally occurs in the inverting mode, as discussed before. Although in the present system, the CCV is operated near unity DPF, there will be always a small angular interval of the inverting mode operation (see Figures 4 and 5). The load current (except the fault condition) is controlled by feedback loops. In the normal open- or short-circuit condition of the supply, there is no voltage for commutation, and therefore, commutation failure occurs easily. In the supply open-circuit condition, however, the commutation may be successful if capacitor or counter electromotive force (EMF)-type loads remain connected on the power line.

When commutation failure occurs, both the incoming and outgoing thyristors continue to conduct. This will short circuit the line voltage, and therefore, fault current will build up. If subsequent thyristors are fired by the gate drive circuit, short circuit will occur in all the three phases building up large fault current. The fault will be normally fed by the synchronous machine EMF (the motor will act as a generator, where the grinding mill inertia supplies the energy) as well as the power line. The machine generates the EMF due to its speed and field excitation, and the line voltage will feed the fault through the transformer if the line circuit breaker is closed. If the line CCB is opened under the fault condition, the fault current fed by the machine will attenuate due to large transformer self-inductance (instead of usual leakage or commutating inductance). The scenario will be somewhat similar for line open-circuit conditions. For the symmetrical short circuit of the line, the fault will be fed by the machine with the transformer leakage inductance in the circuit. Note that the instants of commutation fault of the two CCVs are different because of a 30 phase-shift (1.67 ms) operation. Therefore, fault development and the resulting fault current profiles will be somewhat unsymmetrical in the two CCVs. Again, at the fault condition, the control system operation is erratic in nature and the performance prediction becomes extremely difficult. The large fault current at the commutation failure is usually alternating and unbalanced in the three phases with a decaying dc component. Since the machines remain fully excited, this current interacts with the field flux to generate a large pulsating or oscillating torque. This torque is transmitted to the grinding mill through the respective pinions and ring gear. Again, because of the asymmetry of the faults between the CCVs, the pulsating torques are out of phase. The pulsating torques can easily overload the pinions and ring gear causing severe damage. The plant mechanical system coupled to

16 IEEE INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS MAGAZINE n DECEMBER 2011

34 ac Line r Speed + Command Te + Te +

IM

P-I

P-I

IT

IT P-I P-I

VT

Va VR

Vm

Vb Vc

Cylcoconverter

IM cos Ir ia, ib, ic cos va, vb, vc sin

+
e

IM

+ Flux Program e r cos

P-I

Im

r cos o sin o

WFSM

P.S.

Ir

Ir =

Im

cos (a)

Ir

qo

qo

vs IT IM Io e qs s IT r 2 s d e

Ir e

Im

= e +

ds (b)

de

FIGURE 7 (a) A simplified control block diagram of a cycloconverter-synchronous motor drive with (b) a phasor diagram.

the machine shafts is normally characterized by multimodal natural frequencies of torsional oscillation. The pulsating torque frequency spectrum can have a frequency component near a natural frequency so that the applied torque will be magnified by the resonance condition, thus contributing to more damage. There may

be some amount of damping in the electrical circuit and the mechanical elements, but the system is generally underdamped. If the gate drive remains activated with the erroneous operation of the control system, the fault scenario will be much more complex. Eventually, the overcurrent protection will trip the line breaker

and the fault current will become zero when the machine stops. The CCVs and machines in Figure 6 were designed to be robust enough to withstand the commutation fault successfully without causing any damage. Thyristors have a large thermal capacity so that large transient fault currents can flow without exceeding

DECEMBER 2011 n IEEE INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS MAGAZINE 17

The turn-off angle is crucial for the successful turn-off of the outgoing thyristor.
the safe junction temperature (TJ ) limit. The machine windings also have a large thermal time constant. The drive motor shaft is also robust enough to absorb large pulsating torque. The shaft was actually designed to withstand nine times the rated torque on the drive end and 4.5 times on the nondrive end. The CCV theory is generally well documented in books [2], [3] and published literature. However, CCV failure modes and the corresponding generation of fault current, pulsating torque, and torsional oscillation of the mechanical system are very complex, and the information is available only on a piece-meal basis [4][6]. Generally, CCV drive manufacturers make internal study based on the particular system configuration, and the information is available only as internal documents. To have a proper understanding of the fault performance and to effectively design the protection system to prevent any damage in the plant equipment, it is necessary to have systematic system analysis, modeling, and computer simulation study of the drive system along with the plant mechanical system under fault conditions. Unfortunately, such a study is laborious, time consuming, and expensive and is hardly done by the manufacturers. The CCV drive system in Figure 6 was designed with the following protections: n Undervoltage Protection: If the supply voltage falls below 85% of the rated value, the thyristor gate pulses are blocked, and at the same time, the line breaker CCB is tripped. However, the CCB restarts

Undervoltage Protection 85%V, td2

Ore-Grinding Mill CCV Drive CCB

Australian Power Grid 310 mi Grid Supply to Grinding Mill 132 kV

(Underfrequency ProtectionAdded Later) 49.5 Hz, td5 33 kV Low-Frequency Protection 33 kV Bus

automatically (in case, restart is enabled) if the voltage level exceeds 90% within 200 ms. This is the only CCV protection for maloperation of the power supply. n Overcurrent Protection: In a wellgrounded condition of the drive, the load current is controlled to be within the safe value by the feedback control. In case of overcurrent due to the CCV fault, the CCB and gate pulse inhibit are activated as mentioned previously. n Transformer Differential Protection: This protection detects the difference in the two CCV input currents and trips the system, if the magnitude difference exceeds a certain limit. n Earth Fault Monitoring: If a stator phase winding is shorted to the stator core (ground) by insulation failure, it trips the system as aforementioned. One-phase earth fault is not a problem, but if two phases have earth faults, the load short circuit occurs that tends to cause commutation failure. Note that the utility system frequency rarely falls below a small fraction of a hertz. Besides, underfrequency in a grid does not affect the commutation process as long as the voltage waveforms are sinusoidal with adequate magnitude. Therefore, underfrequency protection is not used in the grid-connected CCVs. Grid-Connected Cycloconverter Drive with Cogeneration from Gas Turbine Generators The present CCV drive system is connected to the grid in parallel with a cogeneration system as shown in Figure 8. The radial grid line at 132 kV is 310 mi long. It is stepped down to 33 kV by a transformer and connected to the bus through a circuit breaker CB1. Since the grid line has limited power capability and is subjected to reliability problems, the local cogeneration by a private company is added for the reliable operation of the grinding mill. The cogeneration system uses two gas turbine generators at 11 kV (40 MW each) and feed the 33-kV bus

CB2 49 Hz, td3 33 kV Bus CB5 47 Hz, td4

CB1 td

CB3 Future

47 Hz, td4

CB4

11 kV G3 G2 G! 40 MW Each

Gas Turbine Generators

FIGURE 8 Grinding mill operation on the Australian grid with local cogeneration from the gas turbine generators.

18 IEEE INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS MAGAZINE n DECEMBER 2011

through the respective transformer and circuit breaker. A third generator is planned for the future expansion. The waste heat of the gas turbines is used for space heating. Suffice it to say that the protection system of the CCV drive should be designed such that it operates satisfactorily for all the possible power supply malfunctions, either in the combined grid operation mode or islanding mode with the cogeneration system. All the protective elements should have proper coordination. The actual protections in Figure 8 can be summarized as follows: n grid line breaker (CB1)overcurrent protection, time delay td 10 s n gate pulse inhibiting (both CCVs), td1 1:67 and 3.33 ms, respectively (worst case) n CCV breaker (CCB)undervoltage protection, 85% voltage, td2 150 ms low-pass filter (LPF) n underfrequency protection, 49.5 Hz, td5 150 ms (added later) n cogeneration system breakers: 1) line breaker (CB2)lowfrequency back-up protection, 49 Hz, td3 10 cycles 500 ms LPF 2) generator breakers (CB3 and CB4)low-frequency protection, 47 Hz, td4 200 ms LPF where LPF filters are the primary signal with a typical delay of 100 ms. Problem Diagnosis One night when the CCV drive system of the grinding mill was operating at a full load with the grid and cogeneration system in parallel, there was suddenly a very loud bang/thud in the mill, which lasted approximately 1 s. It was then followed by the mill shutdown and a power supply blackout. The damage in the mechanical system (including pinions and ring gear) was extensive. It was found that this scenario occurred simultaneously with the gas supply failure of both the turbines in the cogeneration plant. Then, the investigation started with all the recorded evidences to study the problem and suggest a solution.

The reliable CCV operation on the grid mainly depends on satisfactory commutation of the thyristors.
The study indicated that there was, in fact, a commutation failure in the CCVs, and the protection system did not work. The study also indicated that although the mechanical system damage was extensive, there was no damage at all to the CCVs and drive motors. Apparently, the CCV drive system was designed to be robust for any commutation fault, as mentioned previously. However, evidently, as discussed before, the commutation failure caused excessive pulsating torque and the resulting torsional oscillation caused the mechanical damage. It appeared that the manufacturers designed the equipment and the protection system to protect their own equipment, and no consideration was given to protect the users equipment. Also, at this point, it appeared that the protection system was designed for the usual utility system operation and no importance was given for the operation with the cogeneration system. The study indicated that when the gas supply failed (with the loss of power from the local generators), the grinding mill power was automatically transferred to the grid. This, in turn, overloaded the grid and tripped the line breaker CB1 with a time delay td causing islanding mode operation of the drive with the cogeneration system. The CCV drive operated with a 50-Hz power supply. System Analysis The scenario of the system (Figure 8) under the fault condition can be summarized as follows. When the gas supply to the turbines of generators G1 and G2 failed, these generators ceased to be normal generators with the cutoff of prime mover power supplies. Instead, the machines (with full excitation) operated as synchronous motors that drove the turbines as pumps in the same direction extracting power from the stored kinetic energy of the rotating system. The mode of operation is similar to generating-to-motoring mode operation in a four-quadrant drive system. At this condition, the mill power demand was automatically transferred to the grid with the subsequent overload tripping of the line breaker (CB1). After the line breaker tripping, the equivalent system topology is shown in Figure 9. In the system, the grinding mill power was extracted from

Grinding Mill Turbine 33 kV CB3 CB4 If CB2 If CCB CCV

Grinding Mill Load

Inertia Load

Gas Turbine Generators (Two in Parallel)

Parallel Load

CCV-Synchronous Motor Drives (Two in Parallel)

FIGURE 9 An equivalent topology of a cycloconverter drive system in the islanding mode from the grid with the gas turbine generators operating under the gas failure condition.

DECEMBER 2011 n IEEE INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS MAGAZINE 19

The plant mechanical system coupled to the machine shafts is normally characterized by multimodal natural frequencies of torsional oscillation.
the stored inertia energy of the two gas turbine generators (parallel load was neglected). This means that the gas turbine generators (with field excitation) were working as motors for the gas turbines and as generators for the grinding mill. In this mode of operation, the kinetic energy of the generators, i.e., the speed, fell rapidly. The speed was proportional to frequency, which was again proportional to the line voltage, assuming that the generator excitation (very sluggish) remained constant. This fall of voltage and frequency was affected by the parallel load, if any. An approximate analysis of the CCV line frequency and voltage is possible as shown in Figure 9, assuming that the generator field current If is maintained constant at the rated value and three-phase output voltages remained sinusoidal and balanced. The valid assumptions are as follows. At a constant excitation, the generator EMF is proportional to the speed, i.e., E KIf N K1 N , (2)

generator frequency is proportional to speed, i.e., f K2 N : Combining (2) and (3) E K1 N K, f K2 N or E Kf , (5) (4) (3)

i.e., the generator EMF is proportional to frequency. This means that 100% EMF (33 kV) corresponds to 100% frequency (50 Hz). Assume, for simplicity, that the CCV power demand is constant. The stored kinetic energy W of the two gas turbine generators is given as 1 W J x2 , 2 m

(6)

where E is the EMF, If the field current, and N the speed in r/min. The

where J is the total moment of inertia and xm the angular mechanical speed (rad/s).

Rated Frequency and Voltage 50 Hz 100% A B

49.5 Hz (99% Voltage) 49.5 Hz (98% Voltage) LF Protection 47 Hz (98% Voltage) LF Protection CCV Constant Power (P) Line C A1 D td5 150 ms E B1 D1 700 ms 300 ms td4 td2 250 ms td1 CB2 Trip Command 0 Underfrequency Protection Trip Command (Added Later for Solution) 3.33 ms Gate Inhibit Time (ms) Under Voltage Trip Command (CCB) CB3 and CB4 Trip Command Line of Inertia Energy (W) td1 Gate Inhibit td3 C1 Critical Voltage for Communication Failure 85% Voltage UV Protection (42.5 Hz)

Frequency (f ) and Voltage %

50%

FIGURE 10 A sketch of line frequency and voltage curves at the cycloconverter terminal under the turbine gas failure condition and tripping of circuit breakers (not to scale).

20 IEEE INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS MAGAZINE n DECEMBER 2011

Since the generator speed is proportional to frequency, from (6) we obtain W K 0f 2: (7)

With constant power loading of the CCVs dW P: dt (8)

Underfrequency in a grid does not affect the commutation process as long as the voltage waveforms are sinusoidal with adequate magnitude.
shown in Figure 10. However, CB3 and CB4 trip first at point C1 because of less time delay (td4 ). Note that although undervoltage trip is activated before opening CB3 and CB4, the gate triggers inhibit and CCB tripping actually occurs after opening CB3 and CB4. This concludes that CCVs experience an open-circuit condition of power supply that causes the commutation failure. Suggested Solution and Other Remedial Measures As a suggested solution, an underfrequency protection at 49.5 Hz was proposed. This protection, as shown in Figure 10, offers faster tripping before open circuiting of the power supply occurs. In this protection, the line frequency is measured accurately for three cycles before activating the protection. The underfrequency protection was found to protect the CCV drive system successfully from the commutation failure when the gas supply failure occurred later in the cogeneration plant. In a normal utility system operation (with or without cogeneration), the undervoltage protection prevents the commutation fault, whereas the underfrequency protection remains inactive because the utility systems frequency rarely decreases to 49.5 Hz. The question arises what other remedial measures could have been added to prevent the commutation fault and reduce its severity? These measures can be summarized as follows. n Add a TLC to each motor shaft, as shown in Figure 6. In fact, this was added later as back-up protection. n Provide motor field excitation with a regenerative rectifier. A quick decay of the field current (If ) reduces the severity of the motor pulsating torque. n Provide fast fuse protection to the stator phases of the motor. n Provide a mechanical brake to the motor to prevent movement with the pulsating torque. n Use a shorter tripping time delay for the circuit breaker CCB. n Use a single CCV-motor drive instead of the dual drive system shown in Figure 6. The control and protection becomes simple and the equipment damage is less severe. n Instead of using thyristor CCV, use a double-sided three-level neutral point clamped (NPC) converter system, as shown in Figure 11. In fact, this is the recent trend. The self-commutated devices do not depend on power supply voltage

Differentiating (7) and substituting (8), we obtain dW df P 2K 0 f , dt dt or df P K 00 : 0 dt 2K f f (10) (9)

Equation (10) shows that the rate of frequency variation is inversely proportional to frequency. This means that as the frequency decays with the time, the slope of df=dt will be higher. An approximate sketch of P , W , and f as a function of time is given in Figure 10. Since the generator voltage is proportional to frequency, it is not shown separately. If parallel loading and generator losses are included, the fall of voltage and frequency will be faster. On the other hand, if generator excitation (If ) is increased (with saturation) to compensate the voltage drop, the voltage drop will improve to some extent. Figure 10 shows the trip command activation of circuit breakers CCB, CB2, CB3, and CB4 and their corresponding tripping points with the respective time delays. The CCVs have only undervoltage protection at 85% voltage (i.e., 42.5 Hz with the restart deactivated), which is initiated at point D. Point E indicates the typical voltage for the commutation failure. The underfrequency protection at 49.5 Hz (99% voltage, point A) was added later as a remedial measure, which will be discussed later. Both the undervoltage and underfrequency protections inhibit the CCV gate trigger pulses and trip the circuit breaker CCB with the respective time delays as indicated in Figures 8 and 10. As the frequency decreases, CB2 is activated first (point B) and then CB3 and CB4 (point C), as

vo

FIGURE 11 A two-sided voltage-fed three-level NPC inverter.

DECEMBER 2011 n IEEE INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS MAGAZINE 21

waves, thus give a higher reliability of operation. Besides, the line and load harmonics and DPF improve significantly eliminating the need of an SVC and an AHF. In addition, the spare capacity of line-side converters can be used for VAR compensation.

Conclusion and Lessons Learned

The CCV drives operating on the utility systems are usually protected against the commutation failure of thyristors. Commutation failure normally occurs due to undervoltage (including open- and short-circuit conditions). For this reason, undervoltage protection is provided that blocks the gate trigger pulses and trips the supply circuit breaker. Underfrequency protection is not needed because the frequency is regulated precisely within a small fraction of a hertz. In addition, as long as the voltage waveforms remain sinusoidal, underfrequency does not cause any commutation failure. The present system under consideration was originally provided only with the undervoltage protection. The undervoltage protection did not protect the CCVs from the commutation failure when the gas supply failed in the cogeneration system. As a result, large unbalanced and unsymmetrical fault currents developed that caused a severe pulsating torque on the machine shafts. This torque was magnified by the torsional resonance of the mechanical system, causing severe damage to the plant. The analysis indicated that an underfrequency protection was needed to protect the plant in the present scenario. Therefore, an underfrequency protection was added with the undervoltage protection and the system operation was verified to be reliable against the commutation failure under all conditions of operation. Unfortunately, designers normally design the equipment so that it protects only their equipment and often ignores the protection of the users equipment. The result is catastrophic

damage and prolonged power outage in the plant, as illustrated in the present case. The design and protection system of the equipment should be satisfactory under all operating conditions of the plant. The equipment designer, installer, and user should work with full cooperation to ensure healthy operation of the plant. The fault performance and optimum protection system design of the equipment are normally very complex and may require systematic analysis, modeling, and computer simulation studies. This aspect of the equipment design is often ignored. The user is normally not very familiar with the complex equipment. The equipment designer and installer should educate the user thoroughly for successful and reliable operation under all possible conditions because gaps in knowledge and communication can cause disastrous consequences.

Acknowledgment
The author acknowledges the extensive help and cooperation received from the parties involved in carrying out the investigations of this project.

seven books in power electronics. IEEE Industrial Electronics Magazine honored him by publishing a special issue Honoring Dr. Bimal Bose: Celebrating His Contributions in Power Electronics in June 2009. He is a recipient of a number of awards, including the IEEE Power Electronics Society Newell Award (2005), IEEE Millennium Medal (2000), IEEE Meritorious Achievement Award in Continuing Education (1997), IEEE Lamme Gold Medal (1996), IEEEIES Eugene Mittelmann Award (for lifetime achievement in power electronics and motor drives) (1994), IEEE Region 3 Outstanding Engineer Award (1994), IEEE Industry Applications Society Outstanding Achievement Award (1993), IEEE Fellow (1989, Life Fellow in 1996), Calcutta University Mouat Gold (1970), GE Silver Patent Medal (1986), GE Publication Award (1985), Distinguished Alumnus Award (2006) from Bengal Engineering and Science University, and a number of IEEE Prize Paper awards.

References
[1] T. Wildi, Electrical Machines, Drives, and Power Systems, 6th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 2006. [2] B. R. Pelly, Thyristor Phase-Controlled Converters and Cycloconverters. New York: Wiley, 1971. [3] B. K. Bose, Modern Power Electronics and AC Drives. Upper Saddle River, NJ: PrenticeHall, 2002. [4] J. Pontt, J. Rodriguez, E. Caceres, I. Illanes, and J. Rebolledo, Cycloconverter behavior for a grinding mill drive under firing pulses fault conditions, in Proc. IEEE IAS Conf. Rec., 2005, pp. 645649. [5] J. Rodriguez, J. Pontt, P. Newman, L. Moran, and G. Alzamora, Technical evaluation and practical experience of high power grinding mill drives in mining applications, in Proc. IEEE IAS Conf. Rec., 2003, pp. 16291636. [6] J. O. Pontt, J. P. Rodriguez, J. C. Rebolledo, K. Tischler, and N. Becker, Operation of high power cycloconverter-fed gearless drives under abnormal conditions, IEEE Trans. Ind. Applicat., vol. 43, no. 3, pp. 814 820, May/June 2007. [7] H. Stemmler, High power industrial drives, Proc. IEEE, vol. 82, pp. 12661286, Aug. 1994. [8] R. A. Errath, 15000-HP gearless ball mill drive in cementwhy not! IEEE Trans. Ind. Applicat., vol. 32, pp. 663669, May/ June 1996. [9] B. K. Bose, Power Electronics and Motor DrivesAdvances and Trends. New York: Academy Press, 2006. [10] B. K. Bose, Power electronics and motor drivesRecent progress and perspective, IEEE Trans. Ind. Electron, vol. 56, pp. 581588, Feb. 2009.

Biography
Bimal K. Bose (bbose@utk.edu) was a faculty member at Bengal Engineering and Science University (BESU) from 1960 to 1971. From 1971 to 1976, he was an associate professor of electrical engineering at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York. From 1976 to 1987, he was a research engineer in the GE Corporate R&D Center, Schenectady, New York. He has held the Condra Chair of Excellence (endowed chair) in power electronics at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville since 1987. Concurrently, he served as the distinguished scientist (19892000) and chief scientist (19871989) of EPRI-Power Electronics Applications Center, Knoxville, Tennessee. He is a specialist in power electronics and motor drives. He has authored more than 200 papers, holds 21 U.S. patents, and has authored/edited

22 IEEE INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS MAGAZINE n DECEMBER 2011