Generator Failure Investigations

Dr Antony Anderson CEng FIEE/FIET

October 6th 2011
Turbine Generator System

138 MW per
metre of active
length

A Main Turbine System

B Boiler Feedwater Pump System
C Condensing System
D Deaerating & Feedheating System
E Electrical Generation System
 E Electrical Generation System
EA Generator
EB Phase Isolated Busbars
EC Generator Neutral Earthing
ED Generator Output Measurement System
EE Generator Transformer
EG Generator Switchgear
EJ Seal Oil System
EK Hydrogen Supply & Purging System
EM Stator Winding and Cooling Water System
ES Generator Stator & Exciter Drains
EW Static Excitation System
EX Brushless Excitation System
EY AC Excitation System
 EA Generator
EA 10 Supports
EA
EA 11 Bearings
EA12 Gas Enclosure System
EA 14 Wound Stator
EA 18 Wound Rotor
EA 20 Brushgear

EA 11 EA 12 Gas Enclosure System

EA 20
 EA 14 10 10 Stator Frame

EA 14 12 Stator Winding & Supports

EA Generator
EA 14 Wound Stator
 Generator Output Power
5 kW to 1200 MW + in 120 years (240,000 x increase)
MW/metre of active
length
138 kW/mm of active length

Output = kBAN D2 L, where:

k constant
B Flux Density at Stator Winding
A Ampere Conductor Loading 300kA/metre
N Rotational Speed (3000-3600 RPM)
D2 Square of Stator Winding Diameter
L Active Length of Stator Iron
Generator Rotor
Long thin cylinder
 When things go wrong

Rotor End Ring Failure & Stator core fault in 660 MW Nuclear
resultant stator damage Power Station 600 kg molten metal

Centre of fault? Root causes? One off or type fault? Implications and for whom?
Generator - Incipient fault damage

Interlaminar spot weld Meandering breakdown

Intermittent micro arcing

rotor winding

Incipient fault damage is easily missed during failure investigation

Typology of Generator faults
Rotor faults
Multiple field winding short circuits
Stator faults
End windings
Loose end winding cording
Coil-to-coil short circuits
Coil-to-earth faults
Active part of winding
Loose slot wedges bouncing bars
Conductor-to-earth faults
Presumed turn-to-turn short circuits
Core damage
Location
Bearing Faults
Shaft voltages cause bearing currents and damage
Magnetic unbalance, and many other possible factors

Excitation System: AVR/Control related Faults

Exciter field freewheel diode failures
Internal AVR faults
Intermittent connection faults (Loss of field control)
Protection Faults
Failure of protection results in excessive damage before trip
External System Faults
Line clashing
Lightning
Negative sequence operation due to phase unbalance
 Generator is a dynamic system
Failure modes and effects must include
interactions between sub-systems
Rotor to Rotor to Rotor to Rotor to Rotor to
Rotor Faults
stator Bearings Excitation AVR Protection

Stator to Stator Stator to Stator to Stator to Stator to

Rotor Faults bearings excitation AVR Protection

Bearings to Bearings to Bearings Bearings to Bearings to Bearings to

Rotor Stator Faults excitation AVR Protection

Excitation to Excitation to Excitation Excitation Excitation to Excitation to

Rotor Stator bearings Faults AVR Protection

AVR to AVR to AVR to AVR to AVR/Contr AVR to

Rotor Stator Bearings Excitation Faults Protection

Protection Protection Protection Protection Protection Protection

to Rotor to Stator to Bearings to Excitation to AVR Faults

Main Fault Categories showing hypothetical sub-system causal interactions (15+15)

 How not to investigate!

Some act first and think afterwards

Stator winding of small machine cut with
wire-cutters and removed from core before
the failure investigators had arrived on the
scene. Information recovery minimal.
 Managing the Unknown

Requirements:
A disciplined, systematic approach
Open-mindedness on possible causes
Imagination looking for the unexpected
Team build up/ training -
Limitation of Scope:
Cannot necessarily investigate every aspect of failure because of time and cost
restraints
Adaptability of investigators
Investigation plans may have to change to accommodate changing
circumstances
 Project manage failure investigations
Project Objectives (main, subsidiary etc.)
Clear definition of objectives essential right at the beginning
Investigative Team and Responsibilities
Who owns the project? Who will carry it out? What expertise needs to be brought in?

Work breakdown structure

Phases, Timescales, Resources, Deliverables
Data gathering and analysis
Photographs, samples, statistical analysis etc.
Experimental work
Archiving
Investigative Results
Reports & Presentations
Clear presentation of the evidence, hypotheses etc.
Determination of causes of failure (if possible)
Remaining unknowns
Preventive measures/recommendations (short, long term)
Lessons learnt
 Carrying out the investigation
Preliminary investigation
Establish circumstances of incident and prior history
Have any similar incidents occurred?
Visual, non-intrusive inspection
Allows extent of damage to be assessed
Enables likely scope of full investigation to be established
Preliminary Report outlines any future investigation necessary
Full investigation
Intrusive evidence will be destroyed in examination process

May involve additional work by outside specialists to demonstrate

potential failure mechanisms
May involve experimental rig work to test a hypothesis
Main Report
Presentations
 Team must agree upon:
How to describe location of damage within machine
The kinds of charts and diagrams to be prepared
Prepare masters
The approach to taking photographs of particular damage (general,
local area, close up)
Ensure that close up photographs are taken with sufficient detail using
tripod, small apertures, long exposures
The photographic sequences to be taken for records
Storyboard

Samples methods of preservation, labelling etc.

Sample bags, gloves
Video sequences if any
Extra equipment hire
Boroscope? Q meter? Other test equipment?
Laying out damaged material

Use of a sand bed to display core fault damage in a

500 MW machine
Organising damaged material

Patterns of stator slot damage become

immediately obvious
 Display results of statistical
analysis

Heights of red rods indicate cumulative incidence

of breakdowns in stator vent ducts
Interlaminar damage SEM investigation

It maybe necessary to engage a

specialist laboratory to examine
samples of damage
 Adopt a Physics of failure approach
Try to understand failure mechanisms

Demonstration of physical principle Mechanically-induced EMI can cause

interlaminar breakdowns in stator cores and insulation breakdowns in rotor windings
 Physics of failure approach
Transient leakage flux from an electric drill

Transient field on start up attracts

hanging piece of steel coreplate

Transient field moves electrically

driven watch on by 10 seconds
Back of Core Leakage Flux

Rotating flux
pattern

Under sudden short circuit leakage flux collapses at centre of

machine and rises at ends of machine
 Concluding remarks

Think about failure investigation methodology before

failures occur rather than on the hoof
Build a generalised framework for knowledge
gathering that can be used for all investigations
Train investigation teams Build up expertise rather
than leaving matters to chance
Capture the knowledge of staff before they retire so
that it is available in the future
Project Completion: Colombian style!