IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER APPARATUS AND SYSTEMS VOL. PAS-85, NO.

8 AUGUST, 1966

Influence of Design and Operating Practices on

Excitation of Generator Step-Up Transformers
G. W. ALEXANDER, SENIOR MEMBER, IEEE, S. L. CORBIN, SENIOR MEMBER, IEEE, AND
W. J. McNUTT, SENIOR MEMBER, IEEE

Abstract-The damage resulting from overexcitation of generator

step-up transformers could have an impact on generator reserve
requirements unless suitable steps are taken by the industry. This
paper discusses transformer design theory relating to overexcitation,
utility operating practices, and overexcitation experiences; also, an
estimate is made of the probability of overexcitation occurrence for
units rated 150 MW and larger. Automatic corrective action is
recommended, and a logic circuit is presented to accomplish this
objective. ,,LJ A UNIT AUXILIARY
EXCITATION T> TRANSFORMER
SYSTEM
STATION
INTRODUCTION AUXILIARY
BUS
S EVERAL instances of generator step-up trans-
former overexcitation have occurred during the past
TURBINE-GENERATOR
year. Consequences have varied from minor costs, atten-
dant to a unit tripout, to penalties in the $500 000 to $1- Fig. 1. One-line diagram of unit-connected turbine-generator-
transformer.
million range, resulting from loss of generation revenue and
repair costs for a damaged transformer. The transformers systems, and 4) proper action by standards and industry
involved were supplied by domestic manufacturers and committees. This paper is intended to cover the first three
had been subjected to overexcitation under various of these items.
operating conditions. The rate of incidence and size of the
units damaged demonstrate the necessity for reviewing RELATION OF TRANSFORMER STANDARDS AND DESIGN
conditions which can cause overexcitation and methods THEORY TO OVEREXCITATION
for preventing future damage. In view of the extremely The turns-ratio of the generator step-up transformer is
large turbine-generators which are installed, or are chosen to allow both transformer and generator to operate
planned, this reassessment is especially inmportant to within their ratings as established by ASA Standards. Co-
ensure that no additional burden be placed on generation ordination had been established in the past by EEI
reserve requirements. (Edison Electric Institute) and NEMA (National Elec-
The generator step-up transformer is part of a system, as trical Manufacturers Association) [11. The recommenda-
in Fig. 1, consisting of a turbine, generator, exciter, and tion has been that the transformer low-voltage rating be
transformer. These components are designed and built to approximately 95 percent of the generator voltage rating.
industry standards and customer specifications. They are For a transformer with approximately 5-percent full-load
then integrated into a unit-generator system by utilities regulation, this permits both generator and transformer to
and their consulting engineers in order to meet design ob- operate at the same percent output voltage at full load.
jectives. The investigation and search for solutions to the Most generator step-up transformer voltage ratings are
overexcitation problem must therefore be an industry selected on this basis. This is a handicap when considering
effort and include: 1) an understanding of ASA Standard overexcitation at no-load since the transformer has 105
limitations on overexcitation and the basic theory of percent excitation applied when the generator voltage is
transformer design which makes them necessary, 2) recog- 100 percent. At higher generator voltages, the transformer
nition of operating practices which cause overexcitation, 3) excitation is increased by the same percentage.
attainment of solutions which are workable on utility Permissible levels of excitation for power transformers
are specified in ASA Standard C57.12-00.400 (1958) as
Paper 31 TP 66-88, recommended and approved by the Trans- follows:
formers Committee of the IEEE Power Group for presentation at
the IEEE Winter Power Meeting, New York, N. Y., January 30-
February 4, 1966. Manuscript submitted November 3, 1965; made 12-00.410 Transformers shall be capable of:
available for printing November 24, 1965. 12-00.411 Delivering rated output in Kva at 5 percent above rated
G. W. Alexander and S. L. Corbin are with the General Electric secondary voltage without exceeding the guaranteed
Company, Schenectady, N. Y. temperature rise. This requirement applies to load power
W. J. McNutt is with the General Electric Company, Pittsfield,
Mass. factors of 80 percent or higher.
901
1902 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER APPARATUS AND SYSTEMS AUGUST

12-00.412 Operating at 10 percent above rated output voltage at no

load without exceeding the guaranteed temperature rise.
12-00.414 The foregoing requirements apply to the rated voltage
and rated Kva for any tap.

An examination of transformer operation will reveal I

reasons for such limitations. When an alternating excita-
tion voltage is applied to a transformer, alternating flux
flows in the core and energy loss results from the phe-
nomena of eddy currents and hysteresis. This is the well-
known core loss or no-load loss with which both trans-
former designers and users are familiar. The electrical
energy input, which appears to be lost, is actually con- Fig. 2. Magnetic flux path for rated voltage on low voltage. No load.
verted to heat energy and produces temperature rise in the
core. As core loss and temperature rise are proportional
to the level of excitation, it is necessary to limit the excita-
tion which can be applied to a transformer.
Also, the flux in a transformer core must be recognized
as a function of both voltage and frequency. The standard
limitations on overvoltage apply to rated frequency; it
has been proposed to the IEEE Committee on Trans-
formers that section 12-00.414 be nmodified to read as
follows: "The foregoing requirements apply to the rated
voltage, rated frequency and rated Kva of any tap." Since
flux is directly proportional to voltage and inversely pro-
portional to frequency, the limitations on allowable over-
voltage at rated frequency must also be considered as a
limit on allowable volts per c/s at other than rated fre-
quencies.
M\Ioderate levels of excitation beyond rated, such as Fig. 3. Magnetic flux paths for rated voltage on secondary high-
those permiltted by the Standards, will not result in ex- voltage terminals at full load.
cessive temperature in the transformer core. However,
extreme levels of overexcitation will produce a quantity of
magnetic flus which saturates the core steel and overflows The leakage flux produced by load current will be leading
into structural steel parts and into the air. At saturation the main flux by 53.1 degrees of time-phase angle. The main
flux density, the core steel will overheat. Structural steel flux which links both windings is approximately the same as
parts, which are unlaminated and were not designed to that shown in the no-load case of Fig. 2. Actually, rated
carry magnetic flux, will heat rapidly. Flux flowing in un- voltage at the HV terminals is equal to the phasor sum of
planned air paths may link conducting loops in the wind- the voltage resulting from main flux linkages, plus the volt-
ings, leads, or structural parts, and resulting circulating age resulting from HV leakage flux linkages. Since the HV
currents in these loops can cause dangerous temperature leakage flux linkages are opposite in sense to the main
increases. flux linkages in Fig. 3, the latter must be somewhat greater
As an illustrative example, consider the magnetic flux than would be required to produce rated voltage at no
field for a simple single-phase 2-leg core-type step-up trans- load.
former. Some leakage flux, which links only the low-voltage
Figure 2 illustrates the fact that the magnetic flux path (LV) winding, adds to the main flux in the core legs. It is
is completely within the core steel and the same in all parts evident that the core legs will saturate at a lower level of
for the case of rated excitation at no-load. The unsaturated overexcitation for the full-load case; for this reason, the
core steel has a much higher permeability than any ad- Standards permit only 5-percent overvoltage on the
jacent structural steel, so the core steel path is the more secondary terminals at full load.
favorable one. A sufficient quantity of core steel must be When extreme overexcitation is applied to the LV ter-
provided so that 10-percent additional flux, resulting from minals at no-load, the flux field appears as in Fig. 4. The core
10-percent overexcitation, can be accommodated without steel will contain a quantity of flux, sufficient to saturate
having the core steel saturate. it, and the remainder will overflow into the structural steel
Figure 3 shows a case when the transformer is supplying parts and the air. It can be seen in the figure that the core
0.8 power factor lagging full-load output kVA at rated leg is in the region of highest flux density, since all of the
voltage on the secondary high-voltage (HV) terminals. flux produced by the primary winding passes through that
1966 ALEXANDER ET AL.: EXCITATION OF GENERATOR STEP-UP TRANSFORMERS 903

90

U)
-80
0

I I - 70
I U)
U)
0
-J
uL. 60
0

'- 5C
/

w 40

Fig. 4. Magnetic flux paths for extreme overexcitation on
age, core saturated. No load.
region. Hence, the core leg is most susceptible to thermal
damage resulting from overexcitation.
Overexcitation must be extreme and of long duration
to produce damaging heating in core laminations. How-
ever, unlaminated structural parts can experience runaway
heating in a remarkably short time. Figure 5 shows cal-
culated losses on a relative basis for a solid steel member
in the leg region of one particular transformer design.
Losses were calculated by using Agarwal's analysis [2],
but with modification for the nonsinusoidal magnetizing
force. The structural steel has attempted to carry flux
when the core steel became saturated but, since it was un-
laminated, it was quite susceptible to eddy-current over-
heating. The purpose of Fig. 5 is to illustrate how rapidly
losses in structural parts increase beyond some critical
level of excitation.
Outside of the core-leg region, other flux lines prin-
cipally in the air, as A and B in Fig. 4 may cause trouble
by straying into locations where the flux is not anticipated.
Appreciable flux flows in the air paths oinly during the
portion of the cycle when the core is saturated. Therefore,
air flux is pulse-like in form as is the exciting current.
The pulse-like waveform has a high harmonic content,
which increases its heating effect.
Heating problems are not restricted to steel members.
When flux passes through any conductor, eddy currents
result. Flux lines A and B in Fig. 4 may pass through
structural parts outside the core, may link conducting loops
in the leads, or may get into the tank base at the bottom of
the core.
Overexcitation may even result in winding overheating
if it is sufficiently extreme. Exciting current of the same
magnitude as full-load current can occur for about 140 per-
cent of rated excitation levels. For the same rms value,
however, the heating effect of the exciting current is much
30
low volt- C.)
E - 20
U)
U)
0
-J
IC0
110 120 130
PERCENT VOLTS (CONSTANT FREQUENCY)
Fig. 5. Loss in structural steel for overexcitation at no load.
greater than that of a sinusoidal load current because it is
rich in harmonics. Typical exciting current wave shapes
and their harmonic contents are shown in Fig. 6 for cur-
rents whose rms values are 10, 50, and 100 percent of full-
load current. For the transformer investigated, these would
occur at excitations of approximately 125, 133, and 143
percent, respectively, as of course, the percent excitations
and wave shapes are a function of each particular trans-
former design.
For a core-type transformer design, having an average
strand eddy loss equal to ten percent of the 12R loss with
sinusoidal load current, the average eddy loss for the ex-
citing current whose rms value is equal to 100 percent of
load current would be about 450 percent of 121R loss.
Calculations were based on harmonics through the 15th.
In the winding strands on the inner radius of the coil,
where magnetic flux density is greater than the average
value for the coils, the eddy loss would be in the vicinity of
1300 percent of IPR loss. The loss in the inner strands would
be about eight times that in the maximum-loss strands for
normal-load current. In the transformer design used as
an example, the winding conductor loss for a range of
excitations is shown in Fig. 7. If the winding conductors
are not perfectly transposed for the overexcitation flux,
additional losses will result from circultating currents be-
tween winding strands.
904 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER APPARATUS AND SYSTEMS AUGUST

z
w -.
ct l EXCITING CURRENT WAVE SHAPE
o 0 1.0 H
ZD0X 0.8
IxRS=100% IL z
V t43%
0 x 0.6 _ _J_
(.Ix(RMS)=50% I,-_
(, 0.4
V =I33%
z V=125%1
!P 02' 1-
O. 5 6 7 8 0 1
a._ U 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 X

TIME PHASE ANGLE-DEGREES

HARMONIC CONTENT OF EXCITING CURRENT .2

MAGNITUDE VALUES IN THE TABLE ARE PER UNIT RMS VALUES

IX(RMS) = 100% IL Ix(RMS)= 50% IL Ix(RMS)= 0O%IL
HAR- MAGNI- PHASE MAGNI- PHASE MAGNI- PHASE TIME - MINUTES
MONIC TUDE ANGLE TUDE ANGLE TUDE ANGLE
0.771 0 0.703 0 0.627 0 Fig. 8. General guide for permissible short-time overexcitation of
3 0.567 180 0.575 180 0.552 180 power transformers.
5 0.279 0 0.371 0 0.427 0
7 0.039 180 0.169 180 0.289 180
9 0.062 180 0.025 0 0.169 0
11 0,049 0 0.043 0 0.079 180 beyond some critical level of excitation. It should be ob-
13 0.002 0 Q050 180 0.020 0 vious that the levels of loss which occur in windings at
15 0.028 180 Q027 0 0.011 0 high excitations cannot be tolerated for long if damage is
IX(RMS)/Ix(PEAK) 0.638 0.568 0.474 to be avoided.
Fig. 6. Exciting current wave shape and harmonic analysis.
Physical evidence of overexcitation damage will vary
with the degree of overexcitation, the time applied, and the
particular transformer design. Although the discussion
9-
and examples of losses and heating have been based on core-
type construction, it must be noted that the problem is
equally serious for shell-type construction. The particular
8 component which overheats first, or to the greatest de-
0 gree, may vary from one manufacturer's design to another's
and even between two designs by the same manufacturer.
z However, the problem is universal and depends, for the
most part, oIn severity and duration of overexcitation. At
0

00 the lower extreme, a moderate overexcitation may go

completely unnoticed or, at most, may cause a relay opera-
L.V
tion in the transformer-generator zone. Overheating may
(fu,
nlo3
2 WNDGJ produce only minor damage, which will have no permanent
effect on transformer operation. At the other extreme, dam-
<4
0 age may be so extensive that electrical or mechanical
w
-j
breakdowns prevent operation.
0 A transformer has some capacity for overexcitation on a
short-time basis, since the heated component parts
MAX. LOSS MA X. LO SS
have thermal time-constants ranging from 5 to 45 minutes.
z 2-
=3
CONDUCTOR -CONDUJCTOR A bare metallic part has a short time-constant and the
core a longer one. The permissible short-time overexcita-
AT NO LOAD AT FULL LOAD

tion will vary from one design to another, and any general
w
a-

guide must be conservative. Figure 8 is such a guide,

PERCENT VOLTS(CONSTANT FREQUENCY)
Fig. 7. Winding conductor loss for overexcitation at no load, based
on average strand eddy loss equal to 10 percent of P2R loss with
sinusoidal load current.
In actual practice, the regulation of the generator volt-
age, as current increases, results in exciting current magni-
tudes which typically correspond to approximately 135-
percent voltage or 50 percent of full-load current. It can be
seen that loss in winding conductors also increases rapidly
based on restricting the highest temperature of any
heated part to a nondamaging level. It does not permit
wide latitude for overexcitation, and it emphasizes the need
for an automatic control device to maintain operation
within safe limits. For any known case of excitation beyond
the limit of the standards and Fig. 8, an inspection for
possible damage should be made.
Table I summarizes the physical effects of overexcitation
and possible consequences. It does not mention audible
evidences which might be detected by individuals in the
vicinity of the transformer during overexcitation. The
amplitude of the transformer hum will be increased mark-
edly. The unitwill not onlv sound louder, buthave a deeper,
1966 ALEXANDER ET AL.: EXCITATION OF GENERATOR STEP-UP TRANSFORMERS 905

TABLE I 4) Start-up of units, under manual voltage control, may

PHYSICAL EFFECTS OF OVEREXCITATION cause extreme overexcitation if the field current is applied
at reduced speeds and the settingof theexciter field rheostat
Com- is not changed as the unit is brought up to speed with a
ponent Physical direct-connected exciter.
Involved Evidences Consequences
Metallic Discoloration of metal- Contamination of oil and
5) The presynchronizing procedure in starting cross-
support lic parts and adjacent surfaces of insulation. compound units must be monitored or overexcitation may
struc- insulation. Possible Mechanical weakening of be applied.
ture for carbonized material in insulation-loosening of
core and oil. Evolution of structure. 6) Computer-automated units must be carefully pro-
coils combustible gas. Mechanical deformation of granumed to avoid overexcitation on start-up and shutdown.
metallic parts-perma-
nent weakening of me- The transformer may still be susceptible to this condition
chanical structure. under other operating conditions.
Windings Discoloration of winding Electrical and mechanical 7) There are possibly other circumstances, depending
insulation. Evolution weakening of winding
of combustible gas. insulation. upon utility practices, which may causeoverexcitation. This
Lead Discoloration of con- Electrical and mechanical category must be examined by each utility organization to
conduc- ductors, insulation, or weakening of insulation. determine if existing practices are hazardous.
tors supports. Evolution of Mechanical weakening of
gas. supports.
Core Discoloration of insula- Electrical weakening of
Examples of Overexcitation
lami- ting materials in major insulation (wind- The following are typical experiences:
nations contact with core. Dis- ing to core).
coloration and carbon- Increased interlaminar 1) A large new unit was added to the system of utility
ization of organic eddy loss.
lamination insulation. A. After several months of normal operation, the operator
Evolution of gas. was instructed to bring the unit up to speed and synchro-
Tank Blistering of paint. Contamination of oil if nize it to the system. At approximtely 1800 r/min, field was
paint inside tank is
blistered. applied under manual control as per operating guides.
Difficulty developed in some of the plant auxiliaries, and
the operator turned his attention to solving this problem.
lower frequency tone if overexcitation is accompanied by Meanwhile, the unit was being brought up to speed. The
reduced generator frequency. If gas is generated by over- voltage increased with speed and, when the operator at-
heated parts, a bubbling sound also may emanate from tempted to synchronize, he found the synchronizing po-
within the unit. Such audible evidence merely indicates the tential fuse blown. After some period of operation at
existence of abnormal overexcitation; not the extent of approximately rated speed, the synchronizing difficulty was
damage. corrected and the excitation brought down to normal. The
unit was placed on the line and operated normally for about
OVEREXCITATION AS RELATED TO TURBINE-GENERATOR 24 hours. At this point, the unit's transformer differential
OPERATION relay operated, and it was found that the transformer had
Operating Conditions failed.
2) Utility B was operating with a unit on the line under
A list of operating conditions which can cause over- load when suddenly the intercept valves of the reheat unit
excitation covers many aspects of turbine-generator opera- closed unexplainedly. This reduced the output of the ma-
tion, the one significant omission being operation chine to almost zero. The operator attempted to rectify the
of a unit system under normal load. A partial list of these trouble and was finally forced to trip the unit. The unit
conditions, accompanied by short explanatory statements, speed varied as measures were taken to try to open the
is given next. intercept valves. During this interval, the machine was left
1) Generator rotor or stator preheating or prewarming under voltage regulator control. After some minutes of
requires excitation at reduced frequencies. The generator operation, a gas detector relay operated on the generator
step-up transformer is integrally connected to the gen- step-up transformer. Analysis of the generated gas indi-
erator and must be protected against excessive volts per cated probable insulation damage in the transformer.
c/s during this operation. Past recommendations should 3) Utility C scheduled a unit to be taken off the line.
not be relied on for new units. During shutdown, excitation was left on the machine to
2) Load rejection, under manual or voltage regulator cause faster deceleration. The voltage regultor was in ser-
control, can cause overexcitation. Although the most severe vice. At reduced speed, the auxiliary transformer differ-
case would be manual control, load rejection under voltage ential relay tripped the unit. Investigations did not indicate
regulator control can be severe, especially when the output major damage to the transformer, but the described prac-
transmission lines or cables are opened at the far end, in tice was discontinued by the utility company.
which case the excitation might reach 130 percent or more. 4) A turbine-generator of utility D was on line under
3) Shutdown of units under voltage regulator control load when an unusual system condition caused the unit
may cause overexcitation during deceleration, if the reg- to trip on back-up relay operation. Excitation was con-
ulator remains in service. tinued while the operator tried to verify the reason for the
906 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER APPARATUS
trip operation. The unit's frequency dropped and varied as
the operator tried to recover and bring the turbine-genera-
tor back on the line. After three or four minutes, the trans-
former differential relay operated. Meanwhile, the trans-
former had been observed to vibrate severely and become
quite noisy. Inspection revealed little except that com-
bustible gas was noted.
5) Utility E was preparing a unit to be brought on the
line. Prewarming had been accomplished at rated field
current. During subsequent acceleration, the field current
was not reduced and a relay operation tripped the unit.
A workman, standing near the transformer bank, had ob-
served that the transformer was making a loud noise and
was on his way to the plant to advise the operator that he
thought the transformer was in trouble. A recording mega-
var chart showed a very large increase in megavar out of
the generator just prior to the relay operation.
6) An overspeed test was being run on a machine by
utility F. The machine was up to 3900 r/min with excita-
tion applied to it when the transformer differential tripped.
Investigationi did not indicate a transformer fault.
7) A cross-compound unit of utility G was in service
when boiler trouble necessitated tripping the generator
breaker. The voltage regulator was kept in service because
the operator did not have time to manually control the field
to a predetermined value and was reluctant to trip excita-
tion which would have required resynchronizing of the
cross-compound unit. In several cases, after approximately
three to four minutes, the transformer differential relay
tripped. In these instances, the transformers were given a
visual inspection and no sign of damage was detected.
8) At utility H, a computer-operated unit was being shut
down during a change of shifts. Normal procedure was to
manually control excitation on shutdown. In this case, the
voltage regulator was left in service through an oversight
and resulted in a transformer differential relay operation.
Now, the computer is reprogrammed to automatically re-
move excitation on shutdown. Computer-operated units
can be conveniently programmed to sense volts per c/s
quantities and take corrective action. This allows basic
protection of the generator step-up transformer under
programmed conditions.
NUMBER OF UNITS WHICH MIGHT EXPERIENCE
OVEREXCITATION
Survey of Electric Utility Excitation Practices
There are no industry statistics on generator step-up
transformer overexcitation since this subject overlaps
product responsibility, industry groups, standards com-
mittees, and individual operating philosophy. Warnings
appear to have been given in past literature [31, [4], on
the possibility of transformer damage during overexcita-
tion, but few installations experienced it until the last
five years. The importance of large units being installed
or planned for the future necessitated further investigation
of possible occurrence and, hence, of unit outages resulting
from transformer damage.
AND SYSTEMS AUGUST
Since information was meager, a survey was started in
the hope of verifying whether or not current utility operat-
ing practices could lead to generator step-up transformer
overexcitation. The benchmark was operations which could
lead to overexcitation if the shift operator's attention could
be distracted by other problems. It must be recognized
that the short time within which damage may occur and
the consequence of overexcitation are not generally under-
stood by plant operators. These operations were studied:
1) M\Ianual voltage control on start-up.
2) Voltage regulator control on shutdown.
3) Load rejection caused by system conditions.
4) Back-up relay operations during system faults.
5) Control trouble due to electrical, mechanical, or
pneumatic control failure which could reduce machine
output.
6) Other operations, which necessitate closing of turbine
valves, included human error, turbine vibration, boiler
trouble, and loss of auxiliary components.
The next conditions were not examined:
1) Generator rotor or stator preheating or prewarming.
2) Presynchronizing of cross-compound units.
3) Automated units.
4) Utility test procedures, including overspeed tests
with excitation applied and operational high-potential test
of the generator step-up unit.
The sampling, which was necessarily general in nature,
was combined with outage information contained in EEI
reports [5], [6] in an attempt to determine the percentage
of units each year which could experience overexcitation of
generator step-up transformers. The listed operating condi-
tions indicated, on a pessimistic basis, that up to 20 percent
of all generator step-up transformers could be subjected to
overexcitation each year. On an individual basis, this
means that on the average, a large generator step-up
transformer could experience overexcitation once every
five years. This does not necessarily imply a catastrophic
experience. As was mentioned previously, there is a good
possibility that some instances will be of a minor nature
and some will inadvertently be interrupted by a relay which
misoperates, but it must be emphasized that some will
cause a transformer failure. The catastrophic possibility
requires that automatic protection be employed to detect
overexcitation and to take corrective action.
PROTECTION OF GENERATOR STEP-UP TRANSFORMERS
AGAINST OVEREXCITATION
It is recommended that transformer overexcitation be a
primary relaying objective and that it not be incor-
porated as an auxiliary function to an existing protective
device. For example, such relays as transformer differential,
negative phase sequence (unbalanced current), etc., have
occasionally operated on overexcitation. This creates
confusion in the determination of the cause of the relay
operation, or in the investigation of possible damage, and
in the information necessary to make a decision to con-
1966 ALEXANDER ET AL.: EXCITATION OF
tinue operating the machine. The physical damage, shown
in Table I, cannot be completely checked, following severe
overexcitation, without a thorough inspection. This might
require untanking the transformer. For these reasons (posi-
tive identification of the problem and influence on op-
erating decisions), this paper recommends that transformer
ooverexcitation detection, with automatic operation to
prevent damage to the transformer, be incorporated as a
separate function in the turbine-generator protection and
control circuits.
These two indications of overexcitation are rather easy
to detect and together they can cover all probable condi-
tions under which it may occur: 1) volts per c/s in excess
of 110 percent of normal and 2) with the generator breaker
open, an indication of excessive field current.
Methods of Protection
New designs of modern generator voltage regulators may
be obtained with a volts per e/s limit characteristic which
will provide protection while the regulator is in service.
The volts per c/s control for use during start-up and shut-
down is a desirable feature on new voltage regulators and
is available at little additional cost. However, back-up
protection must be provided as though the excitation were
manually controllcd. This protection will be required to
take precedence over the regulator in the event of a mal-
function of the latter. If volts per e/s control are not used
(i.e., existing regulators or user prefereinee), relaying should
be incorporated to provide complete protection.
The logic circuit of Fig. 9 was evolved after considering
many different methods of protection, such as sensing volts
per e/s alone, field current, field voltage alone, harmonic
content of voltage wave shape, excessive excitation current,
and temperature rise in the transformer. These methods
were too slow, too costly, too complicated, too difficult to
properly apply, incomplete within themselves, or com-
binations of these undesirable characteristics. Existing
operating practices may not require the degree of sophisti-
cation inherent in this circuit, and other solutions are avail-
able which meet the intent of these recommendations.
The voltage relay of Fig. 9 has an essentially linear volts
per c/s pickup down to 30 c/s. If overexcitation is sensed,
timer no. 2 will operate after a short while, sounding an
alarm and initiating exciter field rheostat runback, unless
the disturbance is transient in nature. The exciter field
rheostat is driven to a preset position, where limit switches
trip the voltage regulator and prevent the field breaker
from being tripped. Timer no. 1 is energized at the same
time the exciter field rheostat is energized to allow runback.
If the preset field rheostat limit switch is not actuated
within the setting of timer no. 1, the AND circuit will trip
the field breaker. Suggested settings are one minute for
timer no. 1 and ten seconds for timer no. 2.
The field dc overvoltage relay is placed in service when
the generator breaker is opened as a back-up to the ac
overvoltage relay and operates through the same circuit as
the ae relay.
Switch "S" allows slightly different settings of the dc
GENERATOR STEP-UP TRANSFORMERS 907
TRIP
'AND" T FIELD
-I SI BREAKER
I II
I , --I
if
NOTE; WITH CROSS-COMPOUND MACHINES, SWITCH S
NULLIFIES EXCITER RUNBACK AND PERMITS
TIMER TO TRIP THE FIELD BREAKER DIRECTLY
Fig. 9. Logic circuit for detection of generator step-up transformer
overexcitation, incorporating circuits for automatic corrective
action.
overvoltage relay (field current) for synchronizing cross-
eompound machines at reduced frequency. It may be
necessary to exceed 110 percent volts per e/s in synchro-
nizing some cross-compound machines and the user may
make the setting at his discretion following consultation
with the transformer manufacturer.
The limit switch setting on the exciter field rheostat
should be based on obtaining generator no-load field cur-
rent with a hot field and with the exciter operating on
its descending saturation curve. It seems reasonable that
generator field current would not exceed 110 percent of the
no-load value for the range of field temperatures expected,
thereby producing maximum generator terminal voltages
in the order of 105 to 106 percent of rated voltage.
During start-up, the exciter will be operating on its
ascending saturation curve, and it may not be possible to
obtain the voltage required for synchronizing to the sys-
tem without changing the rheostat position. However, at
rated speed, the regulator can be placed in service, prior
to synchronizing, and the voltage required can be achieved.
CONCLUSIONS
1) Glenerator step-up transformers are susceptible to
damage from overexcitation. Values above 110 percent
volts per c/s can produce damaging effects which are a
function of the magnitude of excitation and its duration.
2) Overexcitation can occur during many operating
conditions, including unit start-up under manual voltage
control, shutdown under voltage regulator control, load re-
jection, back-up relay operation, control trouble, starting
cross-compound units, preheating or prewarming, and
testing.
3) Overexcitation of generator step-up transformers
could have an influence on generator reserve requirements
unless suitable methods of protection are provided. It is
estimated that 20 percent of all units, 150 MiIW and larger,
can experience overexcitation each year.
4) Present relaying practices do not detect overexcita-
tion, except inadvertently, and it is recommended that
908 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER APPARATUS AND SYSTEMS AUGUST'

separate relays be installed on each unit to detect this con- Stating this requirement in another way, the volts per c/s or the
volts per r/min should not exceed 100 percent of normal.
dition. Since the field current should not exceed that required to produce
5) It is further recommended that the method of de- 110 percent of rated voltage at rated frequency and load, the no

tection initiate automatic action to reduce the excitation maximum generator field current for operation at reduced frequency
to levels which are permissible. can be established on this basis. Automatic generator voltage
regulators may increase the field current in an attempt to maintain
ACKNOWLEDGMENT rated voltage as the speed decreases, thus causing overexcitation
of the generator transformer under these conditions. Provision
The authors wish to acknowledge the contribution of must, therefore, be made to limit their effect if safe operation is to
A. J. McConnell in developing the protective concepts and be assured.
logic diagram of Fig. 9 of the paper. The flux in a transformer core, produced by exciting current in a
winding, is confined to the core because of its greater permeability
compared to the surrounding volume. When flux density in the core
REFERENCES increases beyond saturation point, substaintial amount of flux will
a

[1] "Preferred voltage ratings for ac systems and equipment,"
Joint Edison Electric Institute-National Electrical Manu-
facturers Association Report, EEI publication R-6, NEMA
publication 17, New York, N. Y., May 1949.
[2] P. D. Agarwal, "Eddy-current losses in solid and laminated
iron" Trans. AIEE (Power Apparatus and Systems), vol. 78,
pp. 169-81, May 1959.
[3] W. J. Gilson, Jr. and M. Temoshok, "Turbine-generator rotor
prewarming," Trans. AIEE. (Power Apparatus and Systems)
vol. 76, pp. 549-556, May 1957.
[4] "Generator operation," General Electric Company publication
GEI-74424A, June 1960.
[5] "Analytical report of equipment availability for the seven-
year period, 1955-1961," EEI publication 63-42, May 1963.
[6] "Report on equipment availability for the four-year period,
1960-1963." EEI publication 64-59, September 1964.
Discussion
spread into the air paths. In so doing, the flux lines cut the winding
copper and other metal parts, including the end frames and trans-
former case, taking paths which normally have little flux. This
stray causes local eddy currents to flow and produce hot spots,
charring adjacent insulation, blistering paint, or even melting metal.
With overexcitation, the flux lines of the primary coil as an air
core solenoid are superimposed on the flux lines at normal voltage.
They cut the conductor of the coils in other directions than normal
and also cut the end frames and transformer tank.
The amount of local heating and its location depends on the
individual transformer construction. A wide variation exists because
other considerations than overexcited operation govern the me-
chanical construction of transformers. Since transformers are
constructed under the assumption that the excitation will not
exceed 110 percent of normal, operation beyond this point is like
placing an air core reactor in the transformer tank and asking for
resultant damage to the transformer.
The transformer damage may or not be apparent. If the
may

tank attains a sufficiently high temperature to blister the external

W. C. Sealey (Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing Company, Milwaukee, paint, this is easily observed. However, local internal hot spots in the
Wis.): The conclusions reached by the authors agree with our copper can be sufficient to carbonize the conductor insulation with
experience. Power transformers are designed to operate continuously no external evidence to warn of damage. Iron parts can even melt
at 110-percent voltage at normal frequency at no load or at 105 or fuse together without revealing external signs, and the trans-
percent of normal voltage at full kVA. former continue to operate even though damaged. For these reasons,
Power transformers do, occasionally, operate at reduced fre- operation at overexcitation beyond 110 percent should be avoided.
quency for periods ranging from a few minutes to a few hours.
Formerly, generators were connected to their step-up transformers REFERENCE
through switches, which generally connected the generator to the [1] W. C. Sealey, "Overexcitation of power transformers," Allis-
same station bus as the transformers. However, it has become Chalmers Engineering Rev., vol. 30, no. 4, pp. 18-19, 1965.
common practice, particularly with larger generators, to connect
transformers directly to the generator terminals. Such transformers
operate at low frequency and reduced voltage as the generator is
being brought up to speed. In such operation, the generator field R. E. Harrison (Montreal Engineering Company, Montreal, Can-
current should not exceed the field current required to produce ada): The question may arise: "Why has not damage, due to over-
100 percent of rated voltage at no load and rated speed. excitation of generator transformers, shown up before?" The answer,
Another case occurs when field current is circulated to warm up of course, is that modern low-loss cold-reduced-oriented core steel is
the generator-rotor forging while the generator is turning at reduced worked at flux densities much closer to saturation than the old hot-
speed. This may take a matter of hours. rolled steel.
When crosscompounded units are taken off the line, the common In view of the danger of overexcitation, it warranted
appears

practice is to maintain field current in the generators to keep them that more attention should be paid to factory-performed excitation
in step with each other and thus facilitate bringing them back up to tests. For a transformer with permissible overexcitation specified
speed. in the ASA Standard, special tests might from
range minute atone

An example of overexcitation at rated frequency is the practice of 120-percent to two hours at 110-pereent excitation.
bringing the generator voltage up to 125 percent at no load for a An alternative approach to this problem, differing from that
few minutes to confirm that the generator is in operating condition. proposed by the authors, may be adopted by users. This
many

Because of the difference in voltage rating of transformer and will specify that generator transformers have greater margin a

generator, this may produce 130-percent voltage on the transformer. between normal operating flux density and saturation, and that
Because the current taken by an overexcited transformer is less than they be capable of "delivering rated output in kVA at 10 percent
full load and the overvoltage is moderate, it was sometimesmis- above rated secondary voltage ... " instead of five percent as
in
takenly assumed that the transformer was being operated safely, ASA C57.12-00.411. In many cases, this will obviate the need for
and damage, or even transformer failure, resulted in some instances. special overexcitation detection circuits and corrective action.
To assure safe operation for the transformer, the flux density in Recent studies on base-load thermal and nuclear plants showed this
the transformer iron should not exceed 110 percent of normal. practice to result in lowest overall cost, including a high value for
Manuscript received February 14, 1966. Mnsrp received
Manuscript 96
February 17,7 1966.
eevdFbur
1966 ALEXANDER ET AL.: EXCITATION OF GENERATOR STEP-UP TRANSFORMERS
capitalized losses, compared with other possible methods of rating
the transformers.
C. Concordia (General Electric Company, Schenectady, N. Y.):
This paper does an excellent job of summarizing all of the various
ways in which generator step-up transformers might become subject
to excessive flux, and recommending preventive measures. However
I could not help but be very much impressed by the fact that most
(5 out of eight) of the actual cases cited were due to a single cause, the
attempt of the automatic generator excitation control to hold
constant volts as generator frequency decreased. These cases would
not have occurred if the excitation control had been designed to
hold constant volts per cycle.
Since the characteristics of the voltage regulator seem to be so
important in the cases actually experienced (as distinguished from
conceivable cases) it would seem that holding volts per cycle would
be an obvious and direct way of solving the majority of the problems
actually encountered.
Therefore I was surprised that this fact was not noted in the
conclusions (although it is mentioned in the text), and I should like
to suggest that mention of the desirability of using volts per cycle
be made as one of the conclusions. Indeed this seems to me to be
the most important conclusion.
Volts per cycle does not really have to be confined to use during
start-up and shutdown. To the contrary it may be desirable at all
frequencies below 60 cycles regardless of the cause, since there are
usually a great many other transformers distributed around a power
system, all of which would presumably be better adapted to reduced-
frequency operation at a constant value of volts per cycle. For
frequencies much above 60 cycles the feature should not be in-
corporated. If there has to be a definite break in characteristic this
should occur either slightly above or slightly below 60 cycles de
pending upon other factors.
Manuscript received February 23, 1966.
G. W. Alexander, S. L. Corbin, and W. J. McNutt: The authors wish
to thank the discussors for their comments on this subject.
We appreciate the viewpoint of another manufacturer, presented
by Mr. Sealey, and are pleased to find him in agreement with our
conclusions. His observation that operation of a transformer at an
excitation beyond 110 percent of normal "is like placing an air core
reactor in the transformer tank," is particularly apt. It suggests the
need for a completely different set of design rules than would nor-
mally apply to a power transformer. This is indeed the case.
Mr. Harrison suggests a greater capacity for overexcitation be
specified as an alternate solution to the problem. This could be an
acceptable solution, but it might be costly. The extra five percent
Manuscript received April 8, 1966.
909
leeway mentioned does not appear to be sufficient to cover all pos-
sible operating conditions, some of which have lead to overexcitation
magnitudes well above those which could be protected by the sug-
gested decrease in flux density. It should be realized that the protec-
tive features recommended in this paper are much less costly than
specifying lower flux densities which would protect the GSU against
the magnitudes of overexcitation which can be encountered. Extra
capacity for overexcitation also means extra weight in the trans-
former. This would be a serious complication to the problem of ship-
ment of very large generator step-up units.
The special tests proposed by Mr. Harrison could be made at only
slight inconvenience (increased test time), but it is not clear how they
would measure the transformer's capacity for overexcitation. Units
designed to ASA Standards should be capable of operation at 110
percent excitation and no-load indefinitely. There has been no field
experience to cast doubt on this capability, so the value of a two-hour
test is questionable.
The authors agree with Mr. Concordia that the incorporation of a
volts per cycle limit is highly desirable on new excitation systems and,
if practical, on existing systems as well. This will provide the most
straightforward and reliable means of protection under most operat-
ing conditions, when the voltage regulator is available. However, we
must nof overlook the fact that circumstances which necessitate
operating under manual control will occur. Hence, use of a voltage
regulator with a volts per cycle characteristic should not detract from
the recommendations that separate relays should be installed to
detect overexcitation and to initiate automatic corrective action, as
outlined in the paper.
In conclusion, it should be noted that cases of damage have oc-
curred with 0.5 response generator excitation systems having shaft-
driven exciters. The use of high response systems and/or motor-
driven exciters further increases the likelihood of overexcitation
damage to generator step-up transformers, assuming that the auto-
matic voltage regulators are in service, because
1) With certain exceptions (such as controlled-rectifier excitation
systems), high response is accompanied by increased exciter ceiling
voltage. The higher ceiling voltage, in addition to contributing to a
somewhat higher value of transformer excitation, will sustain excita-
tion at a damaging level for lower turbine-generator speeds, thus ex-
tending the time the transformer is exposed to overexcitation during
coastdown after a tripout.
2) A motor-driven exciter provides generator excitation independ-
ent of turbine-generator speed. The end result is that the transformer
is exposed to overexcitation down to an extremely low turbine-
generator speed.
The use of generator excitation to attempt to brake units on shut-
down should be carefully reviewed. The relatively small value of gen-
erator and transformer core loss plus exciter power, in the case of a
shaft-driven exciter, contributes little to lowering shutdown time.
Such a small gain can hardly be justified when the consequences of
improper operation under such conditions are considered.