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Power Synch to main grid

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Published on February 15, 2016

Introduction to Synchronization in Power plant

What is Synchronization?

Synchronization is the process of comparing the two source parameters like voltage,
frequency and phase angle and connecting them together to operate in parallel. I.e. it is
desired to assure that the two AC power sources are in synchronism before connecting
together. The device used to measure the degree of synchronization between the two AC
power systems is called synchronization unit which consists of Dual voltage meter, Dual
Frequency meter, Synchroscope and Synchronization check relay. Figure shows the basic
arrangement of synchronization unit between the two AC power sources. The existing
power source is called running power source and the power source to be connected is called
incoming power source.

Here the power system can be a single power source if only two power sources to be
operated in parallel or it is a group of running generators in case of incoming generator has
to be connected with grid power supply. The bus voltages are sensed by the potential
transformers and provided as input to the synchronizing unit. The output of the
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synchronization unit is connected to the circuit breaker to close it after the permission of
synch check relay. The synchronization operation can be done in two ways based on the
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by the operator; one is AUTO and another one MAN. Manual operation is done by
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the operator and AUTO operation is done by the micro controller. In both the Manual and
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Automatic synchronization the process will be done carefully to unnecessary damage to the
equipment and power system because of poor synchronization.

Need of Synchronization

• To avoid the damage to the prime mover due to heave acceleration forces

• To ensure the perfect connection of two AC power sources without any disturbance

• To avoid the damage to the Generator and Generator transformer windings due to high
currents

• To ensure the safety of the equipment and operating personal

• Perfect synchronization connection reduces the power and voltage variations in the plant
and outside the plant.

Use Synchronization unit in the power plant

In power plant the synchronization unit is mounted on the plant control room and on
Generator Control Panel (GCP) at the Turbine building. In a power plant the
synchronization unit can be used to synchronize the Turbo Alternator (TA) to the Grid
power supply and to synchronize the Diesel Generator with Class IV normal power supply
for testing the diesel generators.

Turbo Alternator Synchronization

In the first case of TA synchronization with the grid power supply, there is a scope multiple
synchronization breakers between the TA and grid. For example consider a power plant with
single bus bar and single circuit breaker switching scheme (Normally this is not envisaged,
there will be redundancy in busses as well as circuit breakers).

The generator is connected to the power system bus (Grid) through step-up transformer
called Generator Transformer (GT). There are two circuit breakers to connect the generator
to the power network i.e. one of the two circuit breakers has to be synchronized and closed.
During plant start-up the circuit breaker near to the generator should be synchronized and
closed and the other one will synchronized and closed after house load operation. Using two
synchroscope is not cost effective so one synchroscope with complex circuit is preferred
which includes selection of circuit breaker to be synchronized, selection the two voltages to
be synchronized and providing synchronization permission to the corresponding circuit
breaker. A micro-controller based control circuit provides better performance than normal
relay logic.

Diesel Generator Synchronization

In a power plant diesel generator (DG) provides emergency power supply when the normal
power supply fails. Till that time normally all DG’s will be idle but keeping idle may results
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in improper working at the time of need. So periodically the diesel generators are tested by
operating them parallel with the normal power supply. This is done by synchronizing the
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with normal power supply and closing the circuit breaker to connect. This
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process
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DG’s are their major emergency source to cool the reactor even after the plant in shutdown.

Effects Of poor synchronization of two AC Generators or Alternators

Poor synchronization creates damage to the equipment and power system network. So it
needs to be done with perfect matching of frequency, phase and magnitude. The following
statements explain the effects of improper matching of each parameter while synchronizing

Effects of poor frequency matching

In a generator, the rotor rotates with the help of prime mover (turbine- steam, hydraulic, gas
etc) produces the rotating magnetic field which will cut by the stator winding and induces
the EMF. Therefore the frequency of the induced EMF or voltage is proportional to the
speed of the rotor.

i.e N= 120 F/P

Where N = Speed of the generator

P = Poles of the generator

F = frequency of the generator

So to control the frequency of the generated voltage, the speed can be varied.

Consider the generator has to be connected to power system network (Group of generators)
i.e. the group of generators are running at same frequency to avoid the mismatch and one
more generator has to be connected to this group. The rotating force of group of generators
will be large compared to the single generator rotating force. So after the generator is
connected to the power system network the speed or frequency of the generator is governed
by the power systems network i.e. the power system network push the incoming generator in
to its synchronized rotating condition.

So prior to closing the circuit breaker if the rotor speed or the frequency of induced voltage
deviates from the power system network frequency i.e. if they are not closely matched, the
power system with high rotational force pulls the generator in to it due to the improper
frequency matching. Due to this pulling, a sudden acceleration or deceleration effects will
imposed on the rotor and thus the prime mover rotating toque. This transient in rotating
torque of the prime mover increases the rotating mass forces on the shaft which may
damages the shaft body and rotor over a life period.

In addition to this due to this high torque there may sudden increase in current flowing
through the generator and generator transformer winding which may create serious damage
to the winding. So the windings have to be designed to with stand these types of forces.
There will be oscillations in the power generation and scope of operation of power system

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protection also. In a summarized way the poor frequency matching may result the following
effects in the power system.
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11. High Acceleration
article or deceleration in the prime mover which increases the transient
torque and creates damage to the rotor.

2. High transient current may flow in the windings

3. Power system oscillations due to the transient effect

4. Possible power system protection operation which creates power system outage.

If only two generators have to be connected the generator with high power and rotational
force tries to pull the other one if any improper matching occurs. This may create a serious
damage to the both generators.

Effects of the improper phase matching in Syncronization

The phase and frequency are closely related in the power system i.e. the phase can be
controlled by the rotor angle with the stator which can be controlled by the rotor rotation.
Even if the frequencies of two power sources are matching together the phase angle should
be matched to avoid the damage to the power source. If the two phase angles are not in
match then there will be a difference in rotor angle and stator flux angle.

This difference causes a high transient torque when it synchronized to the grid power supply
due to pull in force of large power system. Even more damage to the rotor mass and
generator windings compared to frequency difference.

In addition to this when the unit is synchronized with improper phase angle match with the
power system network, there will be high resultant transient voltage at an instant which may
damage the insulation of the equipment. In summarized way poor phase matching during
synchronization causes the following effects in power system.

1. High transient toque with high current which damages the windings of the generator.

2. High instant voltage which may damage the insulation of equipment

3. Power system protection operation.

Effects of improper Voltage magnitude matching in Syncronization

Magnitude is the terminal is the one of the matching parameter during synchronization. The
magnitude can be varied by varying the excitation of the generator. Low magnitude means
low excitation high magnitude means high excitation. This magnitude difference two power
system should be in safe limits for a perfect synchronization. If the incoming voltage is
higher compared to running voltage then there will be high reactive flow from the generator
which can damage the generator shaft and high mechanical forces on stator winding. If the
incoming voltage magnitude is lower that implicates weak excitation field. Once the
machine synchronized due to this less excitation there will high reverse current from stator
to rotor which produces a double rotor current in the rotor windings. If this currents are high
then there will serious damage to the windings. There is possibility of slip protection
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operation during this condition which may interrupt the power generation. In a summarized
way effect of poor voltage magnitude matching during synchronization are as follows:
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11. Due to high incoming
article voltage magnitude, high reactive power will flow through the
generator which gives high mechanical shock to the stator and rotor shaft.

2. Due to low incoming voltage magnitude results in weak magnetic flux which may cause
reverse current and slip protection of the generator.

Generator synchronization procedure in Power Plant

Synchronization of Generator with grid power supply is the process of equating the
parameters like magnitude, phase and frequency of the both power sources and connecting
the generator with the power system network. The power generating plant should be
connected to grid power system network to distribute the generated power or to receive
power during start-up or on generator trip. Here we will concentrate on delivering power to
the grid during generation. To do this the generator has to be connected to the grid power
supply with proper synchronization or otherwise the effects of the poor synchronization may
leads to serve damage. There are two types of generator synchronization procedures
available in the power plant i.e. Manual synchronization and Automatic Synchronization.

Manual Synchronization of Generator in power plant

The Manual term in the Manual synchronization indicates that the whole process of
synchronization is done by the plant operator. Here the operator is a judge who decides
when to close the circuit breaker after observing the equitable parameters like phase;
frequency and magnitude are in limits. The following steps indicate the total procedure in
the hierarchy.

1. The synchronization procedure starts when the speed of the Turbo-Generator (TG)
reaches to 95% of its rated speed.

2. The synchronization can be done by the Main Control Room (MCR) panels or Generator
control panel (GCP) as per the operator choice.

3. The Operator selects MAN synchronization from a two state switch called AUTO/MAN
synchronization.

4. Now the synchronization unit on the panel will be on and ready to take input signals.

5. The operator has to select the circuit breaker to be synchronized from MCR/GCP.
Corresponding incoming and running voltages will be selected and fed to the
predetermined synchronization check logic.

6. The Magnitude and frequencies of the two incoming and running frequencies are
displayed in the synchronization panel HMI (Human Machine Interface) for operator
reference.

7. The frequency difference is calculated and provided as an input to the synchroscope

(Needle type of rotating led lights type) and the needle rotates according to the
frequency difference.

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 8. The position of the needle is determined by the phase angle difference of the two
signals.
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9. At first the operator raises/lowers the generator voltage magnitude by operating the
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AVR raise/lower push buttons from MCR/GCP to match with grid voltage (i.e. equal or
slightly greater).

10. Once the magnitude matches then the operator adjusts the Speed (Frequency) of the TG
by operating the speed raise/lower buttons from the MCR/GCP. This implies controlling
the steam flow through the TG by the governing unit of TG. The incoming frequency
should be slightly more than the grid frequency because the pull-down force is less
hazardous compared to pull-up force after synchronization.

11. Now the needle of synchroscope rotates in clock wise direction with less RPM. It
continuously touches the 12’o clock position. This 12’o clock position indicates that two
signals are in phase.

12. The synchronization check relay provides the permission to close the circuit breaker
when the needle is +- 0.5 from 12 o clock position.

13. The operator initiates the closing of circuit breaker from MCR/GCP when the needle
approaches 12 o clock positions, by keeping closing time of circuit breaker in mind and
phase angle variation rate.

14. Once the breaker has been closed, the TG power is raised to house load (block load) by
the governing unit (Electro Hydraulic/Digital Hydraulic). In the earlier days the
hydraulic speeder gear system also brings the TG to feed block load after
synchronization with the speed bias for the load.

15. The generator power will be raised to full power by the load control unit of modern
governors or by adjusting the speed droop characteristics of earlier hydraulic governors.

Advantages of Manual synchronization

• Here the operator is the judge and at any time closing of the circuit breaker can be
delayed if any problem occurs in some other circuit.

• If any condition is not matched and if it is not predominant for synchronization i.e. the
damage is less than the operator can bypasses it and closes the circuit breaker.

• Failure of computer system during synchronization can be avoided.

• Closing time of the breaker may not be that much precise which can create damage to
the plant equipment.

• There is possibility of parallax error in adjusting magnitude and frequency.

Disadvantages of Manual synchronization

Automatic Synchronization of Generator in power plant

In growing control system automation, synchronization of generator using automatic control

system fetches a lot of advantages over manual synchronization. Here the computer plays
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the role of the operator which precisely judges the closing of the circuit breaker with
predetermined synchronization logic and limit parameters. An Auto- synchronizer cabinet is
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with corresponding hardware and software which is connected to ATRS
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(Automatic
1 article Turbine Run-up System), Governing Unit and AVR (Automatic Voltage
Regulator) of TG.

Auto synchronizer unit receives the input from MCR/GCP, two potential meters and
provides a four output digital pulse signals to ATRS, Closing signal to the circuit breaker.
The four digital pulses are speed and voltage adjustment signals which are provided as
inputs to governing unit and AVR through ATRS. The following are the steps in Auto
synchronization of Generator in power plant

1. Auto synchronizing mode is selected from MCR/GCP by the operator with the addition
of circuit breaker selection.

2. Once both are selected the Auto synchronizer unit takes the inputs from corresponding
logic according to predetermined logic for the circuit breaker. The same readings are
passed to the HMI also.

3. Initially it checks the voltage difference and compares with design difference limit
which is already fed to it. If the difference is beyond the limit it sends an output digital
raise/lower pulse to the AVR through the ATRS. The pulse duration is depends on
difference.

4. Parallelly it also checks the frequency difference

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