OPERATION & INSTRUCTION MANUAL

BAPCONplus

BHEL'S ADVANCED PRECIPITATOR CONTROLLER

1
 plus
BAPCON
OPERATION & INSTRUCTION MANUAL

BHEL reserves the right to revise this publication and to make changes from time to time
in the content hereof without obligation to notify any person or organisation of such
revision or changes.

BHARAT HEAVY ELECTRICALS LIMITED

BOILER AUXILIARIES PLANT

2
 RANIPET -632 406
INDIA

CONTENTS
SL
DESCRIPTION PAGE.NO.
NO.
1.0 INTRODUCTION 01

2.0 TECHNICAL DATA 02

3.0 CONTROLS 03

4.0 BAPCONplus OPERATION 05

4.1 SPARK RATE 05

4.2 INTERMITTENT CHARGING 07

4.3 CHARGE RATIO OPTIMISATION 08

4.4 BASE CHARGING 09

5.0 FUNCTIONAL DISPLAYS & SETTINGS 10

6.0 INPUT & OUTPUT INDICATIONS 11

7.0 ALARM STATUS 12

8.0 INSTALLATION 13

9.0 PRE-COMMISSIONING 14

10.0 COMMISSIONING 16

11.0 TROUBLE SHOOTING 16

12.0 BAPCONplus GENERAL SCHEME 18

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1.0 INTRODUCTION

BHEL's ADVANCED PRECIPITATOR CONTROLLER designed specifically for

Electrostatic Precipitators is one of the most sophisticated power controllers available
today.

The controller utilises 8085 [INTEL] family of microprocessor components and support
hardware. These components and support hardware have a proven reliability in control
instrumentation in Industrial and utility application & environment.

Field programmability of operating parameters permits an extremely high degree of

flexibility. The control automatically selects and optimises precipitator electrical
operation based on field parameters.

FEATURES OF BAPCONplus

 Effective spark rate control

 Detection of Spark /arc by di/dt or dv/dt.
 Automatic current control based on step and ramp control settings.
 Intermittent charging technique.
 Measurement of Peak, Mean & Valley of secondary voltage.
 Base charge setting & measurement.
 Automatic Selection of charge ratio based on VI Characteristics of the ESP.
 Annunciation of warning and trip alarms.
 Facility of REMOTE Control through  10mA balanced current loop.
 Engineering unit display of parameters.
 Alarm/Trip display in text.

The prime objective of the BAPCONplus is to automatically provide optimum precipitator

power at all times. The objective is accomplished in the following ways.

 Utilisation of State-of-the art microprocessor technology, components, hardware

and software.

 Software developed specifically for precipitator operation based on BHEL's

experience in precipitators for more than two decades.

 Ability to tailor the electrical operation of the transformer-rectifier to actual, real

time precipitator operating conditions.

 Fast response to sparks.

 Separate control strategy for operating under severe back corona conditions.

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2.0 TECHNICAL DATA

DIMENSIONS

Width 280mm
Depth 180mm
Height 210mm

CUTOUT

Depth 255mm
Height 180mm

Weight  7.0 Kg
Operation temperature +5°C to +50°C
Storage temp 0 °C to +70°C
Power Supply Requirement 24V15%, momentarily 40%, 50Hz, 30 VA
Panel Protection (Front Facia) IR54

INPUTS SIGNALS

ESP Voltage: 400A corresponds to 100% of kV rating on the panel Display.

R  10K
ESP Current: 1 V Corresponds to 100% of mA rating on the panel Display. R100K

OUTPUT SIGNAL

THYRISTOR firing: 2 opto coupled NPN transistor outputs Conduct

for firing. If max.30mA,Vce max 40V.

COMMUNICATION

Standard: Custom Designed

Code: ASCII Hex.

Type: 10mA balanced current loop

Baud rate: 4800 bps

3.0 CONTROLS

5
 1 4 3

5 6 7 8 2

Figure: 1

1) Vacuum-fluorescent Display (VFD):

The VFD display shows the measured as well as set value of the parameters.
Various parameters are displayed in nine screens i.e. D1 to D9. Each screen
shows two parameters except D9. The detail display of each screen is as
follow:

D1: EP Voltage and EP CURRENT

D2: Im and Is
D3: Repeat Time and Pulse Current Limit

D4: Base Charge Set and Base Charge Current

D5: T-Control and S-control
D6: Charge Ratio and Spark Rate
D7: Peak kV and Valley kV

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 D8: Under Voltage and Stabilisation time
D9: Unit Address

2) ALIVE LED - Alive LED indicates the microprocessor is operating and

BAPCONplus is healthy.

3) ALARM and INDICATOR LEDs: The LEDs indicate warning alarms, Base
charge select status, Optimiser status and REMOTE/LOCAL status.

4) KEYBOARD: Six push button are available to operate the controller. They are

A. DISPLAY SELECT pushbutton increment and decrement the display screen

B. T/O pushbutton is the time override button with inset LED indicates operation

C. HT ON/OFF pushbutton switch, ON/OFF the T/R set. LED inset indicates
operation

D. RESET pushbutton resets the activated alarm. The inset LED indicates the
alarm(s) present.

E. OPTIMISER ON/OFF pushbutton selects the optimizer mode. The inset LED
indicates status.

5) REMOTE/LOCAL SWITCH: The switch is to select the control of BAPCONplus.

REMOTE mode enables remote control from the IOS and LOCAL mode enable
control from the keyboard of BAPCONplus.

6) ACCUM. SPARKS counter: The spark counter shows the total spark.

7) Is LIMIT: This is for setting the operating current of ESP.

8) LOGO PLATE: All settable parameters POTs are available behind this LOGO.

4.0 BAPCONplus OPERATION

The ESP is pre-dominantly not a constant load to the thyristor control panel. The
electrical field between the electrodes and thereby the ESP current and voltages are
influenced by the gas composition, temperature, flow and by the electrical properties of

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the dust, on the contrary a too low voltage will give a low precipitation.

BAPCONplus controls the precipitator power by changing ignition angle of the thyristor.
ESP Current, ESP voltage and zero crossing point of the primary voltage are used as input
data. On switching 'ON' the T/R set, the BAPCONplus slowly increases the filter current
towards the set current limit. The T/O action over rides the start up time slightly at start.
When a spark occurs the set current is reduced to zero and the thyristors are blocked for
20ms. After restart of the thyristors, the current quickly increases to a value, which is
slightly lower than the current at which the spark occurred. This current decrease is called
STEP. After that, the current will rise slowly as per the setting in T-Control. The values
of S-Control and T -Control will decide the spark Rate.

4.1 SPARK RATE

Is

Spark
STEP(S)

TIME(T)

20mS Time 

Figure:2

The spark rate is determined by the settings of S-Control and T -Control. Suppose T-
Control is set at 2 minutes which corresponds to 20% of 10.9 minutes, the time required
by the rectifier to reach the rated current after a spark, from zero current will be 2
minutes. BAPCONplus will however increase the current very fast upto S-Control level,
and thereafter will follow T-Control.

Suppose S-Control is set 5% of the rated current, the time from S-Control break point to
next spark will then be 5% of the T-Control time (5% of 2 minutes), that is 6 seconds. If
we do not account for the thyristor block time (20mS) then 6 secs. is the statistical
interval between sparks in the ESP. Thus, to summaries.

1000

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Spark Rate = ---------------------------------------------
S-Control (%) x T-Control (%)

As S-Control & T -Control are affected neither by the absolute value of current nor by the
voltage at which a spark occurs, the spark rate is constant.

4.2 INTERMITTENT CHARGING

To get an effective dust collection, a high voltage is required to give an even and dense
ion formation at the emitting electrode. Abnormally high electrical field strength in high
resistive dust layers due to high current on collecting electrodes may cause spurious
discharges or back corona to occur. This results in decreased voltage between the
electrodes, despite a higher current input. To avoid back corona formation in the

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collecting electrode a low average current is required.

The intermittent charging mode in the BAPCONplus, supplies the current in pulses which
provides a dense corona for a short time and at the same time gives a low average current
to avoid back corona. Some of half cycles are skipped in the thyristor firing to achieve
this. The pulsed current maximum limit is allowed upto 200% of the normal mode current
in the ESP, but the average current will be much lower. The longer time between the
pulses, the lower the average current.

MAINS
Voltage

Rectifier
Current at
C.R. 1:1

Rectifier
Current at
C.R. 1:3

Rectifier
Current at
C.R. 1:5

Time 

Figure: 3 Intermittent charging

Figure 3 illustrates the Intermittent Charging operation. To decide the number of half
cycle periods (pulses) the thyristor should be fired, the charge ratio setting is to be
adjusted. The number ‘l’ indicates that the thyristors should be fired at every half cycle.
The number '5' indicate that the thyristors should be fired at one half cycle out of '5' half
cycles. With intermittent charging, energy saving will be substantially high apart from
increase in collection efficiency of the ESP.

4.3 CHARGE RATIO OPTIMISATION

With continuously varying conditions of the ESP, it will be very tedious for the operator,
to set very frequently the optimum charge ratio in each field for the entire ESP. The

10
BAPCONplus does the job systematically & continuously. When Optimiser mode is
selected, the Voltage-Current (VI) characteristic of the field is studied by the
BAPCONplus and the optimum charge ratio is selected automatically. The process is
repeated periodically at a preset interval. To accomplish this the operator has to follow
the following procedure while commissioning the BAPCONplus.

a. Set a charge ratio close to the optimum value, by studying the trend of the optimisation
of BAPCONplus in each field, starting from the field at the ESP inlet.

b. Set the stabilization time using Pot P4. This is the time allowed for stabilisation at
each value of the current set by the Optimizer during VI characteristics study.

c. Set the repeat time using Pot P8. This is the time interval the Optimizer takes for
repeating the VI characteristics measurement of the field to select optimum charge ratio.

d. Select the optimiser mode ON.

The optimiser status is available in two LEDs.

i) The LED inset in the OPTMR MODE push button glows permanently when optimiser
mode is selected,

ii) The LED OPTIMUM REACHED has three statuses.

a) OFF - Optimizer not selected/optimum not reached.

b) BLINKING - Optimizer is measuring the VI characteristics of the field.
c) ON - Optimum reached.

Note:
The optimiser searches the optimum charge ratio within ±10 charge ratios of the original
set charge ratio in steps of 2, if it less than or equal to 49 and if the charge ratio is more
than 49 the range is ± 20 is steps of 4.

The BAPCONplus of all fields of the ESP should not be selected simultaneously in
Optimizer mode hence while selecting the Optimizer mode there should be minimum
20min. time staggering in between each BAPCONplus, as this will cause all fields to go for
VI measurement simultaneously, which will affect the optimizing process as well as ESP
emission for a few minutes.

The optimisation will take place only when the previous sparking current is more than
13% of the maximum current.

4.4 BASE CHARGING

INTERMITTANT CHARGING AND BASE CHARGING

Rectifier
Current at
C.R. 1:1

11
 Rectifier
Current at
C.R. 1:3

Rectifier
Current at
C.R. 1:5

Rectifier
Current at
C.R. 1:5
with Base
Charge
Time 

Figure 4: Base charging

In the intermittent charging, the longer the time between each current pulse the lower is
the average current as may be required for the high resistive ash. However, the ESP
valley voltage also reduces pulling down the average voltage. To improve the valley
voltage/average voltage small current pulses proportional to operating current pulses are
pumped during OFF periods of main current pulses. This maintains the average ESP
voltage always near about the best possible voltage, thus the collection efficiency also is
further increased. This also protects the T/R set against possible core saturation during
higher charge ratios.

To set base charge, Pot P1 should be adjusted in such a way that the base charge current
pulses should not give any excess average current. The base charge current measured can
be seen in the screen ‘D4’.
5.0 FUNCTIONAL DISPLAYS & SETTINGS

Sl PARAMETER DESCRIPTION POT RANGE DEFAULT

No METER SETTING
/SWITCH
01 PRECIPITATOR Measured - - -
VOLTAGE voltage
02 PRECIPITATOR Measured - - -
CURRENT current
03 Im LIMIT Max. current in P3 0-104% of mA 100% of mA
normal model rating rating
04 Is LIMIT Operating Is LIMIT Im LIMIT SET -
current limit

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 05 REPEAT TIME OPTIMISATION P2 0.1 TO 25.5 hr 2 hr (120 min)
REPEAT TIME
06 PULSE MAXIMUM P8 0- 209% of mA 200% of mA
CURRENT LIMIT CURRENT rating rating
WHEN CR IS
SET MORE
THAN 1:1
07 BASE CHARGE BASE CHARGE P1 0-49% of mA rating 0% of mA
SET CURRENT SET rating
08 BASE CHARGE BASE CHARGE - - -
CURRENT CURRENT
MESURED IN %
OF I max.
09 T-CONTROL TIME P4 0-10.9 min 2 min
CONTROL
10 S-CONTROL STEP P5 0-25% of mA rating 5% of mA
CONTROL rating
11 CHARGE RATIO INTERMITTENT P9, P10 1 TO 159 1
CHARGING
RATIO
12 SPARK PER MIN No. of sparks - - -
per minute
measured
13 PEAK VOLTAGE PEAK - - -
VOLTAGE
MEASURED (%
OF kV max)
14 VALLEY VALLY - - -
VOLTAGE VOLTAGE
MEASURED (%
OF kV max)
15 UV LIMIT UNDERVOLTA P6 0-104% of kV rating 10% of kV
GE LIMIT rating
16 STABILISATION STABILISATION P7 0-127 Sec 30 Sec.
TIME (SEC) TIME in sec
17 ADDRESS ADDRESS FOR SW2, SW1 0-99 0
CONTROL IN
REMOTE
MODE

6.0 INPUT & OUTPUT INDICATIONS

LED
TYPE DESCRIPTION
NO.
Transformer Rectifier Oil Temp. Very High or Primary
N0 1 INPUT
current high.(Thermal Overload)

N02 INPUT Transformer Rectifier Oil Temperature High.

Transformer Rectifier Buchholz Relay Top Float
N03 INPUT
Operated
Transformer Rectifier Buchholz Relay Bottom Float
N04 INPUT
Operated
N05 INPUT Main Contactor 'ON' Feed Back.

13
 N06 INPUT Safety Line.

N07 INPUT Serial Communication - Receive' -'

N08 INPUT Serial Communication - Receive' + '
N09 OUTPUT Serial Communication - Transmit' - '
Nl0 OUTPUT Serial Communication - Transmit' + '

N11 OUTPUT SCR Firing Pulse' -'

N12 OUTPUT SCR Firing Pulse' +'

N13 OUTPUT Trip Alarm

N14 OUTPUT Warning Alarm

N15 OUTPUT HT ON

N16 OUTPUT HT OFF

N17 OUTPUT Spark

N18 INPUT Ash Level High.

7.0 ALARM STATUS

Based on criticality, the alarms generated by the system are classified into two types.

1. TRIP ALARMS 2. WARNING ALARMS

1. TRIP ALARMS

Sl.No. Name of Trip Alarm DISPLAY BY

1 Safety line broken VFD
2 EPROM faulty VFD
3 Power Supply faulty VFD
4 KV very High VFD
5 Ash level very High VFD
6 Tr Temperature very VFD
High/Thermal Overload
7 Bucholtz Bottom Float VFD

2. WARNING ALARMS

14
 Sl.No. Name of Warning Alarm DISPLAY BY
1 Bucholtz Top Float LED
2 Tr.Temperature High LED
3 Ash level High LED
4 Under Voltage LED

8.0 INSTALLATION

Control Panel

BAPCONplus
front panel
BAPCON plus

Earthing Strap

BAPCONplus Cable

Figure 5: BAPCONplus Installation (Side view)

1) The Transformer Rectifier and the Thyristor control panel must be interfaced to
BAPCONplus and the pre-fabricated BAPCONplus cable must be installed in the control
panel. Check all connections as per the interface drawing.

2) Install the BAPCONplus in the control panel door as per the following sequence,

a. Remove the BAPCONplus top cover.

b. Push the BAPCONplus unit through the cutout in the control panel.
c. Move the BAPCONplus unit slightly upwards & inwards such that the control
panel cutout bottom settles in between the hooked bottom plate front edge &
Bessel rear of the BAPCONplus.
d. Refit the top cover of the BAPCONplus and secure the screw to fix
BAPCONplus unit to flush mount on the control panel door.

15
 e. Connect the earthing strap to the control panel door.
f. Fix the pre-fabricated BAPCONplus cable to the BAPCONplus.

9.0 PRE-COMMISSIONING

a. Check all the connections in the EC panel / interfacing board with BAPCONplus cable.

b. Ensure power input to BAPCONplus and panel is in the same phase angle.

c. Check all the auxiliary relays provided in the interfacing board are properly fixed.

d. Check the Thyristor Gate & Cathode lugs are properly inserted.

 Gate & Cathode signals should not be interchanged.

 Thyristor phase angle sequence should be maintained.

e. Ensure all safety measures and preparations applicable to the ESP are performed.

f. Remove the output cables leading to T/R set from the control panel.

g. PUT the REMOTE/LOCAL Switch of the BAPCONplus in LOCAL mode.

h. Switch 'ON' the main SFU.

i. Check whether following display appears momentarily.

VERSION NO: 4.XX YYYY mA, ZZ kV

Figure 6
This display denotes the program Version No. and Revision No. of the BAPCONplus.
“XX” is revision number, “YYYY” is mA rating and “ZZ” is kV rating.

j. Check whether the ALIVE LED flickers at constant interval.

k. Check whether all the control parameters are matching with default values, using the
display select switches.

l. Simulate T/R alarms and ALI alarm by momentarily by shorting the respective
terminals in the control panel.

16
  Check whether the respective LEDs are glowing.
 Check whether the LEDs are extinguished by pressing RESET switch.

m. Switch OFF the main SFU of the control panel.

n. Connect two series connected 500W incandescent lamps across the output terminals
of the Panel.

o. Connect a Voltmeter (Range:0-500V AC) across the output terminals of the Panel.

p. Turn the Is limit Potentiometer to fully counter clockwise position.

q. Switch on the main SFU of the control panel.

r. Select the UV limit Display and adjust the value to 104% of kV rating using the Pot
No.6.
s. Push the H.T. ON/OFF switch to make the main contactor 'ON'.

t. Check whether T/O switch LED glows for some time.

u. Slowly turn the CURRENT LIMIT Is Pot. towards clockwise direction.

v. Check the voltmeter whether it indicates full voltage as that of input voltage and is
varying as per the current limit setting. If the bulbs don’t glow, switch OFF the panel,
interchange the AC power supply lines to the BAPCONplus. If the bulbs are
flickering* and the output voltage is low, switch OFF the panel and check for the
loose connections. After correcting the problem, repeat the procedure.

w. Turn the Is LIMIT Pot. fully towards counter clockwise direction.

x. Push the HT ON/OFF switch to make the main contactor off & check the. LED inset
extinguishes.

y. Resume the value of the UV limit to 10% of kV Rating

z. Switch OFF the main SFU of the control panel.

aa. Remove the incandescent lamps & Voltmeter.

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 bb. Re-connect the output cables heading to T/R set.

* This problem happens because of the single thyristor firing, which may cause damages to
the TR set during operation because of core saturation. Care should be taken by checking
the proper functioning of thyristors during pre-commissioning.

10.0 COMMISSIONING

a. Conduct the open circuit and short circuit test of the T/R set as per the manufacturers
instruction manual.
b. Connect the T /R set with ESP.
c. Energise the T/R set through BAPCONplus with ESP on AIR LOAD and check
whether the precipitator current in the display is matching with the feedback (1 V =
100% of Current Rating).

11.0 TROUBLE SHOOTING

BAPCONplus continuously checks & monitors its internal functions. If any internal fault
occurs, the LED in the RESET membrane switch lights up and fault will be indicated in
the display. The T/R unit will be tripped by the alarms. If the error is Power Supply
Faulty or EPROM Faulty change the BAPCONplus unit with a spare unit if available.
Otherwise correct the field or transformer as per the fault description given in section 7.0.

S1.No. Problem Probable Cause Remedy

01 BAPCONplus fuse Change the fuse.
Front Facia blown
completely Check the supply in the
extinguished Supply Voltage interfacing board. If not present
failure correct it.
02 Alive LED is not Faulty Processor Change the BAPCONplus unit
blinking and card
glowing
permanently or OFF
03 The Display Faulty Processor Change the BAPCONplus unit
indicates the same card
digits in spite of
repeated pushing of
Display Select
04 The alarms cannot Remote/Local Change the switch position to
be reset from the switch is in Local and push the reset push
BAPCONplus front Remote position button.
facia
I/O Card faulty
Change the BAPCONplus and
repeat section 9.0
Alarms still
persisting Check the alarm cable

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 05 The main contactor Remote/local Change the switch position to
not picking up with switch is in Local and push the HT ON/OFF
the BAPCONplus HT Remote position
ON/OFF push
button

I/O Card faulty Check the LED N16 in the rear

side of the BAPCONplus is OFF
and N15 lights for short while
when HT ON/OFF push button
is pushed. If they do not react,
change BAPCONplus unit and
repeat section 9.0

06. The main contactor Remote / Local Change the switch position to
not releasing with switch is in Local and push the HT ON/OFF.
the BAPCONplus Remote position
HT ON/OFF push
button. I/O Card faulty N15 in this case is OFF and N16
. lights up for a short while. If
they do not react, change the
BAPCONplus unit and repeat
section 9.0

Contactor ON Check the LED inset in the HT

feed back is not ON/OFF push-button & LED
available. N05 are glowing. If not check
and correct the Contactor ON
feedback wiring.

07. Primary current One of the SCRs Replace SCR.

shoots up and mains failed.
fuse blows.
One of the firing Check the pulsing signals in the
pulses missing. input of the firing card. If any
of the signals missing change the
BAPCONplus unit and repeat
section
9.0. If both the signals are ok and
the problem persists change the
firing card and repeat section 9.0
08. Precipitator current I/O Card faulty Change the BAPCONplus unit
display rolling and repeat section9.0.
between 0 and Is
value.

12.0 BAPCONplus GENERAL SCHEME

19
Figure 7

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