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O
MAY/JUNE 2008
37

0278-6648/08/$25.00 2008 IEEE

ver the past couple of decades, changes have taken place in high-voltage insulation systems that have produced safer and more reliable operations. The mica/epoxy insulation, which has been used in rotating machines for over 100 years, is now being replaced by a new concept using high-voltage cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE) cables. Three new products have been recently launched including the Powerformer, a new generator that can be directly connected to the transmission network without the need for a step-up transformer. The other products include the Dryformer, an oil-free power transformer, and the Windformer, a new wind power gen- erating system. Due to the Powerformers ability to generate electricity at transmission voltage levels, it offers considerable gains with respect to reactive power production and plant e ff ici ency. Hen ce, a Powerformer both facilitates network st ability and decreases the exploitation of natural resources. The upper limit for the output voltage from the Powerformer is set by state-of-the-art XLPE power-cable technology. Therefore, Powerformers revolu- tionize the age of old power generation technology and signal a quantum leap in electrical engineering.

High-voltage vision
Conventional high-voltage generators are constructed in a way that limits their output voltage to a maximum of 30 kV. The power grids with voltages up to 1,100 kV cannot be directly supplied by these generators, which is a reason large power plants use power step-up transformers in order to transform their generated voltage to a higher voltage level suitable for the interface with the transmission grid. Step-up transformers impose significant drawbacks on the power plant as a whole, starting from reduction in efficiency, high maintenance costs, more space, less availability, and an increased environmental impact. During

the last century, a number of attempts were made at developing a high-voltage generator Powerformer that could be connected directly to the power grid, without going via the st ep- up transformer (see Fig. 1). Recently, a Powerformer was developed with innov- ative features that enable it to connect directly to the t rans mi ssion grid . Fig . 2 shows how the rated voltage of the Powerformer increased during the late 1990s. It is expe cted in the coming decade that its output voltage will reach up to 420 kV. High-voltage cables with XLPE insulation are available today for volt- ages of up to 500 kV. When XLPE-insulated cables were introduced in the 1960s there were some initial problems with their reliability, caused by poor control of the manufacturing p roce ss es . The se p roblems have since been overcome, and todays high-voltage XLPE-insulated cables have an impressive t rack r eco rd . The re fo re , the development of the Powerformer is inherently linked to the reliability and the development of the XLPEinsulated cables. With the new technology, future transformerless power plants can be constructed,
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MPOT.2008.915315
ARTVILLE

IBRAHIM A.

METWALLY, R.M. RADWAN, AND A.M. ABOU-ELYAZIED

Powerformers: A breakthrough of high-voltage power

generators
Authorized licensed use limited to: Swetha CH. Downloaded on March 28, 2009 at 03:27 from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.

leading to a new concept of energy sys- tems. The new machine Powerformer has high efficiency, lower maintenance costs, reduced environmental impact, and better availability, reliability, and robustness.

Going against convention

The Powerformer, although a new machine, is a three-phase synchronous generator with a rotor of conventional design. The basic difference, compared to the conventional generator, lies in the stator windings. With Powerformers the stator winding consists of high-voltage cables instead of the conventional rec- tangular cross-section windings. In order to raise the output power of an electric machine, either the level of the output voltage or the current in the stator windings must be increased. Insulation technology limited the out- put generation voltage, so the solution was to increase the current in the machine instead of the output voltage. However, in Powerformers, the output power is increased by increasing the output voltage using XLPE cables in the stator winding. Figure 3 shows the quantities of steel and copper in the Powerformer and the reference (conventional) systems. The weights are stated as net weights per megawatt-hour of electricity produced. More copper is used in the convention- al system than in the Powerformer, chiefly due to the copper content in the transformer. The Powerformer system has more steel, mainly because the Powerformer stator has 2.5 times more electrical sheeting than the conventional machine. There is considerable potential for technological advances leading to lighter and smaller machines. The reference (conventional) system requires more consumption of carbon, oil, and gas than that of the Powerformer. The highest emissions originate from losses during the utiliza- tion phase. In addition, the emissions of carbon dioxide, nitric oxide, and sulfur dioxide for the conventional system are higher than that of the Powerformer.

Conventional generators
The stator windings of the conven- tional generators consist of rectangular conductors that lie in the stator slot. The main goals of rectangular conductor shape selection are to maximize both the current loading and the filling factor. According to Maxwells equations, the shape of these conductors results in an uneven electric field as well as a magnetic field distribution with values, inevitably created at each of the slot four corners, as shown in Fig. 4. This intensification of corner field dictates the use of insulation materials with very high dielectric strength (e.g., sheet mica set in epoxy resin). The practical consequence for a rec- tangular conductor in an electric machine is that the insulation and the magnetic materials of the machine are highly stressed and not uniformly loaded, which leads to an uneconomi- cal use of the involved materials. Failures in the machine related to the high electric stresses on the insulating materials are also very likely to occur. Therefore, intricate measures have to be taken in the end-winding region to control the electric field so as to avoid partial discharges and corona. To mini- mize the eddy current losses in the sta- tor coils, the copper laminations consti- tuting the conductors must be trans- posed along the winding according to an elaborate scheme.

Powerformers
Contrary to conventional generators, the windings of this new high-voltage generator have cylindrical conductors. As can be inferred from Maxwells equa- tions, a cylindrical conductor yields an even electric and magnetic field distribu- tion, which is a prerequisite for a high- voltage electric machine (see Fig. 4).

As mentioned earlier, the stator wind- ing of the Powerformer consists of high- voltage cables. Consequently, the output voltage of Powerformers is only limited by the state-of-the-art high-voltage cable technology. Recently, insulation materi- als and production techniques offer reli- able cables at operating gradients in the order of 10 kV/mm and even more. Such high electric field is not accepted for the conventional mica/epoxy-based coil insulation. The cable circular cross section solves the two basic problems arising from the use of conventional rectangu- lar stator windings: First, within the stator slots, the uniform electric field in the insulator maximizes insulation performance and the voltage rating of the cable. Second, bending a cable of circu- lar cross section does not result in the kinks and sharp edges that arise with a rectangular cable. Thus, even in the end regions where the cable is bent to make the transition from one slot to the next, the electric field within the insulator
Fig. 1 Schematic diagram of (a) a conventional plant with step-up transformer, and (b) the same plant with a Powerformer connected directly to the grid. 1) Generator, 2) generator circuit breaker, 3) surge arrester, 4) step-up transformer, and 5) circuit breaker. Fig. 2 Development of Powerformer rated voltage.

1 1 2 4 55 3 3 3 (a) (b) 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450
1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
Year

RatedVoltag e,kV
245 kV 45 kV136 kV 155 kV 345 kV 420 kV

Expectedina Decade 38

IEEE POTENTIALS
Authorized licensed use limited to: Swetha CH. Downloaded on March 28, 2009 at 03:27 from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.

MAY/JUNE 2008
39

remains free of singularities. At the end regions of the Powerformer, the electric field remains confined within the cable. Consequently, the need to control an external electric field, as in a conven- tional machine, is eliminated.

Design time
The concept of Powerformers fea- tures innovations that include commer- cial high-voltage power cables, lie in circular bores, and are accommodated in the stator slots.

Cable design
As previously indicated, the winding of the Powerformer consists of insulat- ed high-voltage power cables similar to the standard and commercial power cables used in power system distribu- tion. However, the cables in the Powerformer have neither a metallic screen nor a sheath. Figure 5 illustrates the construction of the Powerformer winding cable. It consists of a stranded conductor, an inner semiconductive layer, a solid dielectric (normally an XLPE), and finally, an outer semiconductive layer. The purpose of the inner semiconduc- tive layer is to create a uniform electric field at the inner surface of the insula- tion layer, while the outer semiconduc- tive layer acts to confine the electric field within the insulator. The word semiconductor describes a material with relatively high resistivity, in this case XLPE doped with carbon. Such a semiconductor is, more accurately, a resistive conductor. In general, in the stranded conductor there is a center wire surrounded by concentric layers of 12, 18, 24, 30, 36, and 42 wires. This is commonly known as a concentric-lay conductor. Each layer is applied with alternate direction of lay. The conductor cross section will be dimensioned with respect to the pre- vailing system voltage and the maxi- mum power of the generating unit. A conductor used in an electrical machine is exposed for a higher magnetic leak- age flux than a conductor used in trans- mission or distribution systems. In order to minimize the additional losses due to the magnetic leakage flux in the Powerformer conductors, it is necessary to subdivide the conductor into mutually insulated strands. The majority of the strands may be insulat- ed, but to ensure an equal electrical potential of the strands and the inner semiconducting layer, one or more of the strands in the outermost layer may be non-insulated. The induced voltage in a Power- former generator stator winding will gradually increase from the neutral point to the line terminal. Therefore, the cable used for the stator winding is accordingly exposed for different electrical stresses along the length of the winding. It is therefore feasible, in a Powerformer, to use a thinner insulation for the first turns of the winding and thereafter increase the insulation thickness; it is called stepped insulation (Fig. 4).

One way of obtaining this is to use a predefined number of different cable dimensions per phase (i.e., a stepwise increase in the insulation thickness). This type of graded insulation facilitates
Fig. 3 Net weight consumption of copper and steel in Powerformer and the reference system.

30 20 10 Powerformer Copper Steel Copper Steel Reference Stator

Rotor Transformer Other Total 0

g/MWh Fig. 4 Stator-bar of the conventional generator and stator cable-winding of the Powerformer.

Conventional Generator Stator-Bar Ground Wall Insulation Turn Insulation Strand Insulation 3 kV/mm 6 kV/mm or Even Much Higher
E(kV/mm) StatorWindi ng

S Powerformer Cable-WindingGround Wall/Turn Insulation Conductor

ElectricFie ld
Authorized licensed use limited to: Swetha CH. Downloaded on March 28, 2009 at 03:27 from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.

Power Former
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Ramesh Gosuleft a comment powerfromer is a real break through in elecrical engineering, thanks to ABB 08 / 28 / 2010 Reply Report

Sai Ram replied: boss i want to download for free the topic is powerformer 02 / 28 / 2011 Upload a Document

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