Lab Session Synchronous Machines

Jens Van Engeland, Pieter Van Moll & Jomme Vrolix

Direct axis reactance of the synchronous machine

Name plate and base values
The nameplate of the synchronous machine reads the following (Tabel 1):
Voltage Phase Connection Cont. Base 40C Secours Stand by 27C 400 V Excitation 3 full load 13.9V / 2.18A D no load 0.72 31 kVA 25 kW 45 A 35 kVA 28 kW 50 A Tabel 1: Nameplate of the synchronous machine

The base values are chosen as follows. U_b = 400 V S_b = 31 kVA f_b = 50 Hz

Other base values are calculated: I_b = 45 A Z_b = 5,16

The base value of the excitation current is chosen: I_bb = 4 A

Zero Load test

The measurements are obtained as indicated in Figuur 1. A voltmeter with a shunt is used to measure the excitation current I_b. The voltage at the open terminals is measured with another voltmeter. The DC-source is controlled to vary the terminal voltages from 1,3 times U_nom down to zero. During the test, the synchronous machine runs at 1500 rotations per minute.

Figuur 1: Measurement set-up Zero Load test

The measured values of the Zero Load test are tabulated in Tabel 2. n [rpm] I_b [A] I_b [pu] U [V] U [pu] (ZL) 1500 0,95 0,260 446 1,115 1500 0,87 0,240 428 1,070 1500 0,75 0,210 399 0,998 1500 0,52 0,152 318 0,795 1500 0,46 0,137 290 0,725 1500 0,42 0,127 270 0,675 1500 0,34 0,107 231 0,578 1500 0,28 0,092 202 0,505 1500 0,23 0,080 170 0,425 1500 0,18 0,067 139 0,348 1500 0,11 0,050 110 0,275 1500 0,09 0,045 95 0,238 1500 0,08 0,042 87 0,218 1500 0,03 0,030 63 0,158 1500 0,02 0,027 60 0,150
Tabel 2: Measurement results Zero Load test

Short Circuit test

The measurements are obtained as illustrated in Figuur 2. Due to the high short circuit current (up to 50 Amperes), a current transformer is used. The excitation current I_b is controlled to decrease I_k starting from its nominal value. During the test, the synchronous machine runs at 1500 rotations per minute.

Figuur 2: Measurement set-up Short Circuit test

The measured values of the Zero Load test are tabulated in Tabel 3. I_b [A] I_b [pu] I_k1 [A] I_k1 [pu] (SC) 1,7 0,447 49,5 1,106 0,98 0,267 29,8 0,666 0,69 0,195 21,3 0,476 0,05 0,035 3,4 0,076
Tabel 3: Measurement results Short Circuit test

Interpretation of the results

The measured values of table 1 and table 2 are represented in Figuur 3. The measurements have already been corrected with a factor I_b. The effect of saturation on the terminal voltage is clearly noticeable on the red curve. Further increasing I_b (excitation current) has no longer the same (linear) effect as represented by the green curve. As the excitation current increases, the short circuit current I_k1 increases linearly.

Figuur 3: Determination of X_d from zero load and short circuit characteristics

Calculation of Xd
The value of Xd can now be derived from the previous measurements.

Or from:

And:

or:

The short circuit ratio becomes: Ksc=0.52

Synchronous Machine Behaviour under Load Conditions

Synchronous machine in island operation
In steady-state the synchronous machine can be represented as a voltage source with inner impedance Xd . When the machine is operated in an island, the terminal voltage of the machine will vary due to changing load conditions. For this measurement we consider three different loads, the power factor is kept constant: Resistive load (PF=1) Resistive-inductive load (PF=0,8) Resistive-capacitive load (PF=0,8)

For these measurements the machine is not connected to the grid of course. It is driven by the induction generator at nominal speed. Measured values a) Resistive load (PF=1) Every phase was loaded with the same purely resistive load. Several points (terminal voltages and currents) were measured for several resistance values. Uph [V] 234,98 227,48 217,08 204,96 191,10 149,53 I1ph[A] 0,00 3,64 5,77 7,62 8,66 11,89

b) Resistive-inductive load (PF=0,8) In this case the load consists of a resistive and an inductive part. While changing the load, multiple points were measured. The PF was kept constant at 0,8 by varying the inductance (this is to have consistency in the measured curves). Uph [V] 196,30 159,93 139,72 124,71 105,08 95,26 I1ph[A] 4,45 7,16 8,31 9,06 9,99 10,39

c) Resistive-capacitive load (PF=0,8) The same scenario as the previous measurement. Here the load is a combination of a resistive part and a capacitive part. Again the PF remained constant at 0,8 (by varying the capacitance). Uph [V] 230,94 240,76 241,33 242,49 236,14 228,63 I1ph[A] 1,56 6,47 6,47 6,47 14,43 15,01

Graph for measured values

1,20 1,00 0,80

U1/(Xd*I1k)

Resistive load PF=1

0,60 0,40 Resistive-inductive load PF=0,8 Resistive-Capacitive load PF=0,8

0,20
0,00 0,00 0,50 I1/I1k 1,00 1,50

Figuur 4: Terminal has a function of the load current for different power factors (normalized with nominal short circuit current).

The graph above accesses the mathematical ellipsoid in the lab text (figure7). For the resistive-capacitive load it is clear that more points should have been measured.

Vector diagrams

Figuur 5: phasor diagrams

From these phasor diagrams it is clear that the voltage at the terminal of the synchronous machine varies with different loads. This is due to the phase angle between the current and the voltage and due to the fact that there is a voltage drop caused by the reactance.

Synchronous machine in island operation, with voltage control

Due to measurement problems in the first part, we dont have any measurement results of the island operation with voltage control.

Behaviour of the synchronous machine on the grid

V-curves

The V curves represent the dependence between the stator-current and the field-current when the synchronous machine is connected to the grid and delivers active power to the grid. For different power rating, different curves are obtained.

When the power is fixed, and the field-current can be varied, a change in field-current influences the reactive power. A given field-current corresponds with a certain stator-current. When the fieldcurrent changes, the stator-current increases or decreases. This indicates a change in cos phi, or a change in reactive power. Less field-current than IF0 means reactive power is consumed, Inductive area. More field-current than IF0 means reactive power is delivered, capacitive area. The least stator-current occurs at a cos phi equal to zero (Edge between the purple and the yellow area). To keep the cos phi equal to one, when increasing the load, the field current must increase to maintain the torque. The field-current also influences the stall torque via the electromagnetic force. If the load torque becomes bigger than the stall torque, the machine will drop out. This is represented in the most left edge from the purple area. The curves are theoretically the same for both modes of the machine. Both generator as motor mode have those V-curves and are identically. PQ-curves By varying the active power while keeping the excitation current constant, we can derive the PQcurves of a synchronous machine. Figuur 6 shows the results for three different values of the excitation current. The measurements are bounded by the limits of the induction machine driving the generator: the maximum current in motor mode is 4 A, in generator mode 13 A.
I_b = 1,5 A 8000 7000 6000 5000 Q [VAr] 4000 3000 2000 1000 0 -4000 -2000 0 2000 4000 6000 8000 P [W] I_b = 2,8 A I_b = 4,0 A

motor mode

generator mode

Figuur 6: PQ-curves of a grid-connect synchrounous machine