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CHAPTER 2
2.1 INTRODUCTION
coil. Most of the turns in the coils can be easily seen. Each turn (loop) of the
magnet wire could, in principle, be placed randomly against any other turn of
magnet wire in the coil, independent of the voltage level of the turn, thus the
term random. Since a turn that is connected to the phase terminal can be
adjacent to a turn that is operating at low voltage (i.e., at the neutral point),
random -wound stators usually operate at voltages less than 1000 V. This
effectively limits random-wound stators to machines less than several
hundred kilo-watts (kW) or Horse Power (HP).
In large generators, the more the power output, the larger and
mechanically stiffer each coil usually is. In stators larger than about 50 MW,
the form-wound coil is large enough that there are difficulties in inserting
both legs of the coil in the narrow slots in the stator core without risking
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mechanical damage to the coil during the insertion process. Thus, most large
generators today are not made from multi-turn coils, but rather from half-turn
coils, often referred to as Roebel bars. With a Roebel bar construction, only
one half of a coil is inserted into the slot at a time, which is considerably
easier than inserting two sides of a coil in two slots simultaneously.
Bottom packing
Strand insulation
Turn insulation
Groundwall
Insulation
Midstick packing
Iron
Semi conductive
Coating
Top packing
Slot wedge
0.12
Conductive tape in Slot
0.10
Stress grading tape at ends
(non-linear)
Current 0.08
(in mA)
0.06
0.04
0.02
Voltage (V)
skin depth through which most of the current flows. The skin depth of copper
is 8.5 mm at 60 Hertz (Hz). If the conductor has a cross section such that the
thickness is greater than 8.5 mm, there is a tendency for the current not to
flow through the centre of the conductor, which implies that the current is not
making use of all the available cross section. This is reflected as an effective
AC resistance that is higher than the DC resistance.
The higher AC resistance gives rise to a larger I2R loss than if the
same cross-section had been made from the strands that are insulated from
one another to prevent the skin effect from occurring by making the required
cross section from the strands that are insulated from one another, all the
copper cross section is used for current flow, the skin effect is negated, and
the losses are reduced. The electrical reason for stranding requires the strands
to be insulated from one another. The voltage across the strands is less than a
few tens of volts; therefore, the strand insulation can be very thin. The strand
insulation is subject to damage during the coil manufacturing process, so it
must have good mechanical properties. Since the strand insulation is
immediately adjacent to the copper conductors that are carrying the main
stator current, which produces the I2R loss, the strand insulation is exposed to
highest temperatures in the stator.
n p I p ns I s (2.1)
where n refers to the number of turns in the primary or secondary, and I refers
to the current in the primary or secondary. Consequently, a huge circulating
current will flow in the faulted turn, rapidly overheating it. This high current
will be followed quickly by a ground fault due to melted copper burning
through any groundwall insulation. Clearly, effective turn insulation is needed
for long stator winding life.
XL 2 fL (2.2)
In form-wound bars and coils rated greater than about 4 kV, Partial
Discharges (PDs) can occur within the groundwall insulation or between the
surface of the coil or bar and the stator coil. These Partial Discharges, which
are sometimes called coronas, are created by the high voltage stress that
occurs in the groundwall. An air pocket exists in the groundwall; the high
electric stress will break down the air, causing a spark. This spark will
degrade the insulation and, repeated discharges will eventually erode a hole
through the groundwall to prevent stator winding failure. In addition, a partial
discharge suppression system is needed to prevent PD in any air gaps between
the surface of the coils and bars and the core.
V kV
E (2.3)
d mm
where V is the voltage across the metal plates in kV and d is the distance
between the plates in mm. If the voltage is gradually increased across the
metal plates, there will be a voltage at which electric break down occurs, i.e.,
at which a spark will cross between the plates.
The presence of air pockets within the groundwall can lead to the
electric break down of the air pockets, a process called a Partial Discharge
(Kuffel et al 1998). To understand this process, consider the groundwall cross
section in Figure 2.3. For electric breakdown to occur in the air pocket there
must be a high electric stress across it.
Stator core
Copper
4 mm Groundwall insulation
Figure 2.3 Coils with Air Packets Next to the Turn Insulation
29
Copper
Ca Va
V0
Cin
Core
A
Ca (2.4)
da
r 0 (2.5)
CinV0
Va (2.6)
Ca Cin
The off-line tests describe the main tests that are commercially
available for assessing the condition of the insulation of stator windings as
shown in Figure 2.5. All the tests require the machine to be removed from
service, at least for a short time. Tremendous advancements in testing
technology have been made, due to availability of better electronic
31
R10
PI (2.7)
R1
V
Rt (2.8)
It
where V is the applied DC voltage and It is the total current measured after
t minutes, as the current is not usually constant. There are at least four
currents that may flow, when a DC voltage is applied to the winding (Rux
1977). They include:
This Current de
where C is the capacitance and R is the internal resistance of the voltage
source, typically a few hundred kilo ohm. The Capacitance of a form-wound,
stator coil may be about 10 nF between the copper and the core, and that of
large hydro generator may be about 1 F. This current may decay to zero in
less than 10 seconds.
This current can flow if the insulation has cracks, cuts, or pinholes
and has absorbed moisture, and some contamination is present. This current is
constant with time. With modern insulation, like epoxy-mica or film
insulation, this current is usually zero. If this current is significant, it indicates
that the winding insulation has a problem.
35
Once the molecules are all aligned, the current stops. This current is
the polarization current. There are many polar molecules in asphalt, mica,
polyester and epoxy. Experience shows that after a DC electric field is applied
to such materials, the absorption current is first relatively high, and decays to
zero after about 10 minutes. In all practical respects, the absorption current
behaves like an RC circuit with a long time constant. It is merely a property of
the insulation materials.
Referring to the Table 2.2 the IR and PI values lie in the normal
range expected for a class F insulation machine. For clean and dry class F
insulation, the PI is higher than the minimum permissible value of 2. The DC
leakage current values are also quite low. These results indicate that the stator
winding is clean and dry.
replaces the air between the mica-paper tape layers. It reaches a high steady-
state value when complete impregnation is achieved. The capacitance starts to
decrease as it cures. With experience, manufacturers can define the optimum
cure time by monitoring the initial increase and then decrease of the
capacitance.
Chv Clv
C (2.9)
Clv
Phases C (%)
R 0.25
Y 0.26
B 0.27
Referring to the Table 2.3, the capacitance tip-up value lies in the
normal acceptable range.
constant over time, then it indicates that there is no thermal aging or gross
contamination of the winding. If it increases over time, then it indicates that
insulation overheating is occurring or the winding is becoming more
contaminated by moisture or partly conductive contaminants (IEC std 60894-
1987).
I
I
Ic
- Loss angle
- Phase angle
Ir V
coil cures, the DF will decrease to its steady final level, since the DF of liquid
resin is higher than that of the DF of cured epoxy or polyester.
The higher the tip-up, the greater is the energy consumed by PD. The
DF may be recorded at several voltage levels and the tip-up as a function of
voltage may be plotted as shown in the Figure 2.7. The voltage at which PD
starts is sometimes measurable. The DF is measured in percentage, and hence
the tip-up is also represented in percentage. The tip-up on windings rated
greater than 6 kV is usually significant.
Deteriorated
Sound
Voltage in kV
Figure 2.7
Tables
normal acceptable range. These results indicate that the dielectric losses and
void contents in the stator insulation are quite low.
Applied Leakage
Grounded Capacitance Dissipation
Phase Voltage in Current in
Terminals in nF Factor
kV mA
4.40 135.7 99.73 2.458
6.60 202.9 99.85 2.586
R Y and B
8.80 269.5 99.49 2.923
11.0 339.5 100.3 3.315
4.40 137.8 101.0 2.421
6.60 205.8 100.9 2.549
Y B and R
8.80 275.5 101.3 2.856
11.0 341.1 100.5 3.372
4.40 136.1 99.97 2.462
6.60 203.6 100.1 2.592
B R and Y
8.80 272.1 100.2 2.898
11.0 340.7 100.4 3.343
localized. If there are 10,000 PD pulses per second, then there are thousands
of PD sites and the deterioration is widespread. The pulse count rate can be
easily measured with a pulse magnitude analyzer, which is incorporated into
most modern commercial PD analyzers (Kurtz et al 1984). If there is
dominant deterioration in a winding, the PD test can sometimes give the
approximate location of the deterioration within the groundwall. Both positive
and negative PD pulses are created. If the positive PD pulses are larger than
negative PD pulses, then the PD is occurring on the surface of the coil. If the
negative PD is predominant, then the PD is occurring at the copper. If there is
no polarity predominance, then the PD may be between the groundwall
insulation layers.
PD inception PD magnitude at
Phases
voltage (kV) 5 kV (pC)
R 3.78 600
Y 3.83 600
B 3.83 600
hipot test for the turn insulation. The insulation, may fail requiring a repair,
coil replacement, or rewind.
Voltage surges occur from Inverter Fed Drive Motors (IFDs) and
faults in the power system. These fast risetime surges result in a non uniform
voltage distribution across the turns in the stator winding. If the rise time is
short and, the surge voltage is high, the turn insulation becomes weak and
punctures. This test is analogous to the AC and DC hipot tests. The surge test
is a destructive test. If the turn insulation fails, then the assumption is that the
stator would fail in service due to transients (Stefan et al 2008).
If the winding does not puncture, then the turn insulation will
survive any likely surge over the next few years. The main difficulty with the
surge test is determining when the turn insulation puncture has occurred.
A turn-to-turn puncture in a winding does not cause a huge increase in current
from the power supply. In fact, if there are 50 turns between the phase
terminal and neutral, the failure of one turn will only slightly reduce the
inductive impedance of the winding, since the impedance of only one turn has
been eliminated. Thus the other 49 turns can continue to impede current flow,
and the circuit breaker does not trip.
Such testing is best done after the coils are wound, wedged, and
braced, since by then they have been exposed to all the mechanical handling
and stresses associated with the winding process. As a quality check, the
surge test is done prior to inserting coils into the slot. Ground faults are easily
detected by a surge test, since the waveform collapses. Surge testing is also
useful to identify wrong connections in the winding. As an acceptance test,
the surge is recommended to have a risetime of 100 ns and a maximum
magnitude of 3.5 per unit, where l per unit is the peak line-to-ground rated
voltage. For a maintenance test performed after the winding has been service,
the surge should have the same risetime, but reach only 2.6 per unit. Voltages
higher than these maximum should not be applied to the stator winding,
otherwise there is a significant risk that good turn insulation will fail
unnecessarily.
2.8.1 Interpretation
The surge test and the partial discharge test are combined, and then
it may be possible to detect significant voids between the turns, before actual
puncture occurs. This requires a special PD detector, since conventional PD
detectors will be damaged by the high-voltage surges. Although the surge test
stated above to be the only test that directly determines the condition of the
turn insulation, (Gupta et al 1987) the IR/PI, capacitance, and dissipation
factor tests discussed above will also indicate the condition of the turn
insulation.
(a) (b)
Referring to the Table 2.7 the stator winding passes the AC hipot
test. If the winding fails, as determined by the power supply circuit breaker
tripping or an observed insulation puncture, then repairing of coil or
replacement of winding is required.
2.10 CONCLUSION