TURBINE GOVERNING

SYSTEM


Elements of the turbine governing
system

As with any conventional control system, a
turbine governing system comprises three
basic components:
The setpoint controller,
the actuator or actuators, and
the controlled process.

SIMPLIFIED GOVERNOR BLOCK DIAGRAM FOR FULL KAPLAN TURBINE
LOADLIMIT SET POINT
INPUT PROCESSING
GUIDEVANE AND
RUNNER BLADE
SETPOINT CONTROL
LOGIC BASED ON 3D
CAM, AUTO
SYNCHRONISER,GOVE
RNOR STATUS AND
PROTECTION LOGIC
GUIDE VANE POSITION
CONTROL LOOP
RUNNER BLADE
POSITION CONTROL
LOOP
GOVERNOR STATUS
MONITORING,FUZZY LOGIC BASED
HEALTH MONITORING, GENERAL
PURPOSE CONTROL LOGIC
DISPLAY PROCESSING AND SCADA
COMMUNICATION INTERFACE.
SPEED SET POINT
INPUT PROCESSING
GOVERNOR CONTROL LOGIC I/P
AND STATUS INPUTS FROM FIELD
GENERATOR FREQUENCY
GRID VOLTAGE
GENERATOR VOLTAGE

GRID FREQUENCY
PHASE ANGLE
AUTO- SYNCHRONISER
MODULE
AVR ON COMMAND
VOLTAGE LOWER PULSE TO AVR


RUNNER BLADE POSITION
FEEDBACK
GUIDE VANE POSITION
FEED BACK
ACTUAL SPEED
FROM PULSE WHEEL
ACTUAL SPEED
FROM GEN FREQUENCY
VOLTAGE RAISE PULSE TO AVR
GOVERNOR OK
CONTROL OUTPUTS
STATUS IND.
SPEED SETPOINT INPUT FROM
AUTO-SYNCHRONISER
SCADA COMMUNICATION &
PROGRAMMING INTERFACE
Setpoint controller
The setpoint controller portion of the turbine
governing system determines the basic operating
function of the hydroelectric generating unit.
The operating parameters and controller strategy
used in the setpoint controller determine what
conditions the turbine governing system responds
to, and what action is taken by the turbine
governing system.

PID control
A common computing algorithm is the PID. Speed
or power errors, or both, are inputs to a typical
PIDgovernor on a hydroelectric unit.
The PID gains should be independently adjustable
to achieve the desired dynamic performance.
There are several possible structural
implementations of the basic PID control
algorithm that have been used in hydroelectric
turbine governing systems.

Actuator

An actuator is the connection between the setpoint
controller and the controlled process. The output or the
actuator should be able to effect a change in the
controlled variable of the process.
Most controlled variables related to the control of a
hydroelectric generating unit require the mechanical
positioning of the controlledvariable, such as the wicket
gates or turbine blades
The actuator system compares the desired turbine
actuator position command or setpoint with the actual
actuator position, and it provides the necessary work to
hold the actuator output at the desired value.

Controlled process
The hydroelectric generating plant consists of four basic elements that are
necessary to generate power from
water: a means of creating head, a conduit to convey water, a hydraulic
turbine, and an electric generator.
The dam creates the operating head necessary to move the turbines,
establishes the amount of water storage available for power production, and
impounds the water supply necessary for the daily or seasonal stream flow
release pattern.
The turbine governing system controls the operation of the hydraulic turbine
to achieve the desired operating results.
The water levels, water flow rate, turbine speed, generator output frequency,
and generator output power are parameters that are affected by the operation of
the turbine governing system.
The design of the turbine governing system determines which of these
parameters has the highest priority in the operation of the hydroelectric
turbine.

Turbine
The turbine converts the potential energy of water into
mechanical energy, which in turn drives the generator.
Water under pressure enters the turbine through the
wicket gates and is discharged through the draft tube
after its energy is extracted.
The amount of power the turbine is able to produce
depends on the head on the turbine, the rate of flow of
water passing through the unit, and the efficiency of
the turbine.
Modern turbines can develop power from almost any
combination of head and flow. .
Generator
The generator converts the mechanical power
produced by the turbine into electrical power.
Generator interaction with the power system
can be complex, and it can result in lightly
damped response poles that can be stimulated
by fast governor action, producing undesirable
power oscillations.

Water passage
Water is the medium through which energy is delivered
to a hydroelectric turbine for the purpose of
generating electric power.
Often, there are constraints placed on water levels,
flows, or pressures that require certain elements of the
water-handling system to be included within the
boundaries of the controlled process for the turbine
governing system.
Brief descriptions of the main elements of the water
system for a hydroelectric generating unit follow:

Head pond

The head pond is the water impoundment used as
an energy source for the hydroelectric unit. Some
stations may have a very large storage capacity,
and others may have essentially no storage
capacity.
The size of the head pond storage affects the rate
at which the hydroelectric generating unit can
affect the head pond water level. The head pond
may also be called the reservoir, forebay,
headrace, headwater, or the pool elevation.

Water CHANNEL
The water CHANNEL comprises all of the
structures used to convey water from the head
pond to the turbine.
The water CHANNEL may include an intake
structure, a penstock, one or more surge tanks, and
a spiral case.
The composite water CHANNEL inertias and
elasticity of these structures contribute to the
water hammer effect that impacts the performance
of the turbine governing system.
Draft tube

The draft tube conveys the water from the
discharge side of the turbine to the tailrace. It is
normally a part of the powerhouse structure, and it
is designed to minimize exit losses.
The inertia of the water in the draft tube also
contributes to the total water inertia that impacts
the performance of the turbine governing system.
In some applications, this effect is significant.

Shutdown control
Historically, protective shutdown of the unit has
commonly been accomplished by using the
primary turbine governing control actuator.
Typically, a shutdown valve, either solenoid
operated or mechanically operated, is used to
override the turbine control actuators control
valve and force the primary turbine control
servomotor to close at its maximum rate

Speed sensor source
The rotating speed of the turbine is detected by the turbine
governing system in order for the system to respond to
changes in speed.
methods used to detecting turbine speed are
Mechanical speed sensing
Direct connection
Mechanically coupled connection
Motor-driven ballhead
Electronic speed sensing
Speed signal generator
Shaft-mounted speed source
Speed signal generator (SSG)
An SSG consists of a gear or toothed wheel that is
mechanically coupled to the turbine or generator
shaft.
Passive magnetic pickups or active proximity
pickups sense the passage of the SSG gear teeth to
produce a frequency that is proportional to the
speed of the turbine.
Active proximity pickups are able to sense the
rotational speed down to zero speed, making this
approach usable for a full range of speed switch
functions including creep detection.

Automatic shutdown
Automatic shutdown is the process of stopping the
unit under normal conditions.
A typical automatic shutdown closes the turbine
control servomotor at a controlled rate until the
unit generation is approximately zero set value .
At that time, the unit breaker is tripped and the
turbine control servomotors are fully closed.
The operation of field breakers, excitation
systems, and other auxiliary systems are also
included in the automatic shutdown process.
Emergency stop pushbutton
Generally, emergency stop pushbuttons are located
strategically at major system components such as at the
unit breaker, the governor control panel, and the unit
control board.
When an emergency stop is initiated, the unit is
generally shut down by opening the unit breaker,
closing the turbine control servomotors at their
maximum rate, removing excitation, and shutting down
all auxiliary systems.

Generator air braking system
The generator air braking system may
consist of a dedicated air compressor,
pressure vessel, piping, brake/ jacking
cylinders, and pressure monitoring devices.
Devices located with the turbine governing
system may operate the air braking system,
or it may be operated by other parts of the
unit control system.
Startup blade position
The blades may be prepositioned to a steeper off-
cam position for startup of the turbine. This
provides greater developed torque for a faster
breakaway. This steeper angle also results in less
loading of the units thrust bearing on startup.
After synchronizing to the power system, the
blades return to their on-cam position, which
results in some increase of power output of the
generator. This automatic pickup of generation
after synchronization helps to avoid problems with
reverse-power protective relaying on the unit.

Hydraulic pressure supply system
The hydraulic pressure supply system also
called Oil pressure unit ( OPU) uses
various oil pressures and levels to control
the pressure pumps, issue alarms, and to
shut down the unit under abnormal
conditions.


Black start capability
In certain applications, a unit will be required to
perform a black start, which requires the ability to
start the unit without any AC power available to the
unit. Often, where black start capability is required, a
DC-powered oil pressure pump is provided to produce
sufficient hydraulic oil pressure to start the unit.
This DC-powered oil pressure pump uses the station
battery system for operating power. Generally, the flow
output from this DC-powered oil pressure pump is not
required to produce the oil flow specified for the main
AC-powered oil pressure pumps.
Black start capability
For black start capability, it is only necessary to be
able to build sufficient oil pressure to start the unit
within a specified time frame.
Therefore, a unit with a separate oil pressure pump
used to build oil pressure for a black start may
have an output flow of one-fourth or less of the
flow produced by the main Ac powered pumps.
After a black start, the main AC-powered oil
pressure pumps are usually powered by the output
of the generator just started, thus allowing
continued normal operation of the unit.

Oil cleanliness control
Initial component cleanliness
The initial cleanliness of the components used in
the hydraulic turbine control servomotor system is
one of the most important influences in
establishing the desired degree of oil system
cleanliness.
During the installation of the hydraulic system
components, it is important to mechanically clean
all system components prior to final installation.
Overspeed switch
Historically, the preferred method of detecting
unit overspeed for protective shutdown of the unit
has been
the use of a mechanically driven speed switch.
Mechanically driven overspeed switches have
been specified
for the purpose of achieving highly reliable
overspeed detection for this protective function.

Electronic switch using magnetic
or optical pickups

Magnetic or optical pickups normally sense
the speed of the turbine shaft from the
frequency produced by the passage of the
teeth, slots, or optical stripes on a device
that is mechanically coupled to the turbine
or generator shaft.

Speed switches
Speed switches are devices used to operate an
electrical contact as a function of the unit speed.
Speed switches may be driven mechanically from
the turbine shaft, or they may be driven
electrically from a speed probe sensing the
passage of the teeth of a gear or toothed wheel.
Speed switch functions may also be derived from
sensing the frequency of the generator voltage
transformer.
Remote control
The term remote control can have several
meanings in the hydroelectric generating
industry. One common usage of the term
remote control refers to control of the unit
from a point within the powerhouse that is
physically removed from the turbine
governing system. issued from the plant
controller to the unit control system.

Remote control
Some typical functions within the turbine governing
system that are controlled remotely are as follows:
a) Speed reference (speed changer)
b) Generation setpoint (load changer)
c) Servomotor limit
d) Permanent speed droop
e) Speed regulation
f) Automatic generator braking system
g) Governor gain settings
Remote indication
The turbine governing system may provide electrical
outputs signals to drive remote-indicating instruments
to indicate operating conditions of the unit.
Some typical remote indication outputs that may be
provided by a turbine governing system are as follows: