Effect of the Excitation System on Transient Stability

Transient stability problem the performance of the power system

when subjected to severe impacts is studied.
The concern is whether the system is able to maintain synchronism
during and following these disturbances.
The period of interest is relatively short (at most a few seconds),
with the first swing being of primary importance.
In this period the generator is suddenly subjected to an appreciable
change in its output power causing its rotor to accelerate (or
decelerate) at a rate large enough to threaten loss of synchronism.
The important factors influencing the outcome are the machine
behavior and the power network dynamic relations.
For the sake of this discussion it is assumed that the power
supplied by the prime movers does not change in the period of
interest.
Therefore the effect of excitation control on this type of transient
depends upon its ability to help the generator maintain its output
power in the period of interest
Main factors that affect the performance during severe transients

1. The disturbing influence of the impact. This includes the

type of disturbance, its location, and its duration.
2. The ability of the transmission system to maintain strong
synchronizing forces during the transient initiated by a
disturbance.
3. The turbine-generator parameters.
System parameters influencing these factors
The synchronous machine parameters. Of these the most important are:
(a) The inertia constant,
(b) (b) the direct axis transient reactance,
(c) the direct axis open circuit time constant, and
(d) the ability of the excitation system to hold the flux level of the synchronous machine and
increase the output power during the transient.
2.The transmission system impedances under normal, faulted, and post fault
conditions.
Here the flexibility of switching out faulted sections is important so that large
transfer admittances between synchronous machines are maintained when the fault
is isolated.
3.The protective relaying scheme and equipment. The objective is to detect faults
and isolate faulted sections of the transmission network very quickly with minimum
disruption.

Increased reliance on excitation control to improve stability

Trends in the design of power system components have resulted in
lower stability margins. Contributing to this trend are the following:

Increased rating of generating units with lower inertia constants

and higher per unit reactance's.
Large interconnected system operating practices with increased
dependence on the transmission system to carry greater loading.
Effect of Excitation on Dynamic Stability:
For simplicity we analyze the problem of one machine connected to an infinite bus through a
transmission line.
The synchronous machine equations, for small perturbations about a quiescent operating
condition, are given by