UPGRADING OF GENERATORS TO IMPROVE RELIABILITY

Clyde V. Maughan P.E.

Maughan Engineering Consultants

ABSTRACT IMPACT OF DETERIORATION

MECHANISMS
In the “good old days” power plant equipment tended
to be retired after several years of operation, as more There are several normal-operation deterioration
efficient machinery was designed and manufactured. mechanisms that may lead to damage that would
But during the last 25 years or so, because of the warrant consideration of upgrading of components of
increasing cost pressures, and impact of government a generator. Some of these mechanisms are briefly
regulators on plant siting locations, it begins to considered below.
appear that power plants will never be retired.
Stator Windings
As a result, many generators that are 30+ years old
are still regarded as prime power producers. These Bar Slot Vibration. If the stator bars are vibrating in
generators will usually have components that are the slots, groundwall insulation will wear, Photo 1,
badly worn and are becoming increasingly unreliable. and impact damage will occur from electromagnetic
The impact of these worn parts on power plant forces associated with flow of stator bar current. Also
performance is costly in terms of forced outages and there is the possibility of “vibration sparking”
unexpected extensions in maintenance outages. These developing from the energy of the slot voltage acting
costs are particularly high when the unit is required in on the low-resistance slot grounding paints. Either of
order to meet power delivery commitments to the these mechanisms can result in service failure in a
power grid. In these cases, which are becoming all very few years of operation.
too common, costs of repairs may be in the
$100,000s, but loss-of-generation costs may be in the
$1,000,000s.

This paper will address common deterioration

mechanisms and adverse generator maintenance
conditions. The paper will then suggest practical
ways to reduce exposure to costly generator outages.
There may also be efficiency improvements
associated with these changes, although the actual
change in efficiency cannot be a large number on the
generator itself because generators typically operate
in the 97 to 99% efficiency range. But even so, on Photo 1. “Grease” Accumulation Due to End-of-Slot
some units and in some situations the cumulative Bar Vibration.
benefits from only a 0.3% improvement in efficiency
can approach $1,000,000 a year, a not insignificant
number. Endwinding Vibration. This is one of the more
common deterioration mechanisms, due to support
systems incapable of handling the high
electromagnetic forces acting on the bars in the
endwindings. Photo 2. On the larger generators with

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string-tie endwinding support systems, this is a major
problem. Generators with high-force support systems Partial Discharge (PD). Indications of PD may be
should not experience significant endwinding widespread on windings, particularly air-cooled
vibration activity. Photo 3. On all generators, the stators. Photos 5 & 6.
endwindings are vulnerable to deterioration due to
loose parts and foreign objects.

Photo 5. White Discoloration Due to Endwinding PD.

Photo 2. General Widespread Endwinding Vibration.

Photo 6. Slot PD on Stator Bar near End of Slot.

Severe PD in the slots may also attack and destroy

wedging systems, Photo 7, including side fillers and
the wedges themselves.
Photo 3. High-Duty Endwinding Support System.
(GE)

Bar Structure Deterioration. General deterioration

may occur due to vibration and because of the
complex bare bar structures. Result can be shorted
strands or turns, deteriorated insulation, and damaged
voltage-grading systems. Photo 4.

Photo 7. Destroyed Wedges Due to PD in Slots.

PD may cause failure of the phase-bar insulation on

generators where endwinding spacing is inadequate
and non-mica insulation is used on the phase-bar
connections to the phase circuit rings. Photo 8.

Photo 4. Deteriorated Strand Insulation.

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 Oil Contamination. Hydrogen cooled generators are
often contaminated by oil; less often, air-cooled
generators may also be contaminated. Photo 10.

Photo 8. PD Attack on High Voltage Connections.

However, the mica in the stator bar groundwall Photo 10. Oil Contamination in Bottom of Stator
insulation itself is highly resistant to PD, and any Frame.
attack of the groundwall tends to be very slow, if at
all.
In general, insulation systems are not significantly
Stator Bar Water Leaks. On water-cooled deteriorated by oil, although wedging systems that
windings, if leaks develop in the bar strand header, rely on friction for controlling vibration may be
water may penetrate the groundwall insulation and deteriorated, i.e., side ripple spring systems. Photo
result in serious deterioration to the groundwall 20. But even in the latter case, with oil
insulation. Repair of this condition may require a full contamination, if the bars were seated in the ends of
stator rewind. Other leaks on these water-cooling the slots when originally installed, bar vibration
systems generally will be recognized by water should not result. Oil may deteriorate the materials in
accumulation in the frame leak detection gauge oil deflector seal hoses, but the Teflon commonly
and/or by high dew point. These leaks can generally used in water-cooled winding hoses is not harmed by
be repaired without causing serious harm. oil.

Loose Wedging Systems. There are several different Dirt Contamination. On air-cooled generators with
wedging systems, and some are rather troublesome. If open ventilation systems, heavy contamination can
bar vibration is occurring, Photo 1, this is always a occur in a year of operation. Photo 11. Heavy
serious concern. But if only the wedges are vibrating, accumulations of contaminants may block or severely
correction may involve simply cementing the wedges restrict air flow, and greatly impact component
into the core dovetails. Photo 9. Wedging problems operating temperatures. But even relatively minor
associated with bar vibration can usually be corrected accumulations of dirt on armature bars or the core
by properly rewedging the winding with a proper may increase the thermal barrier of heat transfer to
wedging system. Normally rewedging will the cooling air, and thus significantly increase
incorporate radial springs, if radial clearance in the component operating temperatures.
slot permits. Photo 21.

Photo 11. Stator with Heavy Dirt and Water

Photo 9. Wedge Vibration without Bar Vibration.
Contamination.

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Insulation Migration. Many generators are in Core Looseness. Core looseness problems can result
operation with the early asphaltic insulation systems. from several causes: inadequate clamping forces at
On large units, the insulation may have migrated into original manufacture, failure to compensate for the
the slots, leaving tape separations, or “girth cracks”, inherent lamination iron crown at the punching radial
in the groundwall near the ends of the core. Photos 12 centerline, improper taper on belleville-designed
& 13. The large GE generators with asphaltic flanges, creep of lamination insulation. Photo 14. On
insulation tended to be self-healing, i.e., the tendency those core designs using through bolts, clamping
to migrate reduced greatly with accumulation of force may be inadequate due to low originally
operating time. Asphalt insulation, in spite of its tightening forces and/or inherent loosening due to the
primitive origin – circa 1915, has performed high temperature differential expansion of the non-
remarkably well, even on older, larger units. ferrous steel bolts. High core temperature from
design or contamination will exacerbate all these
conditions.

Photo 12. Asphalt Stator Winding With “Girth

Crack” (4” from Core on Bar #8). Photo 14. Locally Loose Core Iron.

Lamination Insulation Failure. Generally the

lamination insulation will survive for the life of a
generator, unless severely damaged by foreign
material or over-heating. Causes of insulation
breakdown may be insulation and iron fretting due to
loosening of the core clamping forces, effects of
retightening a loose core with marginally-damaged
insulation, excessive operating temperature, burrs on
the original laminations, very thin or non-uniform
insulation application. There appear to have been a
few cases of lamination insulation wear-out.

Photo 13. Close-up of 1” “Girth Crack” on Bar #8. Stator Frame

The predominate failure mechanism is probably high

frame vibration due to inadequate isolation of the
Stator Core frame from inherent core vibration. Marginal designs
may also result from inadequate radii causing stress
Contamination. As with stator windings, minor dirt concentration points on structural parts.
buildup will interfere with heat transfer from the core
iron to the ventilation cooling gas. Heavy Coolers
contamination, Photo 11, can completely block the
ventilation passages and result in gross overheating Predominate failure mechanisms are tube leaks and
of the core. This over-heating can adversely affect contamination. Photo 15.
both the core and indirectly cooled stator windings,
which rely on the core iron as a heat-sink for losses
generated in the stator bars.

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 Insulation Failure. Commonly associated with
turn/coil flexing and movement, Photo 17, but may
fail from foreign material, e.g., conductive
contamination, “copper dust” from copper-turn
fretting while on turning gear. Occasionally shorts
and grounds will result from turn or coil insulation
migrating through the slot. Insulation may also fail
from loss of mechanical properties due to long-time
exposure to normal temperature or short-time
exposure to over-temperature.
Photo 15. Severe Cooler Contamination.

Fields and Excitation Systems

Turn/Coil Distortion . Copper has remarkably poor

mechanical properties even at room temperature; at
elevated temperature, above about 130C, these low
properties begin to further deteriorate. But the copper
components of the field operate at high mechanical
duty. Numerous methods are used by manufacturers
to reduce the mechanical duty: low operating Photo 17. Broken Top Creepage Block.
temperatures on the copper, low differential
temperatures between turns, avoiding major changes
in cross-section, precisely designed blocking systems, Exciters. Some of the old, pre-1950s DC exciters are
Teflon slip planes. But even so, problems with turn still in service. Photo 18. While these exciters were
fracture and turn and coil distortion have been reliable, if well maintained, these machines are aged
common on fields in the form of: copper elongation and replacement parts are difficult or impossible to
and fore-shortening, cracks and breaks in the copper obtain. The windings are old, the commutators may
turns, damage to turn and ground insulation. The net be deeply worn, the insulation heavily deteriorated.
result of these problems with the copper is turns The controls are obsolete and again replacement parts
shorts, coil shorts, and winding grounds, and thus difficult to find.
numerous repairs and numerous forced outages.
Photo 16.

Photo 16. Broken Top Turn Due to Cross-Section

Changes.

Forging Cracks. Cyclic load, particularly start-stop

operation, tends toward cracking of the forgings. If Photo 18. Early DC Rotating Exciter.
cracks occur, most commonly they will occur on the
slot teeth under the retaining ring shrink fit. But
occasionally cracks have been found elsewhere, e.g.,
the corners of the pole face at the field forging axial
centerline.

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OBSOLESCENT FACTORS THAT MAY AVAILABLE UPGRADE REPAIRS AND
WARRANT GENERATOR UPGRADE REPLACEMENTS

All generators that are more than perhaps 20 years As the technologies have evolved, numerous
old may have components that warrant consideration component upgrades and replacements have become
for replacement. Some specific obsolete designs and available. Some of the more common, and valuable,
components include: are considered below.
• Large generator fields with retaining rings
not mounted, shrunk onto, the field body. New Stator Winding
The copper conductors, particularly the top There are several conditions that may warrant and
turns, are vulnerable to breakage and as a justify replacement of a stator winding. Three are
group, these fields have required significant discussed below.
amounts of repair in the form of partial or
complete rewinds. Improved Endwinding Support System. The early,
• All retaining rings manufactured with the large generators that were built in the 1950s through
18/5 stainless steel material. 1970 using string-tie systems generally have required
• Large generator stators with string-tie numerous repairs and rebuilds. Conversion to a
endwinding support systems. These modern endwinding support system will require
machines can be kept running only by complete stator rewind. However, if the original
repetitive minor and sometimes major on- winding is still in the generator and the unit is not
going maintenance repairs, with the planned for early retirement, rewind with a new
accompanying risk of forced outage. support system may be easily justified. This is a
• Stator windings with asphaltic insulation major cost item, and requires a several-week outage,
systems on large generators may have been but if the replacement winding is on-hand, the rewind
significantly degraded by tape migration. can normally be completed within the time allotted to
• Many varied designs of stator wedging a major plant outage. Photos 3 & 19.
systems have been used over the years.
Some were remarkably ineffective and
troublesome, e.g., the “camel back” wedge.
On generators subject to wedging problems,
rewedging with a modern system should
eliminate need for repetitive rewedging.
• Excitation systems have changed over the
years perhaps more than any other
component of the generator. The old DC
generator systems are truly obsolete. But
other more recent systems may have
numerous obsolete components, including
components for which replacements are Photo 19. Improved Endwinding Support System.
non-available. (SW)
• Instrumentation systems have evolved over
the years. The early systems often were
mechanical nightmares and were limited in Elimination of Water Leaks. Significant portions of
the information provided to the operators for some water-cooled stator winding designs made prior
controlling the generator. More particularly, to the present decade may be subject to bar strand-
these systems provided very little diagnostic header water leaks. Some machines are operating
information in the event of failure. A with known wet bars. These windings are subject to
modern monitoring system may easily be potentially very costly test failure or force-outage.
justified to replace a still functioning Replacement may be particularly desirable if the
primitive system. winding has been subject to other deterioration
mechanisms, including slot or endwinding vibration.
Also, if the winding is more than about 25 years old,
it is unlikely to have modern epoxy groundwall
insulation, and may be deteriorated simply from
long-time service. Under any of these conditions,

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stator rewind with a modern winding may be a connections. Since these areas are relatively
relatively easy cost to justify. accessible, the repairs may be relatively easy to
accomplish. On any winding experiencing either
New Stator Wedging System local or general vibration, additional ties may be
Perhaps no other generator component has been highly advisable. After adding these ties, natural
through more design variations over the years than resonant vibration modes should be well above
the stator wedging systems. At this time, however, driving frequencies, i.e., above about 140 Hz on 60
most suppliers use either a flat wedge (with radial Hz generators.
spring if space is available), Photo 20, or some
version of the “piggy-back” wedge (again with radial Elimination of Insulation Migration. With the
spring if space is available), Photo 21. Provided that exception of a very few early thermoset insulation
the new wedging system is correctly installed, and windings, groundwall insulation migration has been
provided that the bars are down in contact with the confined to asphalt insulation on large conventionally
bottom of the slot, the rewedged winding should not cooled stator windings. Photos 12 & 13. These
need further wedge repair for many years. machines were mostly built during the period from
the mid-1940s through the early 1960s, with ratings
of perhaps 60 to 200 MW. Those still in service were
mainly made by GE, and this insulation system was
self-healing. If the winding is not in serious, obvious
trouble, rewind may not be desirable or necessary on
these generators. However, if the decision is made to
replace such a winding, replacement is a routine
repair.

Replacement Stator
In the last 20 years, it has become more common to
Photo 20. Wedging System With Flat Wedges and simply replace an entire stator rather than attempt to
Radial Spring. (SW) repair a troublesome major comp onent. In addition to
eliminating the problem stator component(s), there
are the peripheral and sometime major advantages of
substantially shortening the outage time and
obtaining a modern stator.

Replacement Field
Fields are more commonly replaced than stators for
at least three important reasons: 1) fields tend to wear
more rapidly, 2), the old field may service as a useful
emergency spare, and 3), change-out of a field may
be accomplished in a rather short outage – 10 days.
Rewind of a field may require a relatively long
outage associated with sending the field off-site for
rewind and high-speed balance. A spare field may
often be economically justifiable, particularly if there
are multiple generators in the utility system for which
Photo 21. Slot Wedging System with Radial and Side a single field may serve as spare. Photo 22.
Ripple Springs. (GE)

Additional Stator Endwinding Ties and Blocks

On most generators experiencing endwinding
vibration, it is possible to add additional ties and
blocks to the winding and thus reduce or eliminate
vibration problems. This will be particularly true on
windings that may be experiencing near-resonant
vibration. The most common location for adding
these blocks and ties is at the series/phase

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 themselves to be capable of providing useful
information. Photos 24, 25 & 26 show typical PD
sensor installations. Photo 27 is a monitoring cabinet
for PD sensor output.

Photo 22. New Replacement Field.

Replacement Excitation System

Because of conditions described earlier, replacement
of the original rotating excitation system with a static
system is not unusual. This is probably the most
common of the major component replacements
performed by utilities. The static systems tend to Photo 24. Line Bus Sensor. (Iris Engineering)
require low on-going maintenance, and should have
high reliability.

Modern Monitoring System

There are several available and important upgrades
available for monitoring of generators. Five are
briefly discussed below.

Flux Probe. This simple probe located on a wedge in

the airgap can accurately detect shorted turns in
individual coils (slots) of a field. Photo 23. The Photo 25. Slot Couplers. (Iris Engineering)
readings are easily obtained from this inexpensive
monitoring system, and analysis is convenient and
accurate.

Photo 26. Two Radio Frequency Current

Transformers on Neutral Ground Lead. (AEP)
Photo 23. Typical Installation of Flux Probe Bonded
to Stator Wedge.

PD System. Capability for monitoring and analyzing

partial discharge on stator windings has evolved at a
rapid rate in the last 20 years. Monitoring systems
have become very common on new units and as
retrofits on operating units. Several companies supply
these systems. The data output can be somewhat
difficult to interpret, but all suppliers have shown

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 Photo 27. Continuous Monitoring System Cabinet. Photo 29. Tagging Paint on Endwinding.
(Alstom)

Endwinding Vibration Probes. Probes are available

Control Room Package. The modern control room
which can be attached at key locations of an
instrumentation for generators provide more rapid endwinding to detect high local or general vibration.
and continuous monitoring of generator operating These devices may be of considerable value in
parameters and conditions. In addition, these systems monitoring the condition of a suspect endwinding.
will automatically collect voluminous data in the Photo 30.
event of generator in-service failure. The information
from these systems can be invaluable in determining
root cause of a generator failure.

Generator Condition Monitor and Tagging

Compounds. The generator condition monitor
(originally called “core monitor”) is capable of
detecting pyrolusite produced by high temperatures
anywhere within a hydrogen-cooled generator or a
closed-ventilation air-cooled generator. Early
versions of the system were prone to producing of
spurious signals; however, the later systems are
reported to be quite reliable in detecting only true Photo 30. Vibration Probe Attached to Bottom Side
signals, and have in a few cases prevented minor of Connection. (SW)
problems growing into major failures. Photo 28.

THE UPGRADE DECISION (A Few Words of

Caution)

Diagnostics
During this same 25-year period that demands for
much longer plant life expectancy have been
evolving, the capabilities of OEMs have been
considerably decreased. Due to OEM staff reductions
and loss of many of the more experienced engineers,
Photo 28. Generator Condition Monitoring System. it has become increasingly difficult for OEMs to
(Environment One) supply experienced factory or field-service engineers
to diagnose new and/or unusual problems.
Unfortunately, root-cause mis -diagnosis has become
Tagging paints can be applied to the stator winding rather common, and the results have in some cases
and core iron. Several paints are available and can be been extremely costly.
applied at specific locations in the generator. If a
monitor alarm occurs, samples of the pyrolusite can It the event of component failure, it is vital that the
assist in establishing the location of the source of the equipment owner be persistent in the search for root
pyrolusite. Photo 29. cause. It is essential to arrive at the root cause with

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high certainty. Otherwise, the corrective actions
taken can lead to performance of repairs that are
costly, inadequate, and incorrect.

Replacement Part Quality

Regardless of the component or major part to be
purchased, it is possible to replace a merely
troublesome part with a part that has a near-fatal
defect, or a part that fails immediately from infant
mortality. Potential exposure to this unhappy
situation can be reduced by care in selecting of
vendors, followed by monitoring the quality of the
product during the design and manufacturing cycle,
and throughout the installation/assembly process.

SUMMARY

The challenges to power generation maintenance

personnel have vastly increased during the last 25
years. Several factors have combined to contribute to
these challenges:
1. Operation of generators that are increasingly
old.
2. Operation with obsolete and/or badly worn
parts.
3. Maintenance cost pressures resulting in
extended periods between inspection and repair
cycles.
4. Difficulties in obtaining reliable technical
advice.
5. Increased uncertainty of quality of replacement
parts.
6. Pressures to uprate existing equipment.

This paper has directly focused on only a small

portion of these challenges, specifically, some of the
options for upgrading the generator. However, the
principles discussed in this paper are perhaps directly
and indirectly applicable to each of the above six
issues. It is hoped that this information can serve to
assist in controlling generator maintenance costs,
while at the same time, help in reducing exposure to
costly generator forced outages and outage
extensions.

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