UNITROL® F

UNITROL® Voltage Regulating Systems

for Synchronous Machines

Microprocessor-based voltage regulators for

synchronous machines with rotating exciter
and for static excitation systems

257 709

AVR

SES

253 032

259 942

1
UNITROL® F System Overview

UNITROL F provides a comprehensive The operation and monitoring of the

range of Automatic Voltage Regulators system can also be performed via PC
and Static Excitation Systems for high using UNITROL F’s optional “Commis-
performance control of all kinds of sioning and Maintenance Tools” (CMT).
synchronous machines.
Communication
UNITROL F can be provided with a serial
Product range communication line supporting different
The UNITROL F system is available as protocols for remote operational control
and monitoring. This is in addition to a
• Automatic Voltage Regulator (AVR)
set of I/O interfaces which is required
– for 50/60 Hz supply using thyristor
for operation from control room. All I/O
converter; for some special require-
interfaces are electrically separated by
ments thyristor converter can be
means of relays and opto couplers.
used for upto 400 Hz supply
– for DC supply or higher frequency
AC supply using IGBT converter Diagnostics
• Static Excitation System (SES) for Utilizing microprocessor technology
50/60 Hz supply using thyristor con- provides the user with comprehensive
verter. diagnostics.
A wide selection of power components Troubleshooting is easily performed via
and software functions is available to the control panel or by a PC using CMT
provide a system which meets the most software tool.
demanding technical requirements.
System configurations (Fig. 1)
Digital control AVR and SES are available in the follow-
UNITROL F is a microprocessor-based ing configurations:
system and thus fully digital. It provides • Single automatic channel system (SFE)
high control accuracy (min. ± 0.5 %) and with one excitation module including
high initial response (approx. 20 ms). Its one power converter and one control-
well-structured software offers a wide ler for both AUTO and MAN control
range of functions covering standard (e.g. modes
limiters) and optional (e.g. PSS) functions. • Dual automatic channel system (AFT)
with two identical excitation modules
Local operation each with power converter and con-
UNITROL F includes a control panel for troller. Each channel can operate in
local operation and monitoring. With this AUTO or MAN mode.
panel it is also possible to modify system A follow-up control ensures a smooth
Fig. 1: parameters and to make minor changes to change-over from one mode or one
Main configurations of the application programs on-line. channel to another.
the UNITROL F system

SFE AUTOMATIC voltage regulator and AUTO

MANUAL control (excitation current regulator) MAN

AUTO I
AFT Dual channel system MAN I
- Channel I AUTOMATIC and MANUAL control
- Channel II AUTOMATIC and MANUAL control AUTO II

MAN II

2
UNITROL® F System Configuration

UNITROL F for
Voltage
excitation systems with
regulator with
converter rotating exciter using
Supply power converter either
AVR 1) 2) AC or DC
1- or 3phase
16.6 to 600 Hz
with
1) IGB transistors for
AC supply 16.6 to
600 Hz and DC
. supply
or
2) thyristors for AC
supply 50 / 60 Hz
Electronics supply Dual channel option or
110/220 VAC thyristors for AC
24-48/110-250 VDC supply upto 400 Hz
for special
applications

Panel
Excitation Excitation
module module
CO M
ACT P AR FUNC
S EL

ENTER
RS4 85 RS4 85
LOC

REM

I
RESET

0
REF

iSBX
Channel I iS BX
Channel II
R
UNITROL F

Basic input/output Optional input/output

24 V 24 V
....

....

Single
analog 16 digital 16 digital analog 16 digital 16 digital
connection
2 in / 2 out inputs outputs 2 in / 2 out inputs outputs
CH1 or CH2

CMT

Voltage
regulator UNITROL F for static
without excitation systems
converter (50 / 60 Hz supply)

SES .
Fig. 2:
Dual channel Interfaces of the
option UNITROL F system,
single and dual channel
configuration

3
UNITROL® F Software Functionality

A well-structured and stable software Monitoring and protection functions are

with a wide range of function blocks categorized in three different action levels:
enables users to tailor the system to • Alarm only
their own needs. • Change-over to the second channel (if
provided) to avoid unnecessary trips
• Instantaneous excitation trip for protec-
tion purposes.
Functionality of the standard
program Logic control
This comprises the following excitation For standard sequences and interlocks
functions: there are fixed pre-programmed function
blocks.
Basic control functions
• Voltage regulator with PID filter
(AUTO mode) Application function blocks
• Field current regulator with PI filter
(MAN mode) Besides the functions available in the stan-
• Reactive and/or active current dard program, there are additional func-
compensation tion blocks of different kind which can be
• Limiters for used for the application program. Well
– maximum and minimum field current proven optional application procedures
– maximum stator current (lead / lag) such as I/O extension, specific monitoring
– underexcitation functions etc. are available.
– Volts-per-Hertz
• Follow-up control
– AUTO ↔ AUTO (for dual automatic Data recording
channel systems only)
The UNITROL F software also includes an
– AUTO ↔ MAN
event logger which stores up to 100
• Power factor / reactive current regulation
events and alarms with system’s time
• Softstart function in AUTO mode
stamp. They can be recalled via the con-
• MANUAL restrict.
trol panel or the CMT software for event
Optional control functions analysis.
• Power system stabilizer (IEEE - PSS2A) Up to six different system measurements
• Input / output extension (16 IN, can be stored in UNITROL F’s data log-
16 OUT). ger. They can be displayed by the trend-
ing window of the CMT software for diag-
Basic protection and monitoring nostics.
functions
• Field flashing time
• Overcurrent (instantaneous / inverse Processor monitoring
time) protection Self test
• Loss of excitation protection
After switching on the supply voltages of
• Converter temperature
the control board, the processor starts a
• Thyristor conduction monitoring
test program. During the initialization,
• Potential transformer failure
both RAM and ROM (flash memories) are
• Main supply undervoltage
tested. The control board also monitors
• Auxiliary supply undervoltage.
the different levels of power supply.
Optional protection and monitoring
functions Watchdog function
• Rotating diodes monitoring The control board contains an internal
• Rotor temperature (for SES only) Watchdog which monitors the program
• Volts per Hertz protection. execution.

4
UNITROL® F Additional Functions

The functionality of the UNITROL F

system can easily be extended. For P
some of those functions an additional
hardware and software is required. Uc

UG

Power System Stabilizer (PSS) Ie

The purpose of the Power System Stabi-
lizer is to use the generator excitation to
improve the damping of power swings
and the stability of the generator and the with PSS P
transmission system as a whole. The PSS Fig. 3:
Uc Response without and
operates by influencing the AVR’s set-
with PSS function at an
point – most effective with a static exci- UG excitation system with
tation system, but also successful for rotating exciter for an
systems with rotating exciter (Fig. 2). Ie 1140 MVA generator
UNITROL F’s power system stabilizer is (P = 860 MVA, setpoint
step-change 5 %)
based on IEEE PSS2A with accelerating
power measuring.
A printed circuit board, which is plugged Additional inputs/outputs
in a connector and fixed on the measur- If additional digital inputs/outputs are
ing processing board, is required, in required, an I/O extension for 16 input
addition to PSS software for the PSS func- and 16 output interfaces is available. The
tion in UNITROL F. extension consists of a printed circuit
board which will be piggy-pegged on the
main board in the excitation module and
Supervision of rotating diodes a second I/O board which is mounted on
With this add-on component, open or the frame in the cubicle.
short circuits in the branches of the rotat- With a second variant of the I/O exten-
ing rectifier, used in brushless systems, sion the voltage regulating system can be
can be detected selectively over a wide expanded with another two analog in-
range of rotational speeds. puts/outputs.
An SC filter of the 8th order, synchronized
with the rotational speed, measures the
harmonics with the frequency of the
excitation machine from the excitation
current signal. Depending on the ampli-
tude relative to the excitation current, it
is possible to distinguish between an
open and a short circuit in the branch. If
the number of poles of the exciter is not
equal to two times the number of poles
of the synchronous machine, the feed-
back which occurs when the synchro-
nous machine is under asymmetrical load
(e.g. in the case of a single-phase short
circuit) is also effectively suppressed.
For this function a small printed circuit
board is required which is plugged in a Fig. 4:
connector of the measuring processing Printed circuit boards
board. for additional functions
273 246

5
UNITROL® F Programming

Although UNITROL F equipment This tool offers the following features:

leave our factory with the functional- • Programming of the standard and appli-
ity specified by the customer, modifi- cation program
cation on system functionality can
easily be made later, if necessary. • Graphical editor for creating and modi-
fying program diagrams (Fig. 5)
The software of UNITROL F comprises • Windowing, zooming, copying etc.
two parts: Standard program and applica- utilizing Microsoft® Windows™
tion program. • User controlled outlook for documents
• Possibility to create new documenta-
Standard program tion symbols.
Our standard program is installed in
every excitation module. If a function in Application programs made with GAD
this program is not required, it can be have to be downloaded to the excitation
disabled by a parameter. However, each module with the Commissioning and
system will be configured with particular Maintenance Tool CMT.
parameters specific to the installation in
our factory. The control panel or a CMT Programming with control panel
can be used for enabling/disabling such
functions as well as modification of the On-line changes to the standard or appli-
parameters, on-line or off-line. cation programs can be made using the
control panel, where the following func-
Application program tions are available:
For certain applications it is necessary to • Activating program
extend the standard program. With this • Connecting inputs and outputs of func-
so-called application programming, stan- tion blocks
dard program block connections can be • Modifying function block connections
changed and different application func-
tion blocks can be added. • Adding or deleting function blocks
• Changing function block execution
Engineering tool GAD order
Graphic Application Design (GAD) is a • Displaying function blocks of the appli-
PC tool for application programming. cation program.

Fig. 5:
GAD display, segment
of an application
program diagram

6
UNITROL® F Commissioning and Maintenance

The “Commissioning and Mainte- Other displays

nance Tool” CMT of UNITROL F is a • Alarm logger display
software which can also be used for This display shows the last 99 events,
the operation and monitoring of alarms and fault signals in chronological
excitation systems. order.
• System functions
Commissioning and This display represents a copy of the
Maintenance Tool (CMT) service control panel.
With this tool the user can perform on- • Data logger display
line changes to the application programs, This display shows the latest triggered
observe the system function and change data (six channels, 1000 data points
parameter values. each), updated in the data logger in
chronological order.
It also includes a control and status dis-
play to be used for operating the system
and observing its status. This tool in-
cludes further functions as described in
the following:
Trending display
With this window, up to six real-time
analog signals can be shown in trending
form or to be recorded for later trending
display. The collection of measuring data
can be subjected to an event (event
driven). All signals available in the system
can be selected for trending display. The
selection of each signal including all
required parameters for scaling and offset Fig. 6:
are available in a very user-friendly envi- Trending window of the
ronment. The window shows trend line CMT/UNITROL F
diagrams (Fig. 6).
Application program display
This window shows the function block
diagram made with GAD. The user can
select and review the real-time values of
selected points in this display. (Fig. 7).
Parameters and signals display
This display enables the user to observe
parameters or signals in a tabular format.
The user can modify parameters if re-
quired. One feature is that the user can
classify each parameter or signal into
parameter or signal groups. Later, he can
choose selected groups and watch or
change parameters and signals allocated
to this group only.

Fig. 7:
Application program
diagram of the CMT
with parameter display

7
 UNITROL® F System Communication

For internal data transfer, between the Panel bus

two channels and to the control panel, The panel bus is a serial link (MODBUS
UNITROL F uses a serial communica- protocol) based on RS485 signal level with
tion line with MODBUS protocol. a transfer rate of 9600 Baud. The bus is
To provide a fast and reliable link for used to connect the control panel as well
the CMT tool, the excitation module as for the data transfer to the second exci-
has an optical link connection to the tation module (Dual channel systems only,
PC (option). Fig. 8).
Several communication protocols with Optical link for commissioning and
corresponding bus adapters (options) maintenance
are available for controlling and moni-
toring UNITROL F from a higher hier- UNITROL F can also be connected
archical control system. through an optical link to a PC with an
Fig. 8: installed “Commissioning and Mainte-
System communication
nance Tool”. This enables a secure and
connections
fast communication to the excitation sys-
tem. This optional feature allows utiliza-
tion of all functions of CMT with a transfer
Control speed of 1.5 MBaud and enables operation
COM
panel of the excitation system from the PC.
To utilize this feature, a PCMCIA board for
ACT PA R F U NC
SEL

ENTER

Channel 1 LOC

REM
RESET REF
Channel 2 a Laptop or a SNAT 608 CMT ISA board for
I
R
UNITROL F
0
desktop PC is required. The connection
board, SDCS-COM-1, can be ordered sepa-
rately, which is installed inside the excita-
tion module.

Serial communication to higher

hierarchical control systems
SDCS COM-1
Communication with a higher hierarchical
Laptop or
Desktop PC system (hereinafter called Master) is also
possible. For this purpose the MODBUS
DDSC or Profibus protocol is available. An extra
optical bus adaptor is required for each channel
link
(or part) of the excitation system for con-
necting the Master via RS485 multidrop
PCMCIA
Bus SNAT 60 8 CMT Bus
link.
coupler coupler The link supports six data words (16 Bit)
in either direction. For Master remote
control, two data words (CTRL/STATUS
MODBUS / Profibus and REF IN/OUT word) in either direction
RS 485 are required which are supported by
Master UNITROL F firmware. The remaining data
words can easily be connected to any
input and output signals by the user.
Printed in Switzerland (9808-2000-0)

For more information about

UNITROL please visit our website
3BHT 490 103 R0201

ABB Industrie AG www.abb.com / unitrol

Static Excitation Systems, Voltage Regulators
and Synchronizing Equipment
CH-5300 Turgi / Switzerland
Phone: +41 56 - 299 38 50
Fax: +41 56 - 299 23 33

We reserve the right to change in the interest of technical development.