Optimal Operation of Francis Small Hydro Turbines

with Variabiable Flow

R. Magureanu, M. Albu, V. Bostan, M. Pelizza, F. Andreea G. Dimu, F. Popa, M. Rotaru
A.M. Dumitrescu Ansaldo Ricerche S.P.A ISPH
University Politehnica Buc. Romania Genova, Italy Bucharest Romania

Abstract— In this paper is presented a solution for optimal common turbine type in hydroelectric stations, suitable for
operation of the Francis Turbine, the most used hydro energy heads from 3 to 400 meters and with efficiency higher than
converter in Small Hydro Plants. As the efficiency of this turbine 90%. For special applications, see Fig. 1 b), the Francis
is highly dependent from the water flow, which generally has a
large variation, variable speed operation was chosen. Due to the turbines can operate at much higher heads and flows – for
fact that all hydro generators are AC machines, the connection to example, the Three Gorges in China [9].
the 50 Hz power grid can be done only using as interface the
AC/DC DC/AC static converters. For higher than 1 MW power
generators, front end three level inverters are recommended. In
addition, for higher than 1 kV voltage, double three level
inverters shall be used, as these are allowing their connection
directly to the medium voltage grid, eliminating in this way the
need of separation transformers. The converter control is done
by a single chip DSP controller TM 320 2028, which takes care of
all system functions.

Keywords-Optimal operation of Francis Turbine;Variable speed

AC generators; three level converters; pulse width modulation
(PWM); high voltage; unity power factor converters;
Introduction
Hydropower provides up to 20% of the world electricity,
counting therefore as the most important renewable source for
the electrical power production [1]. Presently the total
hydropower’s carbon offset is equivalent to 2 billion tones of
CO2 emissions each year, which might be counted as saving
60% of the annual emissions of all cars on the planet, or 37% a)
of the whole CO2 emissions in the world.
The hydroelectric plants can be classified in two sets: Large
Power Plants (LHP) with rated power over 10 MW, and Small
Hydro Plants, (SHP), under this limit. In order to promote the
SHPs, only the latter are considered to produce electricity from
renewable sources and qualified for governmental subsidies.
The contribution of SHPs to the worldwide electrical capacity
is around 2% of total capacity, with about 47GW. EU-25 had
(2006) about 17.200 SPHs in operation with a total installed
capacity of 11 GW; moreover it has a huge, not yet tapped
potential, as only 65 % of all economically feasible potential
has been exploited.
Small Hydropower schemes are mainly of run-of-river type,
with small or no reservoir. The objective of a hydropower
scheme is to convert the potential energy of water at a certain b)
fall into electric energy. Fig 1: The recommended operating areas for different water turbines

I. THE WATER TURBINES The efficiency characteristics (η-Q) of the above mentioned
In Fig. 1 a) are presented the Head/Flow classical turbines are presented in Fig. 2. Although the Francis turbines
characteristics of the small power turbines. It can be remarked present the highest efficiency, this type is the most sensitive to
that the Francis type covers most of the domain and is the most the flow variations.

978-1-4244-1666-0/08/$25.00 '2008 IEEE 1562

 A turbine is designed to operate at the maximum efficiency variations are important, although the spikes were eliminated
point, usually 80% of the rated flow, but this flow in practice by the water diverter, and consequently the Francis turbines
varies dramatically. Double regulated Kaplan and Pelton operate most of the time far from optimal efficiency.
turbines can operate satisfactorily over a wide range of flow
(from 20% to about 100% from the rated value). Single
regulated Kaplan turbine still operates with acceptable
efficiency at a 30% from the rated flow while the Francis
turbines can operate at rated speed, only when the flow is
higher than 50% from the rated discharge. Below 40% of the
rated flow, fixed speed Francis turbines can show instability
resulting in vibration or even mechanical shocks.

Fig. 4: Efficiency versus flow characteristics for different fixed speeds

(0.8nN…1.2nN)

In order to allow these turbines to operate at improved

efficiency, one solution is to operate the Francis turbines not at
fixed speed but at variable speed, lower when the discharge is
smaller and higher when the discharge is larger, according to
the envelope of the characteristics depicted in Fig. 4. This
Fig.2: Efficiency/flow characteristics for different turbine types.
solution is valuable not only for low flow, when decreasing the
speed under the rated value is causing an increased efficiency,
but also for higher than the rated value flow, when the turbine
Average yearly flow
will produce “extra power”. The main constraint for operating
8
at fixed speed is derived from the direct interface of the
turbine-generator set with the 50 Hz power grid [2], [3].
7
6
The recent advancements in the field of high forced
Flow [m3/s]

4 commutation power electronic devices allow building high

3 power medium voltage inverters, in the power range of MW or
2
tens of MW, which can be employed in various power system
1

0
applications. In this way the grid interface can be designed in a
1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 31 33 35 37 39 41 43 more flexible way.
Years In our case, (see Fig. 5), the AC generators are of induction
type at 1 MW, 4x400V. At 1MW and up one can also find
a) generators at 3kV or even 6 kV rated voltage [4], [5]. For these
types one has to use inverters of similar power and voltages. In
Average monthly most w et year (blue) order to optimize the operation of the turbine-generator set,
dry year (red) both the inverter and the rectifier are of front-end type which
16
14 guarantees a unity power factor and limits the current
harmonics. The price of each converter is now about 150-200
Flow [m3/s]

12
10
8
Euro/kW but it is expected to cost soon less than 100 Euro/kW.
6

4
2
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Months

b) Fig. 5: The speed control of turbo generator (asynchronous machine)

Fig. 3: Annual a) and monthly b) river flow rate

In Fig. 3 is presented the annual river flow on a 44 years base At higher voltages, when using two level inverters, it is
and the monthly flow for a wet year and for a dry one, at required that the IGBT are serially connected [6], [7]. In order
Novaci SHP, on the river Gilort in Romania. The flow to avoid this constraint, a three level inverter has to be used.

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 In Fig. 6 is presented a 15kVA, low voltage, three level
inverter, developed at “Politehnica” University of Bucharest.
Fig. 7 shows the experimentally obtained voltage and
current waveforms of a 3 kW induction machine supplied by
the three level inverter.

Fig 8: Experimental 15kVA three level inverter

Fig 9. Voltage and current of a 3 kW induction machine

supplied by the three level inverter
Fig. 6: Three level inverter

-1
0 0 .0 0 5 0.01 0.015 0 .0 2 0.025 0 .0 3 0 .0 3 5 0 .0 4

0
-2
0 0 .0 0 5 0.01 0.015 0 .0 2 0.025 0 .0 3 0 .0 3 5 0 .0 4
1

0.5

0
0 0 .0 0 5 0.01 0.015 0 .0 2 0.025 0 .0 3 0 .0 3 5 0 .0 4
1

0.5

0
0 0 .0 0 5 0.01 0.015 0 .0 2 0.025 0 .0 3 0 .0 3 5 0 .0 4
1

0.5

0
0 0 .0 0 5 0.01 0.015 0 .0 2 0.025 0 .0 3 0 .0 3 5 0 .0 4
1

0.5

0
0 0 .0 0 5 0.01 0.015 0 .0 2 0.025 0 .0 3 0 .0 3 5 0 .0 4

Figure 7: The generation of control signals for T1, T2, T3 and T4 IGBTs

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 Fig.11: The Simulink model of a double fed induction generator.

Fig. 12: The simulated results for the double fed induction machine. (a,b) line voltages, (c) phase voltage, (d) supplied current

Fig.9 presents the algorithm for obtaining the T1-T4 control voltage is shifted to obtain a second reference (having exactly
signals. The reference value for the phase A voltage, obtained the same phase), and then both are compared to a triangular
as described above, is presented in the top picture. This signal. Based on this comparison the control signals for T1

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and T2 are generated. Finally, by inverting these control The supply voltage was chosen as +/-10 kV, each inverter
signals, and applying the guard times, one obtains the control generating 6kV (AC, RMS), or both 12kV (AC, RMS) on the
signals for T3 and T4. Similarly, one can derive the control generator winding. From Fig. 13 it is obvious that the SiC
signals for the other two phases. In total are controlled 12 technology is superior to the Si one with respect to voltage,
IGBTs. In Fig. 10 are presented simulation results for the frequency, currents and efficiency. However, in this paper
filtered voltage (red) and the current (blue) of the machine results obtained for models designed with commercially
operating as a generator (a) and as a compensator (b). available devices are presented.
II. CONTROL SYSTEM HARDWARE IV. THE OPERATION OF A INDUCTION MACHINE AS
GENERATOR AND MOTOR
The control system is based on a standard TMS320F2812
DSP-based microcontroller, from Texas Instruments. The core For preparing some experimental tests on low power (220V
is 32-bit, fixed-point, achieving 150 MIPS. The peripherals AC, 3,3kW) models, simulation have been done with the
include a 12-bit A/D converter, with a conversion time of 60 ns induction machine operating both as a generator and as a
and two PWM generation units. Each PWM unit has 6 outputs motor (Fig.14).
(for standard PWM control) and they work independently. In
our application we connected T1, T3, T5, T7, T9, T11 to
PWM_A unit and the remaining transistors to PWM_B.
In order to generate the 12 PWM control signals required in
our application, we had to correlate the outputs of the two
PWM units, based on an algorithm that is described in Fig. 12.
The A/D converter input is multiplexed, so that the
microcontroller can read data from up to 8 sensors.
Due to this high level peripheral integration, it is possible to
have a single chip control for a large class of complex
applications. The control system is connected to a PC via a
parallel and a debugger link, enabling code downloading and
debugging. The code can be stored directly into the on-chip Fig 14. Induction motor (red) and DC (blue) currents
flash memory.
Another important factor in selecting this hardware solution
has been the available software tool, including the fact that
this chip is supported by the Real-Time Workshop extension
of MathWorks Simulink, which allows an automatic code
generation based on a Simulink simulation diagram [8].
III. HIGHER VOLTAGE APPLICATIONS
The present distribution grid is of standard 50 Hz, 3x20kV
AC type which can be converted by a two secondary
transformer and two front end three level inverters in a + 15 0
-15kV DC power grid. Each generator winding is connected at
two independent three level inverters through which the DC
network is supplied (Fig. 11). In Fig. 12 simulated results are Fig.15. Torque (red) and speed (blue) for induction machine
presented with 10 kV as forced commutated devices are
already commercially available, see Fig. 13 [10].

Fig. 16. DC side power variation (red, in W)

Fig. 13. 4H-SiC high voltage bipolar power devices vs. Si
and output DC voltage V (blue, multiplied by 20)

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 In the same figure the current exchanged with the DC one developed by us (three level, 15 kVA based on IGBT) and
source (blue) and the machine AC current (red) are presented. a second one (of the same power based on SiC devices –
At the beginning the current taken by the machine is important Sinamics G120 PM 260 Power module) manufactured by
as the machine has to be magnetized and accelerated until the Siemens are used. For further applications we are considering
synchronous speed. The DC capacitors were pre-charged and commercial power converters in the range of 1MW and a
the motor starts in the first phase form 0 speed up to feasibility study to demonstrate the commercial viability of
synchronous one (157 rad/s). At 0.7 sec the penstocks (slide such a solution.
valve) are opened and the water flows so, the induction
machine’s torque is negative (as long as previously when the ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
machine operated as motor was positive) and the speed This work was supported by Romanian Ministry of
increases over the synchronous one up to 157 rad/s (Fig. 15). Education and Research through the Project DCiDER CEEX
In Fig 16 is presented the power (on the DC side) variation for 109/10.10.2005.
al these regimes, this being positive for the motor operation
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