Journal of Electrical Engineering

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Digital Excitation System for Synchronous

Generator
Manish PrajapatiA, Jigar PatelB, Dr Hina ChandwaniC and Mr Vinod PatelD

Abstract-- Automatic voltage controllers for synchronous to maintain system stability in interconnected system network
generators have traditionally utilized analog electronics. [5]. In addition the excitation system must be able to respond
Modern voltage control systems are beginning to utilize the to transient disturbances with field forcing consistent with the
power, flexibility, and cost advantages of Digital Signal generator instantaneous and short term capability. The
Processor for control. Digital excitation systems is a DSP generator capabilities in this regard are the limited by the
based controlled devices. Digital excitation systems play a several factor. To ensure the best utilization of the excitation
significant role in providing fast and accurate voltage control system it should be capable of meeting the system needs by
to the power system. In order to maintain system stability in taking full advantage of the generator‟s short term capabilities
interconnected system network it is necessary to have fast without exceeding their limits [6]. From the power system
acting excitation system for large synchronous machines viewpoint the excitation system should contribute to effective
which means the field current must be adjusted extremely fast control of voltage and enhancement of system stability. It so
to the changing operational conditions. This paper deals with as to enhance transient stability, and of modulating the
the design and simulation of a Digital excitation system for generator field so as to enhance small signal stability[7].
Synchronous generator excitation systems to improve the Synchronous generator stability is graphically represented by
steady-state and transient stabilities. The performance of the P-Q diagram as shown in Fig 1. The operating point of
proposed system is examined for voltage control application generator must be inside the area determined by: under
of synchronous Generator through simulation studies using excitation limit, theoretically stability limit, over excitation
the Psim software package. limit. The control of excitation current for maintaining
constant voltage at generator output terminals started with
Index Terms— Digital excitation System, Automatic Voltage control through a field rheostat, the supply being obtained
Regulator, Over excitation Limiter, under excitation Limiter, from DC Exciter. The modern trend in interconnected
Stator current Limiter. operation of power systems for the purpose of reliability and
in increasing unit size of generators for the purposes of
I. INTRODUCTION economy has been mainly, responsible for the evolution of
Excitation system of synchronous generator is the main new excitation schemes [4].
equipment of operation and control of generators and power
system [1]. The basic function of Digital excitation system is
to provide direct current to the synchronous machine field
winding. Also, the excitation system performs control and
protective functions essential to the satisfactory performance
of the power system by controlling the field voltage and
thereby the field current [2]. The main control function of the
excitation system is to regulate the generator terminal voltage
which is accomplished by adjusting the field voltage with
respect to the variation of the terminal voltage [3]. The basic Fig. 1. Capability curve of synchronous generator
requirement of the excitation system is to supply and
automatically adjust the field current of the synchronous II. DIGITAL E XCITATION SYSTEM
generator to maintain the terminal voltage as the output varies In order to maintain system stability in interconnected
within the continuous capability of the generator [4].The system network it is necessary to have fast acting excitation
terminal voltage can be affected by various disturbance so system for large synchronous machines which means the field
special regulating equipment is required to keep the voltage current must be adjusted extremely fast to the changing
constant, even when affected by these disturbing factors. Also operational conditions. Besides maintaining the field current
and steady state stability the excitation system is required to
A. Author and B. Author is with the Department of Electrical extend the stability limits. The Digital excitation system is
Engineering, Faculty of Technology and Engineering The M.S.U Baroda, DSP based control devices. In this system, the AC power is
Gujarat, India (e-mail: [email protected],[email protected]). tapped off from the generator terminal stepped down and
C Author is with the Department of Electrical Engineering, Faculty of
Technology and Engineering The M.S.U Baroda, Gujarat, India (e-mail:
rectified and then fed to the generator field thereby controlling
[email protected]). the generator voltage output. A high control speed is achieved
D Author is with the Department of Research and Development, Amtech by using an internal free control and power electronic system.
electronic India Ltd, Gandhinagar, Gujarat, India. Any deviation in the generator terminal voltage is sensed by

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an error detector and causes the voltage regulator to advance A. Over excitation limiter
or retard the firing angle of the Thyristor thereby controlling The maximum excitation limiter senses the field current of the
the field excitation of the generator. This excitation system generator and similarly acts upon the set-point of the voltage
not only regulate terminal voltage but also employ various regulator to restrict control of the machine where operation is
auxiliary control, limiting and protection functions. Limiting undesirable. The capability of the generator in the overexcited
function generally have no role under normal operating region is limited by the capability of cooling the field winding
condition. It is only when the synchronous machine is pushed and the overall MVA output (stator current) of the machine.
beyond its operating capability that these limiters are brought The overexcited region of the machine is referred to as
in to play[9]. In addition the Digital excitation performs lagging power factor, where VAR are being supplied from the
control and protective function essential to the satisfactory machine.[7] Over excitation Limiter or Maximum Excitation
performance of the power system by controlling the field Limiters senses the field current output of static exciter and
voltage and field current. The control function include the limits the field current to prevent field overheating [6]. Two
control of voltage, current and reactive power flow and the OEL current levels are defined for off line operation. They are
enhancement of the system stability. The protective function high and low as shown in the Fig. 2. The generator can
ensure that the capability limits of the synchronous machine, operate continuously at the low OEL current level and for a
excitation system and the other equipment are not exceeded programmed time at the high OEL current level. Over
[7]. excitation limiter avoids thermal overloading of the rotor
winding and is provided to protect the generator rotor against
III. DIGITAL VOLTAGE REGULATOR excessively long duration over loads. [8].
Regulator is the heart of the system. This regulates the
generator voltage by controlling the firing angle of thyristor.
Digital voltage regulator is designed for synchronous
generator utilizing anti windup PI controller, to keep the

FIELD CURRENT
terminal voltage of the generator to the rated value [3]. In High current
Level
DVR a reference Voltage „ Vref” is compare with a sensed High
Low current
terminal voltage Vt. If it determines that the generator voltage Current Continuous
Level
Time
is incorrect, it produces an error signal, this error signal passes
to the firing circuit. There, it overrides the control signal and
causes the firing angle of thyristor rectifier to restore generator TIME IN SECONDS
voltage to a desired level. [5].
Fig 2 Off Line OEL Reference
The purpose of over excitation limiter is to protect the
IV. LIMITER CONTROLLER generator from overheating due to the prolonged field current.
The generator field winding is designed to operate
When a generator is running in parallel with the power
continuously at a value corresponding to rated load condition.
network, it is essential to maintain it in synchronism without
The over excitation limiting function typically detects the high
exceeding the rating of the machine and also without the
field current condition and after a time delay, acts through the
protection system tripping. Only automatic Regulator cannot
regulator to ramp down the excitation to a present
ensure this. It is necessary to influence the voltage regulator
value.(typically 100 % to 110 % of rated field current). If this
by suitable means to limit the over excitation, under excitation
is unsuccessful, it trips the breaker and a unit trip[8]. Two
and stator current limiter. This not only improves the security
types of time delay are used: (a) fixed time and (b) inverse
of the parallel operation but makes operation of the system
time. The fixed time limiter operate when the field current
easier. However limiters do not replace the protection system
exceeds the pickup value for a fixed set time, irrespective of
but only prevent the protection system from tripping
the degree of over excitation. The inverse time limiter operate
unnecessarily under extreme transient conditions. The static
with the time delay matching the field thermal capability. The
excitation system is equipped with three limiters which act in
OEL controller is normally implemented as either “Take over”
conjunction with the AVR. These limiters are as under;
or a “summing” type controller. The summing type controller
is consider here. The OEL make up the inner loop of the
A. Over excitation limiter
voltage regulator and use a PI controller [9]. The actual exciter
B. Under excitation limiter field current in Amperes is used for the OEL models. and the
C. Stator current limiter OEL output is added to the summing point of the voltage
regulator. When it is above the limit, the OEL limiter output
The excitation limiter tested as a summing point type device becomes less than the AVR output and the OEL takes over to
acting upon the set-pint of the automatic voltage regulator to control at a proper excitation level. When the OEL is active,
provide restrictive control of the machine. the AVR loop stops integration and compares its output with
the OEL output to get out of the OEL loop.

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B. UNDER EXCITATION LIMITERS C. STATOR CURRENT LIMITER

Under excitation limiters are included in most modern Stator current limiter avoids thermal over loading of the
voltage regulators applied on large synchronous generators. stator windings. Stator current limiter is provided to protect
An under excitation limiter (UEL) acts to boost excitation the generator against long duration of large stator currents.
whenever it senses a condition in which generator excitation
level is determined to be too low. The UEL typically senses REFERENCE STATOR
CURRENT
either a combination of voltage and current of the synchronous
machine or a combination of real and reactive power. The HIGH
limits are determined by machine operating point crossing a CUT DOWN
FOR RESET

reference level or characteristic. When the reference level or

characteristic is crossed, the UEL output signal acts to become LOW

a part of the control of the excitation system. The UEL output

is applied in the voltage regulator either to a summing
junction to add the normal voltage control or to a high value SCT 1 SCT 2
(HV) gate to override the normal action of the voltage Fig 4 Stator Current Limiter Reference
regulator. Depending upon the implementation of the UEL
function to control excitation, the action of the UEL could The SCL current reference is generated based on a two-step
take the voltage regulator out of service and/or cause waveform with a high current level and a low current level as
interactions which may not normally occur during normal shown in Fig. 4. For excessive inductive current it acts over
operation when the UEL characteristic is not reached. Two the AVR after a certain time lag and decreases the excitation
UEL models have been developed:1) Circular characteristic 2) current to limit the inductive current to the limit value. But for
multiple-segment straight-line characteristic. In this paper excessive capacitive current it acts on the AVR without time
multiple-segment straight-line characteristic of UEL model is delay to increase the Excitation and thereby reduce the
used.. For this model, the UEL limit has multi-segment capacitive loading. This is necessary as there is a risk for the
Characteristic when plotted in terms of machine reactive machine failing out of step during under excited mode of
power output (Qt) vs. real power output (Pt). The UEL limit operation.
can be unaffected by terminal voltage Vt. In the UEL real
power Pt is sent to the UEL Look-up Table to determine the V. SIMULATION AND RESULT
corresponding normalized value of the reactive power Qref at
the UEL limit characteristic, which is compared with the
machine reactive power Qt. Fig. 3. shows a UEL limit
characteristic for a UEL in which the limit is comprised of
multiple straight-line segments, showing the maximum of six
segments. The UEL characteristic can be comprised of any
number of straight-line segments from 1 to 6. The data
requirements to the P and Q values used to specify the UEL
limit are those values which would be applicable with VT =
1.0 pu. For any value of Pt, the corresponding value of Qref
can readily be determined from look up table[10]. This Qref is
compare with the Qact and produce error signal. According to
the error signal UEL produce the output signal Vuel. This
Vuel is Added with the Summing junction point of AVR.
Q
vars
P
out (+)
vars P6, Q6
in (-)

UEL NOT P5, Q5

LIMITING

P4, Q4
P3, Q3 UEL
P1, Q1 P2, Q2 LIMITING

Fig.3 UEL Multi-Segment Normalized Limiting Characteristic Fig.5 Simulation circuit diagram of Digital excitation system

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Fig shows the simulation circuit diagram of Digital

excitation system. Digital excitation system consist of AVR
with limiter controller like Over excitation limiter, Under
excitation limiter and stator current limiter. The main
objective of AVR is to maintain constant output voltage at
different loading condition. In OEL and SCL actual field
current and stator current is compare with the reference
current which is generated by the OEL and SCL controller.
The output of the limiter is Voel and Vscl is zero when the
actual current is within limit but whenever current is exceed ( IR = 2241.52, IY =2238.64 and IB = 2239.85 )
for prolonged period the limiter output Voel and Vscl is Fig 6.b Output current of OEL for summing point limiter
negative and take the action to reduce excitation to a safe
value. In the UEL under normal conditions when the UEL is
not limiting, the Vuel signal is zero, since the reactive power
Qt will be greater than the limit value Qref. When conditions
are such that the UEL limit is exceeded, Vuel becomes
positive. This will drive the UEL output in the positive
direction, and if the gain is sufficient, the UEL output will
take over control of the voltage regulator to boost excitation to
move the operating point back toward the UEL limit.
( Vdc = 75.82 volts)
A. Simulation Result of OEL

( Vdc = 66.34 volts)

( Vry = 3146.68, Vyb =3150.04 and Vbr = 3150.68 ) Fig 6.c Field Voltage of OEL for summing point limiter

( Vry = 2754.84, Vyb =2752.68 and Vbr = 2756.34 ) ( If = 445.84 A)

Fig 6.a Output Voltage OEL for summing point limiter

( If = 389.98 A)
Fig 6.d Field Current of OEL for summing point limiter
( IR = 2560.14, IY =2559.96 and IB = 2562.71)

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B. Simulation Result of UEL

( Vdc = 66.88 volts)

Fig 7.c Field Voltage of under excitation limiter
( Vry = 3150.65, Vyb =3148.50 and Vbr = 3151.27 )

( If = 129.35 A)
( Vry = 4566.44, Vyb =4566.27 and Vbr = 4567.15 )
Fig 7.a Output Voltage of under excitation limiter

( If = 392.87 A)
Fig 7.d Field Current of under excitation limiter
( IR = 219.93, IY =219.92 and IB = 219.74)
C. Simulation Result of SCL

( IR = 3187.90, IY =3187.90 and IB = 3187.09 )

Fig 7.b Output current of under excitation limiter ( Vry = 3148.53, Vyb =3149.03 and Vbr = 3151.33 )

( Vry =2520.17, Vyb =2519.67 and Vbr = 2519.93 )

( Vdc = 21.80volts)
Fig 8.a Output voltage of stator current limiter

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( IR = 2748.95, IY =2750.03 and IB = 2751.56) ( If = 370.67 A)

Fig 8.d Field Current of stator current limiter

VI. CONCLUSION
In this paper Digital excitation system using thyristor rectifier
converter is simulated. In order to improve the generator
stability under unbalanced conditions, this generator excitation
system is proposed. This excitation system gives better
stability than a conventional excitation system. The
( IR = 2200.05, IY =2199.96 and IB = 2200.34 ) performance of the proposed excitation system has been
Fig 8.b Output current of stator current limiter
verified through computer simulation. The over excitation,
under excitation and stator current limiter allows operating
for a period of time within the machine or equipment limits
until corrective measures can be taken, even when failure. For
these reasons, limiters used on generation provide both
performance and economic benefits to the user, to insure
reliable power generation.

VII. REFERENCES
[1]. Jerkovic, Vedrana; Miklosevic, Kresimir; Spoljaric Zeljko, “Excitation
System Models of Synchronous Generator” Faculy of Electrical
( Vdc = 93.69 volts)
Engineering Osijek, Croatia
[2]. Chan-Ki Kim, Hong-Woo Rhew and Yoon Ho Kim, “Stability
performance of new static excitation system with boost-buck converter”
Korea Electric Power Research Institute (KEPRI) 103-12 Munji-Dong,
Yusung-Gu, Daejon, KOREA.
[3]. IEEE Std 421.1-2007, An American National Standard IEEE Standard
Definitions for Excitation Systems for Synchronous Machines.
Approved 8 March 2007
[4]. K R Padiyar “power system dynamics stability and control” Second
Edition BS Publications - pp 123 - 135
[5]. Myinzu Htay and Kyaw San Win , “Design And Construction Of
( Vdc = 76.67 volts)
Automatic Voltage Regulator For Diesel Engine Type Stand-Alone
Fig 8.c Field Voltage of stator current limiter Synchronous Generator” World Academy of Science, Engineering and
Technology 42 2008
[6]. P. Kundur, Power System Stability and Control, McGraw-Hill, Inc.,
New York, 1993, pp. 333-369.
[7]. IEEE Std 421.4-2004IEEE Guide for the preparation excitation system
specification , Approved 24 June 2004
[8]. A. Murdoch, and G.E. Boukarim, M.J. D „Antonio and RA. Lawson
“Generator Over Excitation Capability And Excitation System Limiters”
Panel Session Summary for the JEEE/PES 2001 WPM, CoIumbus, OH
[9]. A. Godhwani, K. Kim, M.J. Basler, “An Under and Over Excitation
Limiter Implementation in a Digital Excitation System for Synchronous
( If = 568.24 A) Generators” 0-7803-4403-0/98/-1998 IEEE
[10]. Joseph D. Hurley, “Under excitation Limiter Models for Power System
Stability Studies” 0-7803-9156-X/05-2005-IEEE