A detailed and thorough survey of the scene was carried out with the Malakoff Team.

The
flashover happened while conducting the FULL SPEED NO LOAD TEST or HOT COMMISSIONING
TEST.
While carrying with this type of commissioning tests, it’s the general practice to switch-off the
generator protection circuits to avoid tripping due to field built-up. As we don’t have the exact
detail of commissioning procedures followed, we can refer as per IEEE guidelines std C37.102-
2006 for generators, clause 4.5.4.4 – According to the standard, a DC relay be connected across
the field to check the machine field current has reached a given value. This protection will be
located in the exciter field circuit. During start-up / shutdown of the generator unit, this
supplemental offline protection may prevent an overexcitation condition. This relay is designed
only when the unit is in off-line mode and is set to operate when the field current exceeds no
load current by a certain value.
This scheme may be set to (vide overexcitation limiter): -
 Alarm
 Initiate automatic field run back
 Trip the excitation system
 Trip the field breaker
The scheme will employ: -
 alarm when field get current corresponding to (106-107) % of rated generator voltage.
 Trip when the field current corresponding to 110% rated generator voltage is reached.
Another way to protect the field circuit is through the rotor ground fault relay, which should be
placed online while performing the generator no load test, in any case if there is any short-circuit
current flowing towards the earth through the excitation circuit. The relay would signal alarm
and trip the filed breaker circuit earlier to protect the excitation unit. AFSB team will try to extract
the detailed protection adopted during the HOT COMMISSIONING process in absence of the main
generator protection once the team has been given approval to carry out the interview with the
GE commissioning engineers.
static excitation system: here the excitation current to the generator is supplied from the
generator via an excitation transformer and a thyristor block. The factors addressing the static
excitation are: -
a. Thyristor block
b. Regulation
c. Field suppression/crowbar circuit
d. Flashing circuit
e. Excitation transformer
f. AVR
g. Over fluxing
a. Thyristor Block: It changes the alternating voltage, taken from the generator terminals,
into a regulated direct voltage which feeds the field winding.
b. Regulation: It is a feedback system which always monitors the output power of the
generator via CT and PT which feeds the local control panel of the AVR to maintain its
range of power output without any under excitation /overexcitation by maintaining
appropriate generator capability curve limiters to ensure a stable operation in parallel
with the system.
c. Filed Suppression/crowbar circuit: This component provides the de-excitation function. It
is used to rapidly reduce the filed energy by switching the rotor winding from the
excitation supply to a de-excitation resistor which in turn protects the rotor winding from
over voltages.
d. Filed flashing: In shunt supplied static excitation system, the generator does not have
enough residual voltage for a generator voltage built up via the AVR. For this purpose, a
field flashing circuit is provided which initiate the voltage build up by temporarily injecting
the DC current into the field circuit. The source of flashing can be either a battery bank or
an auxiliary transformer connected with the rectifier unit.
e. Excitation transformer: It reduces the supply voltage to the level required for excitation.
The leakage reactance of the transformer limits the current rise to a safe value for the
thyristors. The maximum required voltage of the generator rotor is determined by the
 excitation transformer which has an influence on the response time of the excitation
system.
f. Automatic Voltage Regulator: It regulates the generator terminal voltage to a given set
point value. If the system (Grid) Condition changes, the AVR automatically adjusts the
field current to reach the reset voltage value. The AVR is additionally governed with the
power factor controller /reactive power controller.
g. Over fluxing (V/Hz – 24): During initial excitation built-up through energising the field
winding the frequency of the generator rotor would be slow, this would result in the
saturation of magnetic core in the generator or excitation transformer, stray flux cause
excessive overheating due to eddy current in generator or transformer insulation. This
condition can be greatly reduced if flashing circuit is employed during initial field built-up.

But the pre-set temperature can be determined only when the actual temperature is
known for a normal duty thyristor working for an average load current. Here the
thermostats are placed at the top of the panel, which would degrade the heat sensing
capability of the thyristors under abnormal load conditions.

Generally, before heading with the commissioning of AVR unit the generator is normally
subject to burn out test for different excitation levels in percentage

As per IEEE guidelines std C37.102-2006 for generators, clause 4.5.4.4 – A DC relay shall be
connected across the field to check the machine field current has reached a given value. This is
achieved by the DC Rotor Overcurrent Protection. This protection will monitor the rotor current
and trips the field breaker, once the rotor current exceeds the pre-determined value. The
overcurrent scheme will: -
i. alarm when field current corresponding to (106-107) % of rated generator voltage.
ii. Trip when the field current corresponding to 110% rated generator voltage is reached.
Secondly, rotor circuit has no contact with the earth, if grounded anywhere in the rotor field will
cause the relay to operate. If there is any earth fault in the field / rotor circuit the corresponding
load current would be higher. This load current would drag the thyristors beyond their operating
region and finally results in the breakdown of thyristor above its threshold limits. In order to
avoid such instances, earth fault element is provided. This is achieved by using Rotor Earth Fault
Protection. Field tripping practices are generally not well established. some users prefer only to
alarm due to loss of production, which would further weaken the rotor insulation and establishes
a ground reference during start-up / shutdown of the generator unit.

These kinds of supplemental offline protection may prevent an inadvertent loss to the
generator’s components during commissioning start-up. These kinds of relays are designed only
when the unit is in off-line mode and is set to operate when the field current exceeds no load
current by a certain value.

Another way to protect the field circuit is through the over fluxing relay, As stated earlier this
condition will prevail, when initial excitation is built-up through energising the field winding. The
frequency of the generator rotor would be slow, this would result in the saturation of magnetic
core in the generator or excitation transformer. In this case over fluxing relay is made to operate
with a time delay, which would pitch alarm and trip the filed breaker circuit. This is achieved by
using the Over Fluxing Protection.

AFSB team will try to extract the detailed protection adopted during the HOT COMMISSIONING
process in absence of the main generator protection and analyse the tripping sequence and fault
instigation in the DCS through trend analysis.
a. Auto voltage regulator (AVR): It regulates the generator terminal voltage to a given set point
value. If the system (Grid) Condition changes, the AVR automatically adjusts the field current
to reach the reset voltage value. The AVR is additionally governed with the power factor
controller /reactive power controller. It is a feedback system which always monitors the
output power of the generator via Current Transformer and Potential Transformer which
 feeds the local control panel of the AVR to maintain its range of power output without any
under excitation /overexcitation by maintaining appropriate generator capability curve
limiters to ensure a stable operation in parallel with the system.

b. Over fluxing (V/Hz – 24): It is a condition when initial excitation is built-up through energising
the field winding the frequency of the generator rotor would be slow, this would result in the
saturation of magnetic core in the generator or excitation transformer, stray flux cause
excessive overheating due to eddy current in generator or transformer insulation. This
condition exists until the generator pickup and runs in its synchronous speed.

A voltage to frequency ratio in excess of 1.05pu normally being indicative of over fluxing
condition. IEEE C50.13 specifies that a generator should continuously withstand 105% of
rated excitation at full load. Overexcitation can occur due to higher than rated voltage or
rated or lower voltage less than rated frequency. For a given flux level, the voltage output
of a machine will be proportional to frequency. Since maximum flux level is designed for
normal frequency and voltage, when a machine is at reduced speed, maximum voltage is
proportionately reduced.