1624 IEEE Transactions on Energy Conversion, Vol. 14, No.
4, December 1999
An Improved Method of Damping of Generator Oscillations
Djordje M. Dobrijevic
Email: djolence@ieent.org
Tlic Institutc of Electrical Engineering "Nikola Tcsla"
Dcpartmcnt of Power Systcms
Koste Glavinica Xa, 11 000 Belgrade, YUGOSLAVIA
Abstract: An improved method of damping ol generator
oscillations under large disturbances resulting from largc
hydraulic tsansients is prcscntcd in this paper. The digital
controller, which consists of both governor and cxcitcr
controllers, is uscd. The controller operata in rcal timc lo
improve llic generating unil transients through the exciter input,
llic guide vanc posilion and the ruuncr blade position. The
dcvcloped digital controller, whose control signals are adjusted
using [ h e on-line measurements, offers bcttcr damping cffccts [or
tile gcncrator oscillations under large disturbances than the
coiiveiitional conlroller does. Digital simulations of hydroclcctric
power plant cquipped with low-hcad Kaplan turbine are
pcrfbrmcd and the comparisons between the digital control and
lhc coiivciilioiial control are presented. Simulation results show
that thc improved controller offers better perlormances than the
conventional controlless and the digital govcrnor controller, when
the syslcni is sulijected to Iargc disturbances.
Keywords: Power syslem control, Digital control, I-Iydroelcctric
powcr gcncration
I. LIST OF SYMBOLS
/I,,, h,,(]- plant's net head and steady state plant's net head
h=/~,,-h,,~, - w'itcrhammcr
w, q,, - machinc spccd and governor reference input
y , - ~mxiliaryseivomotor piston position (govcrnor output)
ip, <pn - runncr hladc angle and required runner blade angle
a - turbine guide vane opening
..
/,,,7;, - auxiliary servoinotor and dashpot time constants
r,,?,, - guidc vanc and runncr blade time constants
X,,,-X., ,,,,D,,-x,~, - voltagc and frequcncy channel state variables
k,,.,, T,,,v- cxcitcr gain ;incl timc constant
T,,-T,,.?,7jN,T f f -T,.?-voltage regulator time constants
wl, T,,,,- unit speed and unit torque of turbinc
T,,,7;. - tiirhinc mcchanical torque and generator electrical
torque
K,,, I?, - generator armature and transformcr rcsistance
p~-380-~~.1~-01-1ggg A paper recommended and approved by the
IEEE Energy Development and Power Generation Committee of the
IEEE Power Engineering Society for publication in the IEEE
Transactions on Energy Conversion. Manuscript submitted July 13,
1998; made available for printing January 28, 1999.
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Marko V. Jankovic
Hmail: fwin6070@1nb.infoweb.ne.jp
Saitaina Univcrsity
Dcpartincnt of Information and Computer Sciences
25S-Shimo-Okubo, Urawa City, 338-8570, JAPAN
E,, EFD-exciter input (controllcr output) and output
V,, I, - gcnerator tcrminal voltage and current
T,,,,,, - sampling timc
o,,oc-difference between mechanical and electrical
torques which indicates large disturbance in
govcrnor and excitcr loop, rcspcctively
All the above quantities are expressed in per units ( p . ~ . ) ,
cxccpt timc constants, given in scconds (s).
11. INTRODUCTION
Classical familiar automatic voltage regulator (AVR)
and speed governing system coutrol theoiy have been
'
widely used in the design process. In recent ycars,
considerable attention has heen directed toward thc
problem of improved designing turbine governors, because
of their influence on the dynamic performancc of
hydroclectric power plant (HPP).
The improved controller, presented in this paper, uses
power of waterhammcr to damp generator oscillations
under large disturbances. In fact, this controller presents
extended and improved controller developed in [I]. The
cxtcnsion is made by including excitation control and the
improvcmcnt is made by coordinating of acting of governor
and cxcitcr controllcrs. In such a control, red-time
measurements of the plant inputs are uscd to modify the
controller output directly.
This paper prcseuts the low-head hydroelectric power
unit cquippcd with the multivariable voltage regulator and
transient sped-droop governor, and connected to an
infinitc bus systcm. A spced deviation, plant net hcad,
guidc vanc opening, runner hlade position and tcrminal
voltage and current have becn chosen as input signals lo
this controller. The controller uses the inpnt signals to
calcnlatc mcchanical and electrical torques, compares thcm
and givcs output signals to the exciter and the turhine
scrvomotors.
The three conlrol configurations (conventional, digital
governor [I] and improved digital) are then implemented
on the nonlinear hydroelcctric power unit simulation
model, in order to ~ S S C S Stheir dynamic pcrFormances whcn
the system is suhjectcd to largc disturbances. Thc
effectiveness of the improved controllcr is illustrated
through the comparison of dynamic responses obtained by
using the improved controller, digital governor controller
developed in ll1 and the convcntional controllers.

111. PROBLEM FORMULATION
Fig. 1 shows the basic components involved in the
representation of a single unit Kaplan turbine-generator
system of a low-head HPP, with a local load, connected to
ail infinite bus via transmission lines.
Thc water flow control of the unit equipped with Kaplan
turhbine is performed by adjusting both the guide vane and
the rimncr blade positions. When analyzing large
disturhiinccs it must be taken into consideration that the
unit flow and unit torque, and unit speed of rotation move
along the three dimensional propeller characteristics.
These characteristics are experimentally obtained from
Kaplan turhine in propeller mode (with fixed runner blade
position and for different vahics of guide vane opening) 12-
71. The mathematical modcl of thc Kaplan turbine unit and
its conventional governor arc taken from j 2-1.11. The block
diagram of the conventional turhine governor is shown in
Fig. 2. The results of simulation of mathematical model of
the Kaplan turbine (equipped with the conventional
governor controller) show very good agreement with
measurements made on-site at the HPP Djcrdap [4-61, and
so, in further analysis, it can he used as reference model.
The generator repvcsentation is well known third order
approximation [ 10-121, including thc second order torque
equation of rotational masses and the field flux linkage
equation.
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1625
The excitation system modcl is shown in Fig. 3. 'l'lic
modcl includes multivariiihle vollagc regulator with two
chaiincls (voltage channcl and ircquency channel) and it is
of the eighth ordcr Ill].
The complete nonlinear plant modcl in the state spacc is
described by a set of 16 diIferenlia1 and appropriate
illgchraic equations II I I. The mathematical model includes
models of the turhinc-generator unit, the multivariahle
AVR and the lurhine governor with its main and auxiliary
servomotors. If the conventional control schcmc is
replaced by the digital control scheme, cquations
corresponding Lo the exciter ccintrollcr and the governor
auxiliary servomotor could be omitted. The conscqucncc is
the reduction in the modcl ordcr, from I 6 to 7 cqu''I t'IOllS.
In this control scheme thc control inputs arc rotor spccd,
plant net hcad, giiidc vanc opening, runner blade position
and terminal voltage and current.
N.DESIGN OB rrm NEW CONTROLLER
The improved controller is discrete in nature. It ineiiiis
that stahilizing signals will be of discrete type and rcncwcd
at every sampling time k7;,,,,,,,. TIE discrete cquivalcnt o i
transfer function G(zj can he derived i n SCVOI.BI ways j 14,
151. In this paper tlic Tustin's approximation is cmploycd,
i.e. the complex Lapliicc operator s in transform funclion
C(sj is sulxtituted kit11 Z/z-/j/l;,,,,,,,jz+ /j.
liiliiiilc
 1626

E,",,,,,,
Exciter

Pig. 3: Black diagram of lhc static excilalion system (multiwriablc voltage regulator with two inpms)

In thc casc of thc excitcr controller under analysis: Discrete equivalcnt of thc convcntional governor
controller is derived in 111 and the equations in time
domain are:
I
rllnI=-{k,(~,,,[nl-~Inl)+ d
k4
[I)+
d n - 11-4- ; (8)

/c3(m,,,ln- 2 1 - 4 -21)-kSy,[n - ~1-k,rI[~-211

' P ~ [ ~ ] = ~ P ~. h( , Y, [ n~] )[ ~ .]
(9)
Gcncrator rotor oscillations arc caused by the differcnce
between the mechanical and the electrical torques. The
objective is to dccrease that difference by changing both
the electrical and thc mechanical torques.
The electrical torque is givcn by
V J , c o s $ + ( R , +R,)/:
T,, = (10)
w
The mechanical torque in Kaplan turbines can be
represented as a function of four variables [2-71:
T!,, = T , , , ( w , n , p , h , , ) = T , , , ( w , , a , p ) ~ , (11)
w
where wI =-
&x'
Opening and closing guide vane of the turbine affects
changes in the mechanical torque as it is concluded in [I.].
On the other hand, the increasing value of excitcr output
causes the increasing clectrical torque and the decreasing
value of cxciter output causes thc decreasing electrical
torquc. This can he used to decrease the difference
hetween the mechanical and the clectrical torque by
changes in both the electrical and thc mechanical torques.
The changes in elcctrical torque on the difference betwccn
the torques is smaller and faster then the changes in
mechanical torques.
Sudden opening and closing of the guide vane increases
stresses in some cquipment (hydrosystem and turbine) and
decrcascs stresscs in rotor shaft hecause torsional
oscillations are much smaller. On the other hand, sudden
changes in cxciter input can't cause such a great stresses in
cquipment.
Large disturhance can be detected using parameters at
and ae.Too sinall value of at can cause significant stresses ~

in hydraulic cquipincnt and low damping of oscillations,

wherc rt = (I, I ,2,... is integer and x [ k ] dcsignate the discrete and too big value could not makc effects [I]. Also, too
milnc ,r at timc instant kT,,8t?,i,. sindl value of accan cause low damping of oscillations and
produce unnccessaly oscillations, and too big value could

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iiot make effects. One of tlic problems is to choose values
(T. In this study, values ot=0.O3 and 0,=0.015 arc chosen.
In ;idclition, too low voltagc is sufficient indication to detect
largc disttirhance in both exciter and governor loops.
Tlic improved controllcr (excitation control system and
auxiliary servomotor) is realized by interrupt routine. The
rest of tlie system (power system, gcncrator, cxciter,
turhine and hydrosystem) is modeled on PC 486 with data
acquisition card, which includes 1Zbit AID and D/A
convcrtcrs. Tlic conncctions (data interchange) betwecn
the intci-rupt routinc (controller) and the computer (rest of
tlic systcm) arc cstablished through analog channels. The
signals are scnt through DIA convertcr and received
through AID convcrtcr. Thc computcr receives controllcr
output signals and calculates systcm response using fourth
ordci Rungc-Kutta method. The nonlincar rclationsbips
(9) ancl (11) arc approximatcd by a sct of linear segments
ancl storcd i n memory of microcontroller.
Algorithm of the improved control routine in the new
controller, in sainpling time, is shown in Fig. 4.
V. SIMULATION RESULTS
To dcinonstrate the efficiency of the proposcd
ctinlrollcr, scvcral simulations werc performed. This shows
(Cram AID COIIYD~~ZIS)
I'ig. 4: Algorithm of tlic iicw cnnlrol mulinc
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1627
that the transient rcsponsc of the HPP, equipped with the
improved controller, due to thc largc disturhanccs, is
superior than the systems with the digital govcrnor
controllcr developcd in 111 ;incl the conventional
controllers. The cffccts ol the system with the digital
controllers, due to ' tlie sinall disturhanccs, closcly
corrcspond to Lhosc ohtaincd by using the conventional
controllers [ 16, 171. It should bc notccl that conventional
controllers have been tuncd off-line, as precisely 21s
possiblc. Further improvcmcnt of their performiinccs, hy
iiicrcasing gains, would lead to instahility.
Due to thc spacc limitation, only results of thc
simulation of the 3-phase short circuit, occurrcd at onc
third on one of two parallel transmission lines from HPP,
are prescnted. The linc is disconnected iiftcr 0.2s ;incl
reconnected after 0.4 s. The sampling time was 5 ins, as
well as the time step of nuincrical integration of
differential equations (solvcd by using fourth order Ruiigc-
Kutta mcthod). For tlie purpose of coinparison, IIic
responsc cu~ycsfor the Same system variables, when using
thc conventional controllers, digital govcrnor controller 1 1 I
and thc improvcd controller, arc sh(rwn in Fig. 5.
By comparing the responses corresponding to the
improved controller, with those wlicn lhc conventioniil
controllers and digital governor controllcr arc applicd, it
can hc sccn that thc systcm transicnt pcrformiincc, under
large disturbances, is highly improvcd. Slight degriidati(in
of oscillatory processes was mentioned, chic to the fact that
thc digital controller is besctl o n several measurements
(which arc practically possiblc to iinplcment).
Detecting large disturhancc, the iinprovcd controller
generates forcing signals which reduces ainplitudc and
providcs very rapid damping of oscillations, especially in
interval iinincdiatcly artcr disturbancc. Oscillations of
rotor shaft arc dampen practically just iiftcr first period of
oscillation.
Also, it should bc noted that the cxcitatioii forcing
signals decrease nuinher of the governor forcing sign;ils i n
comparison with controller dcvclopcd in [ 11. Thcrcforc,
stresses in hydraulic cquipment arc dccrcascd.
Pig 6. shows systcm rcspw~scs against loss of total
(100 %) local load. Rcsidcs advantages alrciidy noted, in
this case it can he seen that frequency of rotor oscillations
is decreased, which decrease stresses i n rotor shaft.
VI. CONCLUSIONS
The improvcd stabilizing control of the cxcitcr mid
governor loop of a low head HPP has bccn proposecl iii this
paper. Thc effectiveness of thc iinpnivcd controllcr is
illustratcd through thc comparison ol ilic system tlyiiaiiiic
performance obtaincd by using the cnnvcntion;il controller,
thc digital governor controller dcvcloped in [ I I and tlic
improvcd controllcr.
1628

'-0311 n rri

- IMPROVED CONTROLLER
CON"ENTIOP4AL CONTROLLERS
O~CITAL GOVERNOR CONTROLLER

0.71 , . . , . . . ,
'
.,.,..,.. " , " " " I " , " ' , , , , , , , , , . , ~
TIME (S)
* - - $
0.4
TIME (S)

lig. 5: Syslcai responses to the teinporary short circuit (fault tliiiation is 0.2 s ancl automatic Kcclosing l i m is 0.45 )

Digital simulations of the behavior of hydroelectric

power unit equipped with low-head Kiplan turbine and
- lMPR0YED CONTROLLER
_..
D,0171\L OOMRNOR
CONVENTION(\L CDN,RoLLER
CONTROLLERS performance comparisons show that the improved
controller provides improved system transients with large
stability margins.
Resides the iinprovcd generating unit transients, the
improved controller, based on microcontroller circuit idso
has many advantages compared to conventional controller,
such as lowcr costs and casicr maintcnance, grcatcr
reliability and bigger flexibility, highly improved resolution
I3z. 6: Systcin rcsponscs Lo Lhc loss of total l o i ~ t l to adjust controller piirametcrs, easier communication and

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remote coutrol from dispatch ccntcr and possibility to
apply teal time optimal control tlieoiy.

VII. ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The ;iutliors gratefully acknowledge explanations and

data 011 HPP "Djerdap", used in test examples, provided by
Dr. Dusaii Arn;iutovic and Zoran Ciric, from thc Institute
"Nikola Tcsla", Belgrade, Yugoslavia.

VIII. REFERENCES
11. 11ohl(jcvic, M. Sankovic, "An Approach to the Damping of Local APPENDIX SYSTEM PARAMETERS
Miiiics n l Oscilldnns Resulling from Large Hydraulic Triinsients".
/€€€/PES
I ~ I C S C ~atI C ~I .Sunmmcr Mcctin& San Diego, Cslifoornia, A real low-hcad I-IPP "Djerdap" was sclcctcd for the
U S A , 12-16Siily 19'18, pp. PE-II1-EC-0-07-I!198
(i. I<rlvcenko, Aoloniiilic Conbd of Hydrm 'llrlxiie, Energia,
illustration of approach presented in tlic paper. The unit
Moscmv, USSR, 1965. (in Russian) paramctcr for the case study are specified in Tables 1 and
G I<civccnko, N. Al-senevski, E. Kvjatkovskaja, B. Klabukov, 11.
~ / l ~ ~ , lin~ ~Hydroeleclric
/ ~ ~ ~ / ~ ~ J n r eTr~ll1sicnt.v Power P%ltll.s, I:
Encrpict, Muscuw 1975 (in Rassi;in)
~ l /
. 'rahlc
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I<csewch, I 'J8S.
D. Arnaolnvic, R. Milijanovic, "Analysis of Large Disturbances i n
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)
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May 1983.. pp. X9-9X (in Scrbo-Croatian)
" Tc.st,sfiuDetermiiig the Pmsihle Iircrearc i n Power Outpol 01

Djcrhp'; No. 2151, LMZ, Leningrad 1<173.(in Russian)

IEEE Commillco Rcpnrl, "Dynamic Modcls for Steam and Hydm BIOGRAPHIES
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IRcp~xl of Wurking Gruop on Prime Mover illid Energy Supply
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Tolhinc and 'l'urhinc Control Mndels f o r Systcin Dyniitnic Studies",
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l i i m . on PuwerSysIrn~.~,
107- 17'1.
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A ~ ~ ~ ~ ; ~ ~ ~ ~ l ~ , . s ; , ,Vol.
, ~ l .PAS-X9, ~ ~ .Is, ,Jan. 1970, pp. 106-112.
S y s l ~ ,No.
1 I I I M. Iljuk;inwic, M. Noviccvic, D. Dubrijevic, B. Babic, D. Sohajic, Y.
P x i , "Neural-nct Based Coordinaled Slahilizing Control for tlic
Excilci snd Governor Loops of Low Hex1 Hydroelectric Power

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