ELEC0047 - Power system dynamics, control and stability

Turbines and speed governors

Thierry Van Cutsem

[Link]@[Link] [Link]/~vct

November 2017

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 Turbines and speed governors Steam turbines

Steam turbines

SG: speed governor

measures speed and adjusts steam valves accordingly
CV: control (or high pressure) valves
maneuvered by speed governor in normal operating conditions
IV: intercept valves
fully opened in normal operating conditions; closed in case of overspeed
MSV, RSV: main stop valve and reheater stop valve
used as back-up in case of emergency 3 / 31
Turbines and speed governors Steam turbines

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 Turbines and speed governors Steam turbines

Assumptions:
power developed in one turbine stage ÷ steam flow at exit of that stage
steam flow at entry of HP vessel ÷ valve opening z ÷ steam pressure pc
steam flow at exit of a vessel follows steam flow at entry with a time constant

Per unit system:

each variable is divided by the value it takes when the turbine operates
at its nominal power PN . Time constants are kept in seconds.

THP ' 0.1 − 0.4 s TR ' 4 − 11 s TLP ' 0.3 − 0.5 s

fHP ' 0.3 fMP ' 0.4 fHP + fMP + fLP = 1
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 Turbines and speed governors Steam turbines

Interactions between turbine and boiler

for large disturbances, the change in steam flow dHP results in an opposite
change in steam pressure pc
taking this into account requires to model the boiler and its controllers
we only mention the boiler and turbine control modes

“Boiler-following” regulation

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 Turbines and speed governors Steam turbines

“Turbine-following” regulation

“Coordinated” or “integrated” regulation

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 Turbines and speed governors Steam turbines

Example

Responses to a demand of large production increase: comparison of the three

regulations

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 Turbines and speed governors Speed governors of steam turbines

Speed governors of steam turbines

Servomotor modelling

z: opening of control valves (0 < z < 1 in per unit)

z o : valve opening setpoint (changed when power output of unit is changed)
σ: permanent speed droop (or statism)

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 Turbines and speed governors Speed governors of steam turbines

The non-windup integrator

ẋ = 0 if x = xmax and u > 0

= 0 if x = xmin and u < 0
= u otherwise

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 Turbines and speed governors Speed governors of steam turbines

Equivalent block-diagram

Tsm = 1/(K σ) servomotor time constant (' a few 10−1 s)

A little more detailed model

Tr : time constant of “speed relay” (additional amplifier) (' 0.1 s)

a transfer function (1 + sT1 )/(1 + sT2 ) may be used to improve dynamics
block 2 accounts for nonlinear variation of steam flow with valve opening
block 1 compensates block 2
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 Turbines and speed governors Speed governors of steam turbines

Steady-state characteristics

turbine:
pc = 1 pu ⇒ Pm = z
speed governor: assuming z is not limited:
ω−1
z = zo −
σ
and referring to the system frequency f (in Hz) with nominal value fN (in Hz):

f − fN
z = zo −
σfN
combining both:
f − fN
Pm = z o −
σfN
z o seen as a power setpoint, in pu on the turbine power.

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 Turbines and speed governors Hydraulic turbines

Hydraulic turbines
Action (or impulse-type) turbines

The potential energy of water is converted into pressure and then into kinetic
energy by passing through nozzles. The runner is at atmospheric pressure. The
high-velocity jets of water hit spoon-shaped buckets on the runner.

Pelton turbine

used for large water heights (300 m or more) 13 / 31

 Turbines and speed governors Hydraulic turbines

Reaction turbines

The potential energy of water is partly converted into pressure. The water
supplies energy to the runner in both kinetic and pressure forms. Pressure within
the turbine is above atmospheric.

Require large water flows to produce significant powers.

Rotation speeds are lower than with impulse turbines.

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 Turbines and speed governors Hydraulic turbines

Francis turbine

for water heights up to ' 360 m

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 Turbines and speed governors Hydraulic turbines

Kaplan turbine

For water heights up to ' 45 m

Variable-pitch blades can be used (angle adjusted to water flow to maximize

efficiency)

Mainly used in run-of-river hydro plants

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 Turbines and speed governors Hydraulic turbines

Bulb turbine

For small water heights

Mainly used in run-of-river hydro plants

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 Turbines and speed governors Hydraulic turbines

Simple model of a hydro turbine

Assumptions:
water assumed incompressible
pressure travelling waves (hammer effect) neglected

Hs : water height

ρ specific mass of water (kg/m3 )

g gravity acceleration (m/s2 )
Q water flow (m3 /s)
E energy provided by 1 m3 of water (J/m3 )
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 Turbines and speed governors Hydraulic turbines

Potential energy contained in 1 m3 of water in upper reservoir:

Epot = ρgHs

Total power provided by water (a part of which goes in losses):

P = ρgHs Q

Let’s define the head:

E
H= (m)
ρg
where E is the energy delivered by 1 m3 of water.

Total power provided by water (a part of which goes in losses):

P = EQ = ρgHQ

in steady state : H = Hs during transients : H 6= Hs

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 Turbines and speed governors Hydraulic turbines

Basic relationships:

1 mechanical power provided by turbine, taking into account losses in

conduites, etc.:
Pm = ρgH(Q − Qv ) < P

2 water flow: √
Q = kQ z H
z : section of gate (0 ≤ z ≤ A)

3 acceleration of water column in conduite:

dv
ρLA = ρgA(Hs − H)
dt

dQ gA
Q = Av ⇒ = (Hs − H)
dt L

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 Turbines and speed governors Hydraulic turbines

Passing to per unit values

base of a variable = value taken by variable at nominal operating point of turbine:

mechanical power Pm = nominal power PN of turbine
head H = height Hs
gate opening z = A
water flow Q = nominal value QN
water speed v = QN /A

At nominal operating point:

p
PN = ρgHs (QN − Qv ) Q N = kQ A H s

Normalizing the power equation:

H Q − Qv H QN Q − Qv
Pm pu = = = KP Hpu (Qpu − Qv pu )
Hs QN − Qv Hs QN − Qv QN
1
with KP =
1 − Qv pu
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 Turbines and speed governors Hydraulic turbines

Normalizing the flow equation:

p
Qpu = zpu Hpu

Normalizing the water acceleration equation:

dQpu g AHs Hs − H 1
= = (1 − Hpu )
dt L QN Hs Tw
L QN L vN
where Tw = = is the water starting time at nominal operating point.
g AHs g Hs
Tw = time taken by water, starting from standstill, to reach nominal speed under
the effet of head Hs (0.5 - 4 s)

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 Turbines and speed governors Hydraulic turbines

Response of a hydro turbine to small disturbances

Small disturbances around operating point (z o , H o = 1, Q o ).

Transfer function between ∆z and ∆Pm ?

√ zo
∆Q = H o ∆z + √ ∆H
2 Ho
sTw ∆Q = −∆H
∆Pm = KP H o ∆Q + KP (Q o − Qv )∆H

Eliminating ∆Q and ∆H yields:

(Q o −Qv ) 0
1− √
zo Ho
Tw s
o 3/2
∆Pm = KP (H ) 0 ∆z
T
1 + s 2w
0 zo
where Tw = Tw √ is the water starting time at the considered operating point.
Ho
If Qv is neglected:
0
o 3/2 1 − sTw
∆Pm = KP (H ) ∆z
Tw0
1+s 2 23 / 31
 Turbines and speed governors Hydraulic turbines

non-minimum phase system: zero in right half complex plane

initial reaction opposite to final reaction
Example: response ∆Pm to step change in gate opening of magnitude ∆Z :

(Q o −Qv ) 0
1− √
zo Ho
sTw ∆Z (Q o − Qv )
o 3/2
lim ∆Pm (t) = lim sKP (H ) = −2KP H o ∆Z
t→0 s→∞ T0 s zo
1 + s 2w

initial behaviour: inertia of water ⇒ speed v and flow Q do not change ⇒

head H decreases ⇒ mechanical power Pm decreases
after some time: Q increases and H comes back to 1 ⇒ Pm increases
non-minimum phase systems may bring instability when embedded in
feedback system (one branch of the root locus ends up on the zero)
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 Turbines and speed governors Hydraulic turbines

Speed governors of hydro turbines

Presence of a pilot servomotor: Tp ' 0.05 s K ' 3 − 5 pu/pu

with σ ' 0.04 − 0.05, the turbine and speed governor would be unstable
when the hydro plant is in isolated mode or in a system with a high
proportion of hydro plants
first solution: increase σ
⇒ the power plant will participate less to frequency control : not desirable
other solution: add a compensator that temporarily increases the value of σ

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 Turbines and speed governors Hydraulic turbines

In the very first moment after a disturbance:

sδTr
lim σ+ =σ+δ
s→∞ 1 + sTr
σ = 0.04, δ ' 0.2 − 1.0, temporary droop = (6 to 26) × permanent droop

In steady state:
sδTr
lim σ + =σ
s→0 1 + sTr

Tr : “reset time”: ' 2.5 − 25s

characterizes the time to come back to steady-state statism.

In some speed governors, the transfer function

1 + sTr
K
1 + s(δ/σ)Tr

is used in the feed-forward branch of the speed governor

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 Turbines and speed governors Case study. Frequency regulation in an isolated system

Case study. Frequency regulation in an isolated system

Hydro plant:
generator: 300 MVA, 3 rotor winding model
turbine: 285 MW, Tw = 1.5 s Qv = 0.1
automatic voltage regulator: static gain G = 150
exciter: time constant Te = 0.5 s
speed governor: σ = 0.04
mechanical-hydraulic : K = 4 ż min = −0.02 ż max = 0.02 pu/s Tp = 0
PI controller: see slide 29
Load:
behaves as constant impedance, insensitive to frequency
5 % step increase of admittance at t = 1 s
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 Turbines and speed governors Case study. Frequency regulation in an isolated system

Mechanical-hydraulic speed governor with compensation: δ = 0.5 Tr = 5 s

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 Turbines and speed governors Case study. Frequency regulation in an isolated system

Mechanical-hydraulic speed governor without compensation (δ = 0.)

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 Turbines and speed governors Case study. Frequency regulation in an isolated system

Speed governor with PI control

servomotor: K = 4 ż min = −0.02 pu/s ż max = 0.02 pu/s

PI controller: Tm = 1.9 s Kp = 2 Ki = 0.4 σ = 0.04

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Turbines and speed governors Case study. Frequency regulation in an isolated system

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